It's been a long time since Fireworks featured Silent Force; with a switch to AFM and a fourth successful studio album under their belts, Dawn Irwin had the opportunity to catch up with guitar slinger and songwriter Alex Beyrodt when he'd just come back from touring only to find, to his dismay, that there was no beer in the fridge!

Hi Alex, thanks for taking the time out to call me. Sorry you haven't got a beer – I, on the other hand, have got a nice cold one on the go, so I hope you don't mind.

No problem! We'll have a real one soon enough when we meet face to face (laughs).

For anyone unfamiliar with the band, what was it that inspired you to put Silent Force together – I understand you played with Sinner and had been offered a position within Primal Fear after the "Jaws of Death" world tour?

Yes, that's correct. I joined Sinner in 1988 when I was a young guy, and I learned everything about the music business with these guys, and toured all over the planet with them. After 12 years I thought it was time to start my own thing. I was actually tired of being just one guitar player in a band that has two guitar players. I wanted to be more in the spotlight ... which I don't think is selfish. It's just that I'm a musician, an artist, songwriter and guitar player, and it was about time. So I started to write songs, got in contact with DC and we decided to put a band together. Then I was asked to play the world tour with Primal Fear, and it was a great experience, especially as I met my wife in Tokyo during that time which I'm very thankful for. After the tour, Primal Fear asked me if I wanted to join the band and at first I thought it would be a great opportunity, because they are successful, they have a great singer and I love the music. However, there is also another guitar player, and the spotlight is very much on Ralph Scheepers and Mat Sinner, so I knew I would just be in the same position that I was with Sinner, so I said no, and nobody understood my decision. I just wanted to be responsible for my own band. So DC and I worked on the songs, went to the recording studio and a couple of weeks later we had our first record. We offered it to a couple of companies, got a huge offer from JVC in Japan, and we signed a contract. Our album had very good reviews all over the world, we toured with Stratovarius, and there you go!

Not a bad start, really, for a new band. It's almost like you did your apprenticeship and now you are the master craftsman ...

That's right, and you know, I really enjoy being the only guitar player in the band so I can do what I want to do and it was definitely the right decision. Primal Fear is without doubt a more successful band, but I just enjoy doing what I want.

How did you manage to coax DC Cooper to join you?

Ah, I always get asked this, but it was actually pretty easy – I just picked up the phone and called him. Of course it helped that we were with the same management team. I played DC's first solo album every day in my CD player. I was never a big Royal Hunt fan, but I liked his voice so I called him up and six weeks later he came over to Germany, we met in my house for the first time in our lives and we started to work together.

Was there instant chemistry from the outset?

In the beginning the friendship was there definitely, but from a musical point of view, we've had to work together a couple of years. My musical taste is completely different to DC's. He is more into Pink Floyd, Dream Theater and Spock's Beard, whereas I'm coming from Deep Purple, Rainbow, Yngwie Malmsteen, the guitar hero thing, you know (laughs). So my songwriting style was very neo-classical, very fast and heavy, and DC always wanted to have a different colour in our songs, more adult, more mature. I think we hit that spot on the third album ‘World's Apart'. That was the first time DC was absolutely happy with the songwriting and the result.

On the first two albums the playing is very fast, and DC's singing is very much in the upper registers. It seemed by the third album you were exploring a wider kind of musicality?

Absolutely, and by then we'd started to take care of his range. DC was not even in the band when I wrote the first album. For ‘Infatuator', we had just come back from the tour with Stratovarius and we were very aggressive after hitting the stage every night, so the songwriting was heavier. We tried to go into the Judas Priest direction a bit more - actually that was my marketing concept (laughs) because DC was almost the new singer of Priest – as was Ralph! I thought that as Primal Fear is so successful, we should do something similar. I don't know if it was wrong or right, but DC didn't like it (laughs). But on the third album we wrote more as a team. We started to jam at rehearsals, like Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin used to do, and we had this amazing chemistry. Once we were rehearsing for a tour, and everybody stopped to take a break. I started to play a little lick on the guitar, and instantly everybody went back to their instruments and we started to play a song. After 5 minutes we stopped and we had played a complete song, with a chorus, bridge, solo, key changes and everything. We just looked at each other and I got goosebumps, because it was really a magical moment, like I'd never had before in my entire career. After this we agreed we would work more as a team and take advantage of our collective musical inspiration and ideas. So this is how we did ‘World's Apart' and ‘Walk The Earth' which is around 60% me and 40% the rest of the band.

