Cover of new single "Mrs. God"
First of all for the people that dont know this already or people that are new to this page, Just like you and the rest of the people that have signed up to this page I am a long time fan of the music helloween has made throughout the years. Who am I? My name is Wayne, I play drums in a band called Phoenix Reign which you can check out here on myspace www.myspace.com/phoenixreign, or at our official website www.phoenixreign.com. Im also working with a production company called By the blood of the rose which also can be seen here on myspace www.myspace.com/bythebloodoftherose or at its official site www.thegreatestband.com .What By the blood of the rose does is help out bands in need. Wheather it be advertising, websites, logos, recording, live video, etc. You name it we can get it done for you. Were not just limited to helping bands either we offer our services for anyone thats interested. So i would definetly check the sites out for more info. Were looking for bands to be on an up and coming compilation cd so if anyone is interested please send me a email. So with all of that said I hope you enjoy this tribute to my favorite band HELLOWEEN! Please leave comments, stories or anything else you would like. you can reach me at [email protected]
Helloween's history dates back to 1979 when two guitarists named Kai Hansen and Piet Sielck both were in a band called "GENTRY" and through different lineup changes through the years they named their band "IRONFIST" which then featured Ingo Schwichtenberg on drums and Markus Grosskoph on bass. Piet later left for other reasons and became a sound engineer. Then came in Michael Weikath who left his band "POWERFOOL" for Kai's band. They then named the band "HELLOWEEN".......
1984: "HELLOWEEN" then recorded 2 songs for a NOISE compliation record called "Death Metal".
1985 came around and Helloween then recorded their first album simply titled Helloween. It had 5 tracks, and during that same year they released their first full length release titled Walls Of Jericho. However Kai found it difficult to sing and play at the same time, so after the tour they searched for a new vocalist.
1986-1987: The band had considered former Tyran Pace vocalist Ralf Scheepers however they ended up finding a terriffic vocalist from a local band called "ILL PROPHECY", named Michael Kiske. the band recorded their landmark release Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part 1. The album gave them worldwide success and did well in the United States while charting well in other countries as well as several magazines giving it praise.
1988: The band then took advantage of their now established fan base and recorded their most known album...Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part II. After the European tour for the Keeper 2 album, Kai Hansen left in December of 1988 and was replaced by Roland Grapow, who finished the rest of the Keeper 2 tour with the band.
In 1989, during the Headbanger's Ball Tour, Helloween released a live album called Live In The UK (for Europe)/"Keepers Live" (Japan), and I Want Out Live (USA).
1990-1991: After many rumors of the band breaking up in 1991, they release Pink Bubbles Go Ape. Pink Bubbles was met with harsh criticism from the media and fans alike, and tensions started growing between all of the bandmembers.
1993: Helloween then released what some call their worst album ever...Chameleon. Chameleon was met with even harsher criticism than Pink Bubbles Go Ape and tensions within the band grew deeper and deeper. Ingo fell ill during this period and was replaced on the tour by a man named Richie Abdel Nabi...
1994: In 1994 Helloween got a new Vocalist by the name of "Andi Deris" who came from one of Weiki's favorite bands "PINK CREAM 69". Uli Kusch (formerly of GAMMA RAY) took up drums. Master Of The Rings was released to great reviews and for the first time since the Keeper era the band had been getting along and had the same musicial direction in mind.
1996: 1996 came around and another great release capitalizing on the success of "Master Of The Rings" was released in the form of the epic The Time Of The Oath. Tragedy also struck....Ingo Schwichtenberg their former drummer, jumped in front of a train to commit suicide.... Also a double Live album called High Live was released!!!! Former singer Michael Kiske released his first solo album titled Instant Clarity and recieved praise from magazines everywhere.
1997: Roland Grapow released his first ever solo album called The Four Seasons of Life. Andi Deris also released his first solo album come called Come In From The Rain.
1998: A boxed set called the The Pumpkin Box was released and contained the best material from 1985-1993. And Helloween's most recent album of original material was released in March and titled Better Than Raw.
1999: Roland Grapow began the year off with his newest solo release Kaleidoscope. Markus Grosskopf not too soon after released his side project titled Shockmachine. Uli Kusch himself produced and released his Catch The Rainbow Rainbow tribute album which featured the best of the band Rainbow. The band then recorded an album of their favorite 60's, 70's and 80's covers in the form of Metal Jukebox. Andi Deris released his second solo album titled Done With Mirrors
2000: The band finished the recording of The Dark Ride and it was released October 30th 2000 in Europe and a few weeks before in Japan!! A pretty successful tour went on for the Dark Ride which was held up shortly due to Uli injuring his elbow. After the last show of the tour however, the band parted ways with Roland Grapow and Uli Kusch. The band then released a best of collection called Treasurechest.
2001/2002/2003: The band announces Mark Cross, former Metalium drummer as their replacement for Uli Kusch which was shortlived as Mark caught mononucleosis and was then replaced with Stefan Schwarzmann. Sascha Gerstner formerly of Freedom Call was called in to replace Roland Grapow. The band has just released their newest album entitled Rabbit Don't Come Easy which has charted in many countries around the world and has been critically acclaimed!
