About Me
It was back in 1989 when Capital Hell's mastermind, Marc Heppener, founded his first band: Shizophrenia Simplex was born. With the support of several friends, Marc was able to showcase his love of early Goth Rock tunes. It was a classic line up of vox, guitars, and drums. The first songs were quickly recorded but the band disappeared as quickly as it was born.
For the first time after the split of Shizophrenia Simplex, Marc began experimenting with his newly bought synthesizer. He was inspired by great artists such as The Klinik, Psyche, The Neon Judgment and Click Click. During this time Marc composed his first pure electronic tracks. In 1990, Marc befriended Andreas Schoedewind who was also steadily composing songs with his equipment. Together they formed Capital Hell, the name Marc had already picked for his first solo project, as a dynamic duo.
Within a short amount of time Marc and Andreas released their first two official Capital Hell-demo tapes. "Capital Hell" was put out in 1991 and in 1992 the greatly improved "Geometric Circle" followed. The latter contained several rough mixes of Capital Hell-songs that were later re-recorded and re-released on their first cd album.
In 1992 Capital Hell played their first concert. They played as special support for the EBM-duo Page 12 in a local club. Due to good demo tape sales and some nice articles in the local press, Capital Hell was offered to be the support for the French cult-electronic-erotique band Die Form at the legendary eXX in Moers.
Shortly thereafter, Marc and Andreas argued about their different visions concerning Capital Hell's future, which led to another split. Again, Capital Hell was put on hold. In September of 1994, Marc met guitar player Thomas Ehmann at a Secret Discovery concert in the Far Out-club in Emmerich, Germany. Thomas had already played in several punk and hardcore bands. Marc's long time dream of combining American Goth-elements with old school electronics finally seemed to be coming true.
Thomas Thyssen , another good friend of Marc's, had followed Capital Hell's history with great interest and he learned about the reunion of the band. Marc soon offered Thomas a place in Capital Hell and asked him for further support. Thomas took the place behind the keyboards, wrote lyrics and took care of the management as well. In this trio lineup the next Capital Hell-demo tape "Morbit" was recorded. Thanks to that demo, Alfred Kaenders of Celtic Circle Productions showed interest and Capital Hell was signed to a contract. The future would show that this relationship was not necessarily the best.
In January 1996 the three-piece played their first warm up gig as support for the Berlin based electro wave band The Dust of Basement. Soon thereafter their first compilation appearance "Moonchild" (which is not a Fields of the Nephilim cover!) occurred when participating on "The Torturer" compilation was put out by the s/t goth fanzine.
A couple of weeks later Séba Dolimont of the Belgian Side Line magazine contacted Capital Hell's HQ. He wanted to use the song "Leaving Love" for his new compilation series "Gothic Enigma". In addition to that Joerg Bartscher-Kleudgen from The House of Usher and then editor-in-chief of the German Gothic Grimoire-magazine, did an in depth-interview with the band and even offered them a spot on the magazine's compilation. Everyone agreed on using the heavily US goth inspired "Pray" on this sampler.
Together with Peter Jutz (Page 12) Capital Hell recorded their first maxi cd "Vow of Tension" at Yellow Edge Studios in Krefeld, Germany. This maxi was a special limited edition of 1000 copies. It contained exclusive material, which was not put on the first album. The very electronic 12" mixes of "Moonchild" and "No Shame" were frequently seen on DJ setlists. "No Shame" is even nowadays still being played at the biggest Berlin-events between IAMX and All Gone Dead. Meanwhile, the acoustic version of "Rabella" and the exclusive "Your Beauty" were headed into more of the goth direction.
At Pop.Komm 1996 in Cologne, "My God" was released on the Celtic Circle Sampler IV. It gained a lot of interest from the well known Zillo magazine. Zillo editor Sven Freuen then did an interview with the band, and even offered the band to jump ship onto his new label Nightshade Productions since he knew about the problems between the band and its label. A couple of months later "My God" was put onto the first ever "Zillo Club Hits" sampler. It made that very song the most popular Capital Hell track ever.
The official debut album "Stories of Passion & Seriousness" was released several weeks later. Its release party was held on May 31st in 1997 at the eXX in Moers. Capital Hell's special support act for the evening were their friends of In Mitra Medusa Inri.
Sadly enough Capital Hell's story ended in early 1998. Although the band played a lot of very successful concerts (i.e. E-dry in Geldern, downtown in Voerde, Pop Komm Festival in Rhenania, Cologne) it was mainly due to their label's extremely unprofessional approach that the band chose to split up.
Marc Heppener recently collaborated with well-known electronic wizard Marvin Lee Gates and contributed his vocals to the pumping anthem "Chemical Kiss". Rumor has it that his new project AmokcallsComa will officially release its first tracks in the not so distant future. Earwitnesses state that the sound seems to be the logical evolution of Marc's old Capital Hell stomping grounds.
After the band split, Thomas Ehmann went back to his roots and has played with several rock bands. Thomas Thyssen is the only one who remained a vivid and active part of the goth scene up to this day. He is still working as a music journalist, DJ, and concert promoter.
Official releases:
1991 "Capital Hell"
(Debut tape - C90, self distribution/sold out!)
1992 "Geometric Circle"
(C90, self distribution/sold out!)
1995 "Morbit"
(C90, Amoebenklang Distribution/sold out!)
1996 "A Fading Warrior's Dream"
(C46, promo tape/out of stock!)
1997 "Vow Of Tension"
(Maxi-CD, ltd. to 1000 copies, Celtic Circle Productions/EFA)
1997 "Stories Of Passion & Seriousness"
(CD, Celtic Circle Productions/EFA)
1998 "Vow Of Tension"
(CD-repressing, Khazad Dum/SPV)
1998 "Stories Of Passion & Seriousness"
(CD-repressing, Khazad Dum/SPV)
Compilation appearances:
"Moonchild (Demo Version)"
The Torturer Compilation Vol. IV (No Control Torture)
"Leaving Love"
Gothic Enigma Vol. I (Side-Line/Discordia)
"Pray"
The Gothic Grimoire 02/96 (Celtic Circle Productions/EFA)
"My God"
Celtic Circle Sampler IV (Celtic Circle Productions/EFA)
"My God"
Zillo Club Hits I (Zillo Tontraeger/EFA)
"Moonchild (Extended Version)"
Touched By The Hand Of Goth III (Euro Media/SPV)
"Angel"
Celtic Circle Sampler V (Promo) (Celtic Circle Productions/EFA)
"No Shame (Album Version)"
RAW / Radio Rock & Wave (Credo/Nova Tekk)
"Tiere"
Wellenreiter in Schwarz IV (Credo/Nova Tekk)
Live shows with:
Die Form, Malochia, The House Of Usher, The Escape, Apoptygma Berzerk, In Mitra Medusa Inri, The Dust Of Basement, Page 12, Pierrepoint, Inertia, Putrefy Factor 7, Panic On The Titanic, Absent Minded, Ars Moriendi, Ionic Vision and many more...
This is a myspace-fansite devoted to Capital Hell.
