Grafter was formed in 1998 by Goos Veldman and Sandra. Goos played bass in the rock band Mortal Insanity. Sandra used to play guitar in the wave band Moonchild. They started to make music inspired by bands like Skinny Puppy, Frontline Assembly, the Sisters of Mercy and Joy Division. They needed a singer and placed an ad, which was replyed by just one person. 

Sander de Wijs already played bass-guitar in the Gothic-rock band Lords of the Stone (Massacre Records Ger.) He listened to Electro/Gothic music for some time by then. He came by at a rehearsal at Goos’ place and it worked out so good that he decided to join the band as a permanent singer. They spent a few weeks rehearsing a song called Deformation which became better and better. 

Danny Servaes played in Lords of the Stone. He was the keyboard player. Danny also played on some albums of God Dethroned (Metal Blade Rec. US.) He had always been interested in electronic music and he kept an open mind towards new styles of music. With this in mind, Sander asked him to come to a rehearsal and see what he thought of it. Danny immediately became enthusiastic and wanted to offer his skills and creativity. And so Danny became the fourth member of Grafter. 

In the months that followed Grafter started to write more and more songs. The sound of the songs varied from Electro/wave to heavy industrial noises. Grafter now started to record the songs at home and began producing a complete album.In February 1999 Grafter gave their first performance in a town called Wageningen. This performance was a great success. 

The performance in Wageningen also marked a huge change in the band setting. Sandra decided to quit her musical carrier forever... 

A replacement for Sandra was not easily found. After a few auditions there was this candidate called Rikkert Achtereekte. He played guitar in the gothic-metal band Phalanx. He was a metal fan, but had an open mind towards electronic music. Soon became clear that the enthusiastic Rikkert would fit the band very nicely. He came up with a lot of refreshing guitar riffs which sounded very powerful. 

In December 1999 Grafter finished their first album “Lifeless”. This album marked as well the birth of Grafter as the loss of the founder. Now Grafter is working on a new album, which will sound somewhat different, somewhat heavier... 

The album will introduce the new female vocals of Daniëlle van Oijen and Maria Verkade. They both joined the band in march 2000 and placed their mark on Grafter’s sound soon afterwards. Maria added her clear and powerful vocals while Daniëlle completed it with her theatrical chanting. 


...Spinning onwards, towards their endless deformation...