Kai Hansen joins Michael Kiske in UNISONIC

[ravenheart]

Awesome stuff. Unisonic were great when I saw them last year, and Kai and Michael were loving their time on stage together in Avantasia in December (saw that too ).

Can't wait to see Unisonic again.

Kiske: "After so many years of abstinence I had a lot of fun doing my first live shows with Unisonic in summer 2010, so I agreed to do the short world tour with AVANTASIA. It was a great experience to be on stage with all those great artist, but with Kai it was something different: We instantly felt the magic again and had a lot of fun together on and off stage. We both realized that we want to be together in a band again. He was interested in the open musical concept of Unisonic and finally asked me if he could join the band. I talked to my bandmates and they all felt great about it. His talent as a guitarist and songwriter is an enrichment for the band and we are looking forward to his contribution for the music of Unisonic."

Debut album due at the end of the year. Hansen stays in Gamma Ray, before anyone asks.

[Onioner]

I'm pretty sure these guys deserve to be called Helloween more than the band touring under that name today.

It sucks these guys probably won't cover any Helloween songs written by Weikath or Grosskopf (Weikath and Kiske still hate each other, so they won't want to pay royalties and all), but that at least opens up most of Keepers Part 1, a couple songs from Part 2 and some songs from Walls of Jericho to do. Here's hoping the new material is good!

[ravenheart]

Originally Posted by Onioner

I'm pretty sure these guys deserve to be called Helloween more than the band touring under that name today.

It sucks these guys probably won't cover any Helloween songs written by Weikath or Grosskopf (Weikath and Kiske still hate each other, so they won't want to pay royalties and all), but that at least opens up most of Keepers Part 1, a couple songs from Part 2 and some songs from Walls of Jericho to do. Here's hoping the new material is good!

You don't pay royalties for live covers.

The only two Helloween covers Unisonic have done as far are Kids of The Century and A Little Time, both written by Kiske.

[Maiden33]

It's hard for me to imagine Dennis Ward doing Helloween covers.

[Onioner]

Originally Posted by ravenheart

You don't pay royalties for live covers.

The only two Helloween covers Unisonic have done as far are Kids of The Century and A Little Time, both written by Kiske.

Are you sure? I always figured that was the reason Unisonic only did Kiske's songs, and why he only covered the Helloween songs he wrote on that acoustic album a few years back. Not to mention Helloween didn't play I Want Out, a song written by Kai, after he left until that Gamma Ray/Helloween tour a couple years ago. Helloween still doesn't play Kiske's songs at all nowadays.

[ravenheart]

Originally Posted by Onioner

Are you sure? I always figured that was the reason Unisonic only did Kiske's songs, and why he only covered the Helloween songs he wrote on that acoustic album a few years back. Not to mention Helloween didn't play I Want Out, a song written by Kai, after he left until that Gamma Ray/Helloween tour a couple years ago. Helloween still doesn't play Kiske's songs at all nowadays.

Well, on Kiske's record that's different. You always pay royalties for recorded music. But do you think everyone who drops random covers in their set on a tour goes and pays someone every time they play it? If that would true, no one would ever play covers live!

Might depend on membership to a performance rights organisation though. For instance, ASCAP does try to collect "compensation" if someone publically performs one of their members' songs. It's a highly hit-and-miss process. If they don't know a song has been played, they won't know to collect the compensation, etc. Collecting from radio stations and public places like shops is far easier.

I would expect that live it's more stubborness on Kiske's part than any financial consideration.

[JRA]

Kai needs to worry about making sure whatever songs he has in the vault don't sound like 30 year old metal classics than he does this.

[SomewhereInTime72]

Interesting.