Musical Biography
1964 Born in Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt
1971-74 Flute lessons with Miss Siegmann 1975-77 School choir Gottlieb-Daimler-High School
1982-84 RAPPELKISTE
1984-85 Several short lasting band projects
1969/70 Early musical education
1973-76 Accordion lessons at Mrs Kärcher
1975-76 Classic guitar lessons at Mrs Ehrle
1976-79 Youth orchestra Mandolinen- und Gitarrenclub
Wanderfreunde Fellbach
1978-80 Eventual guitar lessons by a theology student, Mr
1981-82 First band experiences as guitar player with
unolds chool mates
1987-90 JOCHEN CLAUSER SEXTETT
1988-91 PAMBAND
1996 CD-Recording with Broken Toy, the band split
Civil service, studies
1992-96 BROKEN TOY
afterwards
Move to Schweinfurt
1998-2003 HEARTBEAT
1998-2003 LAGER 8
2000-2003 Regular guest musician at the Workers’ Unions
Song Group Schweinfurt
Preliminar termination of all activities due to professional
reasons
2005 Studio musician with the Clear Heart Brothers, CD
production
2005-07 Recording of the song compilation “All by myself”
in my basement
Again a creative break
2009 Production of the first „real“ album “Way of life” at
Recording Studio Hirschfeld
2009 – PLATFORM NO 6
2011 – PAMBAND 2.0
2016-2019 Erratics
2016 – SCHNOED & THE HIGH FIELD BAND
2016 Recording of the album “SEVEN : THIRTY” with
the High Field Band
2018-2020 Recording of the Album „Somehow Incomplete“
with the High Field Band, finally released in 2021
BANDS
RAPPELKISTE
(1982-84)
Typical College Band, we were all 16 or 17 years old. Mixed
set list with rock’n’roll covers and partly “germanized”
versions of rock classics plus some own songs. The band
played some 10 gigs in those 2 years. Different musical
preferences created some tension in the band, and then
some of us were just ready with school and had to leave.
Finally the band split after a legendary gig at the youth
sports festival in Stuttgart.
Dirk Hülser (synth, tp, voc), Holger Hethey (b), Rainer
Stadelmann (dr), Michael Bosch (gui),
Stefan Hiss (voc), Schnoed (gui)
JOCHEN CLAUSER SEXTETT
(1987-1990)
Founded by three students during learning sessions. Over
time it developed into a hobby band without serious
ambitions or even gigs. Nevertheless a good playground for
me to test own songs and learn how to keep a band
together. 1990 I left in order to concentrate on PAM. The
band ceased to exist some time later after some more
fluctuation. The ones I remember playing with the band at
least for a while:
Jochen Clauser (gui, voc), Frank-Michael Hahn (gui), Waldo
Gronbach (key), Sylvie (key),
Knut Wuchtig (b), Müller (b), Frank Stocker (sax), Olli
Deinert (dr), Schnoed (gui, voc)
PAMBAND
(1988-1991)
For sure the band that influenced me the most. Complete
Bio and lots of information on www.pamband.de
The band consequently concentrated on own songs, in the
beginning all written by Chris Frank, and over time I could
bring in some of mine as well. Or better: some of my
fragments developed into songs with Chris’ and the bands’
support and help. „Way of life“ is one of them, and „Free
yourself“ as well. We had gigs around Stuttgart, took part in
competitions and were good on our way. But somehow it
wasn’t yet enough, and we disagreed about the next steps
to take. Some wanted to cover songs in order to get more
gigs, and the typical and annoying disputes took place.
Mastermind Chris had enough and founded another band
project. Some months later he left for Hamburg, and PAM
became…
(1992-1996)
Now I was the front man, whether I wanted or not. In
principle I wanted, and I started to write more songs in order
to avoid becoming just another cover band. In the end the
concept for the set list was to have three equal portions, one
being my own songs, the second one some of Chris’ ones
(he allowed us to do so), and the third one a hand full of
covers which fitted to our setup with two saxophones.
Selected material, not the typical stuff which all cover bands
use to play. Robert Cray, Eurythmics, Gary Moore, the
Doobies. From time to time we had a gig, but not more than
one or two per year. Finally I tried to switch to german and
translated some of my songs, even though English is so
much easier to sing, and we fired the keyboarder. As our
last activity we recorded a CD with six songs of mine, two
from Chris which I translated as well, a song by Counting
Crows for which I wrote a german text that I still like today,
plus a sort of fragment that evolved during the recording
session and which I, much later, translated into English then
(“Hope or desperation”). We produced 10 copies of the CD
and took ‘em home with us. Then we parted, and three out
of the five left Stuttgart.
