Page 18 - ROCKNATION ISSUE 27

PAGE 18 ROCKNATION ISSUE 27

Interview with
Marcus Boeltz

Hello Marcus from Corporate Control and welcome to Rocknation. Congrats
on your new album “Whatever It Takes” that will be released worldwide
on Perris Records in 2021. What inspired you in doing this music?
I grew up listening to rock and metal and I did play in a number of rock bands after I
graduated from the LA Music Academy in 1999. Among those bands were Darkseed, a
well known German metal/gothic band. But still, I wasn´t doing a whole lot in the rock biz
given that this really is my DNA. Instead, I drifted into Pop and Funk/Jazz and eventually
became successful in the scoring business and produced music for TV/Film and video
games. But about two years ago I deceided I wasted enough years not doing what I really
love!

You brought in Paul Sabu for vocals , Paul is an Icon in Melodic
rock and has been featured on many AOR releases on Perris Records. He
has quite the resume including working with David Bowie, Alice Cooper,
John Waite, Quiet Riot and that has earned him fourteen Platinum and
eleven Gold records. How and why did you choose to bring in Paul Sabu
for this collaboration?
I didn´t know Paul personally yet when I started the first drafts and sketches for this
album. When the time came to look for a singer I remembered producer and engineer
Chris Lausmann with whom I worked in the past. Chris produced the two “Voices Of Rock”
albums which feature a ton of rock greats, among them Toni Martin of Black Sabbath and Joe Lynn Turner to name a few.
I know this is very subjective but to me Paul Sabu´s performance on this album stood out - even in this top notch AAA club.
So I contacted Paul and well, that was basically it. At first this was pretty much a studio job for Paul and there wasn´t an
album yet on the horizon. I just wanted to do a couple of tracks and churn them out. But working with Paul was a blast and
this soon turned into a really creative collaboration. It was then when I decided to push this further and actually form
Corporate Control and make a whole album.

Who writes the lyrics Paul Sabu or it is a collaboration between each other.
The lyrics have been written by my songwriting partner Sandra Belloguet and
myself. Paul brought in some ideas as well and did some adjustments. But when it
comes to the music it definetly was a full on collaboration. Especially when it came
to arranging. Paul also brought in new melodies as well. And I´m really happy it
turned out this way. I think teamwork always beats just hiring someone to just do
what he or she is told to. So yeah, definetly a huge Sabu fingerprint on this album!

You choose bassist Barry Sparks (Yngwie Malmsteen, Scorpions,
Dokken, Ted Nugent, UFO, The Michael Schenker Group) to record on
“Whatever It Takes”. Please tell us about how and why you picked him.
Actually Paul brought in Barry which I thought was really cool! Barry also had some
great ideas for bass parts and he also did some E-Gtrs as well. And like Paul,
Barry just became a member of the team. I´m really happy how all turned out.
I mean it wasn´t planned or forced, it just evolved naturally. And I love the fact that
the album kinda developed its own life and momentum. And I want to mention that
the very first tracks I did feature my friend Martin Motnik (Uli Jon Roth, Phil
Campbell, Chris Slade, and currently ACCEPT) on bass. So, in terms of awesome
bass players this album has it definitely covered.

What bands are your influences?
The first album I ever bought was Judas Priest´s “Ram It Down” which was the
latest JP album at the time. Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne and Kiss were also
very important bands for me and Tommy Lee got me into drumming eventually at
age 14. However, the most influental and important band to me was and is Def
Leppard. I have a vinyl of “Hysteria” (which in my books is the greatest sounding
album ever made) at display in my studio as a constant reminder and inspiration
to work harder and push it even more!