Sometimes you just hear an album and it really captures your imagination. ‘Once Upon a Time’ by Switzerland’s Black Diamonds is one of those albums. Formed in 2004, ‘Black Diamonds’ are a hard rock band based in the Rhine Valley in eastern Switzerland and if you love the sound of classic 80’s styled Hard Rock then these guys are the real deal. Releasing their first album in 2008, the appropriately titled ‘First Strike’, (of which two reworked songs make it onto the new release) they went on to produce ‘Perfect Sin’ in 2013. Album number 3 was released earlier this year and the best thing about it is how perfectly they have captured the sound of 80’s hard rock without necessarily sounding like any band in particular… That and the fact that every song on there is golden! We caught up with Andi to find out all about the band and their upcoming tour through Europe and the U.K. with H.E.A.T.
Mark: Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to The Rockpit today, what can we say? ‘Once Upon a Time’ has to be one of the finest and most complete albums all year.
Andi: Thank you for the invite, to hear people saying that now so many months after the release in March, it’s amazing, it’s astonishing.
Mark: We always love to try and catch up with the bands that are in the running for our album of the year and you’re there in the mix with one of the bands you’re going to be touring with later in the year – H.E.A.T.
Andi: It’s great to get the chance to go out on tour with them. To us it’s the ultimate band that we could go out there and support because I think it’s a perfect fit with our style of music.
Mark: For those who aren’t familiar with the band can you bring us up to date and tell us how it all started, what’s the back-story of Black Diamonds?
Andi: well the Black Diamonds were formed 13 years ago, and we started off as a cover band and I guess it took us a few years to write our first song but when we did it was so much fun to play your own music so we went more towards the direction of writing our own material and in 2008 we released our first album which was self-produced. After that we kind of had a few changes in the (line up of the) band as some would have preferred to remain a cover band, others wanted to do our own material but had no time and so a lot of changes happened in the years after that and that resulted in only having the next album in 2013 ‘Perfect Sin’.
Mark: And that I guess takes us to the new album ‘Once Upon a Time’ – how long did it take to put the album together?
Andi: That’s not so easy to answer! (laughs). For the current album we also had some changes in the line-up, our bass player Bernie left us after ‘Perfect Sin’ and we had Dee joining us for a few shows as bass player and so we asked him if he wanted to join us permanently as we got along so well and he was such a nice guy and a great musician, and he told us that ‘yes he would’ but not as a bass-player, only if he could play guitar. And till that point I had played guitar and our singer was also playing guitar and we kind of split the solos, but none of us really liked to do them. So I offered to change my instrument to bass and he joined us. And after that we played some shows and after that we started writing new material I think in January last year, so 2016. And we started recording in August 2016.
Mark: Take us inside the process of making the album? Where do you start? How do the songs evolve? Do you work them up in jams? How does a typical Black Diamonds song come about?
Andi: It doesn’t happen in a jam, we learned very fast that we aren’t able to write anything jamming, it’s rather the opposite, it gets us rather frustrated and feels like wasting time for us. We did it once or twice and just said “Nah, let’s never do that again!” (laughs). So at the moment what happens is that someone comes up with an idea and it’s pretty well-shaped already, and then we work on it as a band. But we don’t go there and just noodle around and hope that something comes out of it. In the past most of the songs were written by Michael (vocals/guitar) and myself, most of them we write together, or at least some choruses and verses and then we go to the band and change some things. With ‘Once Upon a Time’ everyone as contributing to the album, which was something that never happened before.
Mark: And it works so well, you’ve certainly managed to capture some of those huge sound we loved in the 80’s. How do you view yourselves musically?
Andi: (laughs) Well when you say it sounds like the 80’s that makes me happy, that’s exactly what we grew up with. Michael and I went to school together and we shared a lot of music in the early days and that’s also why we wanted to do a band and we always played in the same direction and we played with people who liked the same. We would describe our music as 80’s rock music and a mixture of rock and hard rock, probably not the most popular kind of music but it’s what we like and you cannot write music that you do not like. If it’s not coming from the right spot it’s a lot harder to do that.
