A Little Information on Project Pitchfork

The listeners nowadays cannot be categorized into exact music styles; that in general are called Independent or Black Music. They are living in an area with many musical possibilities. The number of bands and the number of releases in this music style alone has reached great proportions that cannot be overseen. Blown-up media stores have a rich selection of music, while attempting to have available obscure genres. Anybody can go into the store and pick up the silver disc of his/her choice and bring it to the modern cash register; then bring it home to his/her CD player. If this is too much hassle one can order the object of his/her desire over the internet or he/she could download parts of it in high quality MP3 file to his/her hard drive. Due to the increased interest in MP3, the PC is becoming the sound system of our day.

A Short Review

Looking at the past 11 years, technology has developed greatly through this period, as well as the marketing of music. In 1989 the Internet was nonexistent- Bill Gates was probably sitting in his garage finalizing the first operating system MS DOS. The storage medium for music was not a compact disc, but instead an album, which was not silver and small. They were big and black and needed careful handing. And Deine Lakaien were far from being called RTL of the week. With coverage of cable television in distance the future, many music fans were satisfied with seeing international stars in “Ronny’s Popshow” once a week. By the end of the glorious 80’s, there was movement in the local scene. Gradually more and more German bands began to emerge into the scene, with everyone talking about names such as Das Ich, Love Like Blood, Deine Lakaien, and Project Pitchfork, who will influence the scene for years to come. What role does the project from Hamburg, Project Pitchfork, play ? The history of the formation of this band will be explained in the following paragraphs.

The Birth Hour

The above time travel covers exactly 11 years. The year 1989 can be seen as the birthing of Project Pitchfork. Sometime in this year, Peter Spilles and Dirk Scheuber met at a festival where Girls Under Glass played; and they decided to make music together. Spilles had an interest in synthesizers since he was a young child, and was always certain that he would make music. He had his first musical experience with an unnamed band. “I taped the music for myself and then ended up distributing them to the discos in Hamburg. When my songs were played in some of the clubs at the Reeperbahn, it was always a great moment. I did not have a CD released, I was nothing,” Peter describes of his pre-Pitchfork era. Some material at this time can be found on early albums such as, “Dhyani”, ‘Lam’bras”, as well as “Little IO”.

Finding a name for the band was simple. The group used a dictionary, as one member flipped through the pages the other member said “stop”. There they found the word ‘Pitchfork’. After discovering the meaning of the word they were satisfied. They then added ‘Project’ to show independence. Project Pitchfork was born.

Right Time Right Place

The first single of the newly founded project is now legendary ‘K.N.K.A,’ with which they attempted to be recognized. A year after, Peter and Dirk got to know one another, they both made acquaintance with Kai Lotze. Kai, shortly afterwards, took over the management of this young band, and still currently manages the band. Kai then began to send out tapes to record labels, in hope of finding one to support the band. The label Hypnobeat showed interest in the band and gave them a contract. The collaboration of the record label and the band paid off in March of 1991 with the first Project Pitchfork album “Dhyani,” which Peter and Dirk worked on together. The following albums were under Peter’s direction. It was not until 1997, with “Chakra Red” that it could be considered real teamwork again.

The title of the LP was taken from an Indian woman’s name, meaning “A present for mankind.” “Dhyani” became a relatively rough and angry artistic creative process. Perhaps this was due to the fact the album was recorded in three days. The cover is decorated with a picture of an alien. Spilles was not satisfied with the visual aspect of the cover. “At this time we did not have much experience with graphic design. The designer was from Hypnobeat and the cover came out messed up. Initially everything was suppose to be smoother- almost like a photo.” Despite the strange cover, strange themes, and relatively poor sound quality, “Dhyani” was a remarkable success. From today’s point of view, the singer had the following explanation, “At this time we obviously did exactly what the audience was looking for. For that time we sold surprisingly many of these albums. In a very short time we sold 7,000 EPs. Today, many bands are happy if they sell 700!” Project Pitchfork has filled the gap that many believed nonexistent with their self-willed, individualistic style. They brought atmosphere into the otherwise hard electronic music; and with “Dhyani,” built a bridge between EBM and wave. They brought electronic music to a new point.

Already with this debut album Scheuber and Spilles were recognized; their music was not made just for fun, but also contained a message. “Box of Steel,” was against animal testing, “Vietnam,” against wars, and “K.N.K.A,” criticized society. Also "K.N.K.A." was re-recorded later. “Fire and Ice” and “2nd Step” brought esoteric thinking into the foreground. With “Dhyani,” Project Pitchfork was able to reach their first success. The way it came together there was no doubt that these two men where at the beginning of a long and creative career together.

Come Time, Come Remix

Project Pitchfork succeeded through the selling of around 7,000 EPs of their debut album "Dhyani". This was the foundation for their successful career. A year and a half after the release of the album, Project Pitchfork released a MCD named "Psychic Torture". On the MCD there were three unreleased songs, "Psychic Torture," "Ruins Of Ignorance," and "Precious New World." It also presented a new version of "K.N.K.A," which was their first hit in the scene. The first LP was rough in nature. The release of the remix showed that with the right equipment, production, and adequate time what they were capable of. Peter explains the differences in the remixes: "Definitely the result of our way of working. The album had to be made fast and we did not have more than two weeks in the studio. That is the reason it simply sounds different." It is interesting to see that, in the following years, Pitchfork released two other EPs containing previously released material, yet the material was now remixed. Many of the fans became more enamored by these remixed tracks on "Souls/Islands” and "CH'I," due to their better sound than the original versions.

Not Beautiful, But Frequent

Besides the fact that Project Pitchfork had much success with "K.N.K.A," they also started to gain fans in the dark dance clubs at the Hamburger Waterkant. They also began to develop clothing (T-shirts) to promo the band. Many of these shirts would have refrains on the back, which became the most important clothing in the Underground scene. Through these plain shirts with no graphic design, their popularity spread. To bring people to use their environment consciously, the front of the shirt would have the band's logo, while the back had the words "Killing Animals, Killing Nature, don't disturb we love our Chemicals."

Killing Two Birds with One Stone

Over the next year the band released two more albums. The reason for high productivity, Peter explained with the simple answer "an initial drive". The drive went hand in hand with many new ideas, but he had to admit, "Afterwards, you realize that however you did it; you did it wrong. At this time we were criticized because we released these albums in such a short time. After that we took a long break, others became dissatisfied with our absence."

Das Lambras

In February of 1992 appeared the second album by Project Pitchfork "Lambras," that represented a big musical step forward. Many of the songs left an angry impression, yet a better production gave a far more homogenous whole impression. With the outstanding "Conjure," existed a hot canditate for a single. However, the song appeared on the album and was never a single. "At this time we had the feeling that no song could exist on its own. So, we decided all would be included in the whole package called "Lambras," Spilles explained to justify this circumstance. Without a single, "Conjure" still entered the clubs and should not be absent in a DJs collection.

A novelty is the song "Floating Dolphins." At this time Peter's longtime girlfriend Patricia Nigiani sung the song and was more or less involved with Project Pitchfork in 1994. Through the use of a female voice, Spilles brought in contrast to liven up his own "strenuous singing" as he admitted. Furthermore this song is special in this regard, because it appeared on both "Lambras" and also on the album "The Land of Harm and Appletrees," by Aurora, which was brought to life by Peter Spilles and Patricia Nigiana. All together they released two albums before Peter left the project.

The Freaks with the Strange Lyrics

Only about a half year later in October of 1992, Project Pitchfork released their third album named "Entities," that again showed a maturing process and included the positive aspects of the previous two albums. According to Spilles, " it was not a conscious plan; