A British Bulldog graces the cover of the band’s new album Dirty Dynamite.They released their debut, self-titled album in 1976, but Krokus really hit the international jackpot after Maltese vocalist Marc Storace joined the Swiss band’s ranks in 1980. From that moment on – bar, perhaps the 1990s when its star shone less brightly – Krokus has remained one of the most consistent among its peers.
Each of its albums delivers the goods, and then some with, as they would have it, “1000 per cent pure but tkickin’ hard rock” and as much passion and drive.
Forty years – and 14 million records sold – later, the band is still rocking, its current line-up featuring the classic 1982 formation, so it’s little wonder that latest album Dirty Dynamite is such a powerful and inspired record.
As the band gears up for a world tour to promote an album that guitarist Mark Kohler has hailed as “not just another Krokus album, but a rock milestone” and rock critics everywhere are waxing lyrical about, frontman Storace talks about the making of the album, the thrill of recording at Abbey Road, and Dirty Dynamite’s explosive element.
What are you up to right now?
I’m mostly busy doing phone and Skype interviews with North and South America and Canada right now, where our new album Dirty Dynamite was released last week. The band’s been meeting regularly to work on the new tracks in our live repertoire. After being in the studio for a long while, we’re all in great spirits to be jamming together again.
With Mandy (Meyer) back in the band we have one extra guitar player for the very first time in the band’s history, but rather than a ‘wall of noise’ we were afraid we’d get, all three guitarists have found their comfortable spaces and are harmonising incredibly well... The new energy that this has unleashed is terribly exciting.
As I walked into Abbey Road Studios, my heart was beating twice as hard and I had butterflies in my stomach
Getting the band’s classic 1982 line-up back together was an important step in the band’s history…
Life’s too short to bear grudges and that’s why, apart from the music, the great reunion of the Krokus ‘Class of ’82’ struck such a vibrant note with our fans’ hearts, and ours too. In a world of conflict we proved that working together is more fruitful.
It took some pride and ego-swallowing, but the cuts and bruises from our turbulent past healed fast through the joy of playing together again. After all, it was the music that had brought us together so many years ago.
Has Mandy Meyer’s return had a lot of bearing on Dirty Dynamite’s direction and drive, compared to previous album Hoodoo?
Basically, it was important for our sound that Mandy’s style and attack was different from Fernando’s. While Fernando retains that traditional Krokus ‘soloing’ sound, Mandy brought with him a flamboyant technique, such as his amazing slide-guitar work on the title track, or his sensitive approach on our slow version of The Beatles’ Help.
The increased drive came from Mark’s rhythm guitar and Chris’s bass lines before we had even recorded the drums, which our good friend Kosta Zafirou laid down at a later stage.
What led to the new album being recorded at Abbey Road?
We all grew up with Elvis and The Beatles before the arrival of hard rock, and at rehearsals we like to warm up playing stuff by The Beatles, Free, Led Zeppelin... whatever pleases our fancy, really.
The Abbey Road idea popped into our heads because 2012 was The Beatles’ 50th anniversary, and Sony Records Switzerland thought it was a wonderful idea.
As for the cover of Help, traditionally we always include one cover on each album, and this time we opted to honour our teenage mophead heroes who inspired us so much. We pulled off a slower rendition of Help very well I think, and it’s quickly becoming a favourite with most of our female fans.
So the Abbey Road experience must have been all the more special…
A trip to London is always exciting, but as I walked into Abbey Road Studios for the very first time, my heart was beating twice as hard, and I felt butterflies in my stomach.
While Chris and Dennis were busy in the control room of Studio 2, I had to take a quick tour of the whole place before I could finally settle down to sing. Everything I saw and touched emanated a positive vibe; the walls, the floor, the old microphones on the original boom-stands, Ringo’s drum-stand in one corner, Paul’s Lady Madonna piano, John’s All You Need is Love Steinway, George’s old guitar amp – my head was reeling with 1960s memories, Beatles songs, the Hard Day’s Night movie, teenage heart-throbs, and last but not least, precious memories of hours of rehearsing and performing the great Abbey Road medley with my old bandmates The Boys all over Malta when live music there was at its best.
Man, I got so fired up and was ready to sing my head off.
Without a doubt Dirty Dynamite is a no-frills, killer, rock ’n’ roll record. How hard is it for a successful band that has been rocking for four decades to find new riffs, new hooks, new ways to stay at the top of its game?
We took our time as, like love and good red wine, you can’t hurry inspiration. We looked at our new ideas objectively and approached things constructively, and always in a self-critical way. It was a slow but fun process.
The dog on the album cover is too cool not to get a mention…
That’s Da Dög; a British Bulldog that would make Johnny Walker himself happy. He belongs to a girlfriend and fan of ours from Zürich. At first we flirted around with a few other ideas but Da Dög won the contest paws down.
Actually, it all started with this Peter Sellers joke from the Pink Panther movies which Chris (Van Rohr) and I kept mentioning throughout the whole production of the album. It’s to do with the scene where Sellers enters the lift and this old chap is holding a dog.
And by the way, Chris not only did a great job playing bass this time but also excelled as a producer. Our creative teamwork has improved so much over the past couple of years.
Already while working on the vocal melodies and lyrics of new songs we were in full synch and got the demo work done in no time… and in between takes Chris or I would keep asking “does your dog bite”?
One last question; with Krokus all revved-up to go on tour and promote the new album, will you be swinging by Malta again anytime soon?
It would be great to rock the islands once again during our upcoming World Tour. One can never tell if this will be our last round, but it’s always a question of health more than anything else. So far so good, the band is fit and we would definitely look forward to an invitation from Malta.
I think it would be very special for all Maltese rock fans to experience Krokus with this classic line-up for once, and it would make me very proud to see my bandmates experience how hard my brothers and sisters can rock.
In the meantime, I wish you all a safe, pleasant and rocking spring.
www.krokusonline.com