There are those times as an independent music journalist that just feel surreal. This is definitely one of those times. In the run-up to their massive new double-album, Afterlifelines this heavy metal fanboy actually got the opportunity to chat with the legendary Peter “Peavy” Wagner of the German power metal godfathers, Rage! This was a fun conversation as I got to talk about their new record and Peavy told personal and interesting stories. Rage has been one of those bands that have been ever-present during my entire life. I’ve always known their music and this was such an amazing opportunity. Their new album is an epic double feature comprising of the first half, titled Afterlife and the second part, titled Lifelines and has been an album I’ve had blasting for the last few weeks.
This was a cool experience and I hope you, dear reader, enjoy this interview! Also, I’d like to thank the subreddit, r/PowerMetal for some questions from the wider fan community, I hope you appreciate the answers!
Mick: This new album Afterlifelines will be your twenty-seventh studio album as Rage. Do you find it difficult to come up with new ideas after such a storied career with so much music?
Peavy: Actually, no it’s not at least not for us. This album felt almost accidental. We released our last album, Resurrection Day, in the autumn of 2021. There was still the pandemic going on and we were in another lockdown and we had to cancel all of our tour dates. We just used the time to keep collecting ideas and writing songs. After a couple months of straight writing sessions, we realised that we had enough for another two albums at least. We talked with our record company SPV and had a discussion with them about possibly making this a double album.
Mick: How did you decide on making this a double album rather than two separate releases?
Peavy: Looking at today’s music market, the landscape does feel different with all of the bands out there just making singles, so we had to think about it. It feels like a lot of people these days don’t have the patience to listen to a full album, let alone a double album. However, after discussing it back and forth for a while, we settled on the idea and we decided it was a good idea. It coincides with our upcoming 40th anniversary this year so it felt right to do something special. So, SPV gave us the green light to do this double album. So we planned all of this material. The first part is a heavier record, titled Afterlife and the second, Lifelines, is a more progressive and epic-sounding album.
Mick: What does it feel like to have sustained a 40-year career in the industry?
Peavy: Sometimes, it feels like a miracle to me. Like everything in life, we’ve had our ups and downs but somehow we’ve made it. Really it’s because of the true metal fans and the ones that have stuck with us, that’s that’s the reason we’ve made it as long as we have. We’re really the odd ones out because it’s not really normal to stand the test of time the way we have, but I’m truly grateful to the fans for sticking with us this long!
Mick: So, for the new album, due to circumstance, you’re back down to being a trio again. How does that feel, if different at all?
Peavy: First of all, I’ve always been used to being part of a trio. As much of my career has been in that format, for me that’s not a problem at all. I didn’t want to add a new person to the band as Stefan isn’t truly out of the band.
I should note that Stefan (Weber), though not on this album, is not out of the band entirely. Last year he had some personal issues he needed to deal which forced him to stop. So we agreed he could take a break and take as long as he needed to get back. The doors are still open for him. As soon as he feels like he’s ready to join the band again, he’s welcome to. Until then we’ll continue as a three-piece. It’s not been a problem for Jean (Bormann). We asked Jean if it was ok for him to do it all and he was just like “Yeah, no problem”. On stage, of course, we’re missing Stefan as it’s easier to share the load but on the record, we can continue and it’s all good.
Mick: That’s really nice to hear! On this new album, do you have a personal favourite track?
Peavy: There are plenty of tracks that I really love on this one. The ones we’ve released as singles so far are all great. “Under A Black Crown” is a very catchy song. The second single “Cold Desire” is a nice mix of brutal heaviness and catchy melodies. I like the song “Lifelines” at the end of the second album. It’s a really long song and it’s not even the end of it. “Lifelines”, “Interlude” and “In The End” are all one piece that belong together. We had to break them up and give them separate titles, because of writing credit reasons. Those are the ones that stick out to me.
Mick: When it came to writing this album, could you break down the process a little for me?
Peavy: It’s always different for every song. Sometimes the hook is written first, sometimes the riff and so on. For example with “Under A Black Crown”, Jean came up with the guitar hook line, just a great-sounding riff and we developed the other parts around that. However, the writing process for this album was really quick. We shifted ideas around but everything came together quite well.
Mick: So while working on some questions I did ask the r/PowerMetal community on Reddit if they would like to ask you anything. So I just want to ask these questions. Firstly, what gear did you use on the "Trapped" and "The Missing Link" albums? (From user: Schmondi)
Peavy: Wow, that’s a long time ago! The bass guitar I was using at the time was a Lag bass, I think it was called The Beast. I think Manni (Schmidt) was also using a form of Strat model also called The Beast. As far as I remember.
