PW: Greetings and welcome to my virtual campfire. Pull up a patch of dirt and have a slug of whisky. Firstly can you please introduce yourselves to our readers and tell us about your involvement in some of the other bands you have played in, which they may perhaps be a bit more familiar with.

AK: Howdy Pete,
I am Alex Kraft, the "pioneer" of this idea and my Band DEZPERADOZ.
Also I’m the guitar player songwriter and producer of Sodoms Onkel Tom Angelripper band and in Germany a very famous AC/DC cover band called "Dirty Deeds". On Bass is Alex Weigand an old friend from my first band called Jail and his band "Dead Anyway" and he is also a member of Dirty Deeds. Alex Weigand is a pretty famous tattooist in Germany.

Markus Kullmann on drums is also an old friend and he is one of the craziest drummers I've ever seen. He played in a band called "Warning" and has a band called "Dog Track". We all live for and from the music.

PW: What made you decide to form a band with a strong theme of the Wild West running through it? Your love of the history, the movies or perhaps was it just the urge to do something a little different?

AK: I was born 1968, right at the end of the great "Italo Western movie era".
Movies like "Il Grande Silenzio", "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", the "Few Dollars trilogy" and "Once Upon a Time in the West", you know all the movies, with actors like Klaus Kinski, Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Charles Bronson, made me a real "Western fan" since I was 4 years old.
All this great music, it's not country music, no but, real dirty and hard Western stuff by Ennio Morricone.

This was my main music influence. I started my first Band called Jail in 1983; musically somewhere between Metal and Southern rock.
In the 90s’, on my MI time in Los Angeles (I studied Jazz guitar there) I discovered a new "crossover". I saw a lot of the American west; the country with the old ghost towns, silver mines; dirt and dust of the desert; sometimes I felt I could smell the dust of history there.
I am a collector of old weapons and stuff and a kind of hobby historian and it's more for me than only about just the music.

PW: I believe you were first known as Desperados back in 2000 when you released debut album ‘The Dawn Of Dying’ on Drakkar productions. What made you decide to add the Z’s to your name? I see a computer game came out in 2001 with the name Desperados as well as there being countless Mexican restaurants out there.

It took no less than 6 years for follow up album ‘The Legend And The Truth’ to come out on AFM, why so long?

AK: After the first album I, right away, started writing for the second and already in 2001 I went to the studio; Tom Angelripper was still on the mic here, though. During this studio session fate slapped me in the face quite harshly and I had to go on with my life without my wife. During this time I sank quite low but I luckily also learned what truth, friendship, pride, grit and compassion meant. I wanted to start a new life, cut off my long hair, broke up the band, told Tom Angelripper and the others that I wanted to leave the whole scene, retreated into my own shell and started, between self-pitying and boozing, to write a diary hoping to somehow be able to assess myself before I turned into a complete asshole.

Boggi (Drakkar) released me from all my duties. Tom Angelripper, Manni Eisenblätter, Michael Kleanthous offered me help in every way. Well, the guys didn’t leave me alone. Took me, dragged me with them to tour with Sodom around the world until my spirits were revived again. I never touched the tapes of the second Dezperadoz again. I wrote the second record all over again in 2003 because I began to see the topic of Wyatt Earp, especially the big changes in his life, also as a part of my experiences.

So I changed the name to "DEZPERADOZ" (Its also better to search for on the net without getting drunk before you find the Band ;-)

PW: The second album had a fair few guest musicians joining in, Doro and members of Edguy, Helloween and Hammerfall I believe, were they all queuing up at the saloon doors to get involved?

AK: Not one of them did a musician job on the record. All of them are actors in this little "radio play"; for me it was a great honour. I know all these people from my Angelripper work. After they heard about my f...... time and the "legend and the truth idea", they wanted to be a part of our "Wild Bunch" (Wild Bunch was initially a bunch of my friends like Alex Weigand, Dennis Ward, Tom Angelripper and more)

PW: How would you say you have developed as a band between then and ‘An Eye For An Eye’? Contribution wise you have Tom Angelripper popping up on one song but have cut back on the guests, are you perhaps more comfortable working as a complete band now that you have released two albums in two years?

AK: Yes, DEZPERADOZ is a Band. I try to give everyone of this "Wild Bunch" a character on my records and stories if it fits. It's not the same way other Bands do things, but why not?

PW: There is a story behind the new album, a tale of revenge. Can you tell us a bit about this please?

