AMZ - Welcome to NY, and congratulations on the completion of "Better Than Raw." It's an outstanding new record, and so far its been recognized as one of the band's strongest in years. It seems it's very directed, as though the band had something to prove. Did you do anything differently this time around?

AD - The only thing we had in our heads was to find something we want to go for - like Helloween 2000. We still want to be there in twenty years, but first we have to find something to satisfy ourselves and not get bored with the stuff we do. We’ve already done it for three albums, and we're not talking about reinventing the wheel again. That's b.s. Nobody can do that. But we had the idea of putting some trash elements in the typical Helloween stuff, and Uli, the drummer, is also a very good guitar player, so he came up with the idea of transferring the snare drum techniques onto the guitar, which he did with "Push" and "Revelation," and it sounds trashy in a way, but pretty new for us.

AMZ: - So you did make somewhat of a conscious effort to stimulate yourselves, and in effect, take the Helloween sound and doctor it up a bit while still keeping the core intact?

AD - Exactly. The core must be there - otherwise the Europeans and the Asians will kill us! I mean, it’s platinum music so you probably don't throw it away. For us it was very, very important because we want to make a living out of it in the future, as well not to piss people off again. People were pissed off by albums like "Chameleon" and "Pink Bubbles. . ."

AMZ - I actually wanted to address those shortly.

AD - So, we try to find something that first of all we like, and second of all this may be something new to add to the music.

AMZ - Okay, so "Better Than Raw" has already been out in Europe for quite some time and has been doing really well.

AD - It's top 20, top 10 everywhere except the U.K. or Netherlands.

AMZ - And U.S. release was mid-September, 1998?

AD - Yes.

AMZ - Is there a meaning behind the title "Better Than Raw?" Obviously the production quality of the album has a much more raw and heavy feel, but I wouldn't expect that to figure into the album title.

AD - Actually it's self masturbation (laughs)! It's just a stupid thing that came about in Asia, where most of the time Japanese bands, after the concert, they give you these pumpkin seeds. We hate pumpkin! We really hate pumpkin! I mean it's the most ugly food I've ever eaten - especially raw pumpkin. Have you ever tried raw pumpkin?

AMZ - Nope.

AD - They eat it all over the place! Like the fish - they give you raw pumpkin and it's ugly. It's nasty. Then somebody at the table said "Well anything's better than raw!" so we decided to cook the pumpkin there on the cover! And because we're all smurf fans, we just took the scenario of the smurfs, and instead of the evil sorcerer Gargamel, we used a sexy witch, which was actually Michael Weikath's idea, because he likes sexy legs. And instead of the smurfs, we used the pumpkin. So that's about it, stupid as it is.

AMZ - Did the band decide to go with a much more evil looking pumpkin face for the logo?

AD - Yeah, that's been the only change.

AMZ - It reminds me of the group's early days, when they had that darker aura about them. The fact that Helloween has lasted and succeeded for as long as they have, through a number of ups and downs, says a lot for your commitment and durability. Judging from the latest album, the desire to continually achieve a higher level with the music still unquestionably exists. Do you feel you're at the level you need to be at this point in your career?

AD - Well, personally Ive been in the band for 4 1/2 years, and done 3 studio albums, 1 live album and video. I still see a lot of possibilities. Right now were in the U.S. I thought this market was something I better forget, better not to dream of, and here I am doing interviews with people who have an interest in us. Suddenly we even have mega-good critics in the U.K. who seem to hate us! (Laughs) It looks like there are markets coming up and markets going down