By Carl Begai

Chemistry is everything, something Masterplan guitarist / founder Roland Grapow has been reminded of several times over the course his lengthy career. In 2001, he and ex-Masterplan drummer Uli Kusch were booted from Helloween following the severely underrated album, The Dark Ride, due to “creative differences” according to the Helloween camp. A record that, oddly enough, saw Grapow play 75% of the guitar parts. The pair launched Masterplan in 2001 and the band enjoyed success with two albums before vocalist Jorn Lande and Kusch called it quits a year apart for similar creative reasons. Rather than pack it in Grapow chose to forge onward with ex-Riot frontman Mike DiMeo in place of Lande following weeks of MySpace correspondence, a move that wasn’t well received by the majority of Masterplan fans. The MKII album and subsequent tour weren’t nearly as well received as the band’s previous outings, and Grapow quickly came to realize that bringing DiMeo on board had been a huge mistake.

“After the Saxon support tour I was really frustrated and didn’t care about the band all that much,” Grapow admits. “Something just didn’t feel right. Mike was asking me about doing some more touring or recording because he needed to make some money, but I was busy producing bands in my studio and didn’t have the time for Masterplan. He was part of the reason I was frustrated because our live performances weren’t that strong. I got the feeling that the fans didn’t like it that much. About three weeks or a month after we talked I received an email from Mike saying that he needed to continue with a different band because he needed to make a living. I said fine, no problem, and that was it. There was no big argument and nobody fired anybody, the chemistry just wasn’t there.”

Grapow does his best to remain diplomatic about parting ways with DiMeo, but his views are a crystal clear echo of the shared fan opinion that DiMeo simply didn’t bring or add anything to the band. Lande was a monstrous act to follow, but on CD and in particular the stage DiMeo was a mere shadow in comparison, as if making an effort was too much like work.

Masterplan MKII

“Mike never felt like he was replacing someone. He just kind of did his job but didn’t do it as if he was a band member. When he was on stage he acted like he was a hired gun or something, he was insecure. What I didn’t like too much was that he didn’t try to sing Jorn’s melodies. He made his own versions of the old songs, which is okay, but when you have songs that are highlights, like ‘Soulburn’, it really sucks. A few days after Mike left the band I called Jorn to ask him about returning, and I decided that if he said no then that was it, Masterplan was finished. After doing two great albums I didn’t want to see the band dying more and more each day, which is what started to happen with the third album.”

In the end Lande agreed to give Masterplan a second go-round. The resulting album, Time To Be King, recalls the band’s self-titled debut and its superior follow-up, Aeronautics, but according to Grapow, Lande’s return was never a sure thing.

“Jorn didn’t show much interest. He said we could talk about it because he was going to be in the Czech Republic (where Grapow now resides) with Avantasia around that time, maybe we could meet. We had two days of talking about it and I drove home frustrated because I thought he wasn’t going to come back. The first day we talked he was into it, the second day he said no (laughs). It took a couple of months talking on the phone – not every week, but every so often – and Jorn eventually said yes. Then we started writing new material for the album.”

In BW&BK;’s previous interview with Grapow, he blamed Lande’s initial exit from the band on the singer’s view that Masterplan should have been bigger than they were after two albums. Asked what he believes convinced Lande to come back, Grapow chalks it up to having a new perspective from being on the outside.

“I think he just realized that he’s made so many albums as a solo artist, and not to be mean, but I don’t think he ever reached the same level with those albums as he did with Masterplan. A lot of people told him that his albums were great, but not as strong as Masterplan.”

With Lande’s return to the fold came a change attitude with regards to songwriting. The focus was on having fun with the music rather than trying to sell people on the idea that Masterplan is the be all and end all of metal.

“It’s not that we had crazy laughing parties or anything like that, but it was pretty relaxed,” says Grapow. “Sometimes we had very stressful recording situations in the past, but one of the agreements that we had with Jorn for this album was to give him the time he needed. When Jorn writes lyrics it takes a long time; he might spend the whole day on one song. He doesn’t really have the freedom to do that at home or on tour, but here in the studio he’d sit with the stuff, maybe ask me if he could say this or that in a song. I’d be like ‘No! It sounds stupid.’ Typical German (laughs). Jorn would work on the lyrics for one song from 11:00 in the morning until 7:00 at night, and then we’d start recording. Sometimes it didn’t work so we said, okay, fine, we’ll come back to it another time. Like maybe a month later. So it was very relaxed this time.”
“It’s three main guys doing the writing now,” Grapow adds. “Before it was Uli, Jorn and me, now it’s Jorn, me and our keyboardist Axel Mackenrott. He wrote four songs for this album, so he completely taken over for Uli now. It was real teamwork on the new album, and I was the car mechanic standing behind the whole thing (laughs).”
“We didn’t have strict limitations or musical directions when we were writing” he adds. “It was basically just about talking; we communicated a lot because we wanted to be sure about what the other guys was thinking. When Uli (Kusch / drums) was still in the band he and I would talk a lot about the music, and I think Jorn felt a bit left out. Now I talk to him directly as a friend and as a partner. Jorn isn’t a hired gun. He came back to Masterplan with a ‘Let’s see…’ frame of mind, and when the album was finished he decided he was back. Totally.”

Asked to compare Time To Be King against MKII, Grapow has a soft spot for the last album in spite of his reservations. No question, though; he’s elated that Lande is back to being front and center in Masterplan.

“I think the last album was pretty good. The voice is different, the style is different. The melodies on the last album, we made them together because Mike’s melodies were just blues and soloist stuff, nothing memorable. I had to work with Mike on each song, but Jorn just comes in and delivers great melodies all on his own.”

The recording sessions for Time To Be King also featured Grapow back in the producer’s chair. He admits to spending more time producing bands than playing guitar these days, but doesn’t have any intention of giving Masterplan up for the mixing board any time soon.

“Masterplan still my main baby. This production stuff is fun for a while, but you get so tired and burnt out that you just want to go on tour. And then you get the same feeling from doing too much touring. But, when the band is really tight and you get to meet the fans, it’s great to be on tour for a few weeks. It’s a balancing act, definitely, but when I get tired of one thing I can turn my attention to the other. I enjoy that a lot. It’s fun to be able to do both.”