As a kid I was impressed by other drummers of what I had heard and seen so far and especially fascinated by the old drum kit my uncle had at home. He borrowed it to me for my first years of playing until I got my first own one. It was one of those old-school ones, still equipped with real cow-skin heads (and yep, I broke em all).

 

Luckily, for the first nine years of my career I was able to attend professional drum lessons (i.a. Wieland Schreiber) which helped me to build a solid technical and theoretical basis for my drumming.

 

In early teenager years, I started jamming with friends and my cousin in my mom’s basement. With this formation, we played our first show in front of our local scene and friends when I was 14. Picked up by a local booker and record label, I was able to make first studio experiences at the age of 16 when recording songs for a local compilation and our first EP. A few years later, after the band started playing its first shows away from home in the rest of Germany, we decided to abandon the old band name and “take things more serious”.

 

The band was renamed to Oxymoron. We started playing shows and festivals in Germany and other countries soon. After the release of our first record “Fuck the Nineties ... Here’s our Noize“, we were invited to the US in 1996 and Japan in 1997. The band ended up playing hundreds of shows in more than 15 countries of Europe, more than hundred shows on five tours in the whole US (nope, we didn’t make it to Hawaii and Alaska), one solid tour through Japan and festivals such as With Full Force, Holidays in the Sun (in the UK, San Francisco and New Jersey), Force Attack, The Dour Festival, The Beer Olympics in Atlanta and various other festivals in different countries. Personal highlights to me were among others our full, 7 weeks US Tour together with the Ducky Boys and Dropkick Murphys, shows at the Whiskey and the Troubadour in Hollywood and last but not least three sold out shows at the CBGB’s in New York.
Oxymoron played its last show in November 2002 in Berlin.
However, an Oxymoron Tribute Compilation has been released which I think honors the band’s work. It will also contain songs of some bands we played and toured with and other interesting acts. Check it out!

 

A little while after Oxymoron ceased playing I got to play the first and only show for the project Missy and The Fits here in Berlin. Since then, I have stayed a Fits-Family member and we enjoyed some good studio sessions together over the years in Berlin and Hamburg.

 

In the meanwhile I was asked from our friends Loikaemie to help out on the drums at the Force Attack Festival, which turned out to be a great show.

 

While living in San Diego for a while, I recorded one record with the band Rich White Males and played one show with them at the Radio Room.

 

Additionally, since the last years with Oxymoron, I have performed with local bands here in Berlin for shows and recordings and played jam sessions with various musicians.

 

I had fun playing great Rock’n’Roll with Berlin-based band Bella Wreck. We played shows in Berlin and the rest of Germany and recorded at the Schaltraum-Studio.

 

Beginning of 2016 I was offered to play a European Tour with Reagan Youth from New York. I played Festivals and Club Shows with the band in the UK and on the mainland in August 2016 and a second European Tour in April 2017.

 

Anyways, I think I can say I have created my own style of drumming over the years, positively contributing to the projects I have been involved. I am into power-drumming and guess this would be a good term to describe my style. Drummers who influenced and impressed me the most throughout my career and of who you might definitely find similarities in my playing are: Mikkey Dee, Brian Betzger, Chuck Biscuits and Lars Ulrich.

 

During my time with Oxymoron and after, I have enjoyed touring with other bands doing various tourwork.
In 1999 I got to work with Gang Green, one of my since-ever favorite bands, on their European Tour. It turned out me performing the song Alcohol with them on the drums every night - which was great fun.
I travelled with the Angry Samoans on their last two European Tours and we got to play The Ballad of Jerry Curlan together for some shows, with Billy taking over the vocals for this song.
Between 2003 and 2015 I worked as drum technician on four UK/European Tours for the Dead Kennedys.