Into The Auditory Universe of Mystery Moon

Mystery Moon is the epic melodic rock project featuring Markus Pfeffer (Lazarus Dream, Barnabas Sky, Winterland) and Rob Lundgren (Mentalist).  An absolutely stunning creation, Mystery Moon presents Shine, their debut endeavor, available on Pride & Joy Music!   The 11-song musical journey is sure to captivate music fans all around the world, from its vibrant Now It’s Time commencement all the way into their extraordinary Stars a Million Miles Away magnum opus and beyond.  Highwire Daze recently interviewed Markus Pfeffer to delve into the auditory universe of Mystery Moon, as well as discover news on his main band Winterland and his many other intriguing projects.  Read on…

We’re here with Markus from Mystery Moon and a whole bunch of other bands. We’re going to focus on Mystery Moon for right now. First of all, how did you wind up meeting and deciding to work with Rob Lundgren from Mentalist on the new project Mystery Moon?
Well, that was quite a funny story indeed, because right from the start I did not really want to record a complete album with Rob.  However I contacted Rob because I saw one or two videos of him with his main band, Mentalist, who are on the same label as all my other projects, Barnabas Sky and Lazarus Dream and so on. And so I got to see and hear him sing and I thought he might be a perfect singer for my Barnabas Sky project where I work with different singers on my albums. So, I recorded a song with him which was called The Mystery for the next Barnabas Sky album.

Actually, two female friends of mine came by and they heard the song, and they just said why don’t you record a complete album with this guy because his voice is so absolutely terrific. I was like hmm, well, a few weeks later actually these two female friends of mine and myself were driving to Mannheim where Rob Lundgren was playing live with Mentalist supporting Manimal. So, I got to meet Rob in person only one hour from where I live and I just asked him the question, I said, “Hey Rob, what do you think about recording a complete album?” So, we had a beer and you know the end of the story.

The name Mystery Moon, what does that represent?
The first song we wrote together had the title The Mystery. So, since this song was so to say the nucleus of our collaboration, I tried to find some second word which works with mystery together. So, I found this, I think it’s called an alliteration with the two M’s, Mystery Moon which was something which is pretty – I think you hear it once and you never forget it. It’s easy to remember and of course I had something with the moon, with the logo, and the cover in mind right from the start. So, I just thought it sounds good. Actually, the album title Shine is some tongue-in-cheek playing by Rob. He said let’s call the album Shine like Mystery Moon. So, that’s more something of meaning but the name, Mystery Moon, was something I just thought might actually sound and look pretty cool.

Shine, let’s talk about that album title, the inspiration, and everything.
Well actually, I usually write the music, and I send a demo of the song, the instrumental part of the song, to the singers I work with. And then the singers are actually free to write their own lyrics with their own meanings, own story, and create the melody lines, because I’m always convinced that if a singer is actually singing something he created himself, it will be more from the heart than if you give him some sheet of paper and say, “Sing this.”

So, every song and every lyric that Rob wrote is either telling a story from his personal life, like, Stars a Million Miles Away, which would be a very long story to tell, but the release sheets tells the story about it. But Shine, actually, the title track, was more metaphorical. The meaning of the song is that no matter how bad a day or some time of your life is, if you don’t lose hope and faith, you will come out on top at the end, which is the meaning of Shine, implied with this song. It does not really have something to do with some moonshine or sunshine, it’s more metaphorical and very positive meaning overall. And that’s something we chose then to be the album title because it’s something positive and not something completely negative.

You’ve got a few epic songs on there. Now It’s Time runs seven minutes, Stars runs eight minutes. How difficult is it to put together these longer songs as opposed to the shorter ones?
Actually, you’re absolutely right. First of all, it is harder to compose and arrange longer songs, because the listener really needs to pay attention from the start until the end. So, whenever I write and arrange songs which are longer than six minutes, I really try to include things that the listener maybe might not expect to hear in a usual rock or hard rock song, like with Stars a Million Miles Away, in the intro, you have some percussion elements. All these percussions, they are not sampled, they are played by a friend of mine, Thomas Rieder, who is a very, very cool drummer and percussion player. He was the drummer and percussion player for my main band Winterland for several years. So, I try to add things to these songs to keep the listener’s attention.

Would you ever like to do live shows for Mystery Moon or Atlantis Drive or any of your other projects, or have you?
I think the most probable would be with Mystery Moon, actually, because Rob lives close to Stockholm, which is not so far from Germany. Like, with Mark Boals or all the other singers who come from overseas, the costs of the flights and the whole logistics would be much higher than compared to a singer here from Europe and Scandinavia. So, I would love to do that, but of course, it’s always a matter of budget. For Mystery Moon, we would need two guitar players, a synthesizer player, a bass player, and a drummer. And for example, Thomas Rieder, he is a professional drummer, so anytime he goes on stage, he needs to be paid because he’s making a living from it, except for me, I have a day job.

