AfteI don’t think I had ever laughed so much during an interview. The person responsible for this was Gotthard’s drummer Hena Habegger, who presented an amazing sense of humour whilst sipping a glass of wine from the terrace in his home of Lugano, Swtizerland, on a warm August afternoon, whilst I was at the other end of the line in cold London. Hena shared his enthusiasm about the newly released Gotthard album, ‘Need To Believe’, a jewel any fan of the band, or indeed any fan of well-executed hard rock, must add to their collection as a matter of urgency. The band’s 12th studio album is one of their best and the drummer explains how their career up to date has evolved.

Once again the band have achieved a massive production on the new record ‘Need To Believe’ but this time around you used Canadian producer Rich Chycki who also worked with Rush and Aerosmith. I understand he approached you. Tell us about this.

Yeah, he also worked with Mick Jagger and a few more. When we knew we had to do a new album about a year ago we said that this time we would like to concentrate more on the musicianship rather than on the producing. In the past we co-produced the albums and the pressure remained in the band. We had connections in Germany and we told our agency to spread the word that Gotthard would like to have a producer for the next album. Then Chycki and a few others, including Steve Power from Robbie Williams (who was a nice guy but he was more on the poppy side) were knocking on our door. In the end we chose Chycki because the chemistry was there immediately. We tried a few producers out in September. Chycki came from Canada for three days, Power flew in for two days and a few others also came in. We were together with every producer for one song and we saw how they were and looked for connection as you do in a blind date.

Did Leo co-produce the album too or was that Chycki’s job? And did he write too?

The pressure was on Chycki but of course we all worked together. He didn’t tell us ‘You have to do it this way or otherwise I’ll leave the place’. It was a co-making of. He had the responsibility and he wrote some lyrics, but Chycki was an employee, the band is the main point.

Anders Wikstrom from Treat has helped out with the writing for past albums. Was he involved this time around? If so, what does Anders bring to the table?

Yes, of course. He and Fredrik Thomander were involved. Since 2005 we have this connection with Swedish songwriters. They send us ideas that they cannot go further with and ask us to have ideas for a chorus or a verse, we exchange ideas. They bring a different taste to our music. It’s like when you have a pizza with the ingredients you have in Lugano, but maybe the ham or salmon they have up in Sweden tastes a bit better, so maybe we choose that Swedish salmon!

‘Lip Service’ was a magnificent album, after that another great album, ‘Domino Effect’. How do you rate the new ‘Need To Believe’ compared to your other albums in your career? I personally think that it’s awesome.

Of course you always have to say it’s the best! But it’s different because we have different songs on it! Jokes aside, it’s an evolution. If you’re doing an album you have to write songs, have lyrics and you take it from what’s happening at that time. If you had written an album in 2001 maybe the 9/11 story and Al-Qaeda would have influenced us. Every album is influenced by what we live at the moment. What I cannot say is that we fucked up with ‘Domino Effect’, because at that time it was great. We all grow up, have an evolution and get smarter - I hope!

What was your approach when writing for ‘Need To Believe’?

We knew that sooner or later we had to come up with a new album in 2009. We toured in 2008 and then we said we needed to concentrate on writing. We started here in Lugano putting a few ideas together, then went to the studio and made some demos. The whole thing, song writing, making demos and pre-production , that was in-between touring, took us all in all about 9 months. The recording session with Chycki took us 5 or 6 weeks because we had been preparing very well.

When you were writing for this album, were you thinking of doing it in the same vein as ‘Lip Service’ or ‘Domino Effect’, which are more rocky, as opposed to ‘Home Run’ and ‘Human Zoo’ which were more radio friendly?

No, we didn’t think anything about it. We just collated the best ideas around. We didn’t think like in the early days when BMG wanted to push us to go mainstream, we just wrote songs and picked the best. Maybe if we had written only country songs, we would have released a country album, like the last Bon Jovi. But we just chose the best songs and these are heavy. This album has everything, though. If you listen to ‘Break Away’ it sounds like Cream. We have ballads, rock songs, we just chose the best songs we wrote.

Did you try to have a balance of ballads and rocking songs?

Of course.

Give us an insight into the title of the album, please. ‘Need To Believe’. Is that your motto?

I have to start from the beginning. We wrote ideas and recorded ideas. Maybe we recorded about 30-40 ideas and then went through a filter process and cut down to about 15 songs, of which 12 were going to make it to the album. The album had to come out but we didn’t have a title, so we did some brainstorming but nobody was really happy with the ideas that came up for a month. So then we looked at the song titles we had and went through them and none was saying anything for the band. ‘Shangri-la’ was a nice album title but it’s a hotel chain like Hilton and there would be a new washing powder called Shangri-la coming out in Europe, so it couldn’t be that one! Then we thought about ‘Need To Believe’, that is the credo we’ve had for the last 15 years we’ve been together because we always believed in what we do and still believe we can reach something if we really want to. But it wasn’t thought that ‘Need To Believe’ would be the first song to come out as a single. Everything happened naturally.

