Victory
Ten Years And A Few Beers Later

15.03.2022

Архив интервью | Русская версия

The global pandemic is not the best time for reunions: actually, it rather calls for separations, staying on your own, isolated and uncreative. But heavy metal has always been about defying the odds, and Herman Frank, who used to play guitar in premier German metal band Accept (as well as in Sinner and quite a few other famous names) is a great example of that. His old band Victory has had quite a few breakups and resurrections over the past three decades, but in 2021, ten years after their previous album “Don’t Talk Science”, the band finally seems to be back for real. We already had an opportunity to talk to Herman about his solo band back in 2017, but this time we were focusing more on Victory-related matters – their latest record, “Gods Of Tomorrow”, and the band’s storied history…

You played a few shows with Victory after the COVID lockdown some days ago. How did you like this experience? Have the crowds become more enthusiastic, maybe?


Definitely they have been very enthusiastic. Maybe it was just because they finally had the chance to visit a show. I can say for myself that I was very excited about this, and the shows went pretty well, and it felt like coming home.

Judging by the tour posters we’ve seen on the Internet, your current and future shows are focusing on the material of three Victory albums – the new one, “Culture Killed The Native” (1989) and “Temples Of Gold” (1990). Why did you decide to focus on these particular records? You have so much other material…

Because there was not enough space on the poster to put all the records up! (everybody laughs) I guess “Culture Killed The Native” and “Temples Of Gold” were successful, and most people want to hear mostly songs from these two albums. We also do a couple of songs from “Hungry Hearts” (1987), for “Don’t Get Mad… Get Even” (1986), from all the records, but as I said, there was not that much space on the posters. Maybe the reason was there was the 30th anniversary of these two albums a year ago, and we had plans to do a couple of anniversary shows, but then COVID showed up, and we decided, “OK, on the new tour…” In the meantime we’re releasing a new album, on November 26, so what we’re doing at the shows is a mix of the new album, the new titles from the new record, and the older classics. If we have to play every song that people would like to hear, it might take five or six hours.

How was it like working on the new album in the COVID era? Did you do everything via the Internet, or did you have any face-to-face contact with the other band members?

I prepared all the songs in my little studio, then I sent out a couple of files, and Gianni (Pontillo), the new singer, worked really hard on the vocal lines and the lyrics. We started on the Internet with Whatsapp audio and Zoom video calls and stuff like that, and I booked a studio in Hannover, Horus Studio, a well-known studio from the past, and told everybody, “OK, everybody get tested, I’m booking it for 14 days, we’re gonna hide in the studio”. Everybody showed up with a test, we entered the studio, and I locked the door. The flats for the people were upstairs at the studio, nobody was able to leave or anything, we would write a list of what we needed for the next day, what kind of food or what kind of drinks they wanted to have, and somebody would go to the supermarket, buy all the stuff and place it in front of the door for us to pick up. We were very much like monks, nobody left the studio for 14 days, and nobody else came to the studio. I had prepared my guitars in my little studio upfront, and everybody else was recording their stuff over my guitars - we did drums, bass and vocals. That was the thing I really wanted to do, because I wanted to have the same feeling that we had on the older albums when a band showed up in a real studio and for rehearsals. I don’t like writing songs or recording via the Internet, that’s not my style.

When we talked in 2017, you said that you were waiting for Jioti Pacharides to recover his voice. How is he doing at the moment? Does his absence in the band mean that he is not able to sing yet?

He’s not able to sing yet, it’s the same situation. As I said, we waited a couple of years, and then he had to make a decision, and the decision was: if he started singing, he would injure his voice totally. That was the reason for the long break that we had. Then I started looking at a couple of guys, who might be able to sing this new stuff and also older classics. It’s not easy to sing like Charlie Huhn, or Fernando Garcia, or Jioti. All of a sudden two years ago I was doing a show with my solo band at a festival in the south of Germany, and when I entered the venue, there was a support band playing. I said to myself, “Wow, what a singer!” I watched the show of this band, it was called The Order, it was Gianni’s original band, and after his gig I started talking to him and told him about my ideas about Victory. That’s where it all began. And that’s the reason why we had such a long gap between records.

Have you considered bringing back Fernando Garcia…

(interrupts) No. A very quick answer!

But why not, especially as you’re focusing on his time in the band?

I tried to contact Fernando Garcia eight or ten years ago, I even can’t remember, and it was impossible to get him on the phone because of his female manager. (everybody laughs) Yes, it’s a true story! Maybe it was his girlfriend or somebody, I don’t know, but it was impossible, I tried a couple of times. These days I’m really lucky that it didn’t happen, because I saw a couple of videos where Fernando showed up, and I think Gianni is much better looking, and his voice is in a much better shape. It’s fantastic what kind of voice this guy has. He’s able to sing all the old stuff easily, and he’s got his own character. I really love this guy.

