Screaming Trees was an American rock band formed in Ellensburg, Washington, in 1984 by vocalist Mark Lanegan, guitarist Gary Lee Conner, bassist Van Conner, and drummer Mark Pickerel. Pickerel was replaced by Barrett Martin in 1991. Screaming Trees became known as one of the pioneers of grunge along with Melvins, Mudhoney, U-Men, Skin Yard, Soundgarden, Green River, Malfunkshun, among others. Although widely associated with grunge, the band's sound incorporated hard rock and psychedelic elements.
James Yoshinobu Iha is an American rock musician. He is best known as a guitarist and co-founder of the alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins. He was a member until the initial breakup in 2000. Among his musical projects of recent years, Iha has been a permanent fixture of A Perfect Circle. He was most recently a member of Tinted Windows, a 1960s/1970s inspired group with members of Cheap Trick, Fountains of Wayne, and Hanson. He rejoined the Smashing Pumpkins in 2018.
Kai Michael Hansen is a German musician who is the founder, lead guitarist and vocalist of power metal band Gamma Ray. He is also one of the co-founders of another power metal band Helloween, which he rejoined in 2016. He is a prominent figure in power metal and has sold millions of albums worldwide. He is regarded as "the godfather of power metal", having founded two seminal bands in the genre. In 2011, he joined the band Unisonic featuring former Helloween vocalist Michael Kiske. Hansen and Kiske reunited with Helloween in 2017 for a world tour with all current members, celebrating the 30-year anniversary of release of the albums Keeper of the Seven Keys Parts I and II.
The Hamburger Schule is a music movement current in Germany during the 1980s and early 1990s. With some active bands and artists it is still present. It took up traditions of Neue Deutsche Welle and combined them with elements of indie rock, punk, grunge, experimental pop, and intellectual lyrics. It established new grounds for the use of German language in pop music.
John Michael Thomas is an American rock singer, best known as one of the lead vocalists of Jefferson Starship and Starship.
Michael Kiske is a German singer and co-lead vocalist for the power metal band Helloween. Kiske has released four solo albums, two albums with the hard rock band Unisonic, has participated on various metal and rock related projects, such as Avantasia, Place Vendome and Kiske/Somerville and has also performed with numerous bands as a guest vocalist.
Joe Lynn Turner is an American singer known for his work in the hard rock bands Rainbow, Yngwie Malmsteen and Deep Purple.
Kettcar is an indie rock music band based in Hamburg, Germany. The band has released five studio albums so far. The band released their fourth album, Zwischen den Runden, in 2012. Their fifth album, Ich vs. Wir, was released in October 2017. The band name is derived from the Kettcar, a riding toy produced by Kettler since 1962.
Andreas "Andi" Deris is a German singer, best known as co-lead vocalist of the power metal band Helloween, and co-founder and former lead singer of the metal band Pink Cream 69.
Victor "Vic" Ruggiero, is a musician, songwriter and producer from New York City who has played in reggae, blues, ska and rocksteady bands since the early 1990s, including The Slackers, Stubborn All-Stars, SKAndalous All Stars, Crazy Baldhead and The Silencers. He has also performed with punk rock band Rancid, both live and in the studio. He has released four solo acoustic albums and continues to tour and record worldwide. Ruggiero is known primarily as a singer and organist, although he also plays piano, bass, banjo, cigar box guitar, guitar, harmonica and percussion.
Tomte is an indie band from Hamburg, Germany. Their lyrics are almost completely in German and their sound could be described as guitar pop with some punk influences. The group are a part of the “Hamburger Schule” on the basis of the band Tocotronic's influence on their work. Singer and guitarist Thees Uhlmann even worked as a roadie for Tocotronic's "K.O.O.K."-Tour and wrote the book "Wir Könnten Freunde Werden..." about it.
The Brooklyn Dreams were an American singing group of the late 1970s, mixing R&B harmonies with contemporary dance/disco music and best known for a number of collaborations with singer Donna Summer. The band consisted of Joe "Bean" Esposito, Eddie Hokenson and Bruce Sudano. Esposito provided lead vocals for the band and played guitar, while Sudano played keyboards and Hokenson played drums and occasionally sang lead vocals.
Bruce Charles Sudano is an American singer-songwriter, noted for creating songs for artists such as Michael Jackson, Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire and his late wife, the Grammy Award-winning singer Donna Summer. Sudano is the founder of indie record label, Purple Heart Recording Company.
Fernando Jose Perdomo is an American musician best known for his work as a producer and session bassist and guitarist. He is best known as one of the guitarists in the movie Echo in the Canyon, where he backed up Jakob Dylan, Fiona Apple, Beck, Norah Jones, Regina Spektor, Brian Wilson, and Cat Power.
Thees Uhlmann is a German musician and author. He is a founding member of the indie-pop band Tomte and also writes for the magazines Intro, Visions, Spex and Musikexpress.
Grand Hotel van Cleef is an independent record label headquartered in Hamburg, Germany.
Alexander Uhlmann better known as Alex Uhlmann, is a singer-songwriter and guitarist, who has been the lead vocalist of the band Planet Funk since 2010. Parallel to working with Planet Funk, Alex started his career as a solo artist in 2017 and has also been working with DJ David Morales. Other than that Alex owns a Pizzeria in Berlin (Futura) and has been the musical Director of the Voice of Italy since 2019.
#2 is the second solo record from German singer-songwriter Thees Uhlmann released on Uhlmann's own Grand Hotel van Cleef Records. The album was produced by Tobian Kuhn. Of the album's production, Uhlmann stated that he often would write the first lyrics of a song and wait for Kuhn's reaction. Once satisfied, they would continue the rest of the piece. The album was a critical and commercial success in Uhlmann's native Germany, reaching #2 on the German Albums Chart.
Thees Uhlmann is the eponymous debut record for former Tomte frontman Thees Uhlmann released through Uhlmann's own Grand Hotel van Cleef label on August 26, 2011. The record was commercially well-received, charting within the Top 5 in Germany and the Top 20 in Austria. The album did not chart in Switzerland. The album consists mostly of sentimental narratives composed on an acoustic guitar. The music was influenced by American rock-singer Bruce Springsteen. German rapper Casper features on & Jay-Z singt uns ein Lied and received credit for writing his own verse. Otherwise, all lyrics, which were written by Uhlmann, describe a search for stability and a place to call home. After the album's release, Uhlmann, a native of Hemmoor, left Berlin and moved back to a more rural environment. This frustration is highlighted throughout the record.
"Zum Laichen und Sterben ziehen die Lachse den Fluss hinauf" (eng: To Mate and Die the Salmons Swim Upstream) is the debut single from German singer-songwriter Thees Uhlmann released in the summer of 2011. After Uhlmann's band Tomte went on hiatus, Uhlmann began work on material, working with Tobias Kuhn on what would become his eponymous solo album.