The opening track ‘Shangri-la’ has had a bit of criticism for being very similar to Deep Purple’s ‘Perfect Strangers’ with a bit of Rainbow’s ‘Ariel’ as well. Were you conscious of this while writing it?

No. We didn’t realise, but we heard some journalist saying that. We don’t actually give a shit because how many albums come out every month, every day and how many notes do we have? So of course something always relates to something else.

I must admit the riff in the track ‘I Don’t Mind’ reminds me of UFO’s ‘Rock Bottom’. Do you agree?

Oh, thank you, you didn’t say Spinal Tap’s ‘Big Bottom’! Of course it has influences somehow and somewhere. But it doesn’t remind me of it. If you’re writing a song, you don’t think of somebody else’s, maybe it’s stuck in our head somehow and then you just play it. But you’re not thinking of stealing something from anyone, if we steal, we cover, but if we write our songs we’re not thinking of stealing some riff. But this is going to be a great live song. We already played it live and people go crazy.

With so many splendid songs in your discography deciding on the set list for your live shows must be a really difficult task.

It is!

Any thoughts on what you will be playing when you come to the UK in November? Which tracks from the new album, perhaps the two singles ‘Need To Believe’ and ‘Shangri-la’?

100% we are going to play these. We will try to play all the hits and all the best songs. We have written 140 songs and we cannot satisfy every fan, but we’ll try to do the best we can.

I’m sure you will, like every time I’ve seen you live. Gotthard are an amazing live act, not only a band that is good on CD. What is your secret?

I think we’re even better live than on the album. Everybody knows how to play their instrument and we have been on the road for 18 years with the same band members, so we know how to do it because we’ve learned it.

Do you feel that part of the band’s success can be attributed to the fact that you have kept the same line-up over the years, i.e. Marc Lynn on bass, Hena Habegger on drums, Steve Lee on vocals, you on guitar and newest addition Freddy Scherer also on guitar?

100%. That is the chemistry.

You are doing very well in Switzerland. How is the rest of the European market? I guess teaming up with Europe the band for your German tour in November will help in this country.

Actually, we don’t need Europe to go around on a headline tour in Germany. We’ve done that many times. But having a package nowadays makes it even more interesting for the fans. We’ve been headlining in Germany for 10 or 12 years, maybe we’d need some more support in Europe and the UK, but even if we play the Garage in London, which is a small club, I’m not planning to play at Glastonbury, but I can’t choose it.

Before you played Firefest III you were playing to 150-200 people a night in the UK. After Firefest the word spread around and you were playing bigger venues. We tried to get you back for Firefest VI in October this year but the offer was refused by your agent. Why do you think it’s so difficult to get you guys back here?

Sometimes if you only invest, you can’t survive. If we come to the UK there are many costs to think about and if we have €10,000 cost it doesn’t make sense to go there. I don’t work in the office, but I know the philosophy of the band. If we go for the glory, we can’t survive, so we have to choose, especially nowadays, where we can pay the whole cost.

You have played South America and Russia in 2006. How were these shows and are there any plans to go back there?

Yeah, of course, 100%. Russia was great and South America was great as well. The current dates on the website are just for this year, but I think we’re going to tour this album until the end of next year. We’re going to focus on the festivals next year, we already have offers. These 40 or 50 dates we’re doing from October to December are just for this year, as a warm-up for next year.

Are there any plans to play in the US?

Yes. We’re talking about plans to play in the States and Canada, but nothing is confirmed yet. The focus is on next year for this album.

How does being one of the most successful bands ever in Switzerland make you feel? Are you still able to walk in the street without people recognising you?

For me it doesn’t change anything. Where I live they know that if they bother me, I’m going to kick their ass! Ha ha! It’s quite a nice mixture for me as if I’d like to pretend to be the rock star, I can have what I would like to feel. If I pretend to be the average guy, everybody leaves me alone.

In April 2010 the band will appear on the soundtrack of the movie ‘Max Schmeling’. Would you tell us how did this come about and give us an overview of the movie? Will it be screened in the UK?

If this movie is really going to be released - because you never know what can happen in life - it will be worldwide. We’ve been on the set, done a video and it looks very professional. It’s a German production, but I’m not the director of it, so I can’t tell you. The movie is a about the boxing champion Max Schmeling in the early days, with the Nazi regime. It is a biography, Max Schmeling was huge. I don’t know if the movie will be a hit or a flop, but we will see.

Lastly, now is the time for you to pass on a message or add anything else you would like.

We have a few little shows in the UK, but I would like to see these shows packed because we’re going to come there and do our best. I hope people are going to appreciate it. We need fan support, especially cheerleaders! Because there is no doubt what we are going to give you guys, is going to be great! I would like to see the house go crazy.