Having played in various local rock bands, Bay moved to Hamburg in 1990 and got his first serious gig when he worked with Zed Yago. From 1993 to 1996 Chris was a member of former Victory guitarist Hermann Frank's band Moon Doc, with whom he recorded the albums "Moon Doc" (1995) and "Get Mooned" (1996).
Founding (1997–1998)
In 1998 Chris Bay and old friend Daniel Zimmermann formed Freedom Call during an off-period for the latter's main band, Gamma Ray. The two had started writing songs together towards the end of 1997. They eventually completed a six-song demo Freedom Call with well-known producer Charlie Bauerfeind, who offered the tape to several record companies.
At the same time, the Freedom Call line up was completed by Ilker Ersin on bass guitar and Sascha Gerstner on guitar. In 1998 Chris and Dan had seen Sascha playing in a cover band.
Stairway to Fairyland and Crystal Empire (1999–2001)
Freedom Call's debut album, Stairway to Fairyland was released on 7 May 1999 by NTS Records. Stairway to Fairyland would sell over 35,000 copies. On 25 May 1999 Freedom Call made their live debut during a tour of France as support band for Angra and Edguy. At the end of August, Freedom Call commenced recording of the five-track mini LP Taragon. It featured new songs, a cover version of Ultravox's "Dancing With Tears in My Eyes", a new version of "Stairway to Fairyland", a new version of "Tears of Taragon" with Biff Byford, singer with Saxon narrating the "Tale of Taragon" on it. There was also a bonus track for Japan called "Kingdom Come".
By the end of 1999, Freedom Call had entered the studio again to record their second album Crystal Empire, this released on 22 January 2001. Crystal Empire was promoted as the logical musical continuation of Stairway To Fairyland. In March 2001 Sascha Gerstner left Freedom Call (he would later join Helloween). Gerstner was eventually replaced by Cédric "Cede" Dupont, the Swiss guitarist of Symphorce.
Eternity and The Circle of Life (2002–2006)
In the middle of January 2002 the new lineup began recording a new album called Eternity. Dan and Chris produced Eternity on their own this time as Charlie Bauerfeind was not available. He was, however, responsible for the drum recordings and the final mix. Eternity was released on 3 June 2002 by Steamhammer.
Later that year, Freedom Call was invited on tour with Blind Guardian. During this tour they recorded the live album, Live Invasion together with Charlie Bauerfeind in Düsseldorf, Stuttgart and Munich. Live Invasion was released on 10 May 2004 by SPV.
The keyboard player on this tour, Nils Neumann, was soon invited to become the fifth member of the band. After an extended break, the next album The Circle of Life was recorded at Hansen Studio, Hamburg and FC Studios, Nuremberg from August to October 2004. The album was released on 21 May 2005 by SPV.
Shortly after the release of The Circle of Life, both Cédric "Cede" Dupont and Ilker Ersin decided to leave Freedom Call (independently of each other). Replacements were eventually announced in the respective form of the unknown Lars Rettkowitz and Armin Donderer, formerly of Paradox.
Dimensions (2007–2008)
A new album with the title Dimensions was released on 20 April 2007. Commenting on Dimensions, Daniel Zimmerman said: Even if the two predecessors, Eternity and The Circle of Life, took very different directions, both albums had a number of strong moments. Dimensions combines the most successful elements from both albums, in other words: we included our penchant for fast and very melodic numbers from Eternity with the more contemporary, bombastic components of The Circle of Life.
The songs "The Wanderer" and "Dimensions" were also used in the online rhythm game "Flash Flash Revolution".
Legend of the Shadowking and Land of the Crimson Dawn (2009–2012)
In March 2009, the band announced that they were putting the finishing touches to a new album, Legend of the Shadowking, and that they had parted ways with bassist Armin Donderer, who would be replaced by Samy Saemann. Legend of the Shadowking was released on 29 January 2010 by SPV.
For the 2010 touring cycle, Dan Zimmerman announced that he would be replaced by Klaus Sperling as during this time he [Zimmerman] would be on the road with Gamma Ray. It was later confirmed on the band's website that Zimmermann had officially left the band. Live in Hellvetia was the first live DVD by Freedom Call. It was released on 20 May 2011 by SPV. Live in Hellvetia was recorded on 29 December 2010 in Z7 Pratteln, Switzerland.
