“Our band has played the most shows at Wacken” – interview with Subway To Sally

If you know me, you know that I adore folk metal. Which is why I could not pass up the opportunity to interview Simon Michael Schmitt, drummer for Subway To Sally, during Wacken Open Air.

Hey Simon, how are you doing today?

Simon Michael Schmitt: Yeah, I’m fine. What else can I say? I’m at the biggest heavy metal festival on this planet, so everything seems to be good today, yeah.

For sure. And you’re playing Wacken in the 35th anniversary. How does it feel?

Simon Michael Schmitt: I’m not sure, but I think Subway to Sally is the band that did the most shows on this festival. And also, I think this is our 12th or 13th time here. I didn’t count it, actually. So, it feels like coming home. We haven’t been here for quite a while, for about, I don’t know, 6 or 7 years. So, yeah, it’s cool. It’s fantastic. It’s meeting a lot of people. The whole business is here. My throat is sore. I’m here for about 16 minutes and I already spoke to so many people that I haven’t seen for decades or for years. It’s great to be back and it’s great to do what we love. So, we’re back at Wacken and life makes sense again.

Since you have a lot of experience in playing live shows, but also you have experience in the studio and working on music, do you think that the life of an artist is a lonely life?

Simon Michael Schmitt: A lonely life? Well, being a touring artist means that you have two families. You have one at home and one on tour. I don’t think it’s lonely at all. It’s the opposite of that. Sometimes you need places and you need hideouts to be lonely on tour. So, this is what I’m missing, actually. When you’re all together with around 20 people living in a bus for about weeks. So, no, it’s not lonely at all.

So, in 2025, last year, we had so many amazing things, but also we lost the Prince of Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne. Was he or Black Sabbath an influence for you or for the band?

Simon Michael Schmitt: Sure, for anyone who’s doing heavy metal. There are some artists and some bands. Without them, all this rock music and heavy metal wouldn’t be possible. I’m in my 40s. I’m old, but I’m still young compared to some of the people who are in the metal community for about decades. For me, my heroes were Guns N’ Roses, Nirvana and Metallica. So, I grew up with them. But I know that they grew up with all these guys, with Ozzy and Led Zeppelin and you name it. All these gods of metal. Today, we’re playing with Judas Priest. If you would mention to the 17-year-olds, you were going to play the same stage as Judas Priest or the same festival, I would go crazy. It’s a big loss that we lost heroes like Ozzy, but life goes on and there are new heroes to come.

You said that you have a family on tour and a family at home. Can you share with us your family’s reaction to Subway to Selly, your family at home?

Simon Michael Schmitt: My family at home, their reaction, you know, I came to Subway to Sally when I was 20 years old. And my mother, she’s a teacher for a religion, Catholic. Yeah, she studied theology. And the first song she was listening to was “Falscher Heiland” from Subway to Sally, which means something like, “You’re the wrong messiah“. It’s not about religion, the song, it’s about politics. It’s metaphoric, but she was a little bit upset. But later, my mom and the band, they became friends, so everything went good. But that was the first reaction. I still remember, we were watching a video and I was showing her my new band. This is my new band. It was a video from Wacken. It was probably the wrong song. It’s a pretty funny story, though. There are so many fun stories. Another fun story is that I was, when I was 16 or 17 years old, I was playing, I was practicing all the Subway to Sally songs. I had one of my favorite records at that time was “Bannkreis” from Subway to Sally and I never thought that I would ever join this band. There are so many fun stories. And for being 22 years in this band, there are many fun stories to tell.

Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview. Is there anything else that you want to add to our viewers and readers?

Simon Michael Schmitt: It’s all good. So, nice talking to you. Hopefully, yeah. If you’re still awake when we’re on stage, you’re welcome to watch the show. Hopefully, I will still be awake. I’m in my 40s.