By Martin Popoff
But with Kai also at the vocal helm, the sound is unmistakably Gamma Ray. "I think for one, I have a very unique voice. I'm not saying now that I'm a great singer (laughs). I have a unique voice, so every time you hear a song and somebody like me starts singing, you really know who it is. I haven't heard a singer who sounds like me so far. And then the way we play the songs is very, very energetic. Always. Still very melodious and technically on a very high level."
The cover art for No World Order looks like typically colourful Derek Riggs. "But it's not, it's his little brother," laughs Kai. "No, actually it's a guy, a Frenchman, Herve Monjeaud, who is doing the Iron Maiden fan club magazine in France. He's doing the cover art for that and he's already worked with other bands. We met him at Wacken last year and he showed us some of his work and we said well, that's very cool. Not that we didn't like Derek anymore. Derek became much more involved in computer work and he was getting tired of drawing faces in the sky, right? So we got in contact with this guy, and he's like a mix between old Derek Riggs and Salvador Dali."
So grab the album (out now), pull the shades, make sure there's no hi-tech surveillance equipment in your listening room, and follow along with Kai. In actuality though, you'll be on your own. Kai's taking a two month vacation in Hawaii (after some late fall touring and Christmas with the family), after which rock show season begins in earnest in Europe. Aloha. And by the way, three men in black said "Don't report this."