BIOGRAPHY ON HIS OWN WORDS FROM P. SPECKMANN!!!
Once upon a time a kid was born on Sept 28 1963 in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. At sixteen he discovered the Sweet leaf, and became interested in the sounds of Zeppelin, Judas Priest, and Black Sabbath. So much for the early days ! While in high school I sang in a cover band White Cross. He was asked to join this band while wandering the halls of high school singing All Good People from the group Yes. In 1980, Marty Fitzgerald, Steve Ahlers and I put together a new group called Warcry. By this time I had become somewhat of a bass player, but still learning at that time. We played gigs around town, The most important show, was opening for Queens Reich and Twisted Sister, at a club, called Haymakers. We also recorded a song for the Metal Massacre 4 on Metal Blade, called Forbidden Evil, which is where the band Forbidden got there name from. Bill Schmidt was also in the band Warcry for a short while. Schmidt lured me away from Warcry to form this band Master with him. The name Master came from another guy in a local band called Witchslayer, also on Metal Massacre album. His name was Rick {Mexican} Manson. He was jamming with Schmidt for a short period.
He took the name from the song "Lord of this world" from Black Sabbath's Master of Reality Album !!!!!!!!! Schmidt and I auditioned guitar players for about six months. Chris Mittelbrun came for an audition, but at that time he was in another local favorite, Transgressor, which was stuck in a Judas Priest mode!!! So he was subsequently dismissed. My father died of a brain tumor, and we began to rehearse in the basement for Deathstrike. I read an add in the Illinois Entertainer, I called and it was Mittelbrun, and he was now into heavier stuff. In 1984 we recorded Deathstrike. During this time Schmidt was playing with another group from Chicago called Mayhem, which also included a legendary guitarist from the Chicago area, Louie Svitek. He played in a band called Ministry, also with MOD, and a local favorite from Chicago, Zoetrope. In July Schmidt came back to the fold on drums, and we were officially Master. Shortly after we took the inheritance my father left me, and recorded the influential demos. Unfortunately, Shaun Glass, Broken Hope, and now Soil, tape traded rehearsals of Master, and Deathstrike without permission of course. But you know kids!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Master cd went on to be one of the most widely distributed underground demos. Bands like Death, Terrorizer, Nausea, and others to name a few, began to copy this style of Master.
Schmidt and I drove with Wally Hall, a friend from Chicago, to New York. WBCR Brooklyn college radio with Don Kaye put us live on the air. The police escorted us out after using foul language on the air as they said. On Dec 31st 1984, Master received a record contract from Combat, Another rock legend Kim Fowley, who wrote songs for Kiss, Runaways with Joan Jett and Lita Ford and also Alice Cooper, Charged me 1.00 USD to read the Combat contract. After this Schmidt and his mother also made changes to the contract. Combat laughed at it and threw it in the garbage.
Schmidt and I parted ways after this. Schmidt has some serious mental problems, being the last child born in his family!!!!!! In 1985 I put together Funeral Bitch with Alex Olvera from another Chicago band called Assault.
Finally in 1986 I put together two demos with Funeral Bitch, then in 87 Abomination with Nickeas.
In 1989 Marcus Staiger from Nuclear Blast Records offered Master and Abomination a contract, on the recommendation of Joe Caper {Righteous Pigs}, Mitch Harris, and Mick Harris, of Napalm Death. In 1990 we did the infamous Fleisch tour, in which at the end we found out we bought equipment for Pungent Stench, as usual we were robbed ! If music was about making money, I would have quit long ago. In the early days I made a lot of mistakes, putting my trust in Marcus, and my manager.
Marcus got rich, and I remain broke!!!!!!!!!!!! In all these years, I haven’t received a dime for publishing. We were dropped after Collection of Souls. Markus released 7 albums in two years from me. In 1996 I established a new line up in Phoenix, put together two demos, and in 1998 Pavement signed Master to a three album deal and a European tour with Malevolent Creation, Master, and Krabathor. My life was never the same after this. I met Krabathor on this tour, Skull and I began jamming in the early afternoons, until the soundman told us to shut up. We did this about five times, and I suggested we jam together sometime! I spoke with Andy at System Shock about a possible project, and he funded it. In Nov 1999, I flew to Czech for rehearsals with Skull, and Christopher. We recorded, and it was brought to my attention Bruno had subsequently left the band, and they asked me to join Krabathor!!!! I packed my bags, worked a few weeks in Phoenix, and moved to Czech.
Martyr was released on System Shock, also Unfortunately Dead with Krabathor, and the new Master record: Let's Start A War.
Another question commonly asked to me is Why are there so many versions of the same songs? The answer is quite simple really. I recorded in 1990 with Schmidt, and Mittelbrun and Marcus did not like the mix. So shortly after, actually two days after the mix, we split up again. I put together a new line with Nickeas, and Martinelli to record the record again, at Marcus request. We recorded the same tracks and a few others. Marcus again complained, and said This Is Too Soft. So Scott Burns remixed the first recording with the original lineup, and it was released as the first Master. We spent 10,000 USD on the on the Nickeas, Martinelli recording, so it was released as Speckmann Project. As for Deathstrike, it was a demo. At that time, Marcus was looking for any, and every way to make money, to invest in more groups. In the end Master got lost in the shuffle.
But what keeps me still going after all these years in the biz ? I obviously make enough money to live in Czech, but compared to American standards, it is not very much.
My love of creating music keeps me going. When I go to the record store and see my records in the bins I am exhilarated!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't know how long all this will last, so I try to live my life to the fullest extent and enjoy myself as often as possible. But I will never give up my dream, which is to be successful in my music.
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Speckmann complete Dicography:
Master debut 1990 Nuclear Blast Records
Abomination debut 1990 NB Records
Deathstrike 1992 NB Records
Master: On the seventh day.... 1992 NB Records
Abomination: Tragedy strikes 1992 NB Records
Speckmann project 1992 NB Records
Master: Collection of souls 1993 NB Records
Master: Faith is in season 1998 Pavement records
Abomination: Curses of the deadly sin 1999 Metal Age records
Abomination: The final war 1999
Solutions 1999,METAL AGE
Martyr 2000 System Shock
Krabathor: Unfortunately dead 2000 System Shock.
Master: Follow your Savior 2001 Metal Age records
Speckmann: The collection 2001 Metal Age
Master: Let's start a war 2002 System Shock
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