KROKUS - No Risk, No Gain
by Martin Popoff

Swiss roots rockers Krokus are a long way from their '80s heyday, but, says Marc Storace, that's no reason to fade away. Reunited with Mandy Meyer for a bright, vital, slammin' new album called Hellraiser, Marc says that's just the point longstanding partner in crime Fernando Von Arb couldn't quite understand.

"I'm still asking myself questions," says the always positive Storace, a vocalist bold enough to have been asked to consider joining AC/DC when Bon Scott died. "But I've learned in life to move along. If somebody wants to throw in the towel, it's absolutely his life, his free decision. Like the burp on the end of the album - freedom of expression. Fernando just didn't seem to want to get back to the roots, and what I mean by that is, Krokus had been missing from the scene for a long while. When we left, the last tour was in the USA, and that was 1988. And we were playing up to 5000 seaters. Now, Fern didn't want to go back to the USA unless we were playing 5000 seaters again. And I said 'Hey, man, it's a different age. We've been away so long, 17, 18 years, and wherever we go now, we can't expect to go back at the same notch. Let's be humble, let's fight.' It seemed like he didn't have the power. We were buddies for too long, we were comrades in arms for too long, and of course, it hurt me, and it took me the whole drive back home from the rehearsal place until I got over it." Enter Mandy Meyer, who, along with co-guitarist Dominique Favez, carves up Hellraiser in impressive fashion. "When I got home, I picked up the phone and called Mandy, because he was an ex-member and we had a good relationship, and Mandy was all fire and brimstone for rock 'n' roll. He loved what we were doing with Krokus, and I thought, you know what? Mandy, you're free right now, how about joining us? Do you want to take up the challenge? 'Sure as hell I would. I believe in you guys, I love Rock The Block.' And that's true - he came to concerts and so on, and drank a few beers backstage. We were buddies, and stayed buddies for a long time, after what happened with Krokus. Because it wasn't me who threw him out in the first place; it was actually more a Chris Von Rohr thing. But anyway, we've been through ups and downs, and I prefer to talk about the ups, because the downs, they don't get you anywhere (laughs)."

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