How do the logistics work, with DC based in the United States and the rest of you in Germany?

Actually, it's not a big problem. The German contingent (at this point the conversation goes off into Fawlty Towers territory) ... well, we just meet in my studio and play – we don't need DC to be around for that process. We know his range, we know what he likes to do, and believe it or not, in the 12 years I was with Sinner we had so many rehearsals where we just played the songs without vocals. Many bands rehearse without vocals – it's nothing special, and actually it's good training because if you can play the song without vocals, it is pretty easy to play it with vocals. It's a process that works, and it's no problem.

‘Empire' was a concept album – an unusual move for a fledgling band. Why did you decide to go in this direction?

By that time, I was a really angry man. I was so pissed off about what was happening to the world, there were so many wars going on even back in 1998 when I started to write the album. Something was not right in my life, so I started to write down my feelings and then one day I just started to write the story about the soldier and the time machine and I put it together. I thought it was a good story. I really liked Queensryche's ‘Operation Mindcrime' and ‘Empire' and so I thought why not give it a shot? I'd always wanted to do a concept album, this was my chance, it was my band, so I went for it.

‘World's Apart' took 3 years to come to fruition. Why such a long timespan?

Well, after ‘Infatuator' we toured with Angra throughout Europe, which took time, then we toured with U.D.O. all over Germany, and then Andre injured his back during the last show with U.D.O. We actually had to cancel the show as he had a slipped disc and he needed an operation. It took almost a year for his recovery. So many drummers' careers have ended because of slipped discs. We wanted to wait for him because he is "our" drummer, so we started to write music, (it's possible to do this without a drummer because we have computers these days). During this time we started to negotiate a new contract with Noise and Sanctuary records. That turned out to be a nightmare. One and a half years to finish a contract! Usually it's around 3 months or something! So, if you look at it as one year waiting for Andre, one and a half years on the negotiations, you have two and a half years, and in the last six months we recorded the album and released it – so there are the three years. Actually, the band almost broke up because of the situation. We didn't rehearse, we just negotiated, then Andre started to play with Axxis and he had a lot of live shows to fulfil. Everybody was depressed, so it was not an easy time. But we managed it and we are still together, thank God!

‘Walk the Earth' is the latest album and there is another label change. What was the attraction of AFM?

When we recorded ‘Empire of the Future' I was already flirting with AFM, because I really think these guys have a great label and artist roster, and our music fits perfectly. But back then they didn't show any interest, so we signed with Massacre for the first two albums. For ‘World's Apart' I called AFM again, but there was still no interest, so we went to Noise/Sanctuary, and the nightmare began. Six week delay on the release; all the advertising was done, but no product in the stores; four weeks after the release Noise closed, dropping 40 bands in the process. As for their promotional efforts, compared to Massacre where I did 180 interviews for each of our first two albums, for ‘World's Apart' I did 5 worldwide, and that included Japan, our biggest market. I had 4 interviews in Japan and 1 in Germany. So now you understand why I am really upset with Noise.

What did that mean for the band?

We had our most successful album so far, we had the best reviews, we even toured in Japan with ‘World's Apart' but the rest of the world got nothing. This was another very frustrating time for us, especially when the lead singer lives in America. At least here in Europe heavy metal and hard rock is still strong – it's not huge, but it's still there. In the States traditional hard rock is almost gone. There is no information, DC doesn't get the CDs, he has no idea what music is in the charts or whatever, so it was really difficult for him too.

