Project Pitchfork

Pitchfork - the history

Pitchfork, a word pulled by chance out of an English dictionary eventually became the name of their project, but the roots of Project Pitchfork in the persons of Peter Spilles and Dirk Scheuber are as well due to a chance meeting of the two at a Girls Under Glass concert in 1989. The two soon started producing demo tracks, which managed to find their way into Reeperbahn clubs and were, according to Peter, some of his "greatest moments".

At their first live appearance at the Hamburg club "Kir", their future manager, Kai Lotze must have liked what he heard and saw. Later in 1990, a 9-track demo "K.N.K.A." (Killing Nature Killing Animals) was released, the first official Project Pitchfork recording - and it sold out.

Project Pitchfork signed with the Hypnobeat label in 1991 and released their first album, Dhyani, which bridged the gap between EBM and wave, bringing atmosphere to the usually hard-edge electronic music, while expanding the electronic content. Recorded in only 3 days, the music was raw but compelling, including the track "Vietnam", which would later (1996) appear in a live version on video. In September of the same year the maxi-single "Psychic Torture" appeared, retooled with 3 new songs, including "Precious New World" and a remix of "K.N.K.A.", which then found its way into the club scene.

In early 1992 their album Lam-bras was released with a catchier and more melodious side. From this album came their first club scene hit, "Conjure". In October of that year, a third album, Entitieswas released. The sound was less dance-oriented, and much more atmospheric. It was more successful than the previous two, and the band felt it was also more complete. Between the individual pieces interludes called "Mirrors" weave the various songs together, making "Entities" seem like one long song. One song from the album proved to be Project Pitchfork's breakthrough - "Souls" becane a big indie-club hit in Germany in the Spring of '93, and still maintains cult status. It's success prompted a remix EP with the title Souls/Island, a more powerful and technically riper version, not least of all for the contrapuntal addition of Patricia Nigiani's female voice to Peter's much more raw approach.

Differences of opinion led to Project Pitchfork parting ways with Hypnobeat and in the Fall of '93 they released a maxi CD, Carrion, on their new label, Off-Beat, which contained a cover version of The Human League's "Circus Of Death".

In February 1994 came their next album, IO, from which came the next hit single, "Renascence". The album went to #56 on the German Charts, and this was enough to propel them on their first German tour, available on video as "Glowing Like Io".

Great changes took over in 1995, culminating in the grounding of Project Pitchfork's own Candyland Entertainment Label, on which other bands appeared as well. Then, in September, they released the next album, Alpha Omega, which was considered a returning to the true Project Pitchfork sound. They followed this up with a maxi CD of remixes titled CH'I along with another German tour a month later, available on video as "Alpha Omega Live", along with a new rendition of "Vietnam".

In 1996 a best-of appeared with the unassuming title of The Early Years (1989 - 1993) containing their best work up to "Souls", and a maxi CD, en garde, containing 3 new songs.

In Feb. '97 Project Pitchfork brought out a new work called Chakra: Red! on which Spilles and Scheuber once again shared the songwriting chores, for the first time since Dhyani, as well as Jürgen Jansen who also provided two compositions of his own for the disc. In addition there's a cover version of the Jon Anderson/Vangelis piece, "I'll Find My Way Home".

A major breakthrough was in the wings and in 1998 Project Pitchfork signed a contract with major label eastwest records and released the single, "Steelrose" in June, as well as the single "Carnival".. In October '98 they brought out a new album, Eon: Eon, which had a still more modern, richer and experimental sound very difficult to classify. This album moved the band up into the Top 15 of the charts. In January '99 they delivered what many believe to be a perfect pop song, "I Live Your Dream."

In 2001 the band reached new heights with the album Daimonion, which went to #8 in the national Media Control sales charts. The band's best-ever booked tour followed. At the end of the year, Project Pitchfork was the most successful German band in the German Alternative Charts, scoring the hightest positions for a German band in both the single and album categories: #3 for the single "Existence" and #5 for "Daimonion".

The band has always done extensive live touring, drawing audiences of 1000 - 2000 in Germany. They have also done a number of international tours, including a tour of 25 US cities in 1998 with Front 242. In 1995 Rammstein was the support act for Project Pitchfork.

Project Pitchfork has been nominated for an Echo Music Award in the category "Best National Alternative Rock Group/ Artist for 2002". The Echo is the third most prestigious music award in the world, after the US Grammy and the Brit.