Helloween Family Tree
This is a project aimed at making it easy to see who inspired the bands you love or even hate. For this I try not to use any influences that the band don’t claim themselves. There will be a focus on predecessors but successors will be added as they cite the band. These trees become more and more interactive as new bands are added, allowing you to click any band that has a tree and jump to it.
We want our lists to be better. If you know something that belongs on this list, let us know. When in doubt we will leave it out, so we need reliable sources.
Helloween are a very important band and are considered by many to be the fathers of power metal. Although U.S. power metal dates back further, the European style is the dominant and most recognized style and can be traced to Helloween.
The first album consisted of vocalist and guitarist Kai Hansen, guitarist Michael Weikath, bassist Markus Grosskopf, and drummer Ingo Schwichtenberg. Michael and Markus have been the only consistent members. Michael Kiske stepped in for vocals for the next four albums. Kai sung only on the first one but played guitar for the first three. Roland Grapow replaced Kai on guitar untill 2001 when Sascha Gerstner became the new guitarist. Andi Deris replaced Kiski on vocals in 1994. Uli Kusch stepped in as drummer in 1994 and remained until 2001. He is the only drummer who consistently wrote music in the band. Rabbit Don't Come Easy had three different drummers non of which wrote any music. Daniel Löble took on the drum role in 2005 and has remained with the band since. Primarily music has been written by guitar players and vocalists with Uli also writing a lot while in the band. Markus has had fewer credits but has written more frequently in more recent years. (despite having a lesser influence in the bands sound he named every bass player he’s every heard of as an influence… and I noted all of them.)
Recently the band has reunited with early members Kia and Kiski becoming a seven piece band with three guitars and two vocalists.
(Michael refers to Michael Weikath; Michael Kiske will be noted as Kiske)
Phase One
This phase of the band consists of influences of the early members of the band before the departure of Kia.
John Farnham
René Kollo
Lee Sklar
Marcus Miller
Billy Sheehan
Lee Rocker
Phase Two
This phase adds new influences for Roland, Andi, and Uli that are not already noted.
Alex Conti
John Sykes
Deen Castronovo
Phase Three
This section adds the new influence brought to the band by Sascha that are not previously noted.
Gary Numan
Lisa Dalbello
Phil Collins
Kai started wanting to play drums but after the noise he was making on his makeshift drums set, his parents got him an acoustic guitar. He took six months of classical guitar lessons when he first started playing. He likes all kinds of bands from Bon Jovi to Venom, he didn’t name either as influence specifically. His early band Gentry covered Slade, the Sex Pistols and Uriah Heep.
Michael said in the beginning they wanted to “prove that we are more virtuoso and faster than Rainbow or Accept or Motorhead”.
Michael said that he does not draw influences from Iron Maiden or Metallica even though he thinks they are good bands. He has been asked about this often, but says all his influences are older. His first band he played in was formed in the late 70s before Maiden was known outside of their local area and long before Metallica was a thought. In a 2010 interview when asked what he was listening to he responded “I’m a big fan of Chris Cornell. Nirvana, you know, I hated their music when it first came out, now, it’s good and not so bad. I’m a fan of The Moody Blues and technical stuff from the 1970’s. I’m pretty open, even original Disco” He is also a fan of ELO and Meatloaf.
Kiske named TNT as an influence but there are several bands by that name but I can’t be sure who he was referring to.
Roland named In Flames, Jeff Loomis and Dimebag Darrel as later influences. He also said Joe Satriani and John Petrucci are good.
Sascha early influences come from his love of synth music. His Blackstar amp and Dean guitar profile pages both named Journey as one of his influences but I have not been able to verify that.
Ingo was the original drummer but is not credited with any writing. His playing style, however, has obviously set the standard for many power metal bands. His influences are noted above and all that I found were shared with other members.
Daniel Löble has been the drummer since 2005, he has only a few co-writing credits. I’m unsure of his influences.
Bands influenced by Helloween!
As this project advances, bands will be added here… there are many!
Sources:
http://www.metalcovenant.com/pages/interviews/interview_gamma_ray.htm
https://www.gammaray.org/en/band/bandmembers/kai-hansen.html
http://www.metal-temple.com/site/catalogues/entry/musicians/kai_hansen_gamma_ray.htm
http://www.helloween.ru/press/hansen_metal_invader_xx_xx_1997_(rus).php
http://www.metal-temple.com/site/catalogues/entry/musicians/kai_hansen_gamma_ray_2.htm
https://www.metal-rules.com/interviews/GammaRay_KaiHansen.htm
http://www.helloween.ru/press/weikath_metal_forces_xx_xx_1986_(rus).php
http://www.ram.org/music/articles/weikathinterview.html
https://www.metalforcesmagazine.com/site/feature-helloween-mf16/
https://hardrockhideout.com/2010/05/17/helloweens-michael-weikath-the-hard-rock-hideout-interview/
http://www.helloween.ru/press/weikath_sea_of_tranquility_xx_xx_2003_(rus).php
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHJNjCl1hDo
http://www.truemetal.org/metalcrusade/interviews/helloween.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VcDGmBbkzE&t=55s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IA8IBg53zp4
https://modernvocaltraining.webs.com/michaelkiske.htm
http://www.rock-archives.ru/rock-archive/h/helloween/rozovye_puzyrki_soshli_s_uma.html
https://masterplan-theband.com/about-us/roland-grapow/
https://sleazeroxx.com/interviews/roland-grapow-of-masterplan-and-ex-helloween-interview-part-1/
https://myglobalmind.com/2013/06/26/exclusive-interview-with-roland-grapow-guitars-masterplanformer-helloween/
https://metalinsider.net/interviews/interview-roland-grapow-talks-masterplan-his-time-in-helloween-and-more
https://www.spirit-of-metal.com/en/interview/Roland_Grapow/5060
http://metalkings.com/reviews/masterplan/masterplan-eng.htm
https://www.auxportesdumetal.com/interviews/rolandgrapow-uk.html
https://crypticrock.com/interview-markus-grosskopf-of-helloween/
https://bassmyfever.weebly.com/the-pumpkin-bass-revolution-interview-with-markus-grosskopf.html
http://www.kingofdrums.net/199103.php
https://crypticrock.com/interview-andi-deris-of-helloween/
https://www.therockpit.net/2015/interview-markus-grosskopf-helloween/
http://powermetal.de/content/artikel/show-HELLOWEEN_PUMPKINS_UNITED_-_Interview_mit_Andi_Deris,9736-1.html
https://www.metal-rules.com/2016/03/10/helloween-guitarist-sascha-gerstner/
https://uber-rock.co.uk/sascha-gerstner-helloween-interview-exclusive/
https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/metalholic/episodes/2014-03-22T10_45_11-07_00
https://rocksourcemagazine.com/2020/05/31/rock-source-interview-sascha-pace-palast/
http://finalsin.20m.com/INTERVIEW4.HTML
https://highday.tripod.com/helloween.html
https://www.slagwerkkrant.nl/nieuws/artikel/6-972/masterplan-drummer-talks-about-past-present-and-future
http://carlbegai.com/2013/02/03/bwbk-interview-helloween-into-the-fire/