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Originally a classically trained clarinet player I discovered punk when I heard the Ramones Blitzkrieg Bop played on the John Peel show.
In 1979 an old school friend Roger ’Trotwood’ Nowell asked me to join a band as saxophone player. The guitarist in the band was one Stan Greenwood. Together we evolved into ’the Elements’ who after several changes of vocalists and drummer became the Skeletal Family. It was at this time that I adopted the name Karlheinz after the german composer Karlheinz Stockhausen. I left the Skeletal Family fairly early on in their career which was just as well as I had developed chronic stage fright. I remained on good terms with the band and contributed to several recording sessions. I did dabble in Synth Pop and a bit of dance but nothing really came of this and for 15 years or so I had nothing to do with any music scene whatsoever.
In 2002 Roger and Stan had the idea for a one off Skels reunion show and I was really pleased when they asked me to take part. Standing back stage at the Cockpit in Leeds I suddenly realised that my stage fright had disappeared. At last I could enjoy performing on stage.
The reaction to the reunion was such that we decided to carry on, recruiting new vocalist Claire along the way and have played shows all over Europe and the Drop Dead festival in New York.
Working on our 2005 album Sakura I rediscovered my love of composing and songwriting. Thats why I have set up my own MySpace. I like to think I work across a variety of styles and have a couple of projects that I would like to do in 2008 collaborating with some really special friends I’ve made and perhaps even some I’ve yet to meet.
I firmly believe that the lyrics to a song are as important as the music and I love to twist the meaning of the English language.
I would dearly love to be able to write german well enough to write lyrics that were even half as good as those by Heinrich Heine below taken from Dichterliebe, music by Schumann
Ich will meine Seele tauchen
In den Kelch der Lilie hinein,
Die Lilie soll klingend hauchen
Ein Lied von der Liebsten mein.
Das Lied soll schauern und beben
Wie der Kuss von ihrem Mund’,
Den sie mir einst gegeben
In wunderbar süsser Stund’!
Sorry I’m not going to translate. If you need an excuse to learn german this is it. Then listen to Dichterliebe sung by a good tenor voice. If you fail to be moved by this I’m afraid there’e little hope for you. ( LOL )
And last but not least I’d like to thank two very special friends Sara Vanacci and Evangeline Cooper who although they may not know it have helped in no small way to give me a measure of self belief.
Best wishes
Karlheinz
I edited my profile with Thomas Myspace Editor V4.4 (www.strikefile.com/myspace)
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