While walking through the entrance of the Barrumba club in Torino at six o'clock of a snowy February afternoon, the first thing we heard was the piano intro of "The last supper": the Grave Digger's soundcheck had just started. So we just sat down and enjoyed the preview of the evening concert to come.

After a few minutes we found ourselves face-to-face with a very available Chris Boltendahl, front man and heart of the Grave Digger, on tour to present their 13 th studio album "The last supper" and to celebrate the 25 th anniversary of the band:

"Chris, we listened to your last album 'The last supper'. It sounds really powerful. It really rocks. And it is another concept album. Do you think that publishing concept albums is the natural way Grave Digger express themselves musically?"

"Well, 'The last supper' is not a real concept album."

".but the references to Jesus and religion seem to be quite clear in many songs."

"There are actually only three songs on the life of Jesus: 'The last supper', 'Divided cross' and 'Crucified'. The other songs are not strictly connected to the story of Jesus. There are songs about religion but also songs like 'Black widows' that tell about the terrorist women in Chechnia."

"Is it more correct if we say this is a record about fanatism at all levels?"

"This record is just about topics we are interested in, facts and news that strike us when we watch TV or listen to the radio. Not necessarily related to religions or fanatism. For instance 'Grave in the no man's land' is about the war in Iraq and soldiers dying away from their countries."

"Are you and the other members of the band religious at all?"

" I believe that there is something in my life, I don't know if it's God or something else, but I am not neither christian nor religious. Nobody in the band is."

"One of the characteristics of your songs and albums is that lyrics are generally very accurate, so that we sometimes believe that the idea of the lyrics comes first and then comes the music. How does your actual songwriting work?"

"Normally we work on the concept first and then start writing the musics, sometimes after having decided the concept we write the lyrics first. But this time it was totally different. We collected all the musical ideas from the band and then started writing the lyrics."

"In today's heavy metal scene there seems to be a big dividing line between old style true metal groups, which average age is getting higher and higher, and the younger generation bands playing more extreme forms of metal. Do you have the impression sometimes to be a metal species facing extinction?"

"No, I think there are a lot of new emerging metal bands playing this kind of music. The heavy metal scene is very open at the moment. Black metal, death metal, I think that every kind of metal has got the right to exist. I don't listen to all that stuff but I don't really have a problem with that."

"So we won't hear you growl on stage..."

"No. Only during sound checks (laughs)."

"What kind of music do you listen to?"

"All my favourite bands are from the '70s and '80s like Black Sabbath and Deep Purple.

"Germany seems to have been the stronghold of true metal through the years, like Scandinavia and Finland are for extreme metal. What are in your opinion the german bands that are more worth listening to?"

"German bands today have a big problem in finding their own identity. They tend more to copy bands like Helloween, Blind Guardian or Grave Digger and I think this is not a good thing. Edguy is a very good band."

"So you think that there is a risk to have in Germany lower quality metal bands in a near future?"

"Yes. You see, all the big metal bands from the '80s will stop playing some day. I don't see any big followers coming after them, at least in the german metal scene."

"And speaking of the classic heavy metal stars, we read in the past some of your interviews where you had pretty sharp comments on bands like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. What are your real feelings on these bands?"

"Well, I was a very big fan of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden in the '80s, but when they started splitting I think they betrayed their fans. And all those reunions, like the one you see today of Judas Priest, they are just for money. They betray their fans. The last record they made is not like a real Judas Priest's record. I don't like it. These guys just haven't been interested in the metal scene of the last 10 years and now they do a reunion? For what? They look really old.
But my opinion is not very important. I still like band that were playing in the '80s, like Rainbow, Grand Funk Railroad or Black Sabbath, but nowadays it's only a business thing."

"You are celebrating now your 25 th anniversary of music. After 25 years, how much do you still enjoy getting on a tour bus and live the tour life?"

"I still love it. But sometimes when you have to travel a long way, like we did last night from Munich to Torino, then it's hard. You can't sleep much on a bus. I still enjoy being on tour for fourteen days but not more than that. I need to have a break, then maybe some concerts a few days later. If I don't have fun playing, then I prefer not doing it. I do not need to play for money."

"We saw you playing at last year's Wacken Open Air and there were something like 30,000 people at the concert. Tonight you shall play in a really small place."

"I know. There will be a couple of hundreds. But for me it's the same. I'll give my best because people are paying to see me on stage. That's the only important thing. So thirty thousands or one hundred does not make any difference to me. We played in Copenhagen a few days ago and there were only twenty-five people (The Murder Inn: shame on you, dane!) but we did the same show we did the day before in front of 600 people. It really is not important to me how many people will come."

"We haven't seen many important metal bands in Italy recently, and then all of a sudden we have the Grave Digger in Torino the same night of the Megadeth concert in Milano."

"I know. We were originally scheduled in Milano tonight and then decided to change to Torino to avoid two concerts on the same night in the same city (The Murder Inn: Chris clearly does not like this) . We had the same problem in Munich where our show was on the same night of Megadeth's but we managed to play in front of a pretty good number of people anyway."

"Do you prefer to have your own tour or to play at festivals?"

"I honestly don't care. For me it's important to play. 'Where' it's never been a problem for me."

"Does the average metal band still make money today?"

"We make money from the records, we make money from the tours. And that's important. I've been in the rock scene for 25 years and I still enjoy playing my music. But I wouldn't do it if I were not making money. I'm not eighteen years old anymore, you know (laughs)."

"You are the only original member of Grave Digger remaining in the band. Do you see yourself doing this kind of life for some more time?"

"I am used to listen more to my stomach than to my head. I can't tell you how long I will be doing this life. When my stomach tells me to stop it, then I'll stop. It also depends much on the fans. If they keep on buying my records and coming to the shows, I'll continue. The day no-one will show up at my concerts, then I'll stop (laughs)."

I don't know if the number (between two and three hundred, more or less) of enthusiatic people that gathered at the "Barrumba" later on that night where enough for the Grave Digger. In our opinion, a show of that quality (it was definitely Grave Digger at their very best) deserved a much bigger audience. The playlist went through the entire career of the Reaper and classics like "Knights of the Cross", "Excalibur" and "Heavy Metal Breakdown" mixed up very well with the songs of the new album that the fans seemed to welcome like they were hits already.

25 years of career, Grave Digger: we wish you to keep on digging for a long long time more!

We wanna get a great thank to Wolfgang that let us allowed to have the interview, and Cocchi for the accreditations and the beautiful evening, without them this would not happen.