FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
These are answers to the most common questions we get via e-mail, in interviews or at gigs. If you have any additional questions that you can't find the answers to at this website just ask tommy@heavyfidelity.com.
1. HOW DID NICO ADAMSEN END UP AS CRYSTAL EYES VOCALIST?
The band announced in a press release early autumn 2005 that they were searching for a new vocalist. A special webpage with mp3s, lyrics and instructions was set up, and after that Mikael Dahl received tons of material from vocalists all over Europe, mostly guys from outside Sweden. A few auditions were then held during the autumn at CRYSTAL SOUNDS. SØREN NICO ADAMSEN, prefered name Nico, came from Copenhagen, Denmark, and had previous recorded one album with the Danish band STARRATS. He first sent a CRYSTAL EYES song via e-mail, and when he got a positive respons from Mikael he sent a cassette with a cover of each of the singers which had been mentioned on the special webpage. That cassette certainly showed what a diverse voice Nico had, and an audition was booked. The audition was good, and Nico proved to be a really nice guy, and after thinking about it for a few days the band let Nico know that they wanted him as their new vocalist. A few weeks after that Nico made a second visit for a proper rehearsal, a photo session and a huge pile of beers. Shortly after that the band made it official.
2. WHAT'S THE STORY BEHIND DANIEL HEIMAN SINGING IN CRYSTAL EYES?
After twelve years and three studio albums as lead vocalist CRYSTAL EYES main-man Mikael Dahl felt it was time for a change. Up to the microphone steps former LOST HORIZON vocalist Daniel Heiman. At first Daniel was supposed to sing only two songs on the album CONFESSIONS OF THE MAKER, as a follow-up to his performance on the song THE WIZARD'S APPRENTICE from the album VENGEANCE DESCENDING. A couple of months before the recordings for CONFESSIONS OF THE MAKER were about to begin Mikael learned that Daniel had left LOST HORIZON, and directly discussed the matter with the band who decided to approach Daniel about taking over the lead vocals in CRYSTAL EYES. Daniel and Mikael have known each other since the early '90s when they played together in a band which mainly covered ACCEPT songs, and with a common ground like that it was an easy decision to ask one of the best singers in the world if he wanted to jump on the train. Daniel was very positive about singing in CRYSTAL EYES, but also made clear that when he quit LOST HORIZON he'd set his mind on spending more time on other things, and that singing on the album and upcoming gigs would be his only engagement in CRYSTAL EYES.
After finishing the recordings of CONFESSIONS OF THE MAKER Daniel formed the new band HEED with his old LOST HORIZON mate guitarist Fredrik Olsson. When they then relatively soon signed a productions deal Daniel's focus was completely on HEED. Of course CRYSTAL EYES hoped to make more than one album and one gig at SWEDEN ROCK FESTIVAL with Daniel when first deciding to work with him, but writing and recording his own music had been Daniel's goal for quite some time.
3. WHAT'S THE STORY BEHIND RE-RELEASING THE FIRST TWO ALBUMS?
CRYSTAL EYES first two albums WORLD OF BLACK AND SILVER (1999) and IN SILENCE THEY MARCH (2000) have, even though they're relatively new, been out of print already for a couple of years. This has of course been very frustrating for the band and for the fans who's been trying to get hold of them, but CRAZY LIFE MUSIC who initially released them never had any intentions of printing more. HEAVY FIDELITY has now acquired the rights, and will re-release them at the same time as the new album. Since no one is really pleased with the sound production on these albums the intention was to remix and remaster them, but when acquiring the rights it came to our knowledge that CRAZY LIFE MUSIC hadn't saved the master tapes!!! Hence the re-releases carry the same sound as when the albums were originally released. The re-releases have newly designed packages, but the main thing is to make them available again for the fans that never got the chance to buy them the first time around. The band is very proud of the material, and they should be unavoidable in any CRYSTAL EYES fans' record collection.
4. WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO USE MATTIAS NORÉN INSTEAD OF KRISTIAN WÅHLIN FOR THE COVER OF CONFESSIONS OF THE MAKER?
It was never a question of using someone instead of someone else. We just thought that Mattias Norén could realise the picture we had in mind, and he did. Kristian Wåhlin is nothing but fantastic, and hopefully we'll work with him again in the future.
5. WHERE DOES THE NAME CRYSTAL EYES COME FROM, AND WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
When Mikael Dahl and Niclas Karlsson formed the band in 1992 they sat down and had a brainstorm session where they came up with a bunch of names that would sound good for a Heavy Metal band. Of those they picked CRYSTAL EYES simply because it sounded better than the other names they'd come up with, and it has no real meaning or message or story or what ever. Today the logotype, which Andreas Götesson designed in 1994, is probably more important for the recognition of the band than the name itself. Some have also implied that the song CRYSTAL EYES from the first official demo tape should have something to do with the bands name, but that's not the case.
6. WHERE CAN I GET TABS FOR CRYSTAL EYES' SONGS?
There are no official tabs because there simply are none. Mikael writes his songs in his head, and then records demo versions of the songs on a computer. He litteraly records everything, and the demo songs are the only internal exsisting form outside Mikael's head. No papers and no tabs.