You and your new guitar player, Michael Pesin, have known each other for a long time. You produced his bands Magistarium and Thomsen back in 2009, but he only joined Victory and the Herman Frank band a couple of years ago. Why did it take you so long to bring him into the fold?

When I produced his first album, he was a really young guy. But when I watched him playing, I already knew that he was really talented. It took him a couple of years to get to this ultimate shape, and a couple of years ago I remembered this guy. We had always been in touch more or less, calling each other up once in a while, and when I remembered him, I said, “I’ll just give him a chance”. We started practicing, and right now he’s in the shape that I do need.

When we talked in 2017, you said that your former bass player Fargo-Peter Knorn didn’t wanna play bass anymore. So we were quite surprised when he reformed Fargo and started touring with them. Why isn’t he willing to come back to Victory?

It’s a good question. I also called Peter two or three times, but maybe the heart of rock’n’roll isn’t beating that strong in his chest as in my chest. You can’t blame other guys, he’s over 60 years old, and maybe he’s doing Fargo just a little bit, they’re doing two or three shows a year, and they don’t travel that much. I mean, it’s easier going out with Fargo, and he doesn’t wanna get back into the music business full time. With Victory, we’re touring in different countries, and we’re definitely gonna play more shows that 10 or 12 a year. Maybe that’s too much for him. He’s just old now, maybe he’s too tired for this.

Speaking about the new album, who are the “Gods Of Tomorrow”, which you are referring to in the title track?

You are, your partner is, I am, everybody is. If you’re looking around the world, we have to come with a couple of solutions, with a couple of new ideas. (laughs) All the people are waiting for some advice from the universe or somewhere, but this won’t come, so I think we have to take the place, and we’ll be the gods of tomorrow ourselves. We’ll have to handle all the things we have to handle, and we have to come with some solutions by ourselves. Everybody should be the god of tomorrow to keep the world turning around.

Gianni is responsible for the lyrics on the new album, and in your solo band you’re collaborating on the lyrics with Rick Altzi. Is there any difference in the way that you’re working with these two singers?

Not really. It’s not only their responsibility what they’re going to sing, we have to discuss this in a hard way once in a while. There’s a difference in the themes they should talk about: Victory is more about sex, drugs and rock’n’roll, love and stuff like that, and Rick is a little bit more about fighting the world, hating somebody (laughs) or “we wanna be warriors”. As Victory is more of a rock’n’roll band, or, as I would call it, a classic rock band, you have to come up with some different themes and some different lyrics. Luckily, Gianni really likes to write about girlfriends, his wife or whoever from his past – you fall in love, you miss somebody and stuff like that.

Many people know the band from your albums of the 80s and 90s. How would you compare “Gods Of Tomorrow” to your early material? If somebody hasn’t heard any Victory stuff for 20 years, will he or she be surprised with the new record?

I’m sure about that. As I started working on the new Victory album, I reminded myself of our successful albums, “Culture…” and “Temples…”, and I wanted to keep that spirit alive. I tried to compose songs in that style, and I think we succeeded. That’s the reason why we went back to the Horus Sound Studios – “Don’t Get Mad…” was recorded there, and I really wanted to keep the same spirit. If you ask me in honest, I didn’t like “Fuel To The Fire” (2006) and stuff like that, not that much anymore.

Victory have never had a proper live DVD. Is it something you have in your future plans?

With the new voice – yes. But it’s difficult to do. Nowadays people are used to live DVDs from big festivals – really big pictures, big stages and stuff like that. If COVD hadn’t happened, we would have already been booked for Sweden Rock, Bang Your Head! and Metalfest, for example, but as these shows have been cancelled, we will have to wait at least for next year. If they happen, we might film it.

We would like to ask you a few questions about the history of Victory, if you don’t mind. First of all, how did you personally join Victory? When that happened, the band already had one album released, right?

Yes, you’re absolutely right, they had one album released, the first one called “Victory” (1986). I was hanging around next to Stuttgart, there was a band called Sinner, and Tommy (Newton, former guitarist) was born in that area. He knew that I was hanging out in the same bar every night (laughs), so he just showed up and said, “We’re looking for a new guitar player”. I said, “OK, I’m interested. Your singer is Charlie Huhn, I know this guy”. So I showed up in Hannover and joined the band, that’s how it started with Victory.

For the avoidance of doubt, Charlie’s last name is pronounced [h’jun], right?

Yes, that’s how he said it himself. When he would pick up the phone, he would always say, “Charlie Huhn..,”. That’s a strange name for an American guy. And in German “Huhn” means “chicken”, so we would always call him “Chicken Charlie” (everybody laughs)

In the late 80s and early 90s Victory was one of the most successful German rock bands, with many albums in Top 20. What happened after the release of “Liveline” (1993), why did the band pretty much split up?