AK: Okay you ask me ;)
Exodus 21:23-21:27 עין תחת עין

"AN EYE FOR AN EYE" tells the story of Hank, a young man on death row in 1901. While sentenced to death by hanging, he is waiting in the cell and narrates his sad and antithetic life.

He was born 1878 on a farm somewhere east of the Great Plains.
His father, a strict and devout man, used his horsewhip and his hand to educate his son and wife. After his mother died in 1894, Hank ran away to begin a new life and he joined a bunch of cowboys.

The craziest was Frank, a young gunslinger who didn’t know fear or mercy. Both became close friends and made plans to earn some money with small felonies. Whilst they were playing cards in a Saloon one august night in 1897 Frank introduced Hank to Rosie. She was one of the saloon's hookers. After she did her job, Hank was overcome with his emotions. He wanted her to quit work and become a family. Everything went well for Frank and Hank. Shortly after they got more power and control in their area as they grew stronger in numbers. They were known as the "Wild Bunch", a syndicate of young gunmen. Frank was also a punter of Rosie, while Hank "bite on the bit". On December morning in 1899 when Hank walked into Rosie’s room, he found her, nearly dead, whispering Franks name before she passed away. Frank had fled hours ago because he knew Hank and his rage very well. From this point on Hank had only one thought: To hunt and kill Frank. His soul was filled with hate and the desire to avenge Rosie, to cleanse his sins and to praise the Lord. Early next morning Hank saddled up his horse and went on his way. He knew that Frank’s family worked at the west coast circus, near Sacramento.

This ride through deserts, coldness and rain, forced Hank to face his own demons, which day after day chewed up more of his sanity.
The country, villages, towns and cities seamed strange compared to Hanks "old wild west". All the tall buildings, automobiles, clothes and different languages were like an unknown world to Hank.
In this abstract scenery he finally reached the signs of the West Coast Circus. A freak show and funfair with "wild west shows", cowboys and Indians, an elephant man, absurd attractions and the madness of new ideas in times of change. It was the year 1900.

On a bright lit, crowded place, in front of a big colourful circus tent, Hank espied his rival and shot a bullet straight between the eyes Frank’s body hit the floor before the cartouche was cold.
While the crowd cheered and applauded, Hank lifted his hat and took a deep bow. The audience considered it as a part of the circus' show until the police applied the cuffs on his hands and took him away.

Back in his cell in 1901 Hank, still waiting for the headsman and remember the words long written down in Exodus 21:23-21:27, but also the words in Exodus 20:13, the fifth commandment: "You shall not to kill". He was sentenced to death in the name of god.

During the work on my last album "the legend and the truth" I saw an old letter from a young gunslinger in a museum. His story was mostly similar. He was on death row and wrote it to his dead mother.

Revenge is a weakness, a never ending story. A nation and its justice must be considerate and confident. Isn’t all the experience of the human race enough to know this? For me it is unbearable to see people who kill each other, trying to force their opinions on others in the name of religion, ideology, a "holy war", god, justice, insanity, politics or different races. Killing is unholy in every religion!
That is why I wrote and composed this album.
Alex Kraft, January 2008
"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind".
Mahatma Gandhi (1869 - 1948)
PW: There are some really catchy songs on the album. ‘Hate’ has the modern bouncy edge of a Marilyn Manson number as far as I was concerned but with a much more traditional rock backbone behind it. Where would you place yourself in the grand scheme of things musically?

AK: Wow, that’s a very hard question. I know I've got a lot of words (my English is not the best, but like a real Texan redneck :) I love to commune with sounds and feelings, that’s why I love the music in all facets. I think I can say that: DEZPERADOZ is the one and only Spaghetti western metal combo.

PW: Having said that, the Western score is utilised and comes into play on the glorious stomping ‘Thunder Road’. I take it the likes of Ennio Morricone are very important to you too? Are there any other soundtrack composers that typify and add to your sound?

AK: THANXX ! I' am a big Ennio Morricone, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Nacho Méndez, Thomas Newman, L. Bernstein, old trash metal, also big Doors, Beatles and Frank Sinatra fan (that’s the truth) , I think that’s why I need a story for a album.

PW: That song in particularly really reminded me of Stan Ridgway ‘Camouflage’ (all though much faster). This was his Vietnam inspired blast from the past, are you familiar with that number?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFYxCIr-Byo

AK: Oh, I know this song very well. An absolute brilliant western chord progression from 1986! For sure this song is still burned in my head! The Roots of this western kind music are old Irish folk songs. I use a lot's of elements of this old music style in my songs. The Irish emigrants of the old Wild West had this music in their bags.

