By Rosine Alleva, José Oliveira, Rock At Night EU Editors
The Baloise Session will begin next Saturday and it was a great opportunity to have a chat on the phone with the famous Swiss Chris Von Rohr from the Hard Rock band KROKUS. Formed in 1975, they toured the world and for their “Adios Amigos“ farewell tour, the band will be closing the Baloise Session on October 31st.
RAN– Hello Chris, my name is Rosine, Rock At Night EU editor for America. Very pleased to talk to you on the phone.
Chris Von Rohr– Hello, nice. I‘ll answer your questions
RAN– You’ve been touring so many years, what’s your best memory ever?
Chris Von Rohr– That’s almost every night cause we give the best, receive the best at every concert. This is our main target, we are first pleased as the band and of course is the audience. We play for everybody the same. Of course there are different mentalities, cultures. But for us it doesn’t matter, we play for fans you know.
RAN– Wasn’t there any “very special” place to you?
CHVR– Well, when we first played in Hammersmith in London, maybe the Chicago show, when we played big venues in L.A like the legendary Whisky-A-GoGo. There are so many highlights, we’ve been 40 years on the run, we cannot just pick out one!
RAN– Your last album in 2017, BIG ROCKS is an album with covers ….Why this choice?
CHVR– Well, some bands start their careers with a cover album, some end it with a cover album. We wanted to do this to honor those who brought us into R’N’Roll, to make them our heroes. It’s a long time we wanted to record a cover album and we found it was the right moment.
RAN– Why did the band decide 2019 would be your farewell tour?
CHVR– We are a Heavy Metal band, it’s not aging as good as Country music or Blues music. We wanna stop when the impression of the band is stronger than ever. We all feel the band has never been better than now. We have the experience, we want to leave a very strong impression. You never know what happens next with your health at a certain age. We don’t want to have to cancel too many shows etc….It‘s a good time to stop this kind of music, it‘s very physical you know.
RAN– I hope and wish you’ll all stay in good health! Will you record the Zürich show at the Hallenstadion for a dvd maybe ?
CHVR– We did a real great video in August at the Wacken Metal Festival in Germany. We may release it, maybe a couple of songs in Zürich but not the all show. We have this very good Rocking Livestream and that’s a very strong impression of the band. Very cool. We will release a box with 9 vinyls (Metal Rendez-vous, Hardware, One Vice at a time, more new ones like Dirty Dynamite, Hoodoo, the last one with honor songs, unreleased songs and some live material as well)
RAN– Wow! Super! You performed at the Baloise Session in 2014, you will be back for your farewell tour, how do you feel about this special evening, although you will be playing at the big Hallenstadion after that.
CHVR– Yeah, we always like smaller venues as well, the sound is better, compact. In a big open air or in a big arena , the sound is almost every 3 meters different. In a smaller venue like in Basel or Montreux, you have a very compact, great sound on stage as well. It’s a lot of pleasure to play like that, you are closer to your public, you can interact better. It’s like a dessert to play a show like that. We’re really really looking forward to give everyone a right dose ”in your face“ Rock (Laughs)
RAN– I’m the singer in a cover band. One of your songs has been chosen:„Hard Rocking man“ which became Hard Rocking woman of course! (Laughs)
CHVR– Very good, Bravo! Thank you for supporting us and for singing like you do. Hope to see you in Basel!
RAN– My pleasure Chris, sure Rock At Night will be there!!! Thank you for your time and this interview!! See you on the 31st!
After playing at the Baloise Session in 2014, Chris von Rohr, Marc Storace, Fernando Von Arb, Marc Kohler and Mandy Meyer will hit the Baloise Session stage for the last time. It’s at the Hallenstadion from Zürich that KROKUS will celebrate the last European show of their “Adios Amigos“ Tour.
Hopefully more dates in US! Keep posted on Krokus WEBSITE here.
From Belgian and Italian parents, I grew up with music, dance and big fun! I love singing since I'm a little girl, I still am, haha. When I was 14, I saw my first concert: T-Rex. Later it was FrankZappa, Miles Davis, Chick Corea, Fela, Canned Heat, Little Feat, Bonnie Raitt, Earth, Wind and Fire ....
I dreamed to have a chat with each of them 😀 Before interviewing bands, I used to sing (and still do) and met lots of great musicians. I had the chance to be the support band to Joe Cocker in 2007. I love to communicate and meet people (Italian blood).
Working for magazine, a few years ago, l met José Oliveira! We were working at the same festival in Colmar. 2 people from the South with the same passion just recognized each other...and we stayed in contact since then. Here I am! Enjoying concerts, covering interviews and articles with José for Rock at Night!!
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