Here’s a band that has definitely captured some attention in the past couple of years, coming out of Krefeld Germany is Rock Ignition! When first listening to their music, I had somewhat of a flashback to an 80’s style of Heavy Metal music that brought back so many great memories. Yes guys, I was head banging with the best of the best back in the day. I guess that’s why I’m really getting a kick out of talking to these amazing musicians that are coming up and bringing a new set of fans to what I consider to be a very addictive lifestyle! You have to have the right stuff when it comes to playing Heavy Metal and this young lady and her band definitely have what it takes! Now I could sit here all fucking day and talk about Heavy Metal music and spread the word about Rock Ignition, but damn-it I think we should give them a chance to tell you a little bit about who they are and what they see coming their direction!
Metal Monthly: Ok Heather, I have to just say thank you for taking the time to sit down and talk with us here at Metal Monthly about you and your band Rock Ignition!
Heather: Hi Tammy, It’s my pleasure! Thanx for inviting me!
Metal Monthly: Rock Ignition! Impressive! What can you tell our readers and your fans about yourself and what you hope to see coming your direction in the near future?
Heather: Well, when Rock Ignition started, all we had was one song and 2 band members, which would be me and bassist Jürgen Steinmetz. We didn’t expect so much attention and so quickly! So we decided to put up a real band together and record a Cd to satisfy not only our big love for hard rock music, but also the continueous requests of our new fans! They wanted more! That’s how our EP “ I Can’t Resist” was finally born. We are also lucky enough to have found our friends from Rock Inc. in Benelux who love and support our music and are promoting and distributing our EP all over the globe. In the next months we plan to keep promoting our EP, with more live gigs and probably some acoustic shows.
Metal Monthly: “I Can’t Resist” has been getting some great reviews since it’s debut, but there’s been some changes here lately. What’s going on with that and has myspace been able to helped the band bring it out to the fans?
Heather: We’re actually very happy and positively surprised about how the magazines and webzines have reviewed “ I Can’t Resist”. Being our debut album we were of course quite nervous and not sure of how the people would react, but I have to say that the result was really overwhelming! We are definitely happy about the good reviews but the most important thing for us are our fans, and the biggest satisfaction comes from reading their emails where they show us how big is their love and support for Rock Ignition…believe me, that has no price! Myspace has definitely been our launching platform, and also an excellent solution to make our music accessible to everybody, it’s definitely the biggest invention in the music world!
Metal Monthly: After checking you out, I’ve noticed with the style of your music, you seem to be mainly influences by the 80’s. So tell me, what bands grabbed your attention and pushed you into fulfilling that Rockers dream?
Heather: There are definitely lots of bands that influenced us, too many to name! Personally talking, I grew up listening to bands like Bon Jovi, Europe, Queen…and later Aerosmith, Skid Row, Mr. Big. But I have to say that one of the bands that I’ve been playing minimum once a week on my stereo for the past ten years is Little Angels…those guys are awesome! Everytime I listen to their tunes I just wanna jump on stage and rock the world!
Metal Monthly: Role Reversal Heather; Your the fan! So tell me, what concerts are you hitting and who the hell is playing?
Heather: Aha…nice question!;-) A couple of weeks ago we decided to visit the Firefest in Nottingham, what a great bill! Our good friends from Jaded Heart played, the amazing musicians of Harem Scarem and the kickass guys from Tyketto. I also love to see some metal bands, the last one I saw was Symphony X, with one of the greatest singers I’ve ever seen live, Russel Allen. My dream would be of course to see Little Angels live…but unfortunately it’s too late for that..L
Metal Monthly: Going into the hot factor here Heather, you’ve hooked up with some fucking hot guys here. You have Juergen Steinmetz on Bass, Oliver May on Guitar and Christian Sommer on Drums! How did this come about? Tell us a little bit about your band if you could.
Heather: Sure! Juergen is the co-founder of Rock Ignition and our team work is excellent since we both have almost the exact same taste (well…almost);-)
Juergen has been playing also in a metal band called Silent Force since 2000, and touring with them in Europe, America and Japan.
Christian and Oli were already good friends when they joined the band, since they had played together in a hard rock band called Punchline. Both of them are very experienced musicians and had bands with record deals in their past.
Metal Monthly: Have any of you had any particular training before making your way to the scene?
Heather: I’ve had vocal lessons for the past 9 years, but I have to say that I’ve learned the most by playing in the rehearsal room and onstage, and I’m sure I can talk for the other guys too. There is no particular training to be a rockstar…just play, play and play!!;-)
Metal Monthly: Any advice to young bands starting out?
Heather: My only advice would be not to give up. This business is damn hard and only the ones who really want it and don’t let themselves be pushed around can make it. Fight for your dream!
Metal Monthly: Now being a Kick Ass musician isn’t all you have going for you! I’ve been reading that you are also a dancer. Ok is there anything you don’t do? Tell us a little bit about what Heather is up too these days, other than touring with the band.
Heather: Ha,ha! There’s many things I can’t do! But yes, I’m also a professional dancer. I started studying classical ballet at the tender age of 8 and I haven’t stopped since. When I moved to Germany, almost 4 years ago I decided to change style a bit and started getting into musicals, television, etc. At the present I’m performing in “Jesus Christ Superstar” at the opera house in Essen and doing promotion shows for the great Queen musical “We Will Rock You”.
Metal Monthly: Can you tell the fans what bands you’d love to see yourself touring with in the future?
Heather: I can see Rock Ignition touring with big bands like Scorpions, Aerosmith, Motley Crue, Doro, Skid Row…I’m sure it would be great fun and we’d absolutely kick some ass!
Metal Monthly: For the fans here in the US, are we going to be looking at any tour dates hitting us anytime soon?
Heather: At the present we’re planning some gigs in Germany and Benelux, and probably something in Italy and UK too. But of course we can’t wait to hit the US, where we know that hard rock is still more than alive! So we promise we’ll try our best to get there as soon as possible.
Metal Monthly: I’ve asked this question before with others I’ve interviewed. Did you ever imagine the attention you’ve been getting from the fans and if given the opportunity to speak out to the fans, what would you tell them?
Heather: We absolutely didn’t imagine to get so much attention! But we’re so grateful, and I definitely want to scream out a big thank you to all our fans out there: You are the best! Without you guys, nothing of this would’ve happened! So thanx again for your continueous support and for all the great emails we receive from you, you won’t believe how important they are to us. Keep spreading the word about Rock Ignition and hope to meet you on tour! Rock on!!
Metal Monthly: Well it’s that time, to say our goodbyes and wishes for greatness! Keep up the great work and for God sake don’t change! The fans are impressed and wanting more! Now for those fans that didn’t know, Rock Ignition has a site out here online to hook you up with official band merchandise over at http://www.rockignition.com/shop.html If interested you should hit it up! Also be sure to head on over to their myspace page as well. http://www.myspace.com/rockignition to keep up with where their heading and get a taste of what they have to offer when it comes to their music!