There was a couple of reasons. For the successful albums “Don’t Get Mad…”, “Culture…” and “Temples…” we had a producer, Albert Boekholt, we were recording at Wisseloord Studios, the biggest one in Europe, and this guy, Albert, was also working with Def Leppard, and we had really experienced people around the band. The other reason was that we had the American management, Thomas Hulu, and they lifted up the band in a real way. The record company was ready to invest money and send us round the world, everything happened, the band was growing up, and all of a sudden, some egos showed up in the band. Peter wanted to manage the band again, as he had been our manager before Thomas Hulu, there was a bit of a trouble between them, and we lost our management. Meanwhile Tommy wanted to produce the band by himself. Maybe that was the wrong turn.

Early Victory albums with Charlie Huhn were re-released by Sony Music a while ago. But what about records like “Temples Of Gold”? Are there any plans to re-release them as well, especially as you’re celebrating them on the current tour?

Actually I was thinking about that, too, and I called my lawyer friend, former U.D.O. guitar player Matthias Dieth, I’ve been in contact with him for a long time. I said, “Hey, you’re a good lawyer in the music industry, why don’t you just ask record companies?” Right now there are no plans to re-release any albums, but he’s talking to record companies, that’s all I can tell.

After Victory split, you went on to form Moon’Doc with Chris Bay on vocals. It’s interesting that both Chris and you had a successful career after Moon’Doc, but Moon’Doc as such didn’t quite take off. What was the reason, in your opinion?

Chris wanted to form his own band, and without a singer you can’t go on. That’s quite an easy answer. He wanted to do his own band, Freedom Call, and he was successful with the first album, and he didn’t want to go on with Moon’Doc.

On the Metal-Archives website, Helge Engelke of Fair Warning is listed among former singers of Moon’Doc. Is this information correct? Did Helge really sing in Moon’Doc?


No, never! He’s not even singing on his own records! I mean, I know Helge very well, he’s living next to Hannover, and I worked with him a couple of times, he did the mastering of a couple of albums. He’s a very good guitar player, but I guess he’s not a good singer.

What brought Victory back together in 2003? Did the reunion stand up to your personal expectations?


As you see, I’ve never given up on Victory. We tried to do a reunion, but it turned out that a couple of members couldn’t invest the efforts and keep the pace that you need to get going with the band again, to get successful. There were already the first signs… That’s the reason why I have new members now.

Going back to the present times, many musicians with a long history find it very difficult to get inspired these days. If we look at Paul Stanley, for example, he says it openly that no one needs a new Kiss album. But you have released two new studio albums this year alone. What inspires you to write so much new music?


It’s just my life. I’m living music. It’s the best that can happen to me. When I get up in the morning, most of the time, at least a couple of times a week, I pick up my guitar, and there are guitar riffs, and harmonies, and melodies in my head. I think I have thousands of ideas on my iPhone, on cassettes or anything. I just wanna do music. There’s no particular reason why I do this, maybe because I can? (laughs)

It’s been a while since we haven’t heard anything from Poison Sun. Are there any chances to hear a second album from this band?


Oh, that was just a one-off. Actually I’m producing an album with my wife this year, but what she’s doing is more in the singer-songwriter genre. We’ve recorded 11 or 12 originals that she wrote, and the concept is that she’s just playing guitar and singing to it.

Your old colleagues Udo, Peter, Stefan and Matthias Dies whom you have mentioned today have recently released three new songs together as Dirkschneider & The Old Gang. Don’t you think you’re kind of missing in this equation?

(laughs) That’s a question you must address them, you should ask Udo or Peter about it. No, I don’t feel like that anymore. But maybe they wouldn’t mind having a big band, you know.

What do you think about the present-day metal scene? Do you check out new releases by younger bands, or do you prefer older classics?

As I’m over 60, I prefer older classics, but if you look at the line-up of most of the festivals, prime time slots are mostly taken by the bands with older guys, older metal, classic stuff.

Does it mean that there’s nothing by younger bands that inspires you?


You can’t say that. I’m listening to a lot of music and a lot of different kinds of music. But for me personally, I just wanna spend my time on the music I grew up with, I really like and I might really have a talent for this kind of music. It wouldn’t be worth if I try to copy or come up with a new kind of metal, I never try to do death metal or speed metal or something like that. It’s not my style. I’m just doing my style, and I just want to spend the last 20 years I have in life on composing my own songs.

You’ve been playing music for more than 40 years. Do you still have any goals that you want to reach or dreams that you want to realize in the field or music, or are you just living it day by day, so to say?


No, I don’t live day by day. I want to have success with my two bands that I have right now – the Herman Frank solo thing and Victory, I want to have a chance to tour a couple of countries I would like to visit again, like Russia, for example. And for me personally I would like to play lead guitar as good as I have in mind.

Victory on the Internet: http://www.victory-band.com/

Special thanks to Irina Ivanova (AFM Records) for arranging this interview

Roman Patrashov, Natalie “Snakeheart” Patrashova
November 15, 2021
© HeadBanger.ru

eXTReMe Tracker