I recently got to interview Peter “Peavy” Wagner, bassist and singer of Rage. How awesome is that?
Special thanks go out to Joe Derschka, who helped in making this possible and proved his patience with me. Check out the interview after the jump.
Dose of Metal: Rage was formed, under the name of Avenger, in 1984. 2 Years before I was born. At a time, when most bands split up after just a couple of years, what is it like standing on stage after 26 Years and still making people rock out to your songs?
Peter “Peavy” Wagner: Thats great and I’m thankful to the fans who still like our songs after all that time.
DoM: This year saw the release of your new album ‘Strings to a Web’, was it hard to come up with new exciting ideas for your 19th studio album?
Peavy: No, not at all, the ideas were flowing better than ever, we’re totally free in what we do and we like it so much to write songs. I think theres a lot more songs to come up in the future.
Rage with Hansi Kürsch (Blind Guardian) - All I want (live)
DoM: Last year at Wacken you played a very special performance that included guest appearances by Hansi Kürsch (Blind Guardian) and Marcel ‘Schmier’ Schirmer (Destruction), among others. Do you feel like all these German Old School Metal bands, that have been around for so long, share a special bond?
Peavy: For sure. We’re all good friends since so many years and share a lot of memories together, that connects us forever.
DoM: Have you ever thought of doing a special tour that includes all these bands (also including Sodom, Kreator and Grave Digger, for example)?
Peavy: I like the idea. If some booker comes up with this idea I’d surely be with it!
DoM: In the 80’s and 90’s Rage saw a lot of Line-up changes. Within the last 11 years of your existence, only one member had to be replaced (Mike Terrana). Is it easier to keep a more stable line-up as you get older, now that you’re full blown professionals?
Peavy: That has nothing to do with age. I’m very lucky to work with Victor nowadays. We form a real good team and have very similar intentions, thats the most important thing for a long time partnership. If the intentions drift apart, a band breaks up. That was the reason for all former changes.
Rage - Gib dich nie auf (At the Bundesvision Songcontest
DoM: In recent years, you’ve been working with Stefan Raab (TV Total) for a couple of performances, including your appearance at the Bundesvision Song Contest. Did these gigs give you more exposure and maybe breath new life into Rage’s career?
Peavy: Not so much as one may think. Of course this exposed us to a wider audience outside of the metal scene but these people rarely buy your albums or come to metal shows. Mostly it was big fun for us and new experiences. Stefan is a real nice guy and he likes our music…
DoM: Is it sometimes hard to keep motivating yourself to go on with Rage after all these years?
Peavy: No, we have the best “job” in the world, thats more motivation you can imagine…
DoM: What is the biggest difference between playing tours in the year of 2010 compared to your early tours in the mid-80’s?
Peavy: We’re mostly headlining now, which makes it more comfortable for us. We have tons of material to play, its more difficult to choose the right setlist 🙂
DoM: What does the future hold for Rage?
Peavy: We have separated our work to two different projects now. We’ll concentrate with Rage on our Metal side and we’ll do our Crossover Works (Metal meets Classic) with the Lingua mortis Orchestra, which will be a real band in the future. Besides us 3 and the orchestra we will add a pianist and an aditional female singer to the lineup. We already started writing songs for the 2 new albums, that we plan to record next year. Besides that we will continue touring with Rage of course…
DoM: Any last words for your readers at doseofmetal.com?
Peavy: Thanx for your support, people!
Best
Peavy
