First of all: My compliments for that great album. 'My Passion // Your Pain' is absolutely fantastic. I liked it a lot.

Ronny: Thanx for your compliments! Always cool to hear!! :o)

What does the bandname 'Callenish Circle' mean?

Ronny: Callenish Circle is a Stonehenge-alike circle in Scotland, situated on the little island `Lewis`. Ages ago a circle with very huge stones was found there and the people back then never could have managed to get these stones in that particular circle. So a myth arose that once a year ghosts appear at Callenish Circle.

Who writes the lyrics and the music? What is usually written first and when? On tour?

Ronny: Most of the music writing process starts with riffs and melodies I (Ronny) take to the rehearsal room. There we try to arrange songs, so that’s more of a band process. While writing songs, I try to taste the songs atmosphere and I try to write a fitting lyric to it. On tour I sure try to get inspiration for both, music and lyrics.

Where do the inspirations for the lyrics come from?

Ronny: For some of the lyrics personal experiences are used for inspiration. Other ones are pure fictional. For that ones I like to manoeuvre myself into specific states of mind, try to express the feelings people get in certain situations and write them down in a way so that they’re interpretable in more ways.

In Song 6, 'My hate unfolds', there is a movie quote. Is that taken from 'American Psycho'? Are horror movies an inspiration for you?

Ronny: Yeah, that quote indeed is taken from 'American Psycho'. The piece really fits to the meaning of the lyrics and the atmosphere of the song. I think movies in general are an inspiration for me.

What is the lyrical concept of 'My Passion // Your Pain'? I feel like it is very much about deception, mind manipulation and of course torture, physical as well as mind torturing?

Ronny: You’re absolutely right! The lyrics main topics are different kinds of extreme human emotions like hate, grief, anger and jealousy. All aspect toy mentioned are surely part of it.

Andy Classen did the mix on the album, just as he did on the predecessor 'Flesh - Power - Dominion'. The mix sounds great to me. How do you feel about it?

Ronny: I’m very happy with the production of the album, it really blows you away. It’s exactly the sound we were looking for on this album. I think we succeeded in perfecting our sound regarding the production.

After all, are you satisfied with the album? What would you do different by now, if so?

Ronny: I’m absolutely satisfied in every possible way! We’re really proud of 'My Passion // Your Pain'. We managed to get the result we had in mind for every aspect, songs, production and artwork and I honestly don’t know anything I would like to change about it.

I hear a lot joy of playing in the songs, despite basically the album is of course very dark, brutal and aggressive. Would you rather consider yourself being positive or a negative persons?

Ronny: The reason for me why I’m playing this music is because I love the aggression in it combined with cool melodies and of course good song writing. Just because we’re making this kind of aggressive music doesn’t mean we’re aggressive or negative persons. I always compare it with producers of horror, thrillers or action movies. It’s just a matter of taste.

Last year you've been on tour with Amon Amarth and Vomitory. Please tell us something about that tour.

Ronny: It was our first big European tour of 4 weeks and it was a useful and cool experience for us. We learned a lot and had a great time being on the road with the other bands.

You are going to tour from 2003-05-02 on, if I remember correctly. You will be touring the BENELUX-countries in May and go on a tour through Europe on 2003-10-08. Please tell us something about that tour.

Ronny: Well the coming months we will be very busy with the promotion-campaign for 'My Passion//Your Pain'. Release is scheduled for the 5th of May and halfway that month we will do the small Dutch tour with Dismember. Then in the summer we will play some cool festivals like Wacken Open Air & Summer Breeze, and on top of that we will do a full European tour in October with Exodus & Nuclear Assault called the 'Bonded By Metal Over Europe' tour. So the next months we will be very busy for us.

Among other gigs, you will be on the Summer Breeze Festival in Abtsgmünd. Have you ever played a festival of that size before? Are you nervous?

Ronny: Well, I don’t think we’ll be nervous anymore, however it’s an important gig for us. Before we played big festivals like Brutal Assault (3 times) in the Czech Republic, Party San Festival in Germany, the famous Ozzfest in Holland, a big Chuck benefit festival and support for Dimmu Borgir on their one and only clubshow in Benelux last summer. So there is enough experience in the band and we are really looking forward to get on stage again.

Are there already ideas for you new songs dwelling or are you just happy that the process of writing is done for a while? *g*

Ronny: I’m always gathering ideas for new song, but I’m also happy we don’t need to write for a while, cause it’s really an exhausting process for me. For now its just enjoying all attention we’re getting and all cool things that are ahead of us!

A question especially for Patrick Savelkoul: Where did you take the power from to go on, besides there was more than just a lot of trouble with labels who couldn't pay and promote the band as it deserved and the ongoing changes in the line-up and so on...

Ronny: I’m not Patrick but I’ll try to answer the question anyway. I’m in CC since 6 months after kind of a band was formed, so I did experience everything from the beginning. For me personally the thought of quitting never crossed my mind. In the first place I’m making this music because I’m a metal fan and I love to be creative with music. Furthermore I kept believing in our capabilities and the possibility to reach the top of the scene.

Well, that's all. I thank you for taking time to answer my questions and wish you all the best for the tour and much success for it and the album of course.

Ronny: Thanx for showing interest in CC and to the readers: check out our 'My Passion//Your Pain' album, out on the 5th of May if you want to experience some intense ass-kicking melodic death-thrash on LSD!! Hope to see you on the road! Official website: www.callenish-circle.com Cheerz, Ron.