We're meeting Mark Knopfler in London. More precisely, in the district of Chiswick, in the southwest of the English metropolis. This is where the British Grove Studios are located. Owner: Mark Knopfler. Here he also recorded his latest solo work "Tracker". The 65-year-old Briton, who was not always a grateful interview partner in the past, talks about these in detail and with growing enthusiasm. And he is so relaxed that he also answers questions about the complex of topics Dire Straits, which has been closed for him for a quarter of a century, in a friendly and patient manner.

eclipsed: Your new album is called "Tracker". That's another word for detective, isn't it?

If you approach this band from the supposedly safe distance of a quarter of a century - so long ago lie the great successes of Guns N' Roses - you feel as if you were discovering the gigantic carcass of a whale on the beach: although you know that the mighty mammal is dead as a mouse, you exercise the utmost caution out of sheer fear that the monster might still move and kill you with one of its mighty tail fins. Guns N' Roses were, to stay in the picture, the blue whale among the rock bands. And they were unpredictable. If not completely crazy. And megalomaniac - first and foremost her frontman Axl Rose. And bands whose guitarists, like Izzy Stradlin and Saul "Slash" Hudson, absolutely want to be Keith Richards are not the worst anyway. All this made Guns N' Roses, along with some great records, a legend.

When Van Morrison asks fellow musicians to join him in the studio, it is usually a matter of course for them to follow this call. The great Northern Irish bluesman's coat itched again. He has been searching through his song catalogue and re-recording 16 of his old numbers - together with renowned artists such as Mark Knopfler, Taj Mahal and Steve Winwood. We met Van Morrison on the sidelines of an appearance in Glasgow to talk to him about his recent collaborations.

When Richard Hugh Blackmore was born on 14 April 1945 in Weston-super-Mare in the English county of Somerset, he did not even allow himself to be sworn into a bourgeois life. At the age of eleven - the family now lives in Heston near London - he is given his first guitar and wants to become a musician. He takes lessons from studio guitarist Big Jim Sullivan. His career as a musician began in 1963. The most important experience: the show lessons of Screaming Lord Sutch. He heard Ian Paice for the first time during a stay at a star club. The drummer impressed him so much that he later brought him into the band instead of Deep Purple founder Chris Curtis. This is how Blackmore's Hire and fire mentality became apparent early on.

A small inconspicuous town near Hagen in the southeastern Ruhr area. On the way to the studio of remaster expert Eroc, editor Marcus Wicker and author Walter Sehrer as well as photographer Lutz Diehl meet Gerd Kühn-Scholz alias Lupo, original guitarist of Grobschnitt. The Schalke fan carries a laptop in his blue and white sports bag. He is an event manager today and still slender as a crop. He has prepared well for his first interview in a quarter of a century. In the studio a good-humoured Eroc awaits us and serves us coffee and cake. The afternoon rushes by in the intensive conversation with the four of us. But there is enough time to talk in detail about the box "79:10" and especially about the eventful band history and a possible future of the group.

In their native Finland, the Von Hertzen Brothers have long been veritable superstars. Two of the last five albums by Kie, Mikko and Jonne Von Hertzen reached the top of the charts there, and also their current album "New Day Rising" was in the first week of the show as a matter of course on the top of the charts. When will the three brothers finally succeed in their long earned breakthrough?

Helsinki, late March. The band's Finland tour has just started and is already heading for one of its highlights with two sold-out shows at the legendary Tavastia Club. In the rehearsal room of the band singer/guitarist Mikko Von Hertzen takes his time for the eclipsed interview despite the hectic home game weekend and looks back to the sixties ...

eclipsed: Mikko, you and your brothers come from a very musical family.

Never say never, did the Boomtown Rats say to each other two years ago and unexpectedly looked for the spotlight of the big stage again - after a break of almost three decades. Created during the punk-dominated upheaval of rock music, Rats singer Bob Geldof still stands for the attitude of the beery iconoclasts - and immediately follows suit against progressive rock.

STEVE HILLAGE reminds exclusively in eclipsed of his friend and band mate DAEVID ALLEN, who died in March...

eclipsed: What was your first impression of Daevid when you met him?

Steve Hillage: I first met Daevid in the autumn of 1972, in London, in the apartment of the hippie poet and musician Lady June, where Kevin Ayers lived. I first met Daevid as a fan of his work, but soon he seemed to me like my long lost big brother. I told him very quickly that I would love to perform with him. He in turn said that he had heard a lot of good things about my guitar playing and that he might come back to my offer earlier than I would like. And so it came: Within a few months I was promoted to a permanent gong member. I was warned against Daevid being unpredictable. But I experienced him from the beginning as rather gentle. Later Daevid told me that he wanted me to be a gong guitarist because he wanted to rejuvenate the band.