Austrian Heavy Metal outfit Roadwolf have just released their brand new album Midnight Lightning and what better time to celebrate. We caught up with the band to find out more about them and all about the brand new album!
THE NWOTHM: Roadwolf, thank you so much for this great opportunity! Can you introduce us to the band and where you guys are from?
Hi and thank you for having us! Roadwolf is a Heavy Metal band from Wiener Neustadt, Austria. We are a four-piece band with Franz “Franky” Bauer on vocals, Christoph Aigner on bass, Emanoel Bruckmüller on drums and Valentin Strasser on guitar.
THE NWOTHM: Can you tell us about the origins of Roadwolf and how the band came together?
Christoph and Emanoel went to school together and they shared the same burning passion for Metal music, Horror and Action movies and Super Nintendo. So they decided to start a band! In 2014 Valentin joined the band in 2014 because Roadwolfs guitarist at this time decided to leave. Our singer Franky joined in 2016. Roadwolf was practicing in the rehearsal room of Frankys old band. Christoph was also part of this band so we knew about the talent of Franky and after some beer drinking and hell raising we asked Franky to join the band.
THE NWOTHM: How did your passion for heavy metal music start, and which bands influenced you the most?
For Franky it was KISS that kickstarted his passion for Heavy Metal. Emanoel got hypnotised by Satriani’s “Silver Surfer”, Valentin discovered Heavy Metal because of the soundtrack of “GTA Vice City” and Christoph fell in love with Rush and discovered Heavy Metal most likely by watching the “Hellraiser” movies.
THE NWOTHM: How would you describe the sound of Roadwolf to someone who’s never heard your music before?
Roadwolf plays Heavy Metal. If this person doesn’t know what Heavy Metal is all about, then I’m really sorry for this person. Some people are like: “Aaaaaah! Heavy Metal like Linkin Park!?” – Then we would say: “NO!!!!!! HEAVY METAL LIKE JUDAS PRIEST!!!!”
THE NWOTHM: What do you think sets Roadwolf apart from other heavy metal bands out there?
The music of Roadwolf is catchy and powerful. But we don’t play “1987 Bay Area Thrash Metal” or “1978 NWOBHM”, we try to cover all these styles because we love all the metal styles from the 70s to late 80s or early 90s. So we think that our diversity sets us apart from many other bands out there. If you listen to a Roadwolf record you will definitely find at least one song you will like!
THE NWOTHM: Can you tell us about your demo, “Missing in Action,” and how it helped establish Roadwolf as a band?
M.I.A is a song written by Valentin before he joined Roadwolf. When we played our first shows together, we could see that the people seem to like the energy of M.I.A so we decided to play this song along with the other Roadwolf songs. Later we changed some little details so we could record it for our first album “Unchain The Wolf”.
THE NWOTHM: Moving away from music for a moment, what do you guys like to do in your spare time?
Working our asses off in our day jobs. Overworked and underpaid.
THE NWOTHM: If you could have a conversation with any historical figure, who would it be and why?
Every band member would pick someone else. Maybe we would meet dead musicians like DIO, Randy Rhoades, Gary Moore, Hendrix, Cozy Powell or Jimmy Bain.
THE NWOTHM: In 2021 you released “Unchain the Wolf!” What’s your personal favourite songs from the album and why?
Like before, every band member would pick his favourite song. The title track is one of our favourites and also “Curse Of The Gypsy”. These two songs make it a lot of fun playing live. Unchain the Wolf has all killers and no fillers. We are really proud of the work we’ve done back then.
THE NWOTHM: Do you have any fond memories from making that album?
Nothing really fond. Blood, sweat and beers. It was really hard for all of us because our producer Gregor “Keks” Streng was kicking our asses and only wanted our best performance! Maybe the reaction of the scene after we released the album was “fond”. It felt really good.
THE NWOTHM: Your latest album, “Midnight Lightning,” has just been released. How has the response been so far from fans and critics?
The critics and responses so far are amazing. We are really happy to see that the people seem to like our new album!
THE NWOTHM: What was the creative process like for “Midnight Lightning,” from writing the songs to recording them?
During the songwriting phase the band met a lot in the rehearsal room to work on our new material. We used some old material for the new songs. For example the title track “Midnight Lightning” is based on an old melody our drummer Mano once came up with combined with some old guitar riffs. Everyone knew right from the start, that this song is one of the best the band has written. So everybody was like “that’s the title track of our new album!! Yeah!”. We had a lot of fun jamming our new songs and everybody was ambitious to give the best performance! Our drummer recorded his parts in the “LW Studios” in Vienna. All the rest we recorded in his home studio.
THE NWOTHM: Who was the producer behind the album and what was it like working with them?
This time our drummer Emanoel was the producer. He did a great job. Since the last production he learned a lot and like “Keks”, the producer of “Unchain The Wolf”, Emanoel pushed us to our limits! Even though it was really stressful and with a lack of sleep, he always stayed professional and focused.
THE NWOTHM: How do you feel “Midnight Lightning” compares to your previous releases?
“Midnight Lightning” sounds more “grown up” than “Unchain The Wolf”. Both records have strong songs and both records deliver metal classics for everyone. But the songs on “Midnight Lightning” are more diverse yet still catchy.
THE NWOTHM: Are there any particular tracks from the album that you’re looking forward to performing live?
One day, when Roadwolf is the biggest band on the planet, we will perform our ballad “Isolated Hearts” with a huge orchestra and “High Under Pressure” with our friend Herbert Könighofer! The band can’t wait to finally perform the whole new album combined with our classics from “Unchain The Wolf”! Because these songs are fun to play!l
THE NWOTHM: What were your most memorable live performances and what made them so special?
2014 Wacken Open Air was our biggest crowd. This feeling was intense and the band tasted blood. 2016 or 2017 we played Full Metal Mountain. Also a night to remember. We played on top of a mountain and had a crazy after show party with guys from BULLET. 2021 we had the chance to play at the “Heavy Metal Maniacs Festival” in Amstelveen. The stage was huge and we have never seen that many Marshall cabinets. Also the people knew the lyrics of our songs!!! Crazy! 2022 we played the “First Vienna Frost Cruise” together with INFECTED RATS, VENATOR and EWIG FROST. Playing on a boat while cruising down the danube… also a great memory for us. Our first tour in Spain in October 2022: Funny people, beautiful landscape, nice weather and a lot of crazy metalheads.
THE NWOTHM: Can you tell us about any upcoming shows or tours that fans can look forward too?
We will play our release show on the 28th of May in Vienna together with our friends BOOGIE HAMMER and THE ADRENALINE KINGS! We hope to get some shows for the fall/winter of 2023. We will see!
THE NWOTHM: Where can fans check your music and merch out?
Check out our Spotify, Youtube channel, the Napalm Records channel, Tidal, Apple Music, I Tunes, Deezer, Tidal, Bandcamp and Amazon music! The best way is to go to https://www.roadwolf.at/store/ and buy our LP! We have some special bundles for our fans with signed LPs and postcards! We also have brand new shirts and patches! Have a look…
Bandcamp: https://roadwolf.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/roadwolfmusic
THE NWOTHM: finally anything else you would like to mention?
Thanks for having us! We hope to see our fans out there to play some heavy metal and drink some beers. Support us! In these challenging times you can really help smaller bands by buying their stuff.
Thanks a lot and METAL IS THE LAW!
You can read the full album review of “Midnight Lightning” below!
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THE NWOTHM 
Already Album of the year for me
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