Surely that's a testament to the belief you have in yourselves and in each other that you survived?

Well, it was tough, but now we've finally signed with AFM (yay!) and ‘Walk The Earth' is our most successful album. We even hit the national charts in Japan, so there's light at the end of the tunnel.

Have you got any plans to record a future live show for DVD?

Well, I've already asked AFM if they would like to do that because our Japan tour would be a great opportunity. At first they were interested, but then they said it would probably be too expensive. We will probably make it ourselves, we'll find a company which has the guts to do it and they will take the risk, we'll finance it ourselves and sell it to whoever we want.

In the UK, it seems that everybody from the age of 14 to like 94 seems to want rock and metal music, but somehow the mass media just will not allow it to flourish...

Actually, that's the same thing in Germany. We have Manowar at No. 2 in the national charts, but you don't hear them on the radio. All you get on the radio is (does an impression of the drum ‘n ‘bass rubbish that's played on just about every radio station across the bandwidth). But I would love to play [London] Astoria again – it was amazing playing there with Mr Big and Sinner. I love English music – Deep Purple, Zeppelin, the Beatles, the Stones, Gary Moore. The most successful and most innovative bands are from UK – that's a fact. But find me a promoter and I'll call them up!!

Who influenced you to pick up a guitar in the first place?

Oh, that would be Ritchie Blackmore, Ritchie Blackmore and maybe Ritchie Blackmore.

With just a sprinkling of Yngwie Malmsteen on top?

Well, Yngwie's idol is Mr Blackmore! Actually, I'm the same age as Yngwie, we grew up with the same roots, the same kind of music, he's the god of neo-classical and he's amazing, very successful, and I'm still trying to catch up with him (laughs). I'm from the generation where musicians have long hair, look good, have charisma on stage, have their chops in order. Nowadays, however, so many bands go on stage looking like they've just come from a building site, but that's not my cup of tea. Actually, another guitar player I admire is Randy Rhoads. I saw him playing live when I was 17 years old. I was playing guitar at the time, and I already had the idea I wanted to be a musician, but when he came onto the stage, it changed my life completely. It was the moment when I decided "that's it!" After that show I painted my Marshalls white, I bought a guitar like him, and a friend of mine made me a necklace with Randy's Jackson guitar and I still wear it to this day. When I saw him it was of course with Ozzy, Tommy Aldridge and Rudy Sarzo on bass –and there's a link to this next part – my solo album!

Do tell ...?

I'm working on it right now. It is called ‘Alex Beyrodt's Voodoo Circle' and I have Mel Gaynor from Simple Minds on drums and David Readman from Pink Cream 69 on vocals, then I have a real Hammond player and I have Rudy on bass.

You seem to have this magnetic charm to attract amazing vocalists, but how did you get Rudy to agree?

I met him purely by accident at the NAMM show in LA in January. I asked him if I could shake his hand, like a real fan (laughs). He is such a nice person and of course he said "yes". I shook his hand and said how this was a really important moment in my life and whilst I am acting like a fan on the one hand, I am a guitar player etc, so I told him a little bit about me and told him about the show with Randy, and how it changed my life. He was really flattered and shook my hand again and I asked him if he'd play on my solo record, and he said yes immediately.

And how did you meet Mel?

I'm really honoured to have Mel Gaynor actually, because he's such a respected drummer. He has played with Brian May, Gary Moore, Elton John, Tina Turner, Simple Minds. I met him at a music fair in Rimini in Italy. He was doing a clinic there on a huge stage, and just before it started we were introduced and he asked if I'd like to jam with him and his bass player - of course I said yes! He didn't expect it (laughs). I went on stage and started to shred my guitar, all the riffs I could come up with. Mel just looked at me and said "wow, let's rock!" We've been best friends ever since.

What kind of music can we expect to hear on the album?

