Anthony Morgan at Metal Forces recently caught up with RUNNING WILD frontman/founder Rolf Kasparek to discuss the band's comeback. An excerpt is available below:

“It was about 2006 where I said goodbye to Running Wild for myself,” divulges Kasparek. “I figured out that the last album was so heavy for me to write, and all the ideas didn’t come out of me in the right way. There were a lot of things that I had to throw away because I figured they were not strong enough to go on the album. In around 2009 the guys from Wacken came over to me, and said ‘Why don’t you do a show for the fans to say goodbye?’ I said ‘Okay, let’s try this,’ so we did it. At that time I was really sure that I would end Running Wild and not do it anymore, because it didn’t feel right anymore.

“When I was writing the TOXIC TASTE stuff, I figured out how it can feel when you write songs. Everything came out so easy and so natural, and when I was writing that I figured that it was the right feeling again because it felt like the old days. When I was writing songs like ‘Under Jolly Roger’ or ‘Riding The Storm’ and songs like that, they were all written in a very short period of time. I said ‘Okay, let’s try this out,’ but in 2009 my batteries were empty so to speak. I really needed a break and really had to go away fully and not do it anymore, because it didn’t feel right anymore. Today when I look back though, I see that I just needed a break to refill my batteries again.

“Toxic Taste was just a fun project. It was around 2010 that some record companies came to me, and said ‘What about re-recording old stuff from the first nine records?’ They’re no longer available because of Universal in England owning the rights to them, but not putting them out again. We were talking about that, and said ‘Let’s do this, and re-record 20 songs or something like that.’ They needed some bonus tracks for that, and when I tried to write the bonus tracks the songs for the album came out. The first track that I wrote was ‘Piece Of The Action’, which was way too strong to be wasted as a bonus track. The second one was ‘Riding On The Tide’. The songs that I was writing were way too strong to be wasted as bonus tracks, and didn’t make sense to me to be used as such. When I wrote these strong songs it made more sense to do a full album, because four songs were half an album. If I could’ve written half an album, I could’ve written a whole album no problem. They said ‘Wow, a great idea. Let’s do a new record,’ which became Shadowmaker.

“Shadowmaker is a very modern version of Running Wild. You hear this is typical Running Wild, but we have choirs on the album and I never did that before. It’s new to Running Wild. With this album Shadowmaker, I wanted to make sure it was in the present and that I’m heading for the future. Not holding onto the past and just trying to recreate it, which wouldn’t make any sense to me.”

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Shadowmaker was released as a limited first edition in a black jewel case with silver printing and slipcase plus a 40 minute bonus DVD with a making of and a track by track commentary by Rock N' Rolf. The double gatefold LP comes with printed innersleeves and clear vinyl. There is also a boxset limited to 1,000 copies worldwide. It contains two LPs, the black jewel case with the DVD, a poster, a sticker, a postcard and a 30 page book in LP size about the history of the band.

Running Wild recently released a video for the track 'Riding On The Tide', from Shadowmaker, featuring photos and info about the configurations, release dates, new shirts and the signing sessions and release parties in Germany.

Check it out below:

Tracklisting black jewel case plus DVD:

CD

'Piece Of The Action'

'Riding On The Tide'

'I Am Who I Am'

'Black Shadow'

'Locomotive'

'Me & The Boys'

'Shadowmaker'

'Sailing Fire'

'Into The Black'

'Dracula'

DVD

Making of Shadowmaker

Track by track commentary by Rock N´Rolf

Length approx. 40 min

Tracklisting LP:

LP 1:

Side 1

'Piece Of The Action'

'Riding On The Tide'

'I am Who I am'

Side 2

'Black Shadow'

'Locomotive'

'Me & The Boys'

LP 2:

Side 1

'Shadowmaker'

'Sailing Fire'

'Into The Black'

Side 2

'Dracula'

Boxset:

- two LPs, clear vinyl
- Black jewel case incl. DVD
- Poster
- Postcard
- Sticker
- 30 page book in LP size about the history of the band plus photos
- 35 x 35 cm
- hard cardboard material with top