HISTORY
1975 At the tender age of 11 I met
Kai Hansen at a sleigh-run. It didn't take us long to figure out that the
both of us really were into distorted guitar sounds and we founded "Gentry",
our first band.
9 months later we won a competition
of students bands with our set consisting of 3 cover versions (Rock'n Roll
by Led Zepplin, Paranoid by Black Sabbath and Stealing by Uriah Heep) and
two own compositions.
1976 We finally added a drummer
to our line-up, but unfortunately he wasn't all that great ...
Shortly thereafter our bass
player left the band.
Kai and I started to record
our first "studio sessions". In separate rooms under rather bizzare conditions,
we recorded our first demo consisting of 4 songs. Something I'm really
proud of is, that when the word Fostex or 4-track recorder didn't even
exist yet we had developed a technique to record overdubs. It sounded horrible,
but then, who cared. In the following year and a half both Kai and I played
the guitar and bass and on various demos also played the drums (our drummer
was really bad!).
1978 Our drummer left the band
and the two of us rehearsed by ourselves until we invited another drummer
to our rehearsals, someone who immediately convinced us: Ingo Schwichtenberg.
About half a year later Markus
Großkopf on bass joined the band and we changed our name into Second
Hell. This was the beginning of the most important musical development
and influence for both Kai and myself.
We wrote songs like "Murderer",
"Victim Of Fate", "Gorgar", "Phantoms Of Death" as well as the original
versions of "Save Us", "Heading For Tomorrow", "Metal Invaders" and "Iron
Savior". The songs we wrote then are the central themes of both Kai's and
my compositions to this very day.
1981 I was unnerved from always
having to play in front of a handful of fans, often times drunk, in some
of the worst youth clubs in Hamburg and left the band approximately one
year before "Metal Invaders" by Helloween was first released on a "Noise"
sampler.
During the next three years
I didn't do much of anything in regards of my musical career.
1984 Rather reluctant I started
to write songs again, bought some more equipment and started working as
a sound engineer in various studios in Hamburg. I recollected past values
and my songs started to be "rocking" again.
1987 While Kai and I produced
a demo for a band from Hamburg we realized, that it was fun playing together
again.
1988 I went to Los Angeles for
one year to become a professionell sound engineer and producer. Granted,
I spend more time on the surf board then I did at school.
1989 After returning to Germany
I immediately started to work as an engineer on Kai's album "Heading For
Tomorrow". The production enabled me to prove what I had learned in the
States and while in Horus Studios I started to specialize in vocals and
guitars.
1990 Kalle Trapp moved his Karo
Studios to Hamburg and I continued working as a sound engineer.
This is where for the first
time I met Blind Guardian, working on their "Tales From The Twilight World"
album. In the years to come I engineered and produced lots of metal productions,
such as "Tales From The Twilight World", "Somewhere Far Beyond", "Tokyo
Tales", "Imaginations From The Other Side" and "Forgotten Tales" by Blind
Guardian, "Heaven Can Wait" and "Sigh No More" by Gamma Ray, "Solid Ball
Of Rock" by Saxon, "The Reaper" and "Symphony Of Death" by Grave Digger,
"Crack The Wall" by Domain, Transit 2 and 3, Scäm Luis, Doc Eisenhauer
and "Sea Of Light" by Uriah Heep.
1994 While producing all the
above albums I managed to write a few songs, that I worked on with Uwe
Lulis at Karo Studios.
At the end of the session I
had to find out though, that the only title that I really was satisfied
with was "Iron Savior".
I had the original versions
of "Atlantis Falling" and "Brave New World" but the arrangements had to
be redone. But I did have Savior and now had to make up my mind what I
wanted to do with it. I could have offered it to Kai or Grave Digger but
I felt I couldn't part with it.
After receiving a good many
positive reactions on the song I finally made up my mind, I was going to
produce my own album with at least ten songs and wait and see what were
to happen. But due to the "Imagination ..." and "Forgotten Tales" productions
and the following tours with Blind Guardian, were I worked as sound mixer,
I didn't get to start with song
writing and production until the spring of 1996.
1996 I concentrated solely on
the Iron Savior project and in the fall started to record Kai's lead vocals.
Our co-operation was very creative and satisfying and Kai got more and
more involved.
January 1997 I picked up Thomen
in Krefeld and in Kai's studio we started with the drum recordings. It
was hard work for Thomen because he had to play the drums in perfect timing
onto an already finished production.
After 14 days we had finally
made it, all drum parts were recorded and 90% of the guitars and vocals
were unchanged - something I definitely hadn't expected!
February 1997 To save time and
because of course I was the one who knew the songs best I played all bass
parts myself. Timing was really starting to be a major problem, because
Gamma Ray needed to begin recording their new album so now we had to work
in 2 shifts. During the mixing session Hansi came from Krefeld and during
just one afternoon we recorded his lead vocals and all choirs for the individual
songs. March 1997 WE MADE IT!!! The mix was done and I had the feeling
of really having produced a good album.
My only worry was, that now,
after all was set and done I wouldn't be satisfied with the finished product
after all,
but I have to say, that even
though it might sound somewhat arrogant, I do like my album a lot!
April 1997 After a really short
period of negotiations with various record companies I came to an agreement
with Modern Music, which due to Kai I was familiar with anyway..
Now it's up to the fans
Volta