Music has always been my passion. Ever since I could walk, I would find 'ways' to create it....not always to the pleasure of those around as I banged on everything that produced a sound! So at the age of 8 my parents decided to send me to piano lessons.

As I was pretty motivated I was a quick learner, so at one point, my teacher asked me what kind of music I would like to play? Not knowing exactly how it was called, I could only say it wasn't the classical stuff I'd been playing so far, so the next lesson, he brought me some boogie woogie notes . Now this was a nice change, also giving me the opportunity to learn different rhythms & styles.

About a year later I played my first piano 'concert' in a local sports hall, which was organized by my music school. I got to play 2 songs.

I remember being very nervous but it all went well and I was very proud being the only kid who played this boogie woogie stuff instead of the usual classical songs you often hear at those kind of recitals.

 

After 6 years of playing the piano I quit because my interest went more to sports than music. Years went by and it was in the mid 80's when I heard the album 'Metal Rendez-vous' from Swiss rockers Krokus. Right there and then, I knew Rock 'n Roll was my thing.

 

I started saving money and bought a Washburn Guitar & Amp Combo. Not too long after that, I was able to play the 'Smoke on the water ' riff (beams). I asked my parents if I could take guitar lessons and just a week later, I found myself with Angi Schiliro. He was not only a fantastic guitar player, he was also a very good teacher and I got so into guitar playing. I practiced hours a day, never getting tired of it. Just 2 months later, some friends and I formed a band called MISTRAL. We played every local club that would have us...a fun period that was.

 

2 years later, I left the band to join WITTNEZZ, a band that had established itself already in Basel. With them, I played my first bigger show as supporting act of Uriah Heep. My knees were shaking so hard during the first songs...but I made it through & had a great experience! The taste to perform was born! I stayed in this band for 2 years.

 

Then , I met Tommy Rauch in town. As we had the same ambitions, taste in music....we decided to form a brand new band : KIRK. 

We quickly discovered talented and eager comrades in arms in Daniel Pfister (bass), Bruno Berger (keys) and Vito Cecere (drums) and played wherever we could. KIRK released its debut album “The Final Dance” via Point Music in 2003. In Dennis Ward we found a perfect producer. The album was well received, not only in Europe and North America, but especially in Japan where it entered the import charts of the renowned magazine Kerrang. The next years we played as support for bands like Pink Cream 69, Doro, Axxis, Shakra...  Unfortunatelly, our drummer Vito had to leave the band due to health issues & KIRK decided to take a break....

 

During this time I met Mitch Koontz (bass) and Peter Gander (drums). With them, GODIVA was formed . We completed the line-up with Anthony Deangelis and Moises B. Fernandez. A new chapter in my musical life was born. In the same year Godiva released their self-titled debut album via Limb Music. It was produced by Tom Naumann and Achim Köhler, the success guarantors of Primal Fear.  In 2005 we released the second album “call me under 666”, again with producer Achim Köhler.

Right after recording, Anthony quit the band. In former Victory singer Fernando Garcia we found the perfect replacement. We re-recorded the vocals with Fernando and were excited about the result. Fernando’s high quality rock 'n roll voice was a new dimension for the band. We played many gigs where we could share the stage with acts like Y&T, Primal Fear, Dokken, Axxis, Adagio (where I met Christian Palin who would play a big role some years later) and many more...

In 2006 the biggest success for Godiva was when we could open 2 shows for the Scorpions and Whitesnake in huge football stadiums in Greece. This was awesome. One year later Godiva released the third album “Destruction” via Mausoleum Records. European tours with Shakra and Royal Hunt followed. BUt one year later, internal problems in the band occurred, resulting in the end of Godiva.

 

This split on the other hand meant the end of the hibernation of KIRK. Philipp Eichenberger replaced Vito Cecere and we started writing new songs and rehearsed a lot. Drawing from a decade of skills and experience , Kirk rapidly morphed into a powerful melodic hard rock band. In 2013 we released the album “Masquerade” (again produced by Dennis Ward) via Mausoleum records followed by a European Tour with Swedish band “the Poodles” and Swiss rockers "Crystal Ball". The tour was a big success.

 

But the years that had passed showed people don't always grow in the same direction. Singer Thomi Rauch had different ideas of which direction the band should go..... other desires. So we took the final hurdle and asked Gilbi Melendez to be our singer. And what a voice we found in him!  We decided to make a fresh start all together , gave up the name KIRK and restarted under a new name :  GODS OF SILENCE.

 

Meanwhile , I also started writing songs for another new band which I formed together with the former Adagio singer Christian Palin, PANORAMA.  We completed the band with my longtime buddy Dennis Ward on bass, Ben Varon on Guitars and Gods of Silence drummer Philipp Eichenberger on drums.

 

In 2016 both bands recorded their albums which will be released in 2017...  the Gods of Silence release with album title "Neverland" is scheduled for September 8 2017 via ROAR - Rock of Angels records and the Panorama release with title "Around the World" will happen at January 12 2018.
Stay tuned....