Krokus guitarist Fernando von Arb says that The Blitz producer Bruce Fairbairn is a very normal human being

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON FEB. 1, 1985

By Steve Newton

Swiss heavy-metalists Krokus were scheduled to play the Commodore Ballroom late last year, but touring commitments with Sammy Hagar forced cancellation of the gig. And it’s too bad, because–since the band is touring behind their strongest LP yet–the show promised to be an exciting one for local headbangers.

But hold on kiddies–don’t go burning your Headhunter albums and “Eat the Rich” t-shirts. Guitarist Fernando von Arb called me from Louisville, Kentucky recently and promises that Krokus will be here in 1985. In fact, he calls Vancouver his “second hometown”, having spent several weeks here last summer recording The Blitz (at Little Mountain Sound) and hanging out with the likes of Bryan Adams, the Payola$’ Bob Rock (who engineered the album) and Bruce Fairbairn (who produced it.)

The last time Krokus played Vancouver was in 1982, when they backed up Motorhead at the Kerrisdale Arena. Since then the band have improved tremendously in their recorded work, and progressed from the too-AC/DC-ish sound (a great band, but who needs two of them?) that clouded their One Vice at a Time album.

In the following interview von Arb talks about the current album, its songs by Bryan Adams and the Sweet, and life on the road in a “healthy-metal” band.

Are you getting along well with Sammy Hagar?

Oh yeah, he’s good, you know. It’s an open battle, a musical fight onstage. It’s a real good competition. What can I say–we kick his ass so he has to work harder. Great package.

Congratulations on your new album, The Blitz. I understand it’s doing quite well for you.

Yeah, it’s doing absolutely great! We are already gold in Canada, and American now. I can not complain [laughs].

How did you come to record the song written by Bryan Adams, “Boys Nite Out”?

Well when we came to Vancouver Bryan Adams was still in the studio working on something. So we got to know him a little bit. He had a tape of a song that was a little bit too heavy for him, and we had a song that was called “Bang Bang” or “Let’s Go Bang Bang”, whatever it was called, kind of a …[chuckles mischievously] song with too heavy a lyric. So we listened to his song and decided to take his quote “It’s a boys nite out” and fit it into ours. So it’s a combination of those two songs.

What about “Ballroom Blitz”? It’s an old Sweet song.

Well that was a five-minute, live recording not even planned to be on the album. We liked it and put it on anyway. That’s rock and roll, you know [laughs].

I understand it was suggested by Clive Davis, the president of your record company, Arista.

Yeah, he wanted to have it as a demo last year, and we actually only wanted to make a demo of it this year, because we already had everything recorded for The Blitz. But we just learned the song quick and played it, then said, “Wow that sounds great, that sounds rough.” And we left it that way.

Were you a fan of the Sweet?

Well, we were not fans of the Sweet, but the funny thing is, they were great musicians. And always on the flip side of a single they had great tunes, you know. But their single hits were a little bit too sweet for us. “Ballroom Blitz” sounds completely different when we play it, it has nothing to do with the Sweet.

In your PolyGram Records bio Marc [Storace, lead vocalist] is quoted as saying: “In this screwed up world we decided that it’s not wise to go ahead preaching death and destruction anymore.”

Well yeah, that’s our personal belief. Why should we put on a 60 or 90-minute rock show that is only in that direction–blood and guts all over the place. I have been to other rock shows and heavy metal shows where people go out depressed after hearing nothing but the same dark shit. That’s no fun, you know. We believe in a party, in an “upper” feeling.

Do you call your music “healthy-metal”?

Well we didn’t call it that–some idiot at the press office called it that, so now people think we are health-food nuts and yogurt fans and whatever [laughs]. It has to do with a positive attitude. We just don’t sing constantly about “kill your neighbour” and whatever. “Rob your grandma”. It’s silly. It’s stupid, It’s even ridiculous!

I’ve heard that everyone in the band studies karate.

Well, we have a karate teacher on the road. And I took it in the beginning almost every day, but the show and everything is very exhausting, so now I do it on the days off. I cannot work out as hard as I would like to, but I learn a lot just theoretically. When I have some time I can go for it, but really right now the show is the most important thing.

When we were in the studio in Vancouver we went to karate lessons with [martial-arts master] Pat McCarthy in the morning. We didn’t waste any time. But on the road the nights are long. We go to bed three, four, sometimes five o’clock and sleep till 12. Normal people can’t even imagine how it is because they think, “Wow, that must be great fun!” The rocking and the playing is fun, but the traveling can kill you.

You played both rhythm and lead guitar on The Blitz.

I played all the guitars on Blitz because back then we had no bass player. The rhythm player, Mark Kohler, quickly learned the bass and played all of it on the album. But now we have a bass player again and Kohler has gone back to rhythm guitar.

Your new bassist, Andy Tanas, wrote most of the material for the last two Black Oak Arkansas albums. Did his southern rock background cause any problems fitting into Krokus?

Well he is from Memphis or somewhere around there, but he has lived in California for years now. And he fits in great with the band. I mean he’s not like [fakes a southern accent] “Wail let’s play some southern rock y’all.”

How was Bruce Fairbairn different from the other producers you’ve worked with over the years?

Well Bruce Fairbairn is an absolutely down-to-earth guy, you know. He is a very normal human being [laughs]. He’s not freaking out about things. And he had a great overview of everything. He kept the stuff together.

Where is the current tour going to take you?

Well first we do the West Coast, down to San Diego and New Mexico. And after we take a break we go for three weeks in the deep south with Kiss. And after that we headline again, but where we don’t know. We could go to Europe.

Too bad you couldn’t make it up to Vancouver.

We are gonna do that–no problem. It mean we’ve been talking about Vancouver and all the places we have been to there. We have seen bands in the other clubs, and we were in the good restaurants–we had good Indian food, good Italian. We were in Stanley Park, you know. We love this place. So we want to play there, definitely.

To hear the full audio of my 1984 interview with Fernando von Arb subscribe to my Patreon page, where you can also eavesdrop on my uncut, one-on-one conversations with:

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