Deep Purple meets Rainbow and Yngwie Malmsteen. Very melodic, not so much "double kick", more mature. The drums are already recorded and I will record the guitar parts next week with my vintage equipment in my own basement studio. (Mention is made of turning "up to 11" and it transpires that Alex has actually seen Spinal Tap perform live at a guitar show in LA.)

That leads me nicely into "guitar enthusiast" territory. I understand you created a new sound for ‘Walk the Earth'?

Well, I'm glad you asked this question, because I love to talk about it (laughs). It all started one year ago, when I got so tired of all these new bands popping up every month, so I began to listen only to Deep Purple and Rainbow and also Rory Gallagher. When it came to the guitar recordings, I already had some vintage equipment (old treble boosters) and I started to experiment with them with my strats; I changed the pickups then thought I'd do it right, so I bought an old Marshall, old cables and a reel to reel tape recorder. Playing around with these I created "old" new sounds which I call vintage modern or modern vintage. It works so well for me. Nobody uses treble boosters any more. There are so many very good amplifiers out there that it's easy to have a good guitar sound these days, but everybody has the same sound. I wanted to have something else, so I went back to my roots and this is how I came up with the sound.

So that's the classic sound. Where does the "new" sound come in?

Well, the new sound is a combination between an old Marshall and a modern amplifier like an Engl. I also used Crate amplifiers – I do clinics and workshops for them. So my sound on the album is the combination from all three ends of this gear.

Finally, for all the true guitar geeks out there, what pickups do you use?

HS3 at the bridge and HS2 at the neck position. Because of the low output of the Humbucker the Strat still sounds like a Strat, but if you put a high output pickup in a Stratocaster, it doesn't sound like a Strat anymore – it sounds more like an ESP or an Ibanez and it loses character. With a low output pickup the wood on the guitar still acts like a Strat. Hey, when I come to Birmingham in November we should meet and talk more about this!

I'd like to ask you a question about the ‘Missa Mercuria' project. I wondered why DC said that some of the vocals were "impossible" to sing?

Well, I wrote the title track ‘Missa Mercuria' with DC's voice in mind. But the storywriter said she wanted a girl to sing it, because the character had to fit in the story, so I said okay. But she came up with an opera singer who had never even been in a studio before, so it was difficult to achieve a good result, and I still think I should record this song again with DC's vocals.

Do you think there's a possibility that Silent Force could break in the States, especially with an American as a front man?

Well, we played a couple of shows there. We played Prog Power in Atlanta and a couple of shows in Pittsburgh, but I think that with our type of music it's impossible because the US market isn't interested. Actually, because DC was with Royal Hunt, he was always successful in Europe and Japan, and wasn't ever popular in America.

You've had a long career, and I wondered what your best memory is so far?

Well, my best memory and the best moment of my life has got to be meeting my wife in Tokyo. You could say music gave me the gift of my wife. I'm so grateful that I got this talent from somewhere and that someone gave me the power and strength to believe in myself. I still have to work my ass off to make money, but I believe in the music and in myself, so that's why I still do it.

Well, the easy days of making the easy money playing rock music are long gone. Do you think the need to keep working hard helps keep it vibrant and more creative?

Well, that depends on the person. If you work at McDonalds and decide to play in a metal band, I think you'll always dream about more success and you'll try harder. But if you are a bank manager and you have lots of money and play in a metal band, you're not interested in having success. I've met so many musicians throughout my life, so many great guitar players who don't play any more because they never wanted it, they give up and this is something I don't do, I never give up.

What do you think is the secret of longevity in the world of hard rock?

Being on a stage and looking the crowd in the eye, getting a response for what you're doing, is just a feeling which is hard to describe, but it makes you addicted. Not everyone, but I'm certainly addicted to being on a stage, playing my music and making people happy. It's as easy as that. I never made music because of money, I always played because I have to, it's in my blood.

Is there any song that you wish you'd written?

Well, there are a couple. ‘Burn' would have to be one of them and when it comes to ballads, I would say ‘Rainbow Eyes'.

