10 minute read

Kissin’ Dynamite

Raging Rock and Roll Explosion

Interview by Ken Morton Photo Credit: Holger Fichtner & Patrick Schneiderwind

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Kissin’ Dynamite is back and ready to bring the party rock and roll to music fans all across the world. Their brand new album is entitled Not The End Of The Road, available via Napalm Records, and jam-pakced with raging stadium rock style anthems. Highwire Daze recently interviewed guitarist Jim Müller to find out more about their amazing Not The End Of The Road magnum opus, working with the legendary Udo Dirkschneider on a previous album entitled Addicted To Metal, their thoughts about playing here in the States, and whether or not they agree with the KISS proclamation that “Rock Is Dead.” Read on...

So let’s talk about the new album, Not the End of the Road. What is the idea for the title of that album?

Yeah. It was just like the perfect putting it all in a nutshell for the whole feeling of the album. It’s all about empowering people to not give up, to spread love, especially in these dark times where you really need to be psychologically stable. Just not to give up. And that’s what it’s all about, because this is definitely not the end of the road and there’s a lot of bigger problems we have. The pandemic is fucked up definitely and it is shitty, but it’s definitely not the end of the road and not the end of the world - yet. Well, for me personally, it’s also a good title to piss off KISS because you know, they say “Rock Is Dead” all the time and shit like that. But you know, I would say the same if the last good song I wrote was in 1985. That’s a good one. Right? (Laughs)

That is a good one. And that’ll be all over Blabbermouth too.

I hope so. I hope so. (Laughter)

So, you’ve done some label jumping from AFM to Metal Blade, and now the Napalm. How did you wind up de-

ciding that Napalm would be the label to release this new album on?

Yeah. We talked with lots of labels and everything. It’s always tough nowadays. It’s like not the same thing anymore like back in the day. Napalm just came up with really good ideas and a good team and the spirit was just right. When it feels good, you need to do that, and that’s what happens with Napalm.

I want to talk about a few of the songs, just your impressions of them. You have a song called Yoko Ono. What do you think of the real Yoko Ono, and what is your impression of that song? And then what would you think if she heard the song?

I hope that she does. Yoko Ono, in person, I don’t know how she is in real life. She’s a great artist definitely and definitely has her right to exist and everything, but I mean, it’s more like a cultural object for me. Yoko Ono. Not just the person itself, but the whole people eating the souls of other people. That’s what comes to my mind when I hear the Yoko Ono name. It’s also not actually the person but the personality. It also sounded great for the song. So, we thought it’s a funny idea to put it all together. And you know, for sure Kissin’ Dynamite, it’s all about entertainment and always with a smile. So, if people don’t get the joke and are offended, you’re welcome. That’s the rock and roll thing.

Coming Home was like a really fun video to make. What does that video and that song mean to you?

It puts all together the whole emotional thing for me of being on tour, doing records and everything. That’s nice, but I do it for the live shows and that’s all I want. I want to be on stage every night until I fall to death. That’s what I live for and that song totally puts it together. In the video, there’s also our new stage setup, which the crew of us was working the whole year to bring it up together like the stages and the lights, and we have stairs and bridges and everything, just like a real Stadium Rock stage. That’s what we wanted. We put all the money we earned over the years into this production. That’s what I think in the video comes over really, really nicely. In the release week, there will be a streaming show with this particular set. or ghost singers.” So we’re talking, I think the first one we asked was actually Alea from Saltatio Mortis. It 13 years ago when our first festival we ever played. Saltatio Mortis was playing as well on the main stage already and they saw our show and we had a good talking and they actually invited Hannes, our singer, to sing a song with them, to do feature, just right at the evening on main stage. So, we always want to do something and to give something back and everything. So, that was really cool that Alea said ye. Also, the ladies from Thundermother are good friends of us. Also, the song itself, everybody’s yearning for a good life. We wanted to spread hope and everything. It was actually a song for the Children’s Cancer Hospital near our hometown.

We put all the money we earned with that song, and sent the money to this organization. We are supporting for a couple of years already, doing some streaming shows. And so, that was a good idea to do a charity single and to give something back, to support a good thing.

