Instrument: Drums & percussion
Birthday: 28.04.1978
Residence: Bielefeld, Germany
My musical biography:
If I believe my parents I was drumming on every pot and dish with some wooden spoons in the kitchen of our house. But before I really learned to play drums I started learning classical and concert guitar at the age from 10 to 15. After three years of learning I made it to the guitar orchestra of my hometown Bielefeld where I played everything from old German folk songs to Spanish, Greek, and Hungarian dances. Sadly nowadays I am not able to play any of these. So kids give a fuck about sheet music, play with your heart! At the age of 14 I discovered rock & metal music for me and the classical guitar started to get boring. At first I wanted to start with the electric guitar but a few good friends of mine started playing drums at the same time. Fascinated by this intrument I wanted to learn this, too. After cutting my guitar lessons for countless times, my father was not in the mood to pay my first lessons. For my 16th birthday my brother and sister gave me the money for the first lesson and a few weeks later I started playing drums. From the first moment on I knew that this was my instrument and I´d give everything to play drums and make music for the rest of my life. Two years later my father honored my enthusiasm and I got my first double bass kit (thanks, dad!) and since then I played in many different bands with many different styles. At times I played in up to five bands at the same time. In the year 2000 I started my carrier with Xandria. In the beginning only as a studio- and livedrummer I joined the band full time after a few months and nowadays I am the second-longest-serving band member and I hope to stay in the band for a long time.
Favourite……
…Xandria songs: A Prophecy Of Worlds To Fall, Euphoria, Soulcrusher, Call Of The Wind, Cursed
…bands / musicians / albums:
Bands: Dream Theater, Slipknot, Iron Maiden, Stone Sour, Morbid Angel, Planet X, Epica, Carcass, Death, Machine Head, Spock´s Beard
Musicians: Simon Phillips, Virgil Donati, Mike Portnoy, Gene Hoglan, Hans Zimmer, Neal Morse, Chuck Schuldiner (R.I.P.), Devin Townsend
Albums: Dream Theater – Systematic Chaos, Morbid Angel – Covenant, Death – Symbolic, Spock´s Beard – Snow, Epica – Design Your Universe, Machine Head – Through The Ashes Of Empire
…movies: Batman (the new ones), The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Pirates of the Carribean, Shaun of the Dead, Indiana Jones, Alien(s), and many more…
…book: Frank Schätzing – The Swarm
…drinks: Beer, water, Coke, milk, red wine, whisky
…food: Pizza, steak, spaghetti, burger, sushi
Best Xandria Concert:
There´s no „best show“ for me until now but a few unforgetable shows are:
Korea – Busan International Rock Festival (2004), Porto – Hard Club (2012), every show in Munich, the whole “Out of the Dark Tour – 2011”, MFVF X (2012)
Biggest accident on stage: At the warm-up show in Belgium for the 2012 European tour with Epica I lost a stick and it fell right into the audience. Generously I nodded to the lucky finder that he could keep it. He nodded back negatively and gave the stick to Philip, who brought it back to me.
3 “must haves” on tour: My iPhone – for killing time and as a tour-multi-tool, earplugs – for a calm and quiet sleep, my camcorder – for documenting everything that happens on tour
Best experience on tour:
- the fans
- the tourstart when we enter the bus
- every evening when the bus leaves to another city or country
A bad characterictic: When I’m hungry I can get really unpleasant
Place I want to go once: China
This is what I want to experience: healthy junkfood
Wish for Xandria:
…never having to search for a new female singer again
…to travel even more countries
…to meet even more interesting people
…minimum one golden record
…to be able to make music for a very long time
Personal wishes: Health for all my beloved ones and for me
What I´d like to have: My own Signature Sticks
This is what I always wanted to say: Thanks!
Equipment:
Drums: Pearl Masters Premium Maple, Color: Diamond Burst
22”x18” Bass Drum
22”x18” Bass Drum
8“x7“ TomTom
10“x9“ TomTom
12“x10“ TomTom
14”x14” Floor Tom
16”x16” Floor Tom
14” x 5,5” Tama Starclassic Copper Snaredrum
Hardware:
Pearl Rack & Hardware
Tama Iron Cobra Pedals
Yamaha Hi Hats
Roc´n´Soc Drum Throne
Cymbals:
Sabian, Zidjian, Paiste, Meinl
Sticks:
Vater – Rock, Wood Tip
Drumheads:
Remo
