The “Pumpkins United” lineup of Helloween—featuring the unprecedented union of returning vocalist Michael Kiske and founder Kai Hansen alongside current frontman Andi Deris—is widely regarded as the gold standard for heavy metal reunions. However, according to Deris, this seven-member juggernaut might not have survived its own ambition if not for a harsh lesson learned from American hard rock legends Van Halen.
In a candid new interview with Italy’s Wanted Record, Deris revealed that the fear of repeating the mistakes of David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar was a primary motivator in keeping the German power metal legends grounded.
Deris, a self-professed “huge fan” of Van Halen, recalled the crushing disappointment of witnessing the friction between the band’s two iconic singers. While historically Van Halen never toured with both vocalists simultaneously (the infamous “Sam & Dave” tour of 2002 featured the singers as solo acts without the Van Halen brothers), the public feud and inability to coexist left a mark on Deris.
“I remember back in the days there was this reunion with David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar, and they played one show in Las Vegas. But it was the one and only show because in the middle of the concert, they kicked their a**es. I mean, seriously,” Deris told the outlet (as transcribed by Blabbermouth).
He offered his own colorful theory on why that potential “dream team” imploded:
“Probably Diamond Dave had too much c****ne, and maybe Sammy Hagar was too much on vodka — I don’t know — or tequila. But they really kicked their a** on stage in front of everybody. And my dream was destroyed, because I love ’em both… Yeah, that, for me, would’ve been the greatest ‘Pumpkins United‘. But they didn’t do it.”
When Helloween began plotting their own multi-singer lineup, the Van Halen failure became a frequent topic of conversation. The band realized that millions of fans would be heartbroken if egos got in the way of the music.
“That was a shock for everybody, because nearly all the guys in the band are Van Halen fans and everybody would have celebrated having both of the singers on stage,” Deris explained. “And that gave us, yeah, the focus, so to say, not to f**k it up, if possible, because I realized I was not the only guy completely disappointed. There were millions of people disappointed because Van Halen didn’t go through with it; they couldn’t do it. Idiots. [Laughs]”
He added, philosophically: “But that was something to learn from. I mean, you cannot force it. If people don’t like themselves, you should not put them on stage together. I think that’s the moral of the story.”
The interview also touched on the sheer scale of the Helloween reunion, which has seen the band playing to massive crowds globally since 2017. Deris admitted that the band initially underestimated the longevity of the hype, assuming the boost in attendance would be temporary.
“Honestly, we did not even realize it. After the first three or four concerts, it finally hit… We played in front of, like, uh, four up to seven thousand people somewhere in South America, and we realized, ‘Okay, that’s great,’ but it didn’t kick in that this is now the future, that there will forever be at least five, if not fourteen thousand people in the concert hall.”
The camaraderie that Van Halen lacked seems to be the glue holding Helloween together. Deris shared a touching anecdote about watching the show from the sidelines with his co-vocalist Michael Kiske during the instrumental sections.
“I remember Michael Kiske and I, when the boys mainly had their own s**t going on, with Kai‘s medley, for example… Michael and I just were standing side by side and looking into the crowd behind the curtain and looking at everything. Everything got so big, everything was so huge, and we just looked at each other and said, ‘Wow. Can you believe it?’ And we both were, like, ‘Nah. Unbelievable.'”
Deris concluded by emphasizing that the band takes none of this success for granted. “We really were, like, ‘wow’, in awe. And something happens here which is not to be explained easily. So, yeah, we did something right, I think.”