Musicians with PAM and TOY: Lothar Niebert (key), Anja
Niebert (voc), Külz (b), Noop (b),
Müller (b), Christoph Stummer (dr), Mr Beasly (sax, gui,
voc), Frank Stocker (sax, voc), Wenke Walz (sax, voc), Jo
Kieferle (key), Chris Frank (voc) und Schnoed (gui, voc).
HEARTBEAT
(1998-2003)
Having moved to Schweinfurt due to professional reasons, I
joined a duo which played entertainment music at all kind of
events. A very instructive period with respect to harmony
vocals, rehearsal discipline, singing while bass playing,
event organisation and so on. I owe my two mates quite
much, and they were patient with me. The extension with a
third man, however, offered them much more possibilities to
enhance their set list and their range of styles. In the end
the musical portfolio contained Country, Rock, Oldies,
Singalongs and a hand full of dance numbers. We played
some 5 or 6 gigs per year, more was just not possible
besides job and family, and 2003 I quit after all with very
mixed feelings. We never lost contact since then, met for
sessions and played a hand full of events together just for
fun, and since 2016 Chris O is playing the drums with the
High Field Band.
Chris Ortloff (dr, voc), Inge Ortloff (key, b, voc), Schnoed
LAGER 8 / ERRATICS
LAGER 8 (1998-2003)
ERRATICS (2016 – 2019)
Right after having moved to Schweinfurt I met two guys who
were very much into blues rock and especially ZZ Top, and
they used to sit together in their free time, trying to train
themselves to play the guitar. They were looking for
somebody to teach them all those famous riffs and licks: La
Grange, Dust my broom, Sharp dressed man, Fool for your
stockings, I thank you, Tush and so on. We met several
times and made friends. Over time, a band evolved out of
these sessions, without public ambitions, just for fun and for
the sake of playin’ together. Some more cover songs were
added to the program, by Bad Company and Otis Redding,
Westernhagen, Hootie&the Blowfish and so on. But also
here I tore the rip cord in 2003 for professional reasons
again, even though I jumped in as session musician from
time to time later on, even on drums, and I played two gigs
with the boys of which one even found its way into bavarian
television. Meanwhile and after quite some fluctuations
around the two founders, they call themselves the
ERRATICS. They asked me to join them for a farewell
concert for their old drummer, and I re-joined for three years
in 2016. They’re doin’ really good, and it’s fun to play with
‘em, but some differences about the development of the
band forced me to step out again in late 2019.
In the early days the band consisted of Jürgen Reeg (voc,
gui), Udo Fleischmann (b, gui), Heiko Sandmann (dr) and
myself (gui, voc), later then Jürgen (voc, harp), Udo (b),
Felix Kemmer (gui), Patrick Fleischer (dr). And sometimes
me (gui, voc).
DGB SONGGRUPPE
(2000-2003)
A group of unionists, looking for combattants and fellows for
the annual charity concert for the women’s house in
Schweinfurt. I could choose some songs to feature at the
gig, and I played bass or guitar in some others. The set list
contained roughly 30 songs, and there were two or three
more special guests besides me. The band setup used to
change from song to song, most of the members were multi
instrumentalists. All in all I played four of these concerts and
featured quite some rare songs which I wouldn’t have dared
to play with any other band, such as “Der Traum ist aus” by
the legendary german political rock band Ton Steine
Scherben, but also songs by Stefan Stoppok, Big Country or
David Lindley. Plus the fastest ever recorded version of
Eurythmics’ “When tomorrow comes”. Or Kraftwerks “Model”
with my 11 years old daughter Isi on keyboards. Great
moments with great people and musicians.
With me played in these years Sonja Stöcklein (gui, dr, voc),
Ossi Mitschke (dr, perc), Peter Schüllermann (b, sax, gui,
voc), Michael Dietzel (gui, harp, dr, voc), Mickey Bergmann
(b, voc), Möff Streit (voc), Thomas “Limbi” Limbach (gui).
