What have you exactly done after the England tour for the first HARDLINE album?
"Slept! For a long time, just never got out of bed! No no no, I'm kidding! I recorded a Christian record called "Feeling Serious" and a Punk record. It was really crazy stuff. Then I started my own business, having nothing to do with music. But that's it musically, I didn't like what was going on with the music world, I wasn't into Grunge. So I relaxed. So many bands did, like CINDERELLA, RATT... all those bands that were huge in the eighties,
didn't do anything the last couple years."
So, you started your own business, a software company!?
"Yeah, that's right. I started an internet company where we handle credit card transactions."
So, that's your full time job?
"Yeah, it's different when you own the company you can kinda make your own hours. It's quite different from music because you control how successful you are. While in music sometimes you have other people that are controlling your career."
And you are doing this together with your brother Joey?!
"Yeah, as a matter of fact it was Joey's idea. It was a wonderful idea that he had and in less than two years we went from a very small company to a very large corporation."
There was an anouncement for a second HARDLINE album in Japan. What ever happened to that?
"I wasn't happy with the sound. I didn't like the way the record was coming out. We put it together, we had different players, Sean McNabb... We started rehearsing, we started recording... and then I said: "No, this isn't HARDLINE! Forget it!" I know people were very upset that we didn't do it, but I didn't like the music that was coming out."
Other news said that there should be a release of "The Gioeli Brothers". So, did you have any plans releasing an album with Joey?
"Right now, no immediate plans, no. But we talk about it once in a while..."
So you haven't had played in a band after HARDLINE, before joining AXEL RUDI PELL?
"No, free agent. That's the way I like it, all my life, since I was eleven years old I played in a band. Maybe some day... the thing that Joey and I are talking about is the Punk thing, because that was fun. You don't have to worry about if the song is perfect. Just having a good time. But I'm not sure what we're gonna do."
You got to meet Axel over the internet. Have you agreed to sing in his band straight from the start?
"No! What happened was a gentleman came to my house to buy some equipment and he was a fan of HARDLINE. He bought some guitars from me, he went back home and went on a HARDLINE internet page
and said: "I met Johnny, we talked and had a good time...". So, when Axel was trying to find me he saw that on the internet and so he e-mailed that person who came to my house. And then that person e-mailed me saying that Axel was looking for me and I didn't know who Axel was. I was not familiar with the group and
with him. Then I e-mailed Axel and we e-mailed each other for about four months and became friends over the internet, like pen pals. Then we talked about doing the record and he send me the music and I said of course I'll do it."
Did you fly to a personal meeting with Axel to Germany or did you meet him for the first time when you entered the studio?
"That's exactly right. First time, I got off the train, you know, I flew into Frankfurt and then took a train to Bochum, got off the train and said "Hello!" for the first time. We didn't even speak on the telephone, it was all through the computer. We became friends right away and started working. That's great!"
How did you like the studio time with Axel's band?
"It's great fun! They had everything prepared and when I come here they had the studio ready for me to sing. So it's quite nice, very relaxing, much different than in the States. There you have to hurry up. And I'm learning how to speak a very terrible German, I'm awful speaking German, but we have fun."
Will you meet before the tour in winter, to have some rehearsals with the band?
"I think only a couple of days, a few days prior to the tour, singing a couple rehearsals as a full band and then right on the tour. I haven't toured or a few years. I've done shows, but not Rock'n'Roll shows, Disco shows and things, for fun. So it's gonna be great."
Do you like Axel's lyrics?
"Yeah, they're simple, easy to understand and easy to sing."
Wouldn't you like to write some songs on your own? Or is it always okay for you to sing other people's lyrics?
"I don't mind either way. I get a thrill, I get very excited to sing other people's lyrics when they picture my voice with those words. It's okay, but I'm always writing, of course."
Will you write any own songs in the meantime?
"For this project? I don't know. We haven't talked about it. Maybe on the next couple albums, let's see."
What will you do until the tour in winter?
"The tour starts on December 8th. I just sold my house and bought another house in the mountains, so I have to get my house together. So, getting my house ready and the business that's about all I'm gonna do until I'm back, ready to rock!"
What will happen to all the songs that are left from the HARDLINE album and the ones you wrote after it for the second one?
"They are in my closet. They're waiting for some day I put them out. They are great, they are wonderful, better than the first record. But the players couldn't do it the same as the HARDLINE band, the original. You never know what could happen, someday we might get together and put out another one, I don't know."
Do you have the rights to release it?
"Sure, these are my songs."
Will you also work with Axel on the next albums?
"Sure! I enjoy it, it's fun. This type of music we are doing now, the Metal, brings me to a point in my life, my past, where I made music for fun and not for money. And I grew up with this style of music. So, when I sing this type of music and when we get together to do these records, it leaves you with a great feeling. You know, HARDLINE was a wonderful band and made alot of money, we got to tour the world etc., but was also very
stressful and it sometimes became work. And when music becomes work, something's wrong."
Who else was in the second HARDLINE line-up?
"We went through so many different drummers and many, many guitar players. People from not famous bands, from the L.A. area. I'd rather not tell if it's okay?"
It's a secret?
"Yeah, I don't want them to know. I'm sorry."
Why have you cut your hair?
"Oh, Joey did too. I don't know. I just went to get a haircut one day and said: "Take it off!". Strange, hm? It feels good though. I had it long since I was in highschool, so it's good now."
What are your musical future plans in general? Doing heavy music?
"For now I like to go back to this heavy sound and then I like to go real Pop. Sounds crazy, but I love easy listening, music too. I like to try that too. I like to try everything. You know, when you love to sing you should love to sing everything. I do, so I don't care what it is."

Tina Ehmke  


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