Rabbit don't come easy
2001 -2003
From L - R:
Michael Weikath: Guitar
Markus Grosskopf: Bass
Andi Deris: Vocals
Sascha Gerstner: Guitar
Mark Cross: Drums
(played drums on track 7 & 11)
Additional Musicians:
Joern Ellerbrock: Keyboards
Mickey Dee: Drums
Discography:
Rabbit don't come easy
Nuclear Blast 2003
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Helloween was
found in the early eighties by members of the Hamburg bands, Iron Fist and Powerfool. The original line-up consisting of Michael Weikath (Guitars), Markus
Grosskopf (Bass), Kai Hansen (Guitars) and Ingo Schwichtenberg (Drums) showed a
great measure of independence and an upcoming determination to develop
musically. Two years after their foundation, the band released three songs on a
forward-looking heavy metal sampler, subsequently signed a contract with Noise
records and released their first EP. Their debut album, WALLS OF JERICHO and
particularly the subsequent offerings KEEPER OF THE SEVEN KEYS PART I and PART
II, which sold over 250,000 units in Germany alone, catapulted the band directly
among the créme de la créme
of hard rock acts. The history of Helloween is marked by countless hits and
classics, particularly from those early days. Every Helloween supporter knows
and loves highlights such a s “Halloween”, “Ride the sky”, “Future World”, “Dr.Stein”,
“Keeper of the seven keys” or “Eagle fly free” etc. Equally significant are the
unforgettable “Murderer” of the 1985 Helloween EP, the compelling “A little
time” and the impressive “A tale that wasn’t right”, which both show Helloween
from a different angle.
Helloween went on to celebrate success after success, not only in their native
Germany, but also across Europe, Japan and the United States and continued to do
so , even after a line-up change, when Kai Hansen left the band in 1988 in order
to realise his own ideas more
with his new band Gamma Ray. As a
replacement Helloween enlisted the services of Roland Grapow. The group’s first
live recording “LIVE IN THE UK” followed by “PINK BUBBLES GO APE”, which was
recorded in Denmark by Chris Tsangaredes, were impressive documents of the high
musical standard that the band had already achieved by then. Particularly the
song “Chance”, a dowry of sorts that the new songwriter Roland Grapow had
brought along and which is now an essential part of Helloween’s musical history.
But there were also the dark years, moments in which the metal flagship from
Northern Germany threatened to capsize, thrown off course by an icy wind of
business aberrations. Legal difficulties with their record label Noise put
Helloween on ice for many months and proved a major obstacle at the beginning of
the Nineties. Yet “CHAMELEON”, released in 1993, considered a non typical
Helloween album by the fans, mirrored an exceptional musical quality, as
Weikath’s contribution “Windmill” proves, exploring the metal genre to its
extremes. After the experimental, none the less convincing “CHAMELEON”, vocalist
Michael Kiske left towards the end of 1993 to devote himself to a solo career.
Worse still, drummer Ingo Schwichtenberg suffered from mental problems, having
difficulties coping with personal and career-related demands and asked for time
off for an unspecified period. We know now that Ingo never returned to the
Helloween fold: after a series of private tragedies, he felt unable to cope with
life and committed suicide in March 1995. His legendary drum kit, on which he
recorded countless Helloween classics, was bought by Roland Grapow in memory of
him.
True greatness
always comes out when times get rough. Helloween did not dwell on their
difficulties, but sought and found a way out, enlisting former Gamma Ray member
Uli Kusch as their new drummer. Main man, guitarist Michael Weikath succeeded in
signing up his mate , Pink Cream 69 vocalist Andi Deris as their new frontman.
The line-up consisting of Deris, Weikath, Grapow, Grosskopf and Kusch got
together in 1994 – making practically a new beginning and released the seventh
(and in this case by no means unfortunate) Helloween album, “MASTER OF THE
RINGS”, which took up where the groups success story had left off. “MASTER OF
THE RINGS” was more than a new beginning< it was the triumphant document of a
band that rose like a phoenix ......
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HELLOWEEN