And me of course (gui, b, voc)
PLATFORM NUMBER SIX
(2009-today)
During the economic downturn in 2009, the atmosphere in
the company I work in was depressed and negative, but a
colleague of mine had an idea. An event from employees for
employees. He started to look for artists of all kind in our
workforce, actors, singers, dancers, bands, and set up a
program for the evening. And he founded a band, initially as
a Blues Brothers copy act. During the rehearsals the
musicians got appetite for more, and the story began. Seven
years later, Platform No 6 is in principle still a company
band, but we’re also playing at charity events outside SKF.
The fluctuation of the early days has ended, we’ve enlarged
our set list to more than 30 songs, amongst them a small
hand full of my own ones, and it goes on. The band played
in the factories of Luechow and Muehlheim, in Bamberg, in
Gothenburg/Sweden, in Steyr, in Bodenmais and even in
Wuerzburg state prison. Most important to us is our common
mission, the joy and fun of playing music together. We’re
working hard on the quality of our performance, but we’re
not aiming to compete with professional cover bands.
Musicians over the years: Torsten Nordgren (tp), Christiane
Ilgenfritz (voc, sax), Gesine Eichhorn (voc), Nicole Egert
(voc), Uwe Engelbrecht (voc, perc), Manfred Glahé (dr),
Claudia Rossbach (voc), Kerstin Korbacher (sax), Stefanie
Heck (sax), Albrecht Nestle (tp), Toni Stürzenberger (tb,
harp, acc, voc), Dirk Weippert (key, voc, gui), Nicole Lieb
(voc, perc, fl),
Christian Daller (gui, mand, sax, voc, b), Jürgen Bruhn (b,
ban), Kilian Ungemach (sax) and myself (gui, voc, b).
(2011-today)
The best infos on this one you’ll find again on
Chris F and myself found each other again on StayFriends,
more by accident and some 18 or 19 years after we once
parted. Chris visited me in Schwienfurt, and we started to
think a reunion with just five of us. No female vocalists, no
horns. In autumn 2011 five guys in the middle of the 40s met
for a weekend workshop, and since then we’re doing this
twice a year. We’re not playing the old songs, but new
material written by either Chris or myself, we’re doing audio
and video recordings and issue ‘em on youtube. Not aiming
for professional quality of course, none of us has enough
time for doing so. We’re all fathers, and we’re all hard
workers in our respective jobs. Nevertheless these
workshops are intensive and productive sessions, focussing
on music and nothing else. Far away from five buddies
having a fun weekend…we know each other well and
respect us deeply, and we’re working on our songs with
energy and passion. We know we won’t be able to do live
gigs in this constellation being spread all over Germany
from Hamburg to Freiburg, even if we did it twice at 50st
birthdays in 2014 and 2019. However, to me this band is the
ideal formation to test my songs and to work on fragments.
Several of my last songs were finished during these
sessions, were recorded as samples for the other bands
with which I intend to play the songs later on, or even kept
on videos…
Chris Frank (gui, voc), Lothar Niebert (key), Christoph
Stummer (dr), Norbert Jansen (b), schnoed (gui, voc).
THE HIGH FIELD BAND
(*2015)
“My” band. It took so long until I dared to give it one more try
to found a band focusing on my own songs. It started at the
new year’s event of the green party, where my wife was
acting as chairwoman of the Schweinfurt section. I was
invited to play there, and so I asked the best musicians I
know to accompany me. We played 10 of my own songs
plus some carefully selected covers from Neil Young to
Tracy Chapman. This went pretty fine, and we decided to
record an album in our own. This happened from January to
August 2016, and since September it’s ready. End of
November we issued it on all major internet stores as well.
All revenues generated by the album are donated for charity
purposes. With this band, I am focusing on acoustic guitars
more than before, there are hardly any electric guitar solos
left, instead Albrecht is the main soloist with his trumpet.
The songs are breathing transparency in this setup, the
vocal harmonies have become the main element, and the
instruments are doing a precise but decent job. In a way, the
songs as such and consequently the lyrics have gained
importance. Typical for a singer/songwriter maybe, at least
it’s the way I prefer to do music and especially my songs
nowadays.
Chris Ortloff (dr, voc), Chris Daller (b), Nicole Lieb (voc, fl),
Albrecht Nestle (tp), Isabelle Schön (keys) and schnoed
(gui, voc).