Domain were a part of the "Can't Stop Rock'n Roll Tour" with HTP and Kelly Simonz' Blind Faith, but due to several things we didn't get to arrange an interview with them in Tampere, where we saw the show. No problems though, as vocalist Carsten kindly agreed to do the chat session via e-mail.

1. Domain recorded in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Then there was a break and you started recording again in 2001 with a new line up. Tell us more about that.
Yes, the point was, original guitar player Axel Ritt wanted to reform the band in early 2000, after they broke up in 1992, but none of the other original members was willing to participate in that reunion. Axel, still wanting to get DOMAIN back upfront, then needed to find himself new bandmembers, which he did for the comeback album "One Million Lightyears From Home".

2. Bernie Kolbe and Cliff Jackson were a big part of the band in the beginning. Was their departure amicable or what happened?
I'm not sure. You know, the band broke up in 1992 after the release of "Crack In The Wall". A little before the original keyboarder had already left. As far as I know, the band itself went to court against Cliff Jackson, because he had been managing the band before. I guess, this is one of the reasons, why Bernie Kolbe didn't wanna join DOMAIN again, because he simply seemed to be tired of the trouble. By the way, though Axel had asked Bernie and the former keyboard player Volker Sassenberg to join the new DOMAIN, what they refused to do, they later, actually one month before the release of "One Million Lightyears From Home", filed a lawsuit against him to stop that release! Though Axel won that lawsuit, to me, it's a shame, because they simply thought, Axel would never ever succeed in getting a new deal for the band, but after they found out about that album, they wanted to stop it. Well, now Axel ownes the rights of the brand DOMAIN. Typical business bullshit!

3. You were on recently on ”You can’t stop rock & Roll” tour with Glenn Hughes and Joe Lynn Turner? Give us a short round up of what went on there?
Simply mind-blowing! I mean, imagine being on the road for more than a month, from the far North of Norway to the very South of Spain, actually with two of your all-time heroes! Everything was great: The crew, the HTP band, KELLY SIMONZ and his guys…We had no limitations in terms of sound, lights or soundchecks! Been to many countries, where the people didn't even know about DOMAIN. We had good shows, bad shows, good experiences, bad experiences… I'd do it again any time! The first ever European tour for the band. Even in the early days they only toured Germany a couple times, so this was really a huge step forward for all of us – absolutely!

4. Joe Lynn Turner and Glenn Hughes are big names in the business. Were they how you expected them to be? Any funny stories along the way?
To be honest, I simply didn't know, what to expect from those two guys, which are indeed two of my vocal heroes. But especially Joe was great – just a buddy, treating us like fellows of "Hi Carsten, how was your show?" and stuff like that. To me one of the best moments was, when Joe came over and said "You know what, I think this is a killer package! All three bands fit together perfectly – this is how it's gotta be!", and he started to thank us supports every night on stage saying "we'd also like to thank our support bands, the great KELLY SIMONZ'S BLIND FAITH and the mighty DOMAIN!" – that really meant a lot to me! Funny stories? Well, I won't tell you without asking my lawyer before… ;-)

5. In Finland, when there’s people under 18 present on a gig you can only serve beer in a restricted area. How was it like to play (in Tampere) when most of the people were drinking beer 30-40 metres from the stage?
Confusing! You know, we had the same situation the day before on Helsinki, were there was only a handful of people rocking in front of us, and most others standing up on a balcony, where the bar was, freaking out, screaming and yelling! At first, we didn't really know, what to think about this and how to react, but due to the reactions afterwards, after the show, – by the way, I even received a lot of great mails from Finland! – we knew, why people were standing on the very end of the hall! …though it was some really strange sight! In fact, if I was there, and that would have been the only place to get some' to drink – you know where I would have been…! ;-)

6. Kimmo, who wrote the gig review, described your stage presence as follows: Lots of showmanship, classic rock poses and plenty of hair. Is that accurate?
Right in the face! Absolutely! We simply wanna entertain people. Of course, they're waiting for the main act, but they don't wanna get bored by the supports, they're at a Rock concert to have some fun – and we wanna have our fun, too!

7. Does Axel Ritt call the shots in Domain now that he’s the only original member?
Yes, absolutely. He's the boss of the band. He's the main writer, the producer and the man, that gets his ass kicked, if something's going wrong! See, because he's the only remaining original member, people and fans sort of blame him for the sound of the band nowadays, so it's only natural and fair that he's the one to set the pace and run the band!

8. How’s the chemistry in the band? Have you heard a lot of comparisons to the old line up?
Yes of course, but we keep stepping forward out of the shadow of the old DOMAIN. Mostly it depends on, where you play your shows. There's parts in Germany, where there's mainly new fans or such, which are simply happy that the band is back again, whereas in other regions you mostly seem to have people to come to say that we're nothing compared to the eighties. …though most of them have never ever seen DOMAIN live in the eighties! We're building up DOMAIN as a brand again. It's like Axel always says "We've lost almost ten years, which we now have to get back again!". Especially for me, it was great to perform in countries, where people didn't know the band before, so we can build up a new reputation from the very beginning. I think, with our last album "The Artefact" we took a huge step forward, out of the band's shadow.

9. I read from an older interview that you were a professional music journalist before you joined Domain. Is that still the case?
Yep! I'm still writer eg. for German ROCK IT! Magazine.

10. Since you have the background, give us a short review of Domain’s latest album “The Artefact”.
Well, I never wrote a review on my own releases, I never will, so all I can say is that it is a very unusual Heavy Rock album, with a very wide range of sound, spreading from fast Metal neckbreakers to absolutely melodic almost Pop-Rock songs. We wanted to record an album, which doesn't get boring after one or two spins. We didn't wanna put ten times the same song on one album! Some people got a little confused, asking where the band would go to now, but I think, being able to show up in different styles and still keeping your own trademarks and heritage, nowadays is our biggest advantage.

11. Domain’s domain name? Please let us know where to find more information about the band and promote whatever you want.
Sure: www.domainband.de

By Petri Kautto,