Visions of Atlantis at Wacken: Pirate Metal, Video Games, and Festival Adventures

0:04 Hi, you have lent too, Yes, that's true, fee wow for you you. This is the pipe Man here on the Adventures pipe Man W four C Y Radio. And I'm here with Mick and Herb from Visions of Atlantis. Yes, here at the Holy Ground of Vakan. Have you guys ever played here before? Multiple times? Yeah? See, I'm not from here, so I didn't know last time. I think it's four years ago. Yeah, it's four years ago. When is the first time you played Vadkin so Visions played here?

0:46 I think in two thousand and seven the first time, wow, if I remember correctly, without us, without the two of us, but it was a dozen yeah, two. I think it was two thousand and seven. There are some videos on YouTube about it. Yeah. But last time we played it was twenty twenty two, and we even recorded a live album that you can find on Spotify. All the platform is called Pirates over Vakan. I love that. That is so cool. And so from what you've seen so far, do you see any changes from the last time you were here? Did you see anything so far? I haven't seen anything, apart from maybe the artist area, which changes every year, and this year it seems especially organized.

1:28 And well, well, I like hearing that because you know, I do a lot of festivals all over the world, and the worst thing I ever want to hear is when an artist has a lot of stress at a festival. It can be very difficult. How do you find like from last time you played here and what you see so far of how Vakin takes care of its artists. So true to be told, because this is important for the listener because they don't know. It's early in the morning. Yes, so we just arrived, so we still did our next floored the festival exactly. That's why important. But I can I like we already feel like every year it steps up. I have to say, like you said, well, this is the holy ground, this is the festival in Europe.

2:14 I think together with Health Fest, let's give tribute and let's mention this. I love health because it's growing. But you know, vucking is valking. You know it's this is the twenties, no, the. Thirties, thirty fifth, thirty fifth, thirty thirty five years years. So it started when I was six years old, can you believe it? And every and every time it steps up, you know it's it's it's unbelievable. It blows my mind. It started like I'm interviewing a band later that was the headliner thirty five years ago, when it was like probably as big as this room maybe yeah wow right, And so it blows my mind. That's why I love about Europe too. You have these like little community festivals like this and health Fest. It start off as these small things and just become these monster communities. I say community, it's not just a festival, it's a community.

3:05 Yeah. And as an artist here, you feel really welcome, really well taken care of. It's always a pleasure to be here. See, that's so important to me. And I've heard the same thing like at health Fest, like every interview I ever did at Healthfest. I went the first time I did. Healfest was right after covid with where they have three hundred and sixty bands over two weekends, and people were telling me not one band went on late and everybody's sound check was like five minutes and perfect, like and that doesn't happen in the States. Good, yeah, yeah, it's. And I imagine vaking is probably on that same level.

3:50 These are these festival where you know, we use radio microphones and you know wireless, microphones, wireless in years and everything. You can tell by the fact when the festival sends you the radio frequencies in advance and you don't discover on site what you have to do, you know that this is going to be a well organized festival. This happens here, and this happens a tail festival. This is so are signed to recognize when you can stay safe. And that is true. Like as you're saying, I'm thinking, yeah, that would be beautiful because if you just show up like I didn't know anything this first time doing Voking for me, and like every other festival, I know the lay of the land, I know where to go, I know what to do. I didn't even know where to go to park where I was supposed to park, like, and I came in here and like nobody knew where the press tent was. I'm like, huh, but I found it, you know. But it's like, if you have to find out that stuff as an artist when you get on that's too much stress to have to do a show.

4:51 So like what you're saying makes me so happy. It's like it's nice to know ahead of time that everything's taken care of, so you can just show up and play. One hundred percent. But this is also thanks to our own crew, who is has been on the stage for more than an hour now setting everything up, getting everything ready for us, and we are doing interviews, press, other stuff, and for us, it's really right going on stage, getting our instruments, rocking the hell out of Vakan and then we can eat. Yeah, right, don't miss catering after you play. That's why it's better to do the press now, because I know a lot of times bands will do press after and then they miss catering, and that that's rough. You want to get some food in it. One thing I gotta say is I brought the weather over here because I don't think Vadkins usually this hot. And I feel bad for you guys dressed up like that and being pirates and getting up on stage and giving it. You're all up there.