Finally, Alex, for our female readers (and probably the majority of the males). tell me the story of how you met your wife?

Ah, how much time do you have (laughs). About 25 years ago I listened to my first Deep Purple song ‘My Woman from Tokyo'. That song is responsible for me starting to play guitar. The second album I bought was ‘Tokyo Tapes' by the Scorpions. Then I bought ‘Made in Japan'. So I had a strong identification with Japan without even knowing it, and my dream from the beginning was to play in Japan at least once because it's where all the big guys play, and it's where you have success. 20 years later I went to Tokyo with Sinner and Primal Fear, and I arrived on 17th December at 10.00 am. That night we had a party at the Hard Rock Café, and at 10.00 pm I left to go back to the hotel. As I was walking through Roppongi in this city with 11 million people, I saw this girl right in front of me. I thought "She's cute". At the same time, she saw me and acted very shy. So I spoke to her and said "Hi, I'm Alex, what's your name" and she could hardly speak. She said "I'm here to see your show," so I asked her if she lived in Tokyo, but she was from Yamagotchi which is in the south of Japan. So she had travelled to Tokyo to see the Sinner and Primal Fear show the next day. I fell in love with her instantly and of course we met again the next day after the show. I flew back home to Germany, called my mother and said "Mum, I'm in love, I'm gonna quit my relationship with my girlfriend." My Mum said "It's so far away, be realistic", I said I would make it realistic, no matter what. I called Yuko, I wrote her emails, I visited her again during a promotions tour for Silent Force, we met here and there, I invited her to Germany, and to cut a long story short, we were in love and we wanted to be together. After a year, I said we had to make a decision to live together otherwise the relationship would not last. I asked her if she could imagine living in Germany, and she said "Yes, but you'll have to ask my parents". I had never met them before, they are very traditional, so I said I would visit her in Yamagotchi and meet them. I hung up the phone, called my mother and said "Mum, if you love me you will fly with me to Japan". I thought it would be playing the smart card to go with my mother. I didn't want Yuko's parents thinking I was some long-haired rock'n'roll guy coming to steal their daughter and bring her back to Germany, so I wanted to make a good appearance. Yuko told me that her parents, not me, should start the conversation about Germany, but if they said "no" I would have to say "yes" and show strength. I was sh***ing my pants! For 10 days we did all the tourist stuff, and nothing happened. Then the day before we left for Osaka to do more sightseeing, we knelt together in the living room to have dinner, her mother started to ask me lots of questions. I told them I was in love with their daughter and that I would always look after her. Even Yuko's sister had flown from America to meet me - it was a real traditional thing. Then her mother said something and started crying. Yuko translated that they said they would allow her to go to Germany. My mother started crying, her sister cried, Yuko cried, her father cried, the dog was barking, and at this moment I looked at my watch and it was 17th December 10.00 pm, the same day I met her and the same time. I knew right there that I'd marry her and it would be the end of my bachelor days (laughs).

Great story! Maybe you'll write a song called 1710! Silent Force is still pretty huge in Japan, I guess?

You know, the words "respect" and "honour" still have meaning over there – not like Europe or America where these words don't have any value any more, in my opinion. In Japan if you can play your instrument well they admire you and respect you in the true sense of the word. When was the last time you saw Paul Gilbert and Billy Sheehan in a mainstream rock magazine? A guitar magazine, yes, but in Japan they are regularly in Burrn!. I would move there instantly, but the house prices are horrendous (laughs).

Your family has increased by one as I understand you became a father last year - has that major event in your life inspired you to be more creative, or are you just plain exhausted?

The birth of my daughter Melody was the most outstanding experience of my entire life and it has changed me as a person too. I look at things in a more relaxed way now. I don't get much work done if she's around, as I always want to play with her, but they're both in Japan right now, so I'm seizing the opportunity to do as much writing as possible.

I'd just like to say thank you for taking the time to answer my questions in such detail.

Well, I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation. It feels like we're good friends already. Looking forward to meeting you in person later in the year.