The title of the next Freedom Call studio album, Land of the Crimson Dawn, was announced in September 2011. Chris Bay had previously announced that the band was working on the album and it would be released sometime in February 2012. Land of the Crimson Dawn was released 24 February 2012 by SPV.
Beyond and Master of Light (2013–present)
Ages of Light (1998–2013) is the first best-of compilation by Freedom Call. It was released on 26 April 2013 by SPV. The band announced on 15 September 2013 that they were working on a new album, Beyond, with a new lineup. Ilker Ersin returned to the band to resume bass duties and Ramy Ali joined the band on drums. A music video was filmed on 15 December 2013 for the song Union of the Strong. The shoot took place in the vicinity of Nuremberg and Franconia, the song was taken from the album Beyond that was released on 21 February 2014. A vinyl version of the album was released on 14 March 2014. It was produced by Chris Bay and Stephan Ernst at the Separate Sound Studios in Nuremberg and at Freedom Call's own studio.
In May 2015 Freedom Call released 666 Weeks Beyond Eternity, a reissued edition of their 2002 studio album, Eternity. As the title suggests, 666 Weeks Beyond Eternity was released 666 weeks after the release of the original album. The re-issue is a two disc set featuring the original album which has been remastered, plus bonus content on the second disc including live tracks, acoustic tracks, special versions of their songs, as well as a new song written exclusively for this release. In support of the album release, the 666 Weeks Beyond Eternity Tour 2015 occurred between October 2015 (Glasgow, UK; 9 Oct) and December 2015 (Augsburg, Germany; 22 Dec).
Freedom Call's next album, Master of Light was released on 11 November 2016 (18 November in USA). The first single taken from the album, Hammer of the Gods, was released on 8 July 2016. A promotional video for the track Metal is for Everyone became available on 2 November 2016. Following a release party at Rockcafe Brown Sugar in Nürnberg on 10 November 2016, the four-city Master of Light Latin America tour ran from 25 November until 2 December 2016. The tour commenced in 2016 and continued through 2017 and concluded in 2018. Countries visited (or to be visited) as part of the 2017–2018 legs of the tour include Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand and the UK. A number of festival dates also took place, with others scheduled for 2018 that included 70,000 Tons of Metal from 1 to 5 February 2018, and include Metalfest Open Air 2018 and Leyendas Del Rock 2018.
The band's most recent studio offering, M.E.T.A.L., was released on 23 August 2019.
Chris Bay solo
In November 2017 Chris Bay announced that he would be releasing his first solo album, Chasing the Sun, on Steamhammer/SPV records on 23 February 2018. The first single from the album, Radio Starlight, was released on 1 December 2017. Of the album and its content Bay commented: "I permanently write songs and am constantly working on ideas in the studio... ...that's why I've collected a whole lot of tracks over the years that on the one hand don't really suit Freedom Call and on the other are just too good to gather dust in my archive." The second single from the album, Hollywood Dancer, was released on 2 February 2018.
Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Call
Studio albums
Stairway to Fairyland (1999)
Crystal Empire (2001)
Eternity (2002)
The Circle of Life (2005)
Dimensions (2007)
Legend of the Shadowking (2010)
Land of the Crimson Dawn (2012)
Beyond (2014)
Master of Light (2016)
M.E.T.A.L. (2019)
Hero Nation
Freedom Call Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
When we were young and wild
The beautiful times
Under blue blue skies
Now the years have gone by
And we realized
Creation's divine
Holy father; can you hear us
Is it the end of global freedom
All the children, now and ever
Will they ever have a future
What if we try, to open the eyes
For a better world tomorrow
One world, for all the nations, one chance for God's creation
One sky, for all the children, one light for hope and freedom
A lost paradise
Under the darkened skies
You can see in my eyes
All the tears I cried
Holy father; can you hear us
Is it the end of global freedom
All the children, now and ever
Will they ever have a future
What if we try, to open the eyes
For a better world tomorrow
One world, for all the nations, one chance for God's creation
One sky, for all the children, one light for hope and freedom
Arise from deep damnation, survive discrimination
Alive, a big sensation, we are the hero nation
The opening of the song Hero Nation by Freedom Call evokes memories and nostalgia. The lyrics speak of the times when they were young and free, where they enjoyed the beauty of the world beneath the blue sky. But as time passed by, they realized the divinity of life, and the reality of being the last generation to live. The song then transitions to a plea for help from God, asking if it is the end of global freedom and questioning if children would ever have a future. The lyrics suggest opening the eyes of society for a better world tomorrow.
