Interview and Pictures: Adrian Hextall / MindHex Media
The godfather of power metal discusses vocal challenges, epic songwriting, and why the Helloween reunion keeps rolling on.
He’s been dubbed “the godfather of power metal”, a founding father of not one, but two seminal bands in the genre: Helloween and Gamma Ray. Kai Hansen, the perpetually youthful-looking guitarist and vocalist, whose high-energy riffs and soaring vocals first defined the speedy, melodic sound that conquered the metal world in the mid-80s, is radiating positivity. We’re catching up with him as Helloween, the band he co-founded back in 1983, left in ’89, and sensationally rejoined in 2016, puts the finishing touches on their next studio album, the follow-up to their globally successful self-titled 2021 release.
“Okay, um, I’m doing very fine,” Hansen begins, his voice clear and energetic down the line. “Yeah, very stoked and happy to be here. I’m glad that the album is done and then it turned out so well in my opinion”. This upcoming opus, recently announced as “Giants & Monsters” and slated for an August 29th, 2025 release, marks the second studio effort from the sprawling seven-piece “Pumpkins United” lineup. This metal dream team features Hansen alongside fellow returning legend Michael Kiske (vocals), the ‘classic’ era stalwarts Michael Weikath (guitars) and Markus Grosskopf (bass), and the band’s long-serving members Andi Deris (vocals), Sascha Gerstner (guitars), and Dani Loble (drums).
The reunion, which kicked off with the “Pumpkins United” tour in 2017, wasn’t just a nostalgic trip; it was a pragmatic solution and a creative rebirth. For Hansen, whose distinctive, slightly raspy vocals graced Helloween’s early EPs and the groundbreaking debut Walls of Jericho, sharing the microphone has been a literal voice-saver.
“Yeah, I have a lot more vocal parts on this one,” he confirms regarding the new album. How’s the voice holding up? “Besides smoking and drinking,” he laughs, “it’s doing pretty fun at the moment”. This is welcome news, especially after past concerns about his vocal endurance led him to bring in Frank Beck to share lead duties in Gamma Ray.
“I always, all my career, I struggled with doing like full shows as a singer and frontman on the long run,” Hansen admits candidly. “I always ran into problems. It’s not only due to the lifestyle. It’s due to that I’m not a singer… I mean, I like to sing”. He clarifies, acknowledging the irony after fronting Gamma Ray for decades: “The burden of being the guy responsible for making the show in terms of voice… and I’m not the guy who, like, after the show disappears in the hotel room and is taking it easy. That comes on top”.
He describes his style not as classical, but expressive: “I’m an expressionist… I sing as I feel, and when enthusiastic with a crowd, I screamed my lungs out. Next day, I fucking regret it”. Bringing Beck into Gamma Ray was crucial. “Frank fits so well with my voice, we go along so well together… that means even with Gamma Ray I can do full touring because I don’t have to sing all the time. Yes, and that saves my ass”.
This collaborative spirit now defines Helloween. “Same with Helloween,” Kai continues. “I have much more to sing [on the new album]. But that’s fine. I can do that… fucking every night. Because it’s all shared, isn’t it?”. “Exactly,” confirms interviewer Adrian Hextall. “We can rely on each other,” Hansen adds. “And even for Michael [Kiske] and Andi, it’s so great to share the vocals. We can give 100% every night. And not like, you know, ‘Oh, I have to keep my voice and be careful.’ Yeah. So, asking… it’s all beneficiary”. It also provides incredible security. As Deris noted previously, and Kai implicitly confirms, if one singer falls ill, the other two can seamlessly pick up the slack. It’s happened: “We had one or two shows where Michael was sick… so we made a video announcement… and Andi and me, we shared the vocals, and it worked out pretty well”. Disappointment for some fans, perhaps, but better than cancelling. “That’s the luxury,” Hansen concludes.
Beyond the vocals, Hansen’s songwriting DNA remains deeply embedded in Helloween. On the 2021 album, he penned the 12-minute closer “Skyfall”. For “Giants & Monsters”, he’s contributed another lengthy piece, the title track of which is “Majestic”. What draws him to these epics?