5:55 But we've done worse, Yes, we've done worse. So healthast Probably half of it was hell like for real, like that that's the name, that's where the name comes from, you And it was thirty eight degrees thirty eight degrees celsius. So yeah, so that that was that was on the edge. I think I wasn't the verge to pass out. I'm you know, I'm not exaggerating, you know, I was saying, nah, you know, I I mean, I'm a rockstar. And now I was truly on the edge to pass out like then. And I think it was the same for. You, right, Oh, I believe it too. Yeah, And back then I was wearing a different outfit, which with lots of black letter not the best idea in retrospect. Three times I was really getting black before my eyes, black and gray and very close to fainting.

6:39 Oh, I don't doubt that, because like that first year after COVID, the first weekend of health as it was in fahrenheit like one hundred and four degrees, which I think is like fifty celsis, and I was doing an interview in one of the containers there, but it's all the presense black and that undes are black. And literally I was in reviewing John from Skillet. I could not even see him because my eyes were burning from the sweat going in my eyes. I was just sitting there talking. I know where he was. I found out what was like to not be able to see, and you know, it's brutal. So I can't even imagine an artist going up and doing a whole set like this. So my head's off to you.

7:25 But I think it really helps that apart from some interviews and press stuff, we can relax and prepare mentally. Yeah, and we have one hour of showtime. It's one hour of full speed ahead, yeah, pedal to the metal, and then we can relax again. It's not that we're on stage for three hours or more where we would have would really. You wouldn't make it the three You wouldn't make it the three hours. You know. Tennis players have a harder life, that's for. Sure, especially in Florida. Like this is what it's like in Florida all the time. Pretty much. We have two seasons, hot and hotter. Those are our two seasons, and one is an hurricane season.

8:08 And the humidity is way higher in Florida. Because yeah, we've been touring the United States quite sometimes and every time we get to Florida, we're like, WHOA, that's really humid. Oh yeah yeah, well listen, we say living in Florida, we say, to humidity is really low today When it's at ninety five percent, that's low humidity. You have your own scale to measure humidity VISI by the way that but. Like I just did Welcome to Rockville in May, and we got evacuated three out of the four days because it's hurricane season. So during hurricane season, you can guarantee there's going to at least be a torrential lightning storm.

8:48 You can set your watch by it between three and five o'clock like an alarm clock every day. So you know, I had like fourteen interviews cut because of weather. Yeah, you know. And so but here I'm very happy because I've heard horror stories about the weather here and crossing fingers it stays this way. I'll take the heat over the mud and the rain and all that. And the weather forecast looks good for the next days too, it does. Yeah, so it's gonna be a lucky addition. They it's well deserved. You know, they've done so much. It's almost you know, Marphy's Low, because Valkan has done so many renovations to counterstrike the mud and the weather in that they had the last year. So there are like a lot of roads that have been they put asphalt on it or something like, I don't know what exactly to prevent you know, the mess that they had in the in the last years, and now they have the best weather forecast since I don't.

9:47 Know, I know, right, well, that's how it goes, right, And I did notice when I was driving into my parking lot that they had those metal things down. So that's cool because when I went to rent my car at the airport the other day, they convinced me to upgrade to a four wheel drive because I was going to vaking. And I'm like, uh oh, yeah, but I mean for a festival. It's been running for forty five years in the same time for every summer. People have experience. Yeah, exactly, they're used to it. It's just like me and Florida, Like I'm used to it, you know. So it's like, listen, when I got the code read for evacuations during interviews at Rockville, I was like, yeah, I was expecting that. I felt it coming. You can feel it coming to when you're used to it. So let's switch subjects for a second. Let's talk video games.

10:41 Which is a very good bridge to the game you were playing Meek right now, because we did a collaboration with Sartazio Matis reaches Lee for Assassin's Creet for remake the Wow Black Flag the Pirate one, and I think Mek. Is freak enjoying that one now tell us about it. Yeah. So the thing is that I'm one of these few gamers that didn't play the original Black Flag, so I'm discovering the game with the remake, and I obviously took the chance because of this collup that we uh that we released. It was released on the eighth if I'm right of like ninth on. Yeah, so just you know, a couple of days ago, and it's basically the remake of Drunken Sailor. The song is called Reckless Sailor and it's like a metal version of the of the Sea shanty, you know, and this entire vibe. I am a gamer.

