Axel Rudi Pell is without a doubt one of the most important names in European heavy metal  scene and as a guitarist he has gained the right to stand among the biggest names in the guitar world. Solid Rock talked with Axel about his upcoming studio album "Tales Of The Crown", which will be released on 27th of October via SPV, about his music influences and of course about guitars...

Solid Rock: “Tales of the Crown” is your brand new album. How would you describe it in a few words?

Axel Rudi Pell: Modern, atmospheric, strong, vital, melodic, all in all… the best so far.

Solid Rock: The new cd has a great, crystal clear production as all your previous ones. I assume that you co-operated with the producer for the final mix, is that correct?

Axel Rudi Pell: Yes, definitely… but I AM the producer. Charlie Bauerfeind, who is the Co-Producer, is responsible for the mix. But it’s all my decision how the Cd will sound in the end.

Solid Rock: Johnny Gioeli seems to be your permanent partner and this is a co-operation of devotion and great results. How do you manage to overcome the problem of distance since he is established in the US?

Axel Rudi Pell: You must know, that I write all songs including the melody lines and the lyrics by myself. It’s not a big deal anymore to work together in times of Internet. This time we communicated via “Skype” using a webcam so that we could see each other on the computer monitor and we had a very good time working together that way.

Solid Rock: The sound of the new songs seems to be heavier than your latest releases. Did that happen on purpose or did it just feel right? In general how do you compose? Are you based on the riff or do you build the music based on the lyrics?

Axel Rudi Pell: I’m always collecting riffs and melodies which came to my mind during a period of many months. When I’m having enough, I’m sorting those ideas out and make some real songs out of it. So the music is always first. After I have all the vocal melodies and stuff, I’m writing the words to it. I’m not sitting there saying to myself “I have to write a fast track now or a slower tune”… it just happens and it comes naturally out of my soul…

Solid Rock: Are you going to shoot any video for any of the songs and if yes which one will that be?

Axel Rudi Pell: So far nothing is planned but if we would then it would be “Ain´t Gonna Win” definately.

Solid Rock: In the album, I have recognized influences from Ritchie Blackmore and baroque, although there are tracks that have a more current Hard rock style (“Riding On An Arrow”); What do you think about that and what is your opinion for the comeback of hard rock music into younger audiences nowadays?

Axel Rudi Pell: Well… actually Ritchie is one of my biggest influences and you can hear that on older albums of mine too, but with this new CD I really don’t see that point. I like to have younger audiences too… we first noticed that on the last tour where we saw completely families in the audience and that’s great!

Solid Rock: As a guitarist myself, I have always been a fan of your custom ESP in the 90’s, but the last years I see that you have turned to Fender. What was the reason for that decision?

Axel Rudi Pell: I’m always looking for the right Lead guitar sound and I couldn’t get it with the ESP guitars. I don’t say that they are bad or anything, but I’m feeling more comfortable on the Fender Strats. I replaced the pick-up´s with DiMarzio HS-3 pick-up´s and they are sounding amazing. By the way: I’m not only playing Strats on the CD´s… for the Rhythm guitar tracks I always use different guitars like a Gibson Les Paul or a BC Rich Flying V and some others … only live I only use Fender Strats. I have one special guitar which is very “light” and it’s perfect to play with her on stage because she isn’t so heavy.

Solid Rock: A new cd means tour and gigs. From references in your previous releases I can understand that you like Greece, although you have not visited us for a gig yet. Will your Greek fans get lucky this time?

Axel Rudi Pell: Nothing planned so far unfortunately… we will see how much records will be sold in Greece so that it would make sense to come over and play. I really love Greece, nice people and great food!

Solid Rock: Thank you very much for taking the time to do this interview with Solid Rock. We wish you all the best!

Axel Rudi Pell: Thank you too, my pleasure!

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