MR. THOMAS SCHWARZKOPF (ROCK & METAL 4 YOU, MYGLOBALMIND)

 

Name: Thomas Schwarzkopf

Country: Germany

Age: 26

Name (and link if present) of your website/magazine/radio:

Rock & Metal 4 You (http://rock-and-metal-4-you.blogspot.com/)

MyGlobalMind (http://www.myglobalmind.com/)

Position in your website/magazine/radio: Reviewer/ Interviewer/Live Gig Reporter … simply the man for everything on my Blog “Rock & Metal 4 You”.

Online since (year when your website went online): Rock & Metal 4 You started in November 2012 … so it's quite new.

Introduce you as editor and your website/radio with a little bio (year and how you started to write reviews, possible previous versions and/or name of the website, more you want do add):  I think I have always been a writer. I always wanted to be creative and so I was writing for a newspaper in my school, I wrote short stories and screenplays for myself.  Some years later I founded a Facebook-Page, called “Rockaholic” with a friend of mine. It was for Rock and Metal fans, but in the end our tastes were too different, so I started my own thing and that was my blog “Rock & Metal 4 You”. Here I got the opportunity to be creative when it comes to writing combined with my passion for Melodic (Hard) Rock and Metal. So I did that and it turned out very well. I started this page to give people recommendations and news of bands I'm interested in. So the website hasn't the approach to cover the entire range of Rock and Metal, it is just about my tastes and the bands I like to listen to. Later I did some Reviews and I got very good response from the readers. Many people said I'm a skilled writer  … hopefully they are right :) So I focused more on the review thing that also includes live reviews. By the way I'm always writing in English, although I'm from Germany, because I think music is a global thing and I wanted to reach as much people as possible.
In February 2013 the CEO from the international acclaimed Webzine MyGlobalMind asked me if I'd like to write for them. That opened many doors to promo releases, so I did it. Most of my stuff is also published on MyGlobalMind Webzine, but they have a bigger range of musical styles than my blog – it's a pretty cool site and I'm very happy to write for them.
Finally I discovered my passion for doing interviews. I mean, each musician I talked to is one of my heroes and I do all that stuff on my site from a fans point of view and I hope people will recognize this. That's the whole story so far.

Favorite rock sytles (AOR, Melodic Rock, Hard-Rock, Westcoast, Glam, Sleaze or so on): I'm very into Melodic Rock and Metal, that includes all the sub-genres: Hard Rock, AOR, Glam Rock, Sleaze Metal, Symphonic Metal, Heavy Metal and so on. The most important thing to me is a good melody, tight musicianship and a unique voice. I hate growls or something like that.

Other music styles you like: That's easy: I don't like other music styles. For sure, I accept them, because it's all a matter of taste, but I only feel comfortable when it comes to Rock'n'Roll! I really live that. It's not just music. Everyday I need my dose of Rock, otherwise I'm not happy. There are so many great bands out there … so I wouldn't have the time to listen to other music styles ;)

"THE" band / artist that fully embraces your tastes in music: Mh that has to be Bon Jovi – and I'm talking about their music in the 80's/90's, not that crap they do nowadays. Jon Bon Jovi had a very charismatic voice and Richie Sambora is still my guitar hero number one. Everything fit together in this band when they were young: great songs with amazing melodies, lyrics from the heart with a positive vibe and of course enough “rawness”. They really rocked, sadly many people forgot that.

But there are also many other bands out there which sound different from Bon Jovi and nevertheless I like them very much, for example Avantasia.

Your personal TOP 5 of all times:

This is hard to choose, but at the moment it's like that:

Bon Jovi - “New Jersey”

Avantasia - “The Mystery Of Time”

Sonata Arctica - “Stones Grow Her Name”

Gotthard - “Need To Believe”

Bad City - “Welcome To The Wasteland”

Your personal FLOP 5 of all times:

Aerosmith - “Music From Another Dimension”

Stala & So. - “Play Another Round”

The Poodles - “Tour De Force”

Bon Jovi - “What About Now”

Shakra - “Fall”

Your biggest delusion in music (a crap album, a missed interview, a bad concert you've attended, etc): Biggest delusion in music is the fact that it isn't just about the passion for music. To many people it's all about money and business. Sometimes the creativity remains on track just to be attractive for the mainstream. That destroyed many good bands. Some of our heroes aren't that what they seem to be and you recognize this even more if you speak with others in music business.

