When I think about which events in my life were relevant to my musical career, so many come to mind that I’m forced to focus on the essentials. Therefore, the following retrospective is a heavily abridged summary of a turbulent journey, which I will gladly recount in more detail at some point.

It All Started Somehow With Music.

I’ve loved music ever since I was able to move to it. Anything with a good beat, accompanied by sophisticated harmonies and beautiful melodies, immediately caught my attention. On top, I have a great passion for poetry and exquisite song lyrics, as well as a weakness for exceptional, sometimes unusual voices. My record collection is extensive, covering many genres of music, and takes up a third of my apartment.

When I was 9, I was allowed to help a friend of my mother in her record store. As a reward, I was allowed to choose an LP. My first album: Moonflower by Carlos Santana. The energy of this music, with its brilliant rhythm section, Latin percussion, roaring Hammond organ, and Carlos’ beautiful guitar riffs, still has something exhilarating about it today. It was the start of my love affair with Latin music. In 1984 I had the incredible luck of winning a four-week trip to Rio de Janeiro in a competition – welcome to the Camel Discovery.

My father and mother both adored music. In my early years in Scotland and England, we listened to Burt Bacharach, classical opera, baroque music, Frank Sinatra, and of course, the Beatles. My mother had classical vocal training, and my father had a natural talent. Sometimes, both of them sang along to the music coming from the radio — one of those perfect-world moments. When my parents separated in 1969, I ended up in a suburb of Hamburg. The first thing I remember is getting the mumps while watching the moon landing on a black-and-white TV — a life-changing experience. From this point on, a question arose in my mind:

Should I Become An Astronaut Or An Artist?

In the children’s room, there were National Geographic posters everywhere with all the Apollo crews and our solar system. My brother and I built a lunar module out of the children’s table. We hung a blanket over it and painted flight instruments on the underside. The record player played the space adventure “Spaceship UX3 Not Responding,” and my brother and I were on an intergalactic rescue mission.

I gained my first musical experience at the early age of 8 in the local marching band, where I learned to play the drums. At 10, I took my first classical guitar lesson. At 12, I received the Golden Lyre for playing 50 marches immaculately.

When I turned 15, a guy I had met by chance took me to the youth center, which is located right next to the uniquely beautiful Reinbek Castle.

The Day Everything Changed.

I owe all the influences that shifted my focus from NASA to the music of the ’60s and ’70s to the people I met and the concerts I experienced there. My first bands were formed with new friends I made here. I initially sat down behind the drum kit.

After a wild and experimental phase marked by long, shaggy hair and progressive (art) rock in post-hippie outfits, a renewal was about to come. Or rather, a liberation—the ’68s revolution had already faded considerably! It was about time for Punk and New Wave.

My hair was now short and styled, my suits were „The kind you buy in a secondhand store“, and my shoes were from London – Dr. Martens and Creepers. (read more below the picture gallery)

Nothing Comes From Nothing

At 16, I sacrificed my summer holidays to work at the local industrial park. This earned me money for my drum kit and, the following year, the money for my piano.

My first notable band was Los Cocomicos, an homage to the comic strip with the cute Marsupilami. Like a sponge, this band absorbed the influences spread by the British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS). The band met regularly to listen to this station. It was the only way to be inspired by the latest sounds from England. During breaks, we played Pong or Space Invaders on TV; welcome to ’80s heaven. The band’s main influences were: Haircut 100, Aztec Camera, Orange Juice, Madness, XTC, The Style Council, The Monochrome Set, and The Housemartins.

Our rehearsal room was in the middle of Hamburg, over an hour’s drive from downtown Reinbek. It was located in a smelly, windowless air-raid shelter on Lutterothstrasse. Keep in mind that smoking was still rampant back then. We rehearsed several times a week.

Our first concert in the big City was at the Dopium at Podium Theater in Altona. It was sold out. Notable attendees included avant-gardist Holger Hiller, cultural scientist and pop critic Diedrich Dietrichsens, and the particularly delightful “Pillenbibies” – five charming ladies with bouffant hair, all sporting bat tattoos on their shoulders. To my delight, we met them quite regularly at concerts and other events.

In The City

The boys and I spend more and more time „in the city“ (great song byX-Agenten, another band from Reinbek). It was about time to move.

My first apartment was fittingly, in Hamburg’s composers’ quarter on Schubertstrasse – without central heating, just a coal stove—a new beginning. Years later, I lived on Brahmsallee and only recently on Gustaf-Mahler-Platz behind Hamburg’s Opera House. As you can see, I’ve always lived in good company.

