We're starting a band – and you're on bass!

Said a friend of mine one day (must have been around the end of the 1960s), and we piled into his DKW-Junior, headed off to the great metropolis (the county capital), and I bought myself an electric bass ( a Framus semi-acoustic that I paid 390.- for), which I'm sorry to say I no longer have.

That's how it started. Later, I played in a series of garage bands on a Höfner (unfortunately, the Höfner and I also parted company). We tried our hands at Hendrix, Gallagher and Cream; of course, we wrote stuff ourselves as well.
At the same time, a youth choir was founded and we played for "Rhythmical Mass" in Catholic churches. During this time I came across the electric bass I still own, and occasionally play (a Fender Precision).

For the next few years, I played dance music in bands with names like "THE SPEEDYS " or "BLACK JACKS".

I suppose it was around '73 that I bought my first double-bass (it was a wreck, but I only wanted it to decorate my room). Some time or other, I got some money together and managed to get it repaired. During this time, I decided I had to do something about my career (dropped out of Industrial Management studies, did furniture restoration for a few years, kind of made it as a programmer).

So there I was sitting round in a computer centre, though what I really wanted was to work with people. To make up for it, I sometimes worked as a waiter in a restaurant, where I first encountered – and learned to appreciate - traditional Bavarian music. That was the second time that someone came up to me and said "You've played bass – now try double-bass."

That someone was Richard. With enormous patience (on his part) we learnt more and more pieces, extending our repertoire with music that was completely new to me. We did our first gigs in Munich's now-legendary small cabaret clubs (Robinson, MUH, Sendlinger Kulturschmiede etc.)

1983 was the first time I'd ever been in a studio – terrified out of my wits. And in 1988 I learnt to read music, in the Chaots' Orchestra at Inning Music School.