I was born in Mettmann on 31 May 1973. At the age of 6 I started early musical education in the music school and learned to read notes and play xylophone. At that time my idea of which instrument I would like to play went towards accordion. But when I saw the cool guys playing electric guitar on TV, it was clear to me: That’s my instrument.
However, the enthusiasm was slowed down by my music teacher at that time, who suggested to start with basics on the classical guitar. So for 2 years I more or less tormented myself through studies and exercises. From today’s point of view, however, I have to admit that what I learned at the time still accompanies me to this day and helps me enormously in playing our pieces.
At the age of 10 years I was ready to go. At Christmas I got my first electric guitar, a Fender Lead-I in red. I can still remember the first piece on the electric guitar very well: Samba Pa Ti by Carlos Santana. A few years later I made my first attempts to play together with other musicians in the Rock AG of the music school. There I also wrote my first own pieces with titles like “The Joker” or “Horror Vision”. During this time I first met our bassist Martin Wendler at the party of a former classmate. He’s making music with his brother Nils that night. I was allowed to play in “House of the Rising Sun”.
I founded my first own band “Sound & Fury” together with a school friend after graduating from high school. We played together for almost eight years. As we had all developed musically and thus also apart, it was time for me to start something new. The journey continued with Gereon, the former band of Martin and our singer Alice Aschauer. Here I played for about three years before founding Emerald Edge together with Martin.
I was very early influenced by Steve Rothery, the guitarist of Marillion. His guitar playing accompanies me until today, because his melody in Solis fascinates me again and again. Later he was influenced by David Gilmour, Kirk Hammett and John Petrucci.
Equipment
- Music Man John Petrucci 6 Red Pearl Burst
- Music Man John Petrucci 7 Mystic Dream
- Music Man John Petrucci BFR 6 Bahama Blue Burst
- Music Man John Petrucci JP12 Cherry Sugar
- Fractal Audio Axe FX II XL+
- HK Audio PR:O 12 MA Monitore