PW: Any vocal influences, I kept thinking of The Cult and Ian Astbury at times and then there was the cover of ‘Riders On The Storm’ adding to this?

AK: Yes, I want to die and sing like a man ;-) I don't like this high singers and I think I can't sing like that without loosing my self confidence.

PW: If I had suggested another perfect cover it would have been (Ghost) Riders In The Sky, well and truly beaten on the draw, I see you have this on your first album. Anything else you are itching to cover?

AK: For sure. I am working on my next album and want to make my version of Nick Cave’s "Where The Wild Roses Grow" (It's in fact also a old Irish folksong)

PW: Any plans to saddle up and take the show on the road? I see you have a few lone shows scheduled for Germany?

AK: Yes, hopefully we jump to the RAGE Tour in the next days for 2 weeks. We make a "Jeilhousetour" in 3 months, a Club tour, some Festivals and in autumn a Support tour with a bigger Band.

PW: Would you perhaps consider going on tour with a pirate or Viking metal band and who would win the fight?

AK: Haha, Yee-Haaw!
No SHOWdowns with Vikings, Pirates, Knights, Girls, or Dragons

PW: OK time to test your knowledge. I am going to list some of my favourite Western movies, some very well known and others more obscure and was wondering if you could make a few comments on them please.

PW: Django – Sergio Corbucci 1966 What’s in the coffin? This movie launched a stack of imitators as well as the career of Franco Nero

AK: Yes, it was a cool idea. The heavy machine-gun with that rotary barrel, yeah, I need it for the stage show!

PW: The Good The Bad And The Ugly – Sergio Leone 1966
The man with no name searches for buried treasure in the American civil war

AK: The Blonde, Sentenza and Tuco search for the regiment’s box with the gold.
Real cool after all the time!

PW: A Bullet For The General – Damiano Diamani 1966 A big hat wearing Mexican bullet-fest guaranteed to make your brain smoke

AK: Yeeeaah! A very hard and honest movie it shows the cynical picture of a tyrannical, egoism and brutal revolution. Klaus Kinski as El Santo. He was a crazy Mother......lover.

PW: Once Upon a Time in the West – Sergio Leone 1968
The greatest Western ever made? Everything about this is perfect.

AK: To be honest: Yes, together with "The Great Silence"

PW: The Wild Bunch – Sam Peckinpah 1969
Brutal slo-mo violence courtesy of the meanest outlaws who ever rode into town.

AK: Tom Angelrippers No1, my No 2.

PW: Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid – George Roy Hill 1969
What do you mean they die at the end?

AK: exaggerated opinion of oneself ;-), or better the bullets of the Bolivian army

PW: Soldier Blue – Ralph Nelson 1970
Billed as “the most savage film in history”! Cheyenne Indians run to the hills.

AK: Yes, the Sand Creek Massacre 1864.
A real cool movie and a slap in the face for the USA

PW: El Topo – Alejandro Jodorowsky 1971
Cult mystical Mexican Western On Acid

AK: For sure. Cool, the "Mole", you know that! Alejandro also composed most the music!! A really strange movie, timeless and surreal.

PW: Cut Throats Nine - Joaquín Luis Romero Marchent 1972
A violent tale of greed in this rare snow-capped Western.

AK:A Horror Western. The most interesting thing on this movie is the illegality.

PW: Four Of The Apocalypse – Lucio Fulci 1975
The king of the Zombies directs this classic Fabio Testi movie

AK: Not a real Italo Western, that’s a Splatter movie?

PW: Deadwood -2004
HBO’s excellent big budget modern series.

AK: Yes, cool thing and it includes some real stories.

PW: The Proposition – John Hillcoat 2005
A Southern perhaps, a fantastic Australian movie and the best modern example of the genre.

AK: Nick Cave, that’s why I want to cover a song from him. Great!

PW: Any I have missed you want to mention??

AK: The Great Silence!

PW: Well I was testing who could leave this blizzard swept 1968 Corbucci movie off a list of seminal Westerns. Although I don’t agree with your dismissal of Fulci as not being capable of sticking to a Western narrative, you pass with flying colours Sir.

AK: Thanxx a lot for the best interview I've ever had. It was a real pleasure!
So long, Yippie yeah!
Alex Kraft - DEZPERADOZ
www.DEZPERADOZ.com
http://www.sonybmg.de/artists2.php?iA=1&artist=200931&product=74321743292
www.myspace.com/Alex_Kraft
www.myspace.com/dezperadoz
www.Dirty-Deeds.de
www.Tom-Angelripper.de

Interviewed by Pete Woods

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