Music is one of my Hobbies!
It begins small - with a drum set...
In 1994 I began to take drum set lessons at the "Kreismusikschule" in Viersen for about eight years. It was about that time, when the funny picture to the left was taken and I played in several bands since then. So I played rock in bands called "Motec", "Saudade" and "Peas Garden", which was the band we formed to play on our "Abiball" (which is some kind of prom after the German highschool degree). None of these band lasted very long and I guess none of you ever heard about one of them. We mostly practised in wet and dirty celars, but nevertheless I learned more about music by playing with other musicians than I could ever learn by music lessons.
SevenUp - The Band
But the most important factor that made me realize the fun of playing music was "SevenUp", a band founded by Gerhard Hiller in 1998. Only six months later we already won the contest "Youth and Folklore" (german: Landeswettbewerb "Jugend und Folklore") in North Rhine-Westphalia. We matched traditional irish music or songs of bands like "Pogues" or "Fiddler's Green" with elements of modern rock and pop music. So there are songs played on bagpipe and fiddle as well as drum set and electric guitar making an interesting combination. You could hear us on several events including private and public ones, small and large ones, ordinary and extraordinary ones (like an indoor swimming pool - strange sound). You can still find a lot more information, newspaper articles and fotos of this band and even some short examples of the cd we recorded on our website (there is no english version available). But as you probably realised from the past tense used in this passage, this band does not exist any longer. Many of the members (including myself) had to move to other cities when we started our studies at different universities.
A guitar to expand the possibilities
Early in 2004 I picked an additional instrument. I took my mother's old guitar from the attic and taught myself to play it. This was not too hard since a lot of my friends play the guitar and could help out with some hints. A guitar is not as bulky, not as loud (a strong arguement for a student in a flat) and not as limited when playing on your own as my drum set. I really like this instrument, so in the meantime I got myself an electric guitar and a better acoustic one. The only thing I like more since it is bulkier, louder and more expressive is my drum set which remains my main instrument.