I was using my old Ampeg-SVT 2 model. That was actually the first one that came over to Germany. I had it since 1989, it was one of the first tester models here. I can’t remember what Manni was using in terms of gear, it’s so long ago. Also, Chris (Ephthimiadis) was playing Tama drums as far as I remember but don’t ask me the specifics.
Mick: If you could have written any song from another artist, which song would you like to have claimed as a Rage song? (From user: MeatGayzer69)
Peavy: Good question! One song I think is a genius track is “Enter Sandman” by Metallica. It’s so simple yet so effective. The hook gets me every time. Also, it was a very successful song so I would have liked the success that came with it. It made a lot of money so it would have worked for me.
Mick: Yeah, I suppose if you were to ask a random person on the street to name a metal song, there's a good chance they’d pick that one! Our next question from the community asks, how do you think the album Soundchaser has aged over the last 20 years? (from user: pbiddy666)
Peavy: Oh really good! I think Soundchaser (2003) and Unity (2002) together could have made for an interesting double album. Which would have been realistic as they were made very close to one another. I think both have aged really well. We still play a lot of those songs in our live sets. As far as I know, we’re re-releasing those albums pretty soon as vinyl with lots of bonus material. I own my own label Dr Bones and I own all of the back-catalogue rights. We have already re-released a lot of the older stuff. Those two albums were still missing, so we’re releasing the vinyl versions either later this year or early next year!
Mick: For the promotion of this new album, what is the tour schedule looking like. I know there are a lot of fans who would love to see you play in their city, town, or country?
Peavy: We have set up a lot of touring activity for this year and into next year. We’ll be busy touring for the next two years! In between, we want to start on new material. I mean we already have a few new ideas. I think we’re looking at having a follow-up to Afterliflines by the end of next year or the beginning of 2026. Yeah, Jean and I have made a really great run at this and we just can get ideas out quite quickly.
Mick: As for your own personal taste in music, do you enjoy a lot of modern metal bands or do you prefer the classics?
Peavy: Oh, well Jean definitely listens to a lot more modern metal. I think we’re both quite open-minded when it comes to listening to music. Of course, I come from the older generation and I have my old favourites that I’ll never stop liking. I think I have quite a mixed taste of everything good, for lack of a better term. There are a lot of younger artists that I think are doing great things. But hey, some of the older bands are still relevant. For example, Judas Priest just put out a new album, Invincible Shield which is killer.
Mick: Is there anything about the music industry that you would like to change?
Peavy: I think for the artists it would be a lot better if we could still sell the physical products like CDs, vinyls and the like. Living off of your music was definitely a lot easier before the dawn of the streaming era. I see a lot of younger bands just living off of live shows & merchandise, as streaming doesn't earn them a lot of money. It’s a big loss for artists not being able to live off of your music. The music industry would be a lot healthier if artists could just sell physical copies of their music and not have to rely on the small amount streaming gives you and have to strain yourself touring. I’m afraid it won’t go back to that, we can’t turn back time.
Mick: When it comes to touring, do you prefer the big open-air festival/arena shows are the more intimate smaller shows?
Peavy: Everything has its value, I don’t think I could pick. The big festivals are exciting but the more direct contact of the club shows is not something I would ever want to leave behind.
Mick: Is it difficult to come up with new setlists, having so many albums to represent in such a small amount of time?
Peavy: Of course, there’s just too much and we can’t realistically play everything! We do try to vary the setlists and get the important stuff in there. I would say 90% is older material and we really try to make a good mix of songs.
Mick: Do you have any really memorable moments for your time touring?
Peavy: I remember in the 80’s at one show, I just broke through the stage. It was made from these really thin and flimsy wooden planks, so when I jumped from the drum-rise I broke through those planks and just destroyed the stage.
Mick: Finally just wrap up our time together. What is the hardest thing you’ve had to overcome and how did you overcome it?
Peavy: Definitely one of the hardest things is when the band broke down during the production of the album Ghosts in 1999. Not only was it difficult business-wise. I was sitting in a studio with a half-finished album with a lot left to do. There were a lot of half-recorded guitars and all of the musicians had gone and left me. It was also a very difficult personal time for me because I thought we were friends, but it turns out they were cheating behind my back and abusing my friendship. It was a really disappointing time both professionally and personally. I found it so hard to find the will to keep moving forward. I was looking for excuses to quit and walk away.
I was losing money every day, the studio was booked and I just had to get it done but I just couldn’t do anything. To add to the misery we had a nearly-sold-out tour booked at the time and I didn’t want to cancel any of the tour dates. I was looking desperately for other musicians to come in and help me. I found a great guitar player in Victor Smolski to finish the album and found Mike Terrana to come play drums on the upcoming tour. Those guys saved my ass in that really difficult situation, if it hadn’t been for them I could imagine I would have just given up, I mean I was ready to just say “Fuck this shit”! I guess you could say I was traumatised by the whole ordeal.
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