After the acrimonious split with singer and main song-writer Michael Bormann a few years back, many fans were wondering what Jaded Heart would come up with. ‘Helluva Time' was a great little album, basically following in the same, well-worn tracks of its predecessors. However, nothing could have prepared me for the storming follow up that is ‘Sinister Mind', where Jaded Heart have surely come off age, casting off all doubts and unwelcome shadows – Rock me like a Hurricane, indeed! Bruce Mee catches up with JH mainstays Michael Müller and Axel Kruse...

First of all, let me say how pleasantly surprised I was to hear how powerful, heavy and melodic the new Jaded Heart album is. Was this a deliberate plan of action, to flex your musical muscles, so to speak?

Michael: Thank you very much. That was the plan! The album reflects the feeling of the band these days. We wanted to have an album out with a lot more balls than on our previous albums. We are all more into harder music as long as it is still melodic. Simply put: It makes more fun to ROCK!

Axel: Thanks a lot Bruce!! This album really delivers what we always wanted to do, more kick ass Rock'n Roll with melodic influences!! It was I kind of democratic work out!!

The song quality is uniformly very high through-out. Now, without wanting to dig up too much bad feeling from the past, I understand part of the issue with Michael Bormann was that the band were not happy being unable to have any input into the writing of the songs, which of course is a major point when it comes to royalties. Do you see, specifically with this new album, a total vindication of the choice you collectively made in moving forward without Michael?

Michael: Exactly. Since Helluva Time we are definitely a team which goes in the same direction instead of having discussions about song writing all the time. We are doing what we like and this brought such a fresh feeling to the band. We are five guys who are happy to play in that band together and I think you can hear that on ‘Sinister Mind'.

Axel: I agree, now it's a "band" again, we really try to find a way to keep everybody involved in everything!!

Obviously you must have heard Michael's latest solo album. His words on the title track were quite bitter. What are your feelings about the situation being played out in public like that, and were you ever tempted to respond musically?

Michael: Well, you know... A coin has always two sides.. We never told the press any half-truth story when we had the chance three years ago when we decided that we have to continue without him. That Is not fair. Everyone who was involved in that story knows the whole thing but we are not going to do anything like writing half-truth lyrics about this. Why? That's not us. He is doing his stuff and we are doing ours. But to be honest, I never heard his album, I was only reading about it.

Axel: Actually I didn't hear it, I wasn't interested in what he's doing. We let him live his life, and we do our's, this book is definitely closed FOREVER!! It's not our style to try to put shit over other people!!

So how exactly does the song-writing work these days? Does having Johan Fahlberg living in Scandinavia cause logistical problems with writing, or does the internet solve all problems these days?

Michael: It is pretty easy since there are all those cheap airlines that can fly you to Stockholm within 2 hours. And the internet makes it all very comfortable because we all have our own little studios at home. We are sending mp3 files with song ideas over the internet permanently.

Axel: We met two times here in Germany to jam and work on songs, then we flew to Sweden and worked everything out. All in all it's no problem to work together in these times of internet and cheap flights! The rest is history - I did the drums in Germany with Vossi (Mad Max), so did Mülli with the bass. Keys were recorded in Henning's studio, and the vocals and all guitars were put on "tape" in Sweden. And than Mr."Production God" Lausmann put it all together in Munich and mixed it! We're very pleased with the result!

Firefest 3 was a great success last year, with bands like Wig Wam, Gotthard and Bonfire going down a storm. This year is looking to be an even bigger event. Are you looking forward to playing in England again, and can we expect anything special?

Michael: Yeah, we are really looking forward to that! It makes us really proud to be invited to this great festival! Well, we only have 45 minutes show time but we will try to mix it up with some old classics and brand new songs from Sinister Mind.

Axel: It's a great honour for us to get invited, we will bring some specials and surprises for the fans!! Look out for that! It'll be rockin'!

So, what are the plans for Jaded Heart over the next 12 months?

Michael: Touring, playing and writing songs! We just confirmed some shows to support our heroes UFO in October and November in Germany. After that we'll try to jump on a good tour to promote ‘Sinister Mind' all over Europe.

Axel: So far the reactions to ‘Sinister Mind' are fantastic, and I'm sure there will be more to come later this, and next year! We're really looking out for that! See ya all on tour, and thanks very much to everybody who supports us!