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Dave Padden
Annihilator
Interview Köln
12.10.2010
Annihilator Homepage
Annihilator @ MySpace
Our Concert-Special
Hello Dave, thank you for taking time for the interview. Jeff Waters will do it but because of health problems you got the honour.
Hello, not a problem. You have to live with me, the old Dave...
It´s the first time we have the interview with you.
I´ve been doing more and more lately.
Your self-titled album Annihilator is out in store for some months now. How are the reactions about the CD?
They´ve been all really really good. I haven´t found a bad review yet. We got a couple Album of the month on different websites and magazines. It´s gone really good from what I can tell. I haven´t heard anybody would say he think bad about it.
Let´s not only talking about the press - how was the reactions of the fans?
That´s what I´m talking about too - their reactions are really good. Fan-reviews are just as important, if not more.
You’ve already done 6 shows so far, tell us about the experiences from this shows, how did it go?
Really well actually. I keep saying really well but actually they went great. We were a little nervous at first concert. First couple of shows the pre-sales weren´t very high - like for Paris, they wasn´t high at all. So we were kinda nervous, but in the end have been a full venue. That took us by surprise and so we´ve had to learn just stop worry about pre-sales... just waiting for later in the night and see, how the clubs fill up and they all have so far. Everybody´s been having a good time at the shows and all the complement is very well. And the other bands Adimiron and Sworn Amongst are really good. They are getting well received. Good bands too, yeah, very well.
First ten shows there will be Adimiron...
Yes, Adimiron, Italian guys. And then we have a band joining us in Norway called Svölk. They are kind of Sledge/Stoner Metal, like really heavy Queens Of The Stone Age, style kinda stuff Kyuss, things like that but heavier. They sound really cool, so I´m kinda looking for to hear what they gonna do live.
Before the tour started you had a little surprise for everyone; a download compilation CD for free named Total Annihilation. Was this to make the fans ready and excited for the tour?
Yes, I think that and for anybody, who found out now about Annihilator, to give him a little taste of everything from all the other albums. Maybe it´s an inspiration to go and pick up the other records. Whatever, I think it was a good idea and yes, to get people excited for the shows.
Is it also a little bit what they can expect on the setlist?
If I could remember what was on the CD, I could tell you right now. But I have my CD at home... I can´t tell you....
Do you make changes during the tour in the setlist - do you add or remove songs?
The only problem with that is: we have two new members. They only joined us for the Summer Festival tour and they´ve learned quite a few songs. But they haven´t had time to learn a whole lot of songs for us to be interchangeable and to practice them a lot. So we have to live with what we have... We can change one or two things here and there. It´s also for the crew to keep everything running smoothly, how everything goes… It´s easier to plan when everything goes kinda the same every night. A less fans will coming to 8 shows, after some time it´s gonna get boring at last to hear the same songs. The setlist is pretty mixed up, we try to add some songs we haven´t done before… A few couple surprises are there for you, I´m sure.
Sometimes you have to get some special things...
We got one, one more special thing, that everybody is pretty surprised about and so far everybody is really enjoyed it. But I not gonna tell you what it is... you have to see...
When you play in a big hall - did you ever think about to use some pyro effects at your shows by some songs?
Not really. I mean we could, but... These days times are changed a little bit. First of all pyro is really expensive and it´s dangerous in smaller clubs. You have to be one of the bigger bands... It takes a lot of money to keep it going on. It´s better to have a good live show and put on a good show. We don´t really feel like we need pyro....
Is there anything I haven´t ask you and you want to mention or to add into the interview?
I don´t know... this kind of questions always catched me by surprise...
We´ll get also a big surprise...
You got me... My hope is: It´s been going really good until now, hopefully things keep going on that way for the rest of the tour.
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