My wife and I are exhilarated about the birth of our son Dwayne.
23/06/2010
Got a new endorsement with STEAVENS amps.
This small boutique amp company is run by Bernd Stephan and we will work together from now on. I am now using his Brian 35, a Class A tube head with EL84s that delivers a gorgeous clean tone as well as great crunch and lead tones (or "heat" as Bernd calls them) with plenty of tone shaping options. Tonewise it is clearly on the vintage side but it sounds equally great with both my Ibanez guitars as well as Strats. More to come from this colaboration in the next months...
22/06/2010
Oliver Burg, the singer who produced and wrote "Catwalk Autobahn" and hired me in 2002 to play guitars on this album became a close friend during and after the recording sessions and passed away three years later in 2005. I still miss him and did a video for the closing track of the album "I saw your eyes tonight". The song's beautiful and I would really appreciate some comments, especially from those guys from New York and Cologne/Bonn who have worked with Oliver, be it in musicals, acting or modeling.
13/04/2010
Did a new video presenting the MOEN Phase from the Ulite series. See my YouTube Channel.
02/04/2010
KILLERZ-Gig at Kubana on Saturday has to be cancelled due to a throut infection of out singer. We are very dissapointed and sorry but we do not have a choice. Hope to see you all next time.
28/03/2010
Been to the Musikmesse in Frankfurt, checked out some gear and met some great players like Jeff Waters and Dick Dale. Visit MySpace for pics. Personal product highlights included Jaden Rose guitars and the Laney Lionheart.
Unfortunately MOEN did not have a booth at the Musikmesse in 2010 and is still searching for a european distribution which is really a shame since the pedals sound so great. But then Jaden Rose guitars didn't have one either and were around the best guitars available at the fair so quality does not seem to be the only key to success which on the other hand is really nothing new... Ok, enough reality about the hard business side.
Did a studio session yesterday playing 2 tracks on 12-string acoustic guitar and on Saturday KILLERZ will be playing at the Kubana in Siegburg. Up the irons!
05/03/2010
Lots of gigs in the works for spring and summer. Check back on Sunday for new Live Dates. I'll be playing Metal with KILLERZ, Rock with Sunny Skies, Acoustic with Bonnsters and Instrumental Progressive Rock recording my third solo CD. So I am really looking forward to a summer full of playing guitar, racing motorcycle and having fun!
Video for MOEN Phaser coming soon!
24/01/2010
Did a new video for the MOEN AB-Looper (Anole) on YouTube.
25/12/2009
A happy christmas to everyone!
Got great presents including the Iron Maiden calender 2010 from my brother. Now that's something special considering he's not really into metal...
Cool new MOEN pedals are on the way from Hong Kong so for me it's like having christmas twice this year. I will do some new video demonstrations soon but for the next few days I will take it "slow and easy" and get a clear vision of what I expect from the next year.
Since I love diversity, I will pay tribute to all of my musical desires which include playing Heavy Metal (KILLERZ) and Progressive rock (SOLO) as well as "Strat style rock" (SUNNY SKIES) and Acoustic. Also 2010 will see the release of my third solo-release and in the meantime I will put some new soundclips on the page from time to time.
31/10/2009
New gigs posted. I'm playing some acoustic shows as well as with KILLERZ.
24/09/2009
I'm taking a break from gigging till the end of October to concentrate on my solo stuff. I'll do one or two videos though to promote the MOEN pedals.
If you play guitar you might want to check the Links-section for some of my columns. There are even some of them that have been translated into chinese. Guitar pics coming soon.
10/09/2009
Discography now contains soundclips from allmost every one of my releases.
05/09/2009
I'm reworking the whole page next week and will include a lot of soundclips and new pictures.
14/04/2009
New Videos on YouTube of me using the new pedalboard.
05/04/2009
Used my new MOEN pedalboard live yesterday for the first time and loved it. Sounded great with my Strats. See "Gear" for a picture of the new board.
04/03/2009
I'll be using my new pedalboard with the GEC434 Controller in the Harmonie on the weekend for both my solo-gig as well as the Sunny Skies. The GEC makes switching sounds a breeze.
Allthough I'm usually using Ibanez guitars for my solo-stuff I'll be playing nothing but strats on the weekend because they work exceptionally well with the pedalboard. I will have to switch back to Ibanez or Hembry though next week because KILLERZ really ask for humbuckers. Check back on sunday for pics of the new pedalboard on the "Gear" page.
05/03/2009
I'll be playing with EDDIE'S REVENGE in Osnabrück - Bastard Club tomorrow to fill in the gap for the 2nd injured guitar player. I trade in a debt with this because their singer helped us out just a few weeks ago when our singer was ill. That's just the way it should be! It'll be exciting, especially because I have to play some of the parts that Armin is usually playing in KILLERZ.