So, whenever you put a band like this on a stage with one or two rehearsals, we talk about costs of at least $5000 to $10000. So, it would only make sense if we would make at least a short tour of a week. I would be into it anytime because I love playing live, but it becomes harder the older you get, and the more people are depending on what’s actually being paid.

How did Mark Boals become involved with Atlantis Drive?
That’s a good question, because at first, my idea was to record an album with melodic rock and very prominent synthesizers, which is the album I would have written, recorded, and released in 1988 if I would have been able to. And I wanted to do the album I wasn’t able to do in the late ’80s. So, therefore, I wrote songs with Jorris Guilbaud, and I wanted to have at least half of the album composed.

So, I think we had seven songs, and then I was thinking about, okay, which singer could be the perfect choice for these songs? And quite at that time, the last Ring of Fire album was released, and I always liked Mark Boals’ voice.  And on that last Ring of Fire album, I took notice of his melody lines, which were very melodic, even if the whole music was quite progressive, actually. So I thought, if he’s able to create these very melodic melodies for this pretty progressive music, what kind of melodies might he be able to create for this very melodic music we just wrote?

So, it was as easy as you might imagine. I just went to his website, wrote a short email about what my thing is and if he’d be interested. A day later, he replied and said, “Okay, send over some songs.” I sent him, I think, five songs. He was convinced of it right from the start, lucky me, and there he was. I did not contact several people. He was my first and only choice, and I’m actually glad he said yes.

What is currently going on with Lazarus Dream and Barnabas Sky?
Believe it or not, in summer, I usually don’t touch a guitar for several months because I need to reload my energy. Go outside, be in the sun, and have holidays. But whenever, just like now, bad weather is coming in and autumn and everything’s gray, I just need to write songs.  I just can’t do anything else than write and record songs in autumn and winter.

So, I just wrote five new songs, again, in the last two weeks, and I don’t know where to put them. I was actually really thinking if these songs might be for a fourth Lazarus Dream album, but actually, I think, no, they are more Mystery Moon songs, to be honest. The thing is that Mystery Moon still has not yet released their first album. Anyway, Lazarus Dream is on hold for the time being, but I’m pretty sure we will record more albums in the near future. Barnabas Sky, actually, the next album is almost finished. It will be released sometime in summer next year. I have some singers on the album that I did not write with before. Well, the biggest name, of course, is Tony Harnell.  I wrote a ballad, and when that ballad started, when I had the chorus, I was like, “I need to have Tony Harnell to write lyrics for this ballad.” And yeah, you will hear it. It’s pretty mind-blowing.

Danny Vaughn is on board, then David Cagle is on board.  I really loved what he did with Silent Tiger, so I contacted him, and he actually wrote two songs. Lee Small of Lionheart and Sweet, is on board, and Deibys Artigas again, who was on the last album. Again, Dirk Kennedy of Hittman – and with Dirk, I wrote a song – just to come back to your last question – a song which is over nine minutes long. It’s a very progressive, epic track, and of course, Dirk was the obvious choice to be the singer for that song. But I just wrote another song for Dirk, for which he’s, just as we talk, writing the lyrics. I still don’t know what he will sing, what the words are, or anything. So, every day, I wait for him to send me a demo.

So, Barnabas Sky will come in summer.  And with my other band Winterland, we just finished recording our next album, which will be released maybe in February or March on Rock Company Records. We have just been sent the recording contract a few days ago.

Oh, that’s exciting! Congratulations!
Thank you!

And what’s really odd is my next question is a Winterland question. Winterland is celebrating a 10-year anniversary of the album Ein Leben Lang. And I was wondering, when you look back on that album and the fact that it’s now the 10-year anniversary, what do you think of it now, in retrospect?
Ein Leben Lang was a very personal art. The title track I wrote on the day when my father turned 80, and I thought, “That’s a very long life.” Ein Leben Lang means a lifelong. And not a long life, but a lifelong, doing something for your whole life is Ein Leben Lang. That’s the meaning of the words. And I was in Andalusia with my parents for my father’s 80th birthday. In the meantime, he’s not alive anymore, unfortunately. So, I wrote this song for my dad, and when the song was released, he got sick, and I knew that he might not be with us for much longer. So, anytime I think about the release of Ein Leben Lang, unfortunately, I get reminded that life is precious and short. And when it was released, I knew it would be the last Winterland album my father would get to hear.

So, yeah, it’s unfortunately so. It’s a very sad answer to say that, but music for me is always something very personal, and that’s something that I think of. Ein Leben Lang is something very special to me, and it always reminds me of my dad.

Thank you for sharing that.  And now last question – do you have any messages for your fans here in the States who are reading this right now?
Well, the only and the main message is, if you like melodic rock music, just give my music a try, whether it be Atlantis Drive, Mystery Moon, or any of my other projects. I think whoever likes melodic rock and hard rock music might actually be able to enjoy my music as much as I do myself.

(Interview by Ken Morton)

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