So I shut myself away for six weeks and worked on the songs. The results were impressive. Ten fresh and powerful rock songs, with great sounds and melodies. Together with my drummer Gerald Kloos I invested a lot of time working on the music and lyrics. After that I needed to find musicians who could give to these songs what they deserve: emotion, atmosphere, variety, professionalism, power and magic...and I found them.
First I recorded the guitar parts in my Legatomizer Studio so that I had the basics to send guide tracks to the musicians I was interested in using. My friend and superb drummer Gerald Kloos played the drums for most of the tracks.
Then I got the legendary Neil Murray (ex-Whitesnake) to play the bass by pure
chance. His musical past is impressive - take a look at his biography on the
Empire Site. We got in touch with the webmaster of the Company of Snakes web
site, the band which Neil plays with. I contacted Neil by email and sent him
demos of the songs and he was very pleased to be able to play on the Empire
album project. It was like a dream come true!In January Neil was in my studio for a week and we recorded ten tracks for the forthcoming album. It was so great to have the chance to work with such an amazing bass player. We had a lot of fun and along the way I learned a lot. He has a great tone and so much experience. He gives to a song exactly what it needs - you don't have to say a word - just let him play and record it. Neil is more than just 'one of the best' bass players, he is a warm-hearted gentleman as well. We talked for hours about touring with all those great bands and recording sessions he's done and, and, and... it was really cool.
My favourite singer for this project was Lance King (Balance Of Power),
because he has so much warmth in his voice. Cool! That was what I needed for
the Empire songs. I had the pleasure to meet Lance on his tour last year in
Germany. I asked him to sing a song on my first album and he did a great
vocal interpretation of the Police song "Message in a Bottle".
So I asked him if he`d like to become more involved in my next album. I
was so happy when he agreed. I sent him the material and he enjoyed what he
heard. So in March, I flew to the USA and there I recorded the vocals with
this fantastic singer.He did a great job. I enjoyed staying and working with him in Minnessota/St.Paul. The results of the recording were amazing.
I also had to look for guest musicians who could make the songs complete, and I found three world class musicians:
My drummer Gerald Kloos had some contact with exceptional drummer Anders
Johansson, who is having lots of success at the moment with his band
Hammerfall. We had the idea to ask him if he could play a little guest solo
on my first CD, and so we did a drum solo called "Drumatic".
The cooperation with Anders was really nice and he said immediately "Yes"
when I asked him to do the drums on two songs for the new CD. I was very proud
of that. He recorded two incredible tracks. I have to say - WOW! I had the
chance to meet him while he was on tour here with Hammerfall. We enjoyed Thai
food together and had really crazy conversations about (I'd better not tell
that here!) and a lot of fun.
Mark Boals, who had by now finished his world tour with Yngwie Malmsteen and
had just released his first CD with his own band Ring of Fire, was the only
choice for the two songs that I left for a guest singer, "Into The Light"
and "I Will Always Be There" - vocals that blow your mind.We got in contact with his Japanese promoter and she passed my first CD on to Mark. He liked what he heard and he was very interested in doing vocals on my new songs. I couldn't believe it, but it was true. I met him in Frankfurt on his tour with Malmsteen and we had a very nice time. He is a real fine guy!
For the song "Spread My Wings", I found another superb player - Don
Airey. I dared to ask him at a Company of Snakes concert here in Germany and he
instantly agreed. With his long experience (he participated in bands like Rainbow,
Ozzy and ELO) he played the keyboard so sensitively on that ballad.With such great musicians involved, I thought it was no longer only a solo project and so I named my band project Empire.
In July, after the recording of the songs had been completed, I went to Roxx Studios in Cologne. There I mixed Empire's debut album, entitled Hypnotica, with Stefan Kaufmann, who had produced bands like U.D.O. and Accept. Manfred Melchior at MM Sound then mastered the CD. I must say, both did a great job!
You will hear an album full of straight hooky rock songs with exciting guitars, great vocals and lots of drive behind it. I'm very satisfied with the result.
Empire did also a song on the Jason Becker Tribute CD Warmth In The Wilderness, a version of David Lee Roth's "Dogtown Shuffle".
After the release of Empire's debut "Hypnotica" I started immediately to work on new song-material for a second CD based mainly on the same line-up. Drummer and co-producer Gerald Kloos was again with me this time. He also wrote a bunch of lyrics with me.
Because of the great drumwork of Anders Johansson on selected tracks on "No More Obscurity" (my Solo-Effort under the Rolf Munkes banner) and Empire´s "Hypnotica" it was obvious to invite him again to collaborate on Hypnotica´s sucessor named "Trading Souls" on 2 tracks. These days Anders is playing with Hammerfall aside running his own record label in "Heptagon" Sweden. Both, Anders and Gerald delivered drum playing/recording "par excellence".
For "Trading Souls" I made a well defined decision against any guestsingers.
This time I wanted to work with only one singer through the whole album.
Luckily I found one of the best: Tony Martin who recorded several albums
with Black Sabbath and was a constant member of their line-up for several
tours around the globe. After Tony and I finished the recordings of his
vocal parts in my studio we were totally amazed by the results. His
impressive vocal range and flexibilty pushed every single song to higher
levels. An extraordinary Singer without any doubt!To complete the rhythm-section I´m glad to say that Neil Murray entered my studio. We had a really relaxed and funny recording session and a great time. Neil already played on the first Empire CD. It was my biggest wish to have him also playing on "Trading Souls". And he did!! He was as usual very pro, quick and great in doing his Bass parts for the new album.
Don was heavily touring with Deep Purple when I asked him to play on "Trading Souls".
I remember he was in Milwaukee that day. He told me he would have some days off between the USA and European part of the Tour where he could play the stuff. So I sent him the songs to his studio where he recorded his parts.
The last recording was my guitars. I did them again in my studio with a new amp from Rivera. This "little" tube amp is a killer and gave me a punchy and powerful sound.
This is what the songs sound like.
To finish the whole CD I went again to Stefan Kaufmann (guitarist in U.D.O) for two weeks where we mixed the CD. His studio called "Roxx" is based outside of Cologne.
We were able to finish a modern, great sounding melodic Hard Rock CD there, with some of the world's most experienced musicians. Hope you'll enjoy, too.
For up-to-date news on Empire visit the official web site at
www.empire-rock.com.