Rockers Hotwire are back after a 16-year break!

Picture by Chrisvainphotography
Hello Hotwire. Thanks for your time! Would you mind introducing your band to our readers?
Hey of course, thanks for having us! We are HOTWIRE, Singer Michael Werner and me (Drummer Tom Glas) founded the band in 1993 in Ingolstadt, 80 km north of Munich, the hometown of Bonfire. Our music could be called Hardrock or Melodic Rock with rockers and ballads, maybe sometimes there is a glimps of Hair Metal in it. As we knew the Bonfire guys, we asked their Singer Claus Lessmann if he’d like to produce a demo-CD with us. He did and together with his bandmate Hans Ziller they produced our first CD in 1995. We played as many shows as possible and recorded more CDs (The upcoming “Best of” is our 6th release). In 2001 HOTWIRE parted ways with Michael, we recorded one more CD with our new singer Andy and split up 2006.
You’re back after a 16-year break. What were you up to during this “free time” and how does it feel to be back?
As you can imagine, it’s a great feeling! After the end of HOTWIRE I started a Rock/Metal cover band and Michael fronted a Bon Jovi Tribute band. We played one reunion show 2017 and had plans to go on with that line-up, but it never happened. Michael and I always stayed in touch and decided at the end of 2019 to start again – and then Covid struck. So our plans were delayed again, but last year we found Hans, Gumo and Schotti and were back on track. Rehearsals went well, we’ve played a few gigs now and it’s great! Of course, at the first gig we were pretty nervous and – to be honest – it was not the best concert HOTWIRE has ever played… but right now it’s really rockin’, especially as, for the first time in our history, we have two guitars on stage which brings much more power. So we are really having fun, reactions have been great, so we are happy!You’re back with a new single, “SLAM!”. What is the story behind this song and where did you find your inspiration for the lyrics?
Oh, that would be a question for Michael, he’s writing all the lyrics. But it’s definitely not a fun song, rather a little bit dark and not too optimistic. Michael is writing often about relationships and the trouble that come with it… could be autobiographic…. 😊You'll release on April 28th “The story so far 1993- 2023”. What can we expect with this album?
The CD came to us really as a surprise. We had planned to do some shows and then see what happens. But before we had our first gig, Yellow Muffin Records approached us and asked if we would like to do a best of album. We liked the idea, because it is a great way to start again after 16 years and as especially the first two CDs are very hard to get. But we agreed to rerecord two songs from the last CD we did with Michael as we were not too happy with the sound. And we wanted a new song just to show that the band is back and happening now. SLAM! is a few years old, though. Michael demoed it back then but it was never released. We did some re-arranging (Hooray to Hans!) And then we had to pick 12 other songs and we included even one song from our CD “Devil In Disguise” when Andy was singing. So I think it’s a great way to get an impression what HOTWIRE is about and the songs are also remastered which sounds great. And we expect to sell so many CDs, that we can afford to buy Kilian Mbappe for our favorite football club, which is really difficult as I’m a fan of Bayern München and Michael is a avid supporter of local rivals 1860 München. We otherwise we get along well.
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