It’s like for every year we plan something new and something bigger and something better. It’s like a playground. For me, the stage is the playground and we can form it the way we want it. I think we did a good job. Can’t wait to jump off all these risers.

You have an All-Star cast on the song Good Life. (Alea from Saltatio Mortis, Guernica Mancini of Thundermother, Charlotte Wessells of Delain). How did that song come about?

That track is kind of like a rock gospel, I would say, and we needed a big crowd. And so we thought, “Okay, but we need faces, not just a big chanting choir of unknown people,

Has Kissin’ Dynamite ever played here in the States, or would you like to do so in the future?

Oh I would love to, definitely. But you know, it’s tough. You cannot get your suitcases and go there and just hope that everything will be fine. Nowadays, you need to have a support paying gig and we’re always looking for it. It’s just not happened yet. But we’ve been to 70,000 Tons of Metal. It was the only time we partly have gotten to play the States. I think it started in Fort Lauderdale and we would sail into Mexico and back, and spend some time in Miami and everything. Privately, I’ve been there a couple of times, you know, like L.A., San Francisco and everything. But for the band, it was just not the time for it, but we’re working on it and it’s

definitely going to happen. You don’t know, maybe we’ll get a nice support act for a big Stadium Rock band and tour the US. And then, for sure, we’ll come back to do headliner shows, but you need something to open this kind of territory. So, we are working on it.

The first time I had heard of your band was the album Generation Goodbye, which is actually different from a lot of the other Kissin’ Dynamite albums. When you look back at that album Generation Goodbye, what you think of it now and that particular song in retrospect?

It was kind of that time we were really pissed on social media and how everything works, but well, guess what? It didn’t change for sure. We just had the feeling of shouting this out how we feel. So, I think it was important to do this record and everything. I wouldn’t change anything because we don’t know if we did something different, maybe we’re not here anymore. So I think it’s all good how things came along and you know, that’s for all records of Kissin’ Dynamite. we know him and have such a cool supporter.

Have you heard the new Udo album Game Changer? It’s quite good!

Yeah, absolutely. Also, my friend Dee Dammers is now the guitarist, which is also really funny because I’ve known him for a lot of years now. It’s really cool to see young talented guitarists getting their chance to rock with legends. That’s really cool.

I think that’s also something quite special when it comes to us. The first record we recorded when we were 15, and we had no idea what we were doing. We had no idea what we stand for. I mean when you’re 15, you think you know feelings. “I’ve been there, done that,” but you have no idea what life is all about. So it’s a happy mixture of AC/DC riffs and power metal lines and double bass drums - just like a total mixture of what we thought was cool without having a particular style or just like an idea in our mind. That’s what is so funny about that band. From album to album, you can see how we grew up and how we got better and just how the whole idea came together. And often, bands come out with a debut record where style and everything just fits perfectly together because they’re like 25 or 30. And for us, it captured growing up in our teenager times.

Do you have any messages for the Kissin’ Dynamite fans out here in the States?

No matter how hard the times are and no matter how dark it is, never give up because it’s not about giving up. It’s not the end of the road. I can’t wait to hit the road again and hopefully, also in the US bringing you a nice Stadium Rock Show, probably in a club, but that’s not what it’s about. It’s about the feeling. If you feel you’re in the stadium and you’re in a club, everything is right. I think Nikki Sixx also said to people when they have a stadium rock show in the club, and that was back in the 80s, and it’s still up to date I think. So, I can’t wait to see you guys.

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And then going back to one of the earlier albums, Addicted to Metal, you worked with Udo Dirkschneider. What was your experience like working with him on that particular album and touring with him?

We toured with him a couple of months before recording that album and we got to be really close friends. He’s such a cool guy. I love him. We saw his son Sven growing up. He came to the concert before he was their drummer.

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We had our first drinks together and kind of like showed him the funny sides. His father was just totally cool and I do really miss him. We used to see each other a couple of times a year on different festivals or shows when he was around the corner and everything. I can’t wait to see him again. It always feels like you meet your grandfather or something like that. I think he’s proud of us, how far we got and we’re proud that

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