New friendships rapidly formed within the striving local music scene. Bernd Begemann, Timo Blunk, “Ewald” Dietrichsen, Sylvester Hein, and many more. We all went out at the legendary Bermuda Triangle: 3 venues in the city’s „Schanzenviertel“ night owl quarter: Subito, Luxor, and KIR; all within walking distance. Or we hung out at the classy VEGA BAR, run by Heinz Hilchenbach, who looked a lot like young Gregory Peck. A couple of years later he opened the legendary Rossi Bar. He sang in a band too: Four Roses – obviously the band of a bartender, but not my cup of whiskey after having a taste; I prefer peaty Scotch. Still, the emerging music projects around us were very open-minded, resulting in many exciting collaborations.

Time To Buckle Up

The Cocomicos appeared in the first video formats alongside „junge wilde“ painters like Markus Öhlen—für eine Hand voll D-Mark—directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, and in the video “Wir müssen Helden sein” (We Must Be Heroes) directed by Tim Renner.

It was about this time that I first met Anke at Café Schöne Aussichten. It was part of another triangle of venues in the somewhat more posh city: Madhouse, Cha Cha, and Café Schöne Aussichten. All of them, as one would expect, were within walking distance. The Café became a Sunday brunch institution, an artist hangout, and a venue for record companies, which hosted their release concerts there. My personal highlight: Ben Harper, 1994 (Welcome to the Cruel World). I follow Ben’s work to this day.

Not to forget – the legendary Christmas concerts. We were there to play, of course. At this point, I would like to recommend the book by Uriz von Oertzen, which he compiled about this special place.

An Upgrade Is Available

A new quartet, The Butterfly Collectors featuring Christian Straube on vocals, had replaced the Cocomicos; great band, but a bit too epigonal for my taste. On a positive note, the well-known comedian Otto Walkes and his team (Thomas Kukuck, Hans Otto Mertens) took notice of us, and we were able to gain our first studio experience in the galactic GaGa Studios. I also got a job as a chauffeur for their A&R manager, Hans Krüger, who was dealing with some health issues. Thus, I became a witness to legendary demo tape presentations in his Volvo, including those by Fine Young Cannibals, Sade, and the one-hit-wonder King.

However, our own band’s first single was recorded with Wolfgang von Henko at Ougenweide Studios shortly before I left the band. This fateful twist led me to meet the brothers Frank and Stefan Wulff, which later resulted in a collaboration in theatre music at the famous „Deutsches Schauspielhaus“, Hamburg.

The Butterflies were followed by various band experiments such as Frank & The Passions, Big Bird, and others, but for me, the magic of the past was gone.

The legendary, recently deceased Alfred Hilsberg (German music journalist and underground label owner) hired me as a drummer for a concert at the KIR and afterwards for the whole tour of Nikki Sudden and the Jacobites, which took me through Switzerland, Austria, and Germany for 6 weeks; all under the weirdest circumstances, but definitely good material for a film.

Don’t Make A Scene

In the 90s, I played music in the ensemble at “Deutsches Schauspielhaus”, alongside Monica and Moritz Bleibtreu, Ben Becker, and Catrin Striebeck, among others, and for five years, I performed shows featuring the ballads of Francoise Villon sung by the great actor Christian Redl with an amazing band built around all of the Wulff brothers – Max, Stefan, and Frank. Followed by a year at „Jugendtheater auf Kampnagel – JAK“ (Hamburg Youth Theatre), where I was musical director.

During this time, I played with some new fellow artists in bands like M’Blue Et Moi, Migraine, and S.W.O.P. (feat. pianist Max Wulff).

After I stopped playing the drums in 1996, I concentrated on playing the piano and guitar and began writing the songs I already had in mind.

Turning Point: Time To Become A Producer And Songwriter

On New Year’s Eve 90/91, I met Ralf Marquardt. In him, I found not only a like-minded person but also a close friend. We started with joy and have had endless fun ever since.

Our Band The Sea Change was born. To date, we’ve produced 7 albums – a new one is currently in progress. (more info about the band)

Starting My Own Recording Studio

Back in the ’90s, my goal was to become an excellent sound engineer. To learn the craft, I studied for two years (2008-2010) via distance learning at Abbey Road Studios in London. For five years, I owned a large recording studio facility (Seven Star Studios) that I had designed and built myself. It was located right next to the martial arts dojo where I was trained in seven-star mantis Kung Fu at the time, just another of my passions. Today I run my own state-of-the-art project studio in Hamburgs city center.

At this time, I worked on a couple of projects with Anke, including songwriting for the children’s television program “Die Sendung mit der Maus” (The Show with the Mouse). Produced by WDR in cooperation with other member broadcasters of the ARD (first German public broadcasting Channel) network.

Ever since, the topic of children and young people has been a fundamental aspect of our collaboration and is particularly close to our hearts.

When I met Henning Windelband about 20 years ago (today, he is CEO of youngfilms), I had no idea that a friendship and a fantastic, creative collaboration would develop. Together with Anke, I wrote and produced 15 songs for the hit show „Meine Freundin Conni“ in 2016.

The joy of working together with Anke gave rise to the idea for Type & Tone. And… here we are now… to entertain you…

Side by side, as a now multi-award-winning team.