Mark: I think you’re absolutely right. One of the interesting things for me was trying to work out which song you would release as a single. You’ve done the video now for ‘Vampires of the Night’ which is a great song, but how hard was it deciding which one you were going to put out there?
Andi: It was not easy, to be honest it was very hard and we took ‘Vampires of the Night.’ We agreed on that one because of the meaning. When we talked about it we decided that rock fans of the world are a dying community there’s not that many anymore so “Lets raise some hell tonight, so let’s get up and meet and get together”. That was the meaning we had behind it and that’s why we wanted to put it out as a single.
Mark: There are some great bands over the years that have come out of Switzerland, what’s the scene like over there at the minute?
Andi: (laughs) Well between the mountains it’s shady and cold so we have all the time in the world to play music.
Mark: (laughs)
Andi: I don’t know, I think it’s the same everywhere there are a lot of good bands in every country, but it’s a lot of hard work to get heard because the kind of music that we play and obviously the music that you like is not the kind of music they play on the radio these days. That music is gone and what you find there these days is always the same over and over.
Mark: I think you’re right rock music has always been treated pretty badly by the mainstream media and I guess our one moment of begrudging glory was back there in the 80’s. When I listen to an album like yours though I’m almost convinced that this is the sort of music that deserves a revival, and the first time I heard ‘The Ghosts and the Shadow’ I thought “this is it, this is an important band”. Now when you hear an opening track like that you often find yourself thinking, well that was great but can they keep it going and you guys have managed to create a whole album of great songs. Even the ballads I’m loving those as well especially the last one on there ‘This is a Love Story’ – what can you tell us about that song?
Andi: ‘This is a Love Story’ is also an interesting song for us as a band because it was a well-kept mystery and secret from our singer Michael who said he was going to write a song for the album but he wasn’t going to show us anything. He was working on something but it was too early to show us, and so I guess we forgot about it (laughs). A couple of months later he came to me and asked me to help him out and record a demo and so I went to him and said “OK I’m going to record it, but I’m not gonna say anything I’m just gonna listen and then you can just present it to all of us.” So we did it like that and we were totally amazed. But he hadn’t written a lot of the lyrics at the time and so he asked me if I could help him with the lyrics, so I asked him what kind of direction he wanted to go and he told me a little bit about it. And usually we go line by line and talk about it, if it fits, if it’s good, if he likes to sing it that way but this time he said “no you just go and write something and then we’ll review it”. Nd that’s what I did, and in the end I think it’s some of the best lyrics I ever wrote and probably also one of the best songs we ever wrote as it’s so emotional, and it goes up and down just like life does.
Mark: I actually played that song to a friend after I reviewed it and he loved it so much when he got married a couple of months later they actually played that song at their wedding, he tells me. I was back in the UK so I didn’t see that but I heard about it.
Andi: No you must be kidding! That’s the first time I’ve ever heard of something like that!
Mark: I thought you’d enjoy that. Aside from the ballads there’s some really great hard rock on threesome real ’party songs’ too like ‘Not Going Home’ what a great song?
Andi: And to be honest that was the hardest one to imagine what it was going to be like once it was done. ‘Not Going Home’ was always on the edge of being skipped completely when we were writing because when we played it in the rehearsal room it was so ‘empty’, so quiet, and nothing was going on. And Manu played something completely different on the drums at that time and I don’t know how but at some point he came up with the idea to simplify it even more and we thought ‘nah’ we can’t do that it’s already so simple, but he played it for us and then we were like “yeah, no we feel it”. And that was it!
Mark: we talked earlier about the upcoming tour how did that come about, how did you get invited onto the bill? It’s probably one of the best triple bills I’ve heard of in a while.