Your highest point reached in music (a long awaited interview, a meeting with one of your idols, results reached with your website, etc): My highest point I reached in music so far is to do what I like to do with my blog. No one can tell me what to do and what to write, I'm my own master and I get positive response from fans and musicians for the work I'm doing and this is something that makes me very proud.

One moment I'll never forget is my Meet & Greet with the guys of GOTTHARD. I had the chance to attend their video shoot to “Starlight” in April 2012 and it was so much fun to be there, to talk to them and to many other fans. They spend the whole evening with us. Great guys, there is nothing more to say. I'm very looking forward to meet them again one day.

Your most successful / favorite review/interview: That's a hard question, because I can't judge if my writing is better or more worse from time to time. The readers have to decide if they like it or not. When I take a look at the views of each post the most successful thing is my review to the new Pretty Maids album “Motherland”.

Personally I liked my interview with former Europe guitar player Kee Marcello very much. I appreciate it if musicians are open-minded and tell us something about their lifes, not just only promo talk about their new album. Kee was really personal. This interview had lot of substance. It's the same with the interview I did with Robin Beck. She is also a very kind person.

Your bitter regret about one of your reviews / interviews: Mh … it's always hard to write fair reviews, because I won't damage the artist (most of the time I just want to support them), but at the same time I want to be honest to the readers. I'm a person, who critically analyzes many things and sometimes some ratings might sound a bit too hard. But I just write what I'm thinking.

Your 5 most promising acts / artists of the "new" generation:

Mh … when begins the “new generation”?
Beautiful Beast
Delain
Kissin' Dynamite
Elvenking
ToxicRose

Your vision for the next years about the music biz of our music styles (possible death of the cd format, thoughts about digital releases, evolution of rock labels, etc.): Mh, I think in the future you won't need music labels anymore. At a certain point it won't be necessary to have a deal with them, because the musicians can do everything on their own. Musicians are not only musicians anymore. They are also distributors, managers and marketing people – they will take care of everything that has to do with their music. Probably all that stuff what a label did for them. You can see this development right now. The digital progress allows it. Anyway I hope the CD will survive. I don't like MP3s very much. I want to hold a booklet in my hands or having a nice digipak/limited edition at home. In my opinion many people in our genre think that way so the sales of CD's won't decrease so much.
Speaking about our Melodic Rock/Metal genre I'm very sure that it stood the test of time and that won't change. You can't kill Rock'n'Roll – it's too much fun and energy, you can't ignore it. Even next generations will try to be a part of it.

Your personal suggestions for today's labels and artists: Today we see that music industry is changing very much. Like I said I think in the future you won't nee a label and this course is set right now, because music labels lose their influence more and more. This is due to one reason only:  most labels don't take care of their musicians. For them the artist is just a product, a cash cow – not a person. They make use of them till they burn out. This is sad, but major labels are much under pressure because of illegal downloads and that kind of stuff. I would wish they focused more on the creative process and help the artist to fulfil his vision.
Speaking of the artists themselves I can only say I like it that so many old bands are back on track, playing again Melodic Rock/Metal and many young bands are addicted to that style, too. They save our genre and keep it quiet fresh. You could say this genre lives its second spring right now. It's very popular again and I hope this will last forever.

Anything you want to add: Yeah, first of all I'd like to thank all my readers out there for supporting “Rock & Metal 4 You”. You keep the whole thing rolling. And of course I'd like to thank all the musicians I worked with as well as every people, who appreciate my work. Music connects people all over the world. I experienced this in the last few months and it feels great. This is my motivation to carry on. Thanks for the opportunity to do this interview! Don't stop the Rock!

YOUR LIFE IN ROCK SONGS! (name one song for a particular moment of your life)

There are so many. I've so much memories with special songs, I can't mention every single song here, but I'll do my best.

The one that changed your life: Bon Jovi – It's My Life (because it brought me to Rock music when I was 12 years old!)

The one for your birthday: Kissin' Dynamite – I Will Be King
The one for the love of your life: Bon Jovi – I'll Be There For You
The one for your beloved ones: Europe – Let The Good Times Rock
The one for the best moment in your life: Avantasia – The Story Ain't Over
The one for your worst enemy: Gotthard – Fist In Your Face
The one which represents you and your vision of life: Richie Sambora – Seven Years Gone
The one which helped you in your saddest moments: Alice Cooper – Only My Heart Talkin'
The "Rock Music Manifesto": Steel Panther – Party All Day (F*ck All Night)
The one to say goodbye: Guardian – Never Say Goodbye
The one for your funeral: Sonata Arctica – Alone In Heaven