Wallop: Crash Banging Away with Hell On Wheels

Wallop: Crash Banging Away with Hell On Wheels

After drummer Stefan Arnold left Grave Digger in 2018 after almost 23 years, it was time to resurrect the cult band Wallop! The German heavy metal veterans released the highly acclaimed debut album Metallic Alps in 1985, disbanded afterwards, and reunited 35 years later in their original line-up just as loudly, aggressively and enthusiastically!  After the comeback Alps On Fire manifesto (2020), Wallop has unleashed their third magnum opus entitled Hell On Wheels!  Featured within are 1o dynamic crash banging metal entreaties that will launch this underground sensation into the stratosphere!  Highwire Daze recently interviewed drummer Stefan Arnold to discuss the almighty Hell On Wheels, the Raven connection, his time spent within the ranks of Grave Digger, and more…

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Wallop and how long the band has been together.
I’m Stefan Arnold, drummer for Wallop.  Basically, the band was founded in 1982-83, but we stopped the band. I think end of 1985. Then I joined Grave Digger. But first I joined Grinder, Capricorn and finally Grave Digger. And Grave Digger ended for me in 2018. And Mikk got the idea, why should we make kind of a reunion and play at least one show here in our hometown Offenbach.  And we said we will see how successful this single show will turn out if we go on with Wallop or if we really finally end the story of Wallop. So, the show was very successful, and we decided to go on.

The album title Hell On Wheels, is there any overall story or concept behind it?
Our singer is very interested in tanks, trains, locomotives and that stuff, planes. And he was very excited about writing a song about the American 4-4-0. That is a kind of a wild west train and in that combination, we wrote the song Hell On Wheels to make that little kind of a small concept.  And when you recognize in the artwork of the cover, you see in the background the Alps. So as a connection to Alps on Fire and Metallic Alps, the two albums before. But it’s a small concept, it’s nothing what goes like a real thread through the whole album.

And I have to say you guys have the coolest logo ever.
Yeah, thank you. That’s something very important in my opinion, to have an interesting band name and an interesting logo. This logo was designed by an American soldier who was stationed here in Frankfurt. And he visited one of our very beginning shows and he was completely excited about our music. And this guy created kind of like this logo and we perfected it.

Now, 40 years ago, the demo and Metallic Alps came out.  When you look back on those recordings and the fact that it’s been 40 years, what do you think of it now in retrospect?
The funny thing is I make a little riddle for you. From the 10 songs of the new album from Hell On Wheels are four from that period. When we started the songwriting for the new album, we decided to check our old demo tapes, which we had in our private collection, not published. And so there were about 20 songs, kind of like songs, some done, some halfway done. And so, in real, we really took four of these over 40 years old pieces and made four songs out of it. You want to know which one?

Yes of course…
So it’s Stand Up. It’s Strike Down. It’s Blinded Eyes and it’s One Track Mind.  We didn’t copy the songs from those days, but we had the basic ideas. We worked on it with the knowledge what we have today and the cues on our instruments. But there are four songsare definitely from this era. So that should answer your question.

We still are proud on the products would be made on those days when we had no knowledge about music, about nothing. There was no Internet. There was no chance to listen to something. We had just Iron Maiden, we had Kiss, Saxon, Judas Priest, Def Leppard, and then finally Raven. And that our interest. Yeah. Raven gave us the band name.

Yup, Crash Bang Wallop!
Exactly.

What are you looking forward to the most about your upcoming show with Raven?
Oh, we are absolutely excited because when we decided for this band name, Raven were our absolute heroes. And in musical way. And so, when somebody would have told us in those days, you will play with Raven in 40 years. Nobody would have believed that, you know. With Grave Digger, I played very often with Raven on festivals and we met them here and there. And so I talked with John Gallagher already about that.

There was a band named after that title and he couldn’t believe it. And so on the last album, John Gallagher, he played the guitar solo and he was singing with our same singer Mikk from time to time. That’s very special for us to do with the whole band to meet now Raven and play with them. We will play Crash Bang Wallop together on stage on these two shows.

With Wizard? No problem. Yeah, we are kind of like friends. I think next year in 2025, we will play two or three more shows with them. And so it feels good to play because they’re nearly the same age like us and their routine. And they like to party – to drink their alcohols and have fun. With Grave Digger, everything was very, very serious because naturally there was a lot of pressure behind it and a lot of pressure behind it to be successful.

And with Wallop, it’s really just a fun project. We don’t need to prove anybody who we are or what we can. We can just really go relax on stage and enjoy our shows.

With Grave Digger, you were with them for quite some time from 1996 to 2018. I just wanted to ask about a few of the albums. When you look back on that very first album you did with Grave Digger, Tunes of War, what do you think of it now in retrospect?
I still love it. It was for me the step into a professional career. And maybe you remember in 2010, we played the full album on Wacken as a headliner show, including a Scottish orchestra with us. And this album was my start into the, like I said, professional career. And I basically like really nearly all Grave Digger albums. There are some four or five, which are not that my taste, but I had to play them and I gave all under professional conditions, all everything to make the best out of it.

But Tunes of War will ever be outstanding because it was my step into this professional career.

And then that final album you did with Grave Digger, The Living Dead – what are your thoughts on that album?
(Laughs) This is one of my albums. I can’t say I hate it, but it just Axel involved in the songwriting and a little bit Chris. And it was not a band who was writing this album. It was just he was playing riffs into the computer, copied it, copied it, copied it and the next riff. So, there is no soul in the album.

You could have done much, much more with this subject, with the zombie story. For example, I told Chris my idea about the album was that we write a complete own zombie story with 12 chapters on the official album. And for the special albums, we do different endings of the story.  But he didn’t like the idea. And “no, we don’t do that. We do it my way.” And so, okay, it’s really, in my opinion, the worst album of Grave Digger in the whole career.

Do you still keep in touch with any of the members of Great Digger at this time?
Yes, yes, with Jens. We are friends. He’s the bass player. We are still talking at least once a month. And we met each other Manni, Jens and me, because we were the three stooges. And we met each other three years ago here in my hometown. And we had such a blast weekend. And we took a picture and we had so many followers on that picture who said, “Hey, you have to build your own band and you have to go your own way without Grave Digger.“

But Manni, he’s too much into work. And I’m also too much in private work. The only one who’s still more or less professional is Jens. He’s still a professional musician with this AC/DC cover band and with Grave Digger.

Do you have any messages for Wallop fans here in the States who are reading this now?
A message? This is a typical Grave Digger question when you’re professional or when you’ve a very, very big reputation. So, Wallop is still a small band and will stay a small band. But I wish that really everyone who listens to our album enjoys it and has maybe the way to get it to support the band – and buy the album and has fun with the music we still create in our high age.

(Interview by Ken Morton)

Line-up:
Mikk Wega – Vocals
Andy Lorz – Guitar
Stefan Fleischer – Bass
Stefan Arnold – Drums

Wallop on Facebook