MOSCOW, March 1. /TASS/. American heavy metal rockers Manowar have kicked off the Russian leg of their Final Battle World Tour with a concert in the city of Novosibirsk on Friday.
This is the first time when the band is doing an extended tour in Russia.
In a phone interview with TASS ahead of the Novosibirsk concert, Joey DeMaio, bassist, main songwriter and the band’s leader said his group always wanted to do a big Russian tour and in particular to visit Siberia despite all those Western myths about severe winters in that part of the country.
"It's cold, but it's no colder than where we live, in New York, this is like being home for us. Fantastic to come here to Siberia and to do so many shows in Russia for it's a dream come true," he exclaimed.
DeMaio confessed that Manowar always admired the Scorpions, because these German rockers "have such a love for the Russian fans."
"We always wanted to be like the Scorpions and spend so much time in Russia because it's such a cool place and the audience is just like true heavy…metal. So we're just so happy to be here right now, we couldn't be happier," he exclaimed.
DeMaio recalled that before embarking on this world tour, the band conducted a survey among their fans on their website to pick the best songs to play live.
"We did do a voting and it's been done for, I don't know, six months now. And we picked the songs that fans votes for. And we tried to do our very best, I know the fans did their very best, so hopefully most people will be happy but it's hard to make everybody happy,’ DeMaio said.
About new album
The tour is set to promote the band’s new album called "The Final Battle," which is to come out in three parts later this year, DeMaio said.
"'The Final Battle' record is going to be released in three parts. The first part will come in April. Our songs are about winning, you know. And no matter how hard your life is, you can find a way, a good way to win," he said.
DeMaio noted that the album’s title should not confuse fans and this is not the band’s "farewell tour."
"It's funny when people say 'farewell tour'. It makes me laugh because we never said we're never going to tour. We never said we're going to break up," he said.
But the musician admitted that his band needs a break and after that the band will do "fewer shows" than they do now but they will be "bigger and crazier."
"We think that will be better for us and for the fans," he noted.
Talking to TASS the leader of Manowar for the first time unveiled his plans to release his own rock opera.
"I'm working on a rock opera now, a metal opera, actually. You're the first person to know it. I think, doing this metal opera is going to be something that people will really appreciate. Of course it'll have the Manowar style of music but it's going to be a deep, deep story," he said.
About the band
Manowar was formed in 1980 and two year later, its debut album "Battle Hymns" came out.
The band reached their heyday of glory with the release of their sixth record called "Kings of Metal" (1988).
The current line-up includes its two founding members - vocalist Eric Adams and bassist Joey DeMaio and two new members guitarist E.V. Martel and drummer Marcus Castellani.
Manowar toured in Russia in 1999, 2007, 2009, 2012 and 2014 but the geography of their concerts was limited to Moscow, St. Petersburg, Krasnodar and Yekaterinburg.
For the current tour, the band will put on concerts in nine Russian cities. After Novosibirsk, the musicians will set off to rock Vladivostok on March 3, Khabarovsk on March 5, Yekaterinburg on March 7, Samara on March 10, St. Petersburg on March 12, Moscow on March 14, Rostov-on-Don on March 16, and Kransodar on March 18.