The song concludes with an uplifting message for humanity to unite as one nation. The lyrics speak about having only one world for all the nations, and one chance for God's creation. They aspire to create one sky for all the children and one light for hope and freedom. The song is meant to inspire and provide a ray of hope in a world that faces many problems and challenges.
Line by Line Meaning
Remember the times
Let's recall the time when we were young and reckless
When we were young and wild
The time of our lives when we were young and carefree
The beautiful times
Recalling the happy moments when everything was wonderful
Under blue blue skies
Reliving days spent under clear, blue skies
Now the years have gone by
As time has passed on
And we realized
Then we became aware of something
Creation's divine
We appreciate the beauty in all of God's creations
We're the last to die
We are the ones who will persist till the very end
Holy father; can you hear us
Oh dear God, we hope you are listening
Is it the end of global freedom
Is our world headed towards the loss of liberty everywhere
All the children, now and ever
Our children, both present and future, deserve a better world
Will they ever have a future
We are unsure if they will have a brighter tomorrow
What if we try, to open the eyes
Suppose we make an effort to awaken people to the truth
For a better world tomorrow
But the goal is eventually a better future for all humanity
One world, for all the nations, one chance for God's creation
All nations deserve one world, where God's creations can thrive
One sky, for all the children, one light for hope and freedom
For all our children, a unified world offers hope and freedom
A lost paradise
The world has become an unrecognizable place
Under the darkened skies
The once vibrant world has lost its vibrancy under dark clouds
You can see in my eyes
We carry the emotional burden of our struggles in our eyes
All the tears I cried
The tears represent the sadness of how we have come to this point
Arise from deep damnation
Let us all rise from the depths of despair and damnation
Survive discrimination
Let us become resilient against discrimination
Alive, a big sensation
Surrounded with excitement, let us embrace life to the fullest
We are the hero nation
We as a nation have the power to become heroes by uplifting humanity
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: CHRIS BAY, DANIEL ZIMMERMANN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
VRtual Boy
Growing up with a very religious mother, and thinking of life the way I do, this song resonates fairly well with me. Even today my mother will argue with me, trying to convince me that God is real, and I of course argue back, trying to point out any faults in what she says.
I however can't say that he isn't truly real, as I don't know if that's true. I think the person who says there is no conceivable way for God to exist, is just as ignorant as the one who preaches that God surely must exist. There are many issues in philosophy as in what is the "good life" or the "mind and body" problem which we have no answer to, the existence of God is just one more.
This song however seems to be pointing out similar to how I feel about life. "Holy Father, can you here us." This is a bit how many of us feel today when we ask things like "If God is real, then why do we have all these problems." We're indirectly crying out to see if someone is hearing us. Then it seems that they open their minds to come up with a solution. "Why don't we try to open the eyes, for a better world tomorrow". Well maybe God exists, maybe he doesn't, but does that really matter? He's obviously not making a presence here at the moment, and perhaps we need to stop sitting around waiting for the answers and pick up where he left off.
This is all poetic of course, perhaps he didn't start because he didn't exist, but that's not important, what we need is to step up and become Gods ourselves for humanity. If he exists, then he should look happy upon what we did for people, and if he doesn't like it... well we'll be one nation and I'd be happy to join in a fight to bring such an immoral God down. If we're made in his image, I'm sure a couple of billion of us would be able to dethrone him.
"I know I am intelligent because I know that I know nothing"
Maikon Forte
Very Good, Muito Bom Mesmo
Mourne
One of the best choruses from FC.
Killa Shrub
Simply Legendary..........I expected no less from Freedom Call
Larry Best
That riff at 0:25 = UNF YEAH!! <3
PotentiallyAccurate
had me at the first riff awsome song great message TTP
Michael Stalbow - Best
0:25 What a riff!!
Gomolynai Ojnikong
i can do better any day
Jerkface
This has got to be my favorite band... And that's saying a lot, because I listen to Edguy quite a bit.
blood-dodo
Great song.
Kniightt95
Best song EVER!