It was with hard-rocking riffs, intelligent arrangements, and fresh, innovative solos that Andreas Schmid-Martelle (born 1961 in Ludwigshafen, Germany), as guitarist of the Jule Neigel Band first gained attention of rock fans. From 1987 to 2000 Martelle has also functioned as co-author, arranger und producer. The band has sold over 2 million discs.
Already at the age of seven, Martelle discovered his great love of music . In a Karl Orff-style orchestra he began to collect his first experiences primarily on metallophon, xylophone and other various percussion instruments. Apart from that, he was a member in a local accordion orchestra (they have things like this in Germany) for ten years.
It was at the age of 13 that he was first infected by the music of the likes of Status Quo, Johnny Winter, ZZ Top and Rory Gallagher. After these initial experiences, life without this type of music became unthinkable. The logical consequence was the formation of his first Rock'n'Roll band in 1975.
In 1977 Martelle moved a bit in the direction of Jazz-Rock. The band was called "Wide Spectrum," and along with the songs of Billy Cobham and King Crimson were the first self-composed pieces.
From 1979-1982, another sound was sought out. "Hard & Heavy" was the ticket! One of Martelle's bandmates from this time, Achim Degen, was able to lay the foundation for the band "Six Was Nine" (for him also the start of a very successful career).
At the same time (1979), the band "Hopp'n Ex Group" was formed. Originally conceived as a ZZ Top cover band, this group developed, especially with arrival of Jule Neigel in 1983, into an ambitious band playing original material.
In 1987 Andreas Schmid-Martelle, Axel Schwarz and Jule Neigel formed the "Jule Neigel Band." Six albums have been released to date, more than two million copies sold.
In 1991 Andreas Schmid-Martelle created the parallel project "ASM & Friends." The band's direction entailed primarily Blues, R'n'B and Soul. The very first gig in conjunction with the "Stevie Ray Vaughan Memorial Concert" in Mannheim was a great success.
A logical consequence of all this hard work was the setting-up of his own ultra-modern hard-disk recording studio in Frankfurt am Main in 1992. Three years later on Peter Maffay's label Red Rooster the CD "ASM & Friends – Brand New Start" was released.
Since 1996 Martelle has been working as producer and consultant along with all his other activities. He has worked alongside pop artist Patrick Michel and Carolina Escolano, an extremely talented singer of Spanish heritage who resides in Pforzheim, Germany. Right now, Martelle is working with one of Germany's best blues singers, Jessica Born.
