Greece's Rockpages Web Magazine spoke with HELLOWEEN's founder/guitarist, Michael Weikath, for the promotion of the band's new album 7 Sinners. Here's an excerpt:

Rockpages.gr: 7 Sinners is pretty dark - the themes from the songs from what I could understand while listening to the record are dark.

Michael Weikath: "You may say so, I can understand you. It means that we have all those dark aspects. Deris calls it 'mystical', or 'mysterious.' I call it 'dark.' You say that there is a little bit too much of dark aspects in there. Even since the Dark Ride we followed that direction. Nowadays, you have to go that way in order to serve your concept, and sell records, which you only sell a fifth of what you used to sell before. Each and every artist at minimum has lost four fifths of the sales they had before piracy, and illegal downloading. So, in order to be on the safe side we had to have more of the dark and mysterious aspect to our music in order to sell to the whole world. I had to understand that first, because before I was entirely against it. Now, it seems that there are too many people that like that aspect and buy our records, while there is other people who wouldn’t need it, but also thought that we were too ridiculous before. So, the Sanctuary management we had, they would have had us a lot more serious as a band you know. Something like QUEENSRŸCHE serious. That’s not what we are, but it appears that the overall sound of the music, and the records gets more serious. Because on the Gambling With The Devil I did something like 'Can’t Do It', and then I got a lot of criticism again for that song. Like 'all the record is great except for that one sit song in there.' I felt very proud of that song, and I think it was perfect, but there’s people who don’t know what glam rock is, they’ve never heard it, or they have no idea, they have no access to this type of music. On this record I didn’t feel like doing anything controversial, I was just trying to do something in a cynical way, I wanted to make great tracks, like 'The Sage, The Fool, The Sinner', and 'Embrace The Noise' that there are not too much people that could complain about it. There’s no surface for them to attack those tracks! So, that’s probably why it seems more honest, and more dark in general, because there are no 'cheesy Weiki' tracks on this one."

Read the entire interview here.

7 Sinners has achieved the following worldwide chart positions:

Japan: # 6

Finland: # 16

Greece: # 10

Germany: # 25

Czech Republic: # 9

Switzerland: # 38

Sweden: # 40

Spain: # 51

Austria: # 57

France: # 65

European Billboard Charts: # 56

The Hard Rock institution PINK CREAM 69 will complete the package of Helloween and their very special guest STRATOVARIUS at all German concerts of the 7 Sinners world tour in February 2011. A special kind of circle will close for the Karlsruhe formation, celebrating their 20th birthday with the release of a Live-Double CD and a History/Live DVD last year. After all, Helloween singer Andi Deris was a founding member of Pink Cream 69 and co-shaped the band decisively at the beginning of their career. Both bands will share a stage for the very first time. All dates, venues and support bands, below:

The 7 Sinners World Tour 2010/11 European Part I

November

26 - Wien, Austria - Gasometer
27 - Zlin, Czech Republic - Winter Masters of Rock
28 - Budapest, Hungary - Petöfi Hall

December

1 - Langen, Germany - Neue Stadthalle *
2 - Antwerp, Belgium - Hof Ter Lo *
4 - Prestatyn, UK - Hardrock Hell Festival
5 - London, UK - The HMV Forum *
6 - Eindhoven, Netherlands - Effenaar *
8 - Lund, Sweden - Mejeriet **
9 - Oslo, Norway - Rockefeller **
10 - Gothenburg, Sweden - Lisebergshallen **
11 - Stockholm, Sweden - Arenan **
13 - Tallinn, Estonia - Rock Cafe
14 - Tampere, Finland - Pakkahuone **
15 - Helsinki, Finland - House Of Culture **
17 - Warsaw, Poland - Stodola **
18 - Cracow, Poland - Studio **
19 - Prague, Czech Republic - Mala Sportovni Hala (with CITRON)

January

11 - Paris, France - Elysee Montmatre *
12 - Lyon, France - Le Transbordeur *
14 - Bilbao, Spain - Rockstar Live *
15 - Madrid, Spain - La Riviera *
16 - Barcelona, Spain - Razzmatazz I *
18 - Milan, Italy - Alcatraz *
19 - Rome, Italy - Altantico *
21 - Athens, Greece - Fuzz Live Music Club **
22 - Thessaloniki, Greece - Principal Club Theatre **
23 - Sofia, Bulgaria - Hristo Botev Hall **
24 - Sofia Bulgaria - Hristo Botev Hall **
26 - Zagreb, Hungary - Boogaloo Club **
27 - Ljubljana, Slovenia - Kino Siska Club **
28 - Hlohovec, Slovakia - Sports Hall **
29 - Presov, Slovakia - Sports Hall **
31 - Pratteln, Switzerland - Z7 ***

February

1 - Saarbrücken, Germany - Garage ***
2 - Bonn, Germany - Brückenforum ***
4 - Hannover, Germany - Capitol ***
5 - Oberhausen, Germany - Turbinenhalle ***
6 - Osnabrück, Germany - Halle Gartlage ***
9 - Hamburg, Germany - Docks ***
10 - Bamberg, Germany - Jako Arena ***
11 - Kaufbeuren, Germany - All Karthalle ***
12 - Balingen, Germany - Volksbankmesse ***

* with TRICK OR TREAT

** with AVATAR

*** with PINK CREAM 69