“I always end up doing long ones because I like to do that,” he shrugs. “It’s a challenge for me… And of course, I’m not doing that on purpose. I don’t sit down and say, ‘Okay, now I write a long song'”. “Mostly I come up with ideas… the song offers… it offers me to take the challenge to make it a long one because the song has to have it. Yeah. And that’s the point. That’s why I’m doing it. So, ‘Majestic'”.
Intriguingly, “Majestic” has a history reaching back nearly two decades. “Actually, ‘Majestic’ has a history,” Kai reveals. “You remember we did a Gamma Ray album called Majestic [in 2005]?”. “Yes,” confirms Hextall. “Actually, that was one of the songs I started writing for this one. And I never finished it”. Years later, curiosity struck. “At some point before this production… I was like, ‘Fuck, I wonder where the demo files are?’ And I was digging into my old hard drives and I found it”. “So I said, ‘Okay, this is good. I think this can be really good.’ So I want to work on this. And that’s how I ended up working on it”. It’s a sense of closure, finding a home for a long-gestating idea.
His lyrical process is equally fascinating, driven more by sound and feeling than pre-conceived narratives. “Lyrical-wise, I’m more a phonetics guy,” he explains. “The way I write lyrics is not coming up with a story… I have an idea and I have some words… some sentences, some lines that go along with the music. And mostly, it’s about phonetics and words that sound powerful, strong… that fit the music”. He’ll often just grab a mic and sing spontaneously. “My English capabilities are good enough, I guess, to… spontaneously throw something out. That 80% makes sense. The rest, 20%, is just pure bullshit phonetics”. He then refines it: “Then I have a look at what I’ve done… ‘Oh, that’s on your mind, okay, that’s the story.’ And then I transform the bullshit phonetics into fitting phonetics. And then I have lyrics”. He cites the master, Ronnie James Dio: “‘Holy Diver, you’ve been down too long in the midnight sea. Oh, what’s becoming of me?’ I have no fucking idea what he meant, but it sounds great!”, Kai laughs. “And that’s how I approach it… There’s room for fantasy, for interpretation, for people to come up with their own idea”.
That room for fantasy often leads Hansen to the cosmos. “Skyfall” included lyrical nods to Gamma Ray’s “Somewhere Out in Space”. The new track “Majestic” closes with another mention of space. What’s the fascination? “Oh man, I’m fascinated by space,” he enthuses. “By the idea of other extraterrestrial beings and gods from outer space and, you know, all that shit. It’s not that I’m a fanatic believer… I’m not Erich von Däniken. But I like to speculate, and I like to envision the ideas… So I’m fascinated, so that’s why it has a tendency to come back”. He acknowledges the fan connection too, the little Easter eggs they look for. “I like that. Yeah, that’s good. And that keeps your fans engaged, doesn’t it?”. “Totally, yeah, absolutely,” Kai agrees.
That fan engagement is particularly fervent in Japan, a country Helloween holds dear. Playing the legendary Nippon Budokan was a career highlight. “We all been dreaming about that since we first went to Japan,” says Kai. “Anytime we first went… it was such a different thing… exciting all over the place. The fans, the vibe… the whole scenery. And still, every time we go, we’re like, ‘Oh yeah, Japan, Japan!'”. Their recent “Live At Budokan” album captures this magic.
Talk of live albums sparks another memory – Helloween’s Live in the U.K., recorded in 1989. “The only shame about this album was I was already out of the band when the live album was done,” Kai clarifies, despite playing on the tour where it was recorded (Manchester, Scotland, London). What irked him more was the track list. “All three shows were like almost two hours, and we recorded the whole show. And what was the outcome? Live in the U.K. with what, six, seven tracks? … I was like, ‘Are you fucking kidding me? We have a whole fucking show! Why don’t you release it as a double?’ Uh, but they wouldn’t listen”. The search for those master tapes continues. “I’m still reminding my manager, ‘Hey, find those fucking tapes!’… Because [the tour] was legendary, really cool… the band was in top form. Yeah, really. And with Ingo [Schwichtenberg, original drummer]”. He fears they might be lost in the label shuffles from Noise Records to Sanctuary to BMG. “It would be so worth it… To release for sure”.