11:33 I like, I like playing video games. I mean, I've been a gamer. I have to say he he is the real gamer of the band. But I've been a gamer for for a lifetime basically, and I took the chance to check the game out and now I'm I feel like I'm addicted. I was like, do I really have to go to Waking No, It's it's not like that, but I'm I'm really into it. I think it's it's it's a fantastic uh. I mean it's a fantast the game by default, the gameplay and maybe you know better. I don't think it's so much changed compared to the original, but the visual aspects are unbelieving. I'm sure that's the big difference. I loved the original. I haven't come around to play the remake yet, but what I've seen and heard and read in reviews, gameplay stayed basically the same. There's a little bit more content, and I loved the original. I played it multiple times, and in my opinion, it's still the best Assassin's crit.

12:28 Nice and since he says you're the true gamer. Yeah, how'd that all start for you? How did you first get into gaming? I think it's the fault of my big brother. I got a brother that's nine years older, and I grew up in a Nintendo household because my parents were watching the kids and that we don't play the video games that are too violent. And when my brother was a little bit older and playing stuff like Doom, I was forbidden to enter his room when my parents didn't notice I was still there. Of course. Yeah, and then it was PC gaming for me for a long time, and nowadays I'm playing whatever I can get my hands on, and we're on the road a lot.

13:12 So I really came to love the mobile. Yeah, versions of consoles. I have a switch to, I have a Steam Deck, and I love the big single player adventures. I love playing elden Ring, I love the Witch of Free, I love the new versions of the Legend of seld Up. It's I can get lost in them. And that is the point, right, yeah, you know, like for me, it's always been the only thing that like slows me down to a normal person, like you know, where I'm not like bouncing off the walls when I play video game. It just relaxes me. Yeah, and it can. And even the so called hard video games like the Soulsborn series, which elden Ring is a part of, for me, they're kind of meditating. And sometimes I put an audiobook in and played a game on mute, and it's just I can switch off my brain doing that. Yes, exactly, very important.

14:07 Exactly, That's one reason for me too. So I go way back. I've had pretty much almost every gaming console there's ever been made. I was a little kid, saved up my allowance to go buy the first one ever, the Atari, and I got up. I can't remember how old I was, but I was like, I don't know, maybe for a second third grade something like that. And I saved all this money. I went to go buy it at the store and they told me a higher price than I saw on the price tag because I didn't know about tax and I was so bummed because I didn't have enough money yet, and I had to go deliver more newspapers to get some more money.

14:50 Yeah. But back back in the day's Atari era MS Loss era, I remember the adventure games, and I remember loving Monkey Island, which is also a big pet peeve of Meek and Nice, playing these games multiple times, loving them years or decades before we knew that we would do pirate stuff, you know. See, And maybe that's what led to it. So I got something interesting for you too, Just to go off the gaming for a second. You're playing in Orlando next month. It's about two hours from me, not far from there. Are real life pirates, like I dated. This girl and her family are all pirates that not good pirates either, and they're out in the middle of the Everglades and they're for real like they like and the cop.

15:44 We want to see footage about this. Yeah, yeah, like you look it up. It's it's what is it called devil Something. It's called devil something where they are and it's in the middle of like the Everglades, like near Orlando, but not like right next to Orlando. It's like between me and Orlando. I'm in West Palm, so like probably an hour from Orlando, and it's in the middle of the Everglades. So like, if pirates get you, they can feed you to the gators and nobody will ever know. Whoa Yeah, so interesting. I remember while it's down there, Sure I want to go there anymore. Well, that's what I'm saying. Like, I remember dating this girl. I got a little nervous because she was telling me about this, and I'm like thinking, uh oh, I better not piss this girl off because she's going to get her uncles because it was her uncles. I'm like, her uncles are going to come after me. Luckily I'm still here and I made it to vak In, So I guess I didn't piss her off too bad yet yet exactly.

16:44 So tell tell the listeners too. What was it that was the driving force for the concept of being pirates. So I think this was somehow something the band has been flirting since a long time because if you look up, so first things, first, Visions of Atlantis had a moment, had the rebirth, because there was one band up to twenty thirteen twenty fourteen, and then there is a new history from twenty fourteen on after the rebirth, the entire nautical concept. Let's call it like this. I love this combination of words, the high Sea Adventures, the highlight adventures.

