Germany was an important market for MAUSOLEUM, so STONNE HOLMGREN and I spend a lot of time there, which led to meeting more people, and inking more deals with German bands such as CUTTY SARK, AXE VICTIMS, BAD STEVE, and those ersatz Teutonic Vikings: FAITHFUL BREATH. If six months earlier anybody had told me I was going to sign FAITHFULL BREATH, then somewhat of an aging prog-rock hippy band for geriatrics, I would have declared him or her insane and had another drink. But, their manager, BOGI KOPEC, and I developed a strong friendship and all the while he deviously led me to discover the capable musicianship and songwriting aptitude of the band, until I really wanted to cut an album with them. The addition of the handsome and gifted guitarist ANDY HÖNIG to the line-up was definitely another step in the right direction, but we still needed another strong selling point to break those dinosaurs to the media because we unfortunately weren’t going to make it just on the merits of talent and quality. Enter MICHAEL WAGNER, producer extraordinaire, the PHIL SPECTOR of heavy metal, and his sidekick UDO DIRKSCHNEIDER, then still fronting ACCEPT. Together MICHAEL and UDO had formed a production company called DOUBLE TROUBLE. I had been extremely impressed by the remix job MICHAEL had done on an early DOKKEN album, and I thought The ACCEPT album BALLS TO THE WALLS – which he’d also produced and mixed - was one of the most powerful sounding albums I’d ever heard. MICHAEL and UDO visited us in Antwerp, and after dinner an a few bottles of champagne, we struck a deal for them to produce the next FAITHFUL BREATH album. Their fee was the equivalent of the gross national product of a small country, but ended up being justified. The resulting GOLD ‘N’ GLORY not only possessed an overwhelming and massive sound, but also became a hugely lucrative seller, and went on to become one of the classic albums of the decade. Even today, nearly 20 years later, when I listen to albums recently produced by MICHAEL WAGNER, like HAMMERFALL on the NUCLEAR BLAST label, I hear traces of GOLD 'N' GLORY. Mind you that's a compliment. WAGNER just refined his "big" sound to an art over the years, and I just love listening to the records he produces.

So far 1984 had been stacked with significant releases, SHOCK WAVES, the third KILLER album had surpassed sales of both their previous albums combined, and CROSSFIRE were preparing for the release of their sophomore set: SECOND ATTACK, and there was more to come from WILDFIRE also. WILDFIRE was always more refined than most other NWOBHM bands of that era and they certainly proved it with the release of their second album SUMMER LIGHTNING, once again recorded at SHIVA in Brussels, but with overdubs done at WEST THREE, and the final mix at EZEE, both in London. This time around veteran producer GUY BIDMEAD was enlisted to ensure the best possible result. GUY had previously worked with artists as diverse as MOTORHEAD, EXCITER, COZY POWELL, keyboard wizard DON AIREY and even YES. SUMMER LIGHTNING was without doubt one of the best records we ever released on the MAUSOLEUM label. Dare I say it was another classic album of the 80s? It contained eleven imposing songs and highlighted the technically sophisticated and mature musicianship WILDFIRE was by now capable off. I had more than a fair share of success with WILDFIRE, but if I would have had superior assistance from the management side, like was the case with the driven PETER ZIMMERMAN, who managed WARLOCK, I believe we could have attained even greater heights together.

So business was booming and we were all millionaires just rolling in the money right? A lot of people certainly thought so, but in reality nothing was further from the truth. The company hardly had any working capital, since neither STONNE nor LEO had put a nickel into the operation.
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