Herbie Langhans best known as vocalist with Firewind and Radiant expands on his singing career and what the future holds with regard to new music and live gigs.
Who were your influences in the early days and have you always wanted to be a singer?
The first bands I really liked were Stryper, Helloween, Bloodgood...stuff like that. When I started to play guitar I never had in mind to become a singer.
But as a kid I often sang...so one day I became also a singer, a bit by accident.
Have you ever auditioned for the vocal spot in any notable bands?
No, I never did any auditions... they asked me 😉
You have appeared on a number of albums. Do you have a favourite and why?
Oh man, yes there is a lot of albums. Of course I am still proud of my first self-produced album with Seventh Avenue “Between The Worlds”, the first Sinbreed album and of course Avantasia "Ghostlights" or Radiant “Written By Life” and my first Firewind album. It's all more like milestones and in general. I’m proud of about everything I’m doing. But a favourite is really hard... every album is very special for me and behind every album is a different story.
Do you still get the same buzz out of singing live as you did in the past?
Of course 😊
Some vocalists are on strict dietary regimes or gargle with special liquids. How have you kept your voice in tip-top shape all these years?
I don't do anything special. When my voice is broken, or when I am a bit sick I drink tea with honey and stuff. I sometimes I warm up with LaxVox, but normally I know if my voice is there or not. I just try some high notes before the show and if they are there, everything is there 😉. But no, I don't do anything special.
Are there any musicians that you have not worked with, but would like to in the future?
Of course there are a lot, like Bruce Dickinson, Dave Grohl, James Hetfield...would be fun 😊. But every new connection with another musician is pretty cool. When I joined Avantasia it was so cool to sing (and drink) with guys like: Eric Martin, Michael Kiske, Ronnie Atkins, Bob Catley, Geoff Tate, Tobias Sammet or Ralf Scheepers and it was like man, I have listened to your music for years and now we are close friends.
Being part of the Avantasia group of musicians must be an amazing experience?
Yes definitely, it's a big crazy and very lovely family. On Tour we have so much fun...no egos, no stars, no divas...it's amazing!
Do you have any plans to release a solo album?
No, not really...but hey, maybe someday.
I saw you playing with Radiant at The Indoor Festival in Hamburg last year. With the live circuit opening up again, is there a possibility that we could see you performing some live shows in the UK?
I would love to. Radiant is still a very new and unknown band and it's hard to get cool shows, but it would be so cool to come to the UK because I love it there.
You appear to do some production work for other bands, is this something you enjoy?
Oh yes, definitely. I like to be creative with ideas that are not my own. I like to figure out how to make it better or bigger and it's also very cool to produce some other styles as well.
Do you have anything in the pipeline at the moment that you would like to share?
As you may know we have finished our new Firewind album and we will release some singles in the next months and I really like what we did. I cannot wait to see and hear what you guys think about it, and of course there are touring plans with Firewind and also Avantasia.
ROCK ON!!!