Looking ahead, Helloween are set to grace the stage of London’s iconic Hammersmith Apollo (still the Odeon to Kai and many fans) later this year. “Yeah, well, it’s the Hammersmith ODEON, alright? Okay, good,” he chuckles, relieved it’s the right venue, despite the name changes. It’s a 5,000+ capacity venue, similar to Brixton Academy where they played last time. But he questions the booking strategy: “I saw the schedule and was like, one gig in England? Really? That’s poor”. He suspects promoters are playing it safe, even though he believes they could sell out more shows. “Of course, I’d like to do more,” he adds.
While arenas are great, Hansen retains a deep affection for smaller venues. “Is there ever a temptation to do a really small club show?” asks Hextall. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I still like it,” Kai confirms. “Not too small… it should be a decent club, like 500 up to 1000… As much as I enjoy playing arenas… the intimacy of a sweaty club? Can’t beat that”. He fondly recalls playing London’s Marquee and Underworld over the years with both Helloween and Gamma Ray.
The seeds for the Pumpkins United reunion were sown long before 2016. “Whenever I met the guys… every time we sat together… [we’d say] ‘We would be so stupid to miss the chance to do something together'”. Several steps were crucial: Kiske returning to the metal scene, Kai and Kiske collaborating in Unisonic, and ultimately, burying the hatchet between key members. “Then we had the big meeting with everybody… Michael [Weikath] and Andi [Deris] actually met [properly] the first time… Nobody knew what’s going to happen… but it felt so good”. They agreed to the tour, keeping future plans open. “Nobody knew if we were going to bash in our heads on this tour or how Andi and Kiske would get along… if there’s gonna be any kind of competition in a bad way”. But it clicked. “It went so fucking well that after the tour we sat together… It’s like, ‘Okay, so… album?’ Let’s do an album”. And they’re still here, thriving. “We’ve become a real good team… grow together”.
Beyond the Helloween mothership, Hansen remains busy. He’s currently mixing his second solo album. “This time not ‘Hansen & Friends’,” he specifies, referencing his 2016 debut XXX – Three Decades in Metal. “This is going to be just me and my band”, featuring stalwarts like Corvin Bahn (keyboards) and Alex Holzwarth (drums), plus a special guest guitarist: his son, Tim Hansen. Kai will handle all vocals.
He beams with pride when discussing Tim, whose own band, Induction, is making waves. “I saw him playing with Induction… great guitarist. Yeah, really good. Technically, he’s better than me,” Kai laughs. “Induction is going well… the next album is going to be great… I saw them live a few times now. And wow, yeah… It’s got to put a smile on your face when you see things like that?” asks Hextall. “Oh, absolutely yeah. I’m very proud,” Hansen replies warmly.
From the raw energy of Walls of Jericho to the polished power of the forthcoming Giants & Monsters, Kai Hansen’s journey mirrors the evolution of power metal itself. The Helloween reunion isn’t just surviving; it’s flourishing, creating vibrant new music while honouring a rich legacy. With a new album, solo projects, and a family dynasty emerging, the godfather shows no signs of slowing down. Does he see an end to this Helloween chapter? “No, no, no… this might go on for a while, I guess”. For millions of metal fans worldwide, that’s music to their ears. The pumpkins, united and stronger than ever, roll on.
Helloween – Giants & Monsters
Reigning Phoenix
Release: 29 August 2025
Tracklist:
1. Giants On The Run
2. Saviour Of The World
3. A Little Is A Little Too Much
4. We Can Be Gods
5. Into The Sun
6. This Is Tokyo
7. Universe (Gravity For Hearts)
8. Hand Of God
9. Under The Moonlight
10. Majestic
Band Members:
Michael Kiske – vocals
Andi Deris – vocals
Kai Hansen – guitars, vocals
Michael Weikath – guitars
Sascha Gerstner – guitars
Markus Grosskopf – bass
Daniel Löble – drums
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