Andi: It’s a funny story and it actually goes back to ‘A Perfect Sin’. We made both albums with Tobias Lindell who is based in Sweden and in 2013 we went to Sweden to meet him personally before he did the mixes and while we were there he said “By the way tonight we have H.E.A.T. coming by” and H.E.A.T. was one of the reasons why we chose him. We thought he was joking but they were there and we stood around not knowing what to say but we had some of our Swiss beer with us and we shared it with them and had a very, very great night and the next day they were staying very close to where we were staying so we went out to see them and somehow a friendship has emerged from that.
Mark: Our reviewer Buff caught up with Eric and Jona last time they were down in Australia and they can attest that they do like a nice beer!
Andi: (laughs)
Mark: Take it all the way back for us – what was it that made you realise that music was going to be your life? Was there a defining moment or a gradual realisation? Thinking back to your early memories of music, what was it that first made you decide you needed to be in a Rock and Roll band?
Andi: well I never realised it was going to be such a major part of my life but the band that pushed me in that direction was Guns ‘n’ Roses. I still love them, they are still my greatest band and they have been since I was 10 or 11years old. Actually it was Michael our singer who brought me to them and it’s something we still share nowadays.
Mark: A great band and that debut has to be one of the very best rock albums of all time, certainly near the top in the 80’s definitely.
Andi: Absolutely!
Mark: If you could have been a fly on the wall for the creation of any great album just to see how the magic happened what would it be and why? What’s the album that still resonates with you?
Andi: Probably it would be ‘Hysteria’ by Def Leppard.
Mark: You would have been there a long time for that one!
Andi: (laughs) Well recently I just read the biography of Phil Collen and it was very interesting to read about it, it seems like a story of a lot of bad luck moments but somehow it all turns out good. It’s a great story all of its own.
Mark: And we always close with a really easy question: What is the meaning of life?
Andi: (laughs) Well I think the meaning of life is to find happiness for yourself, you don’t need to do it for anyone else because if you’re happy other people will be happy about you too. In a rock band maybe it’s playing rock and roll music that will give other people joy and hopefully you’ll have some fun yourself. That’s what I would say.
Mark: That’s a great answer. You’ve got a wonderful tour starting out on the30th of this month in Denmark and then you go through Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, France Switzerland which is home for you then you’re in Belgium before you hit the UK and I’ve friends in the UK when you play my hometown, so please feel free to blow the roof off the place!
Andi: (laughs) Thank you so much.
Mark: And finally I have to ask – a new album? Are you writing yet?
Andi: We have not written together but I think everyone has been working on some ideas, I definitely have and as the tour only came up a month or so ago we talked and said that we would start working on some new material on the tour.
Mark: All the best on the tour and thank you so much for taking the time.
Andi: It was a real pleasure talking to you Mark, thank you so much.
Mark: Take care.
Black Diamonds kickoff their European Tour with H.E.A.T. and Degreed in October
30.10.2017 DK-Copenhagen, Pumpehuset
31.10.2017 DE-Hamburg, Logo
01.11.2017 DE-Berlin, Frannz Club
02.11.2017 DE-Munich, Backstage
03.11.2017 AT-Kufstein, Kulturfabrik
05.11.2017 IT-Milano, Legend Club
07.11.2017 ES-Bilbao, Santana 27
08.11.2017 ES-Madrid, La Riviera
09.11.2017 ES-Barcelona, Razzmatazz 2
11.11.2017 FR-Paris, Nouveau Casino
12.11.2017 CH-Pratteln, Konzertfabrik Z7
13.11.2017 DE-Aschaffenburg, Colos-Saal
14.11.2017 BE-Vosselaar, Biebob
15.11.2017 NL-Uden, De Pul
17.11.2017 UK-Wolverhampton, Slade Rooms
18.11.2017 UK-Glasgow, Cathouse
19.11.2017 UK-Nottingham, Rescue Rooms
21.11.2017 UK-London, O2 Academy Islington
Headliner: H.E.A.T
Special Guest: degreed
Support: Black Diamonds