02/03/2009
Just recieved the new GEC434 from MOEN, a 4-loop switcher with a lead boost. Check back soon for a video where I demonstrate the features of the GEC and how I use it.
24/12/2008
A busy year comes to an end and I'd like to say thank you and a happy christmas to everyone I had the pleasure to work with during the last year or who has simply been a good friend. Allthough I will most certainly forget someone I'd like to mention:
My parents
My sweet girl Lilli for supporting me with allmost everything that is not completely sure suicide
Rolf Sander and Alex Bisch for playing bass and drums on my second and third solo CD, I WILL release the third solo CD next year
All the cool guys in KILLERZ for the fun of playing Metal together, especially my guitar buddy Armin Rave
Everyone in SUNNY SKIES for the fun of playing Rock together
Ralph Hoppe of City Music Bonn
George Lynch for proving that you can stay cool forever
Ralf Reichen and Tobias at Tonehunter
Steve Chen and Michael Fox of MOEN effects China and USA for building great sounding pedals
Scott Hembry of Hembry Guitars USA for building great guitars
Dan McAvinchey of Guitar 9 for selling my CDs
Danni Danzi for being a good friend via email without ever meeting me
Ricky Garcia for organizing the german jemfest three times and for telling Andy Timmons to give the cool shirt to me instead of him
Andy for giving the cool shirt to me instead of Ricky
Christoph Eberle for helping me putting my studio together and for being one of the cool guys
Stephan Baldauf of Zweirad Baldauf / Triumph for my cool motorcycle and for choosing to be one of the "outsiders" in school...
Michael M. and Stefan R. for some real cool motorcycle rideouts
Wolfgang P. of SV Geislar for cool training sessions
Everyone who bought my CDs or bought my songs on iTunes, eMusic or MSN Music or has visited one of my gigs
04/12/2008
Made a new video on YouTube playing through the MOEN Holy Choir, a great sounding chorus pedal with true bypass. I'm using my Jeff Beck Strat for a clean vintage tone.
I finally took the time to start my (long overdue) MySpace Profile.
"Law of the jungle" is currently sold out so I am repressing this one soon and while we are at it, we will take the opportunity to remaster it. This will be done with the help of my KILLERZ guitar buddy and owner of a small but fine studio Armin Rave.
13/11/2008
I now proudly endorse MOEN effects pedals. Check "Gear" in a few weeks to see my new pedalboard.
The new Sunny Skies DVD is out. See "Discography" for details.
02/11/2008
I took some pictures from the gig on the Bonner Marktplatz with Sunny Skies where I played my new Hembry Skull n bones and made a video out of them and spiced it up with some more Hembry models and my song "Remarkable Rocks". Check it out either on my YouTube channel or on the Hembry homepage. The guitars Scott Hembry builds are real pieces of art and he's a cool guy as well!
My guitar buddy and friend Ricky Garcia has completed his new solo release "Let sleeping dogs lie". For those who thought he only bashes out power chords in LaFee he sets the record straight with great songwriting and shredding. It does not hurt that Dream Theater's Jorden Rudess plays some guest solos on the CD either.
I did another video that's also on YouTube for the chinese pedal company MOEN where I use the Violent Metal with my 7-string Ibanez and play some parts from my song "Addiction" to showcase the powerfull sound of this pedal.
03/10/2008
Biography now contains timeline starting with the time I studied at MGI (1990) and Discography is now completed. I will upload soundclips for all releases soon.
23/08/2008
Played the Marktplatz in Bonn on the last two weekends with KILLERZ and Sunny Skies.
These days I'm overworking my studio to continue recording my third solo cd.
23/04/2008
Gear Page updated; contains my amps and pedalboards now. Guitars coming soon.
Finally got my YouTube channel.
Sunny Skies are playing with an orchestra on May the 24th. Rehearsals with the orchestra are starting in early May. On May the 3rd we are playing Rhein in Flammen in Königswinter. See Live Dates for more info.
21/03/2008
Went to the Musikmesse in Frankfurt last week and met a lot of great guitarplayers there like Vinnie Moore, Michael Angelo Batio, Jeff Loomis and one of my favourites Andy Timmons as well as jemfest buddy and friend Ricky Garcia. Last Tuesday I saw a whole gig by Andy as he played in Wetzlar and even asked Ricky to join him onstage for a jam. One of the best concerts in my life. Andy has such a great tone as well as the magic touch and is a nice person, too. As is his whole band! I had a nice conversation with his drummer Dan who played a fantastic solo in Wetzlar.