17:28 May want to become a pirate, I. See, like where became became an integral part of the overall storytelling around the band, But we never really went one hundred percent all in in the pirate theme until two records ago, the album called Pirates. Obviously this is where this is where we made a statement, you know, because twenty eighteen, the album The Deep and the Dark came out and there were songs like the Silent Mutine and others, you know, the we're definitely pirate songs, you know, or better still, symphonic metal because this is what we do with nautical teams, with romantic pirate pirates of the Caribbean styles, you know, thematics.

18:11 Well, it's funny you said that, because my next thing I was going to say to you is, you guys got to go on tour with Hollywood Vampires and have Johnny Depp get dressed up and come on and play with you guys. I will ask Johnny if it feels like it, it would be that that would be a dream, you know, like that would be a dream to have like any part of the anyone from the cast of Pirates of the Caribbean, like for a feature. That will be a dream coming true for us, you know, because of course it sounds silly, but the visual craft that they did with Pirates of the Caribbean is a huge inspiration for us. Right. But yeah, since then, we flirted more and more to the team until at a certain point we were like, guys, let's let's face this, like this is what we do.

18:53 Why are we not making the next step? And we are like being ninety eight percent there, let's go one hundred percent. It's already eight Let's make it square, you know, And we did. And I think this was the best thing we could have done because it truly create this universe around us that has a very deep meaning to be honest, because it's not just about putting on pirates clothes and telling stories. It's about creating a community, creating an ideal of people that wants to live their life the way they want that, at least with music, can break free from the rules of the everyday life that everyone has, you know, and we really take people by the hand, bring them for one and a half hour whatever the length of our show is, to a different reality where just like what we were talking about before, like playing video games, you can shut your brain off, enjoy, relax, rest and then go back to the friendsiness of life, you know, like and this is what we do. This is why we dress up like this, this is why we want to present ourselves this way. It's it's I think it's a noble cause because nowadays people deserve some rest.

19:57 People deserve to take a break and to think of what they like, what they want and enjoy. You know, we need the escape from reality for sure nowadays. This is why TV series movies are huge nowadays. You know, Yeah, so anything, no, I think you said everything, and you said it exceptionally. Well, you guys, rock one last thing before you go, and just tell people how they can reach out to you, connect with you join your community and tell them to check out your new song that dropped on the ninth of July. So, first of all, it's so easy nowadays. Just get on any social network type Visions of Atlantis and either US or one of our fan clubs will pop up, and then they will lead you to our website and all the official pages, which should always be the most reliable sources of information out anything around the band. So pretty easy. Visions of Atlantis. Don't forget the s festivals, forget the S. It's not vision, it's visions.

20:56 Yeah, that could be a big mistake, right. Just kidding about it, because nine festivals out of ten on our dressing room the right vision of Atlanti's and the Visions of Atlantis. But yeah, we have a US tour coming out so and we as you said, mentioned twice already, we played Florida. The first show is in Orlando, but all the show dates are already announced. There is a VP upgrade, which is a pretty special one because we play an acoustic set. We're not one of this band that just want money from the fans. Oh you got to meet us. We actually want to offer something cool, and we do a school and we do a twenty twenty five minutes acoustic set. So it's an extra, it's a show in a show, and I think this is valuable, you know, it's not only of course, I'm not gonna bullshit around anyone, you know, Like the reason why you do a VP is because you gotta make things square, you know. But we want to do it right. We don't want to just take advantage of those who love our music. We actually want to offer something. There are goodies, there is the acoustic show. There is a lot that is happening. And yeah, that's easy. Just go on Visions of Atlantis dot A. Check out our two dates, check out our VP of grades, check out who we are if you don't know who we are, because this is also possible. And that's it easy.

22:09 And I'm so excited for you being here at Vadkin and you're gonna entertain us big time. So thanks a lot for that, and thanks for being on the Adventures of pipe Man. Thanks for having us and rock on or as. They say, for Vadkin Party on Raino Shine. Thank you for listening to the Adventures of Pipeline. I'm w for CUI Radio