A ROCK 'N' ROLL ROLLERCOASTER RIDE.

Alligator Farm is my new musical home.
My own Rock 'n' Roll toy land, where I can do what I do best: Writing, recording and performing music.

As a result, I'm very proud to present the upcoming Alligator Farm album soon, which will feature a few big names of Rock 'n' Roll. Artists, whose talent, and sometimes craziness, made this record truly a Rock 'n' Roll rollercoaster ride.

Wait, aren't you the Crack'n Up's singer... um, I mean, the Kottak bass player?
Yes...
When I was 12 years old, I was very inspired by the Scorpions, Mr.Big, Bon Jovi and later early Green Day (to name only a few) and founded my own rock band with class mates, which later became Crack'n Up's.

Along the way, we had made quite a few achievements, as we recorded 5 CDs, won several performing- and radio- competitions, were guests on big festivals (e.g. 3 times Deichbrand), played every hole in Germany, the good ones too, opened up for Pur and Toto, played an aftershow party for Motörhead, had a headlining tour through Japan (Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto) and turned down 3 labels that wanted to work with us, which, in our opinion, were no good for us... (oh, and of course got turned down by a lot more than that...).

We ended up having people from all around the world asking us to play in their cities, and we probably would have...

While all of the above reads pretty good, and we did quite well as an independent band, in the end, it didn't work out. We didn't have our big break. Blame it on the business, blame it on us... you know what? Who cares...?!
BUT... if I learned only one thing from my time in this idiot parade, it is the following:

Do it all by yourself or it won't ever be done ... Don't just sit there and talk about it, do it!

So, in the meantime, from the Crack'n Up's disappearance until now, I wrote a LOT of songs and upgraded my own little studio, plus my own studio skills, for being free and even more independent as an artist. Meanwhile I started to arrange and record my new album, just without this monkey on my back, because from now on the only limitation I had to face was myself. That's one of the advantages of arranging an album by yourself, although I never wanted it that way... or maybe that's a disadvantage?...hmm... nevermind!

Let me just say that up to this point, I always tried to build up a band with 3 to 4 people with the same input. Actually I’m not a big fan of "one man bands".

Around this time, I got a call from my long year, always touring, friend James Kottak.
He invited me to be the new Kottak bass player and to join them on their Europe tour with Edguy. To give you a picture: You get called by one of your idols in Rock 'n' Roll, and he asks you to join his band and go on tour! wow... crazy shit... why not!!!

Before I could blink twice, we were on a tour bus and played sold out shows in Sweden, Germany, Czech Republic, Italy, Switzerland, France and Spain. That was in September and October of 2011 and it honestly reminded me of who I actually am, and what I want and always wanted to do...

The reason why I created this website is to share the things I love to do: writing, recording, performing and making music videos. Hopefully someone will find my music as inspiring as I have been inspired by my music idols.  As cheesy as it sounds, it is that simple.

Crack'n Up's is history and I'm not quite sure yet where this is going, but it feels right and honestly, I don't worry too much about it. It's about doing something you love, it's about having fun and being creative. And you are all invited to join me on this trip.

The upcoming Alligator Farm album is not necessarily my one man band album though, but will be featuring quite some artists I admire, such as James Kottak (Scorpions), Felix Bohnke (Edguy) or Francis Ruiz (40 Cycle Hum, Kottak). (More T.B.A).

It's a Rock 'n' Roll rollercoaster ride.
I'm very proud of the result so far and can't wait for you to hear it!

Thanks a lot for reading!  ROCK 'N' ROLL FOREVER!