The band consists of:
Brian Hamelen on Drums and Vocals
Neil Miller on Bass
DJ Dirty Frank on Turntables
Jerry Schnepp on Guitar and Vocals
We each started pretty young.
Brian played in the Marist High School band and played in various high school theatre productions. When he started playing a kit when he was 14. He and Jerry both attended the same high school and began jamming along with Neil and Brian's older brother, Tim, on lead vocals. As Jerry and Neil recall, Brian was sporatic and off time a lot, but had a ton of energy and was very creative. The four started "Giant Midgets", a shitty cover band that remains an embarassement to this day. The Midgets played parties and a few real gigs, but mostly drank and jammed in Brian's garage. After a year they recorded a four song demo which is still available in most Marist students' closets. They continued to play various bars and parties untill Tim left for college. The Giant Midgets disbanded in 1994 leading to the formationof LAUTER TUN.
Neil played trumpet in grammar school and started playing guitar when he was in seventh grade. By eigth grade he had switched to bass and started a band with fellow classmates called "Suicidal Christmas". He and Jerry shared a mutual friend who suggested that Neil teach Jerry how to play guitar. The two began jamming together with other neighborhood musicians and developed a close musical relationship comparable to telepathy.
Frank started DJ-ing at age 14. Since then he has also learned a thing or two about the guitar. He has worked professionally as a "DJ" DJ, but has kept it real by maintaining a steady influx of heavy music. He and Jerry met at UIC where they quickly discovered that they were the same person. He first played with LAUTER TUN on halloween 1998 at a party where he was spinning on the same bill as LAUTER TUN. We jammed a Rage tune that turned the party mad. Since then he has managed to incorporate scratches, drops, and who knows whats into almost all of the songs.
Jerry started playing clarinet in fourth grade. From there he moved to the keyboard, taking lessons from a local musician. After developing a taste for heavy guitar music, he once again switched instraments in seventh grade. Since then, he has continued to play guitar as his main instrament, while also picking up mandolin, drum set, bass guitar, and computer facilitated composing.
We all share many of the same influences. Bands like TOOL, Metallica, and Soundgarden have obviously affected the way LAUTER TUN sounds. However, it is because of the different, unshared influences that each member has had that truly sets this band apart. For example, Neil is into hard core heavy shit but also really digs The Eagles. Jerry listens to Hendrix alot and also digs some electronica. Frank has old school house, techno, and rap influences. Brian listens to every type of music out there, none of which anyone has ever heard of.
Jerry and Frank both graduated from UIC in May. Frank is looking for a job while Jerry is anticipating more school. Brian manages Midwest Percussion, a national drum and percussion distributer. Neil works on a cement crew and bitches alot.
Every drawing you see that is associated with LAUTER TUN has been created by David Rettker. Dave's mind is as fucked up as ours except, what we do with music, he accomplishes visually. Arrangement and web design is done by Jerry on his PC.
No one is really sure about the answer to this question. However, I can tell you this. Conventionally, songs are named after their choruses. Conventionally bands have catchy names.
When will the new disc be out and where will it be available?
We're not sure when exactly, but we have been recording and are done with a few songs already. Expect some heavy shit. As for availability, we will definitely sell them at the shows and probably through this site.
