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Gotthard

From page 76 of Classic Rock Magazine November 2009

Cover of November 2009 issue.

Taking a leaf out of pop poppet Pink's book.

In the UK it's been a case of slow but steady progress for Swiss melodic hard rockers Gotthard, whose current album, Need To Believe, is the ninth in a career of almost 20 years. Meet their singer, Steve Lee.

Need To Believe is cheerier than Gotthard's previous album, 2007's slightly dark Domino Effect.

It's a lot more positive, yeah. Rock'n'roll should be about the joy of playing live and having a good time. We need happy faces in front of the stage.

Apparently Rich Chycki, who has collaborated with artists as diverse as Aerosmith, Rush, Mick Jagger and Pink, called and asked to produce the album. Yeah, Rich has worked with people in a lot of different genres. We liked that. We could have done the album on our own, but Rich brought us a special touch.

Why is classic hard rock making such an emphatic comeback?

It's all about quality. A lot of young people are discovering the music of their fathers. They are tired of all the jumping up and down and posing you see on MTV.

With accumulated worldwide sales of two million albums, how do you view Gotthard's progress in the UK? Our biggest problem was that, after supporting Magnum [in 1992] we never had the chance to come back. But, believe me, we have the fire to work hard and be a success in the UK.

With just three dates Dudley, London and Manchester this time around, will there be a more extensive visit later? I don't have the dates yet, but next year there will be a second leg of the tour. We will definitely be coming back. It would be good to try and get onto some festivals. DL

Dates begin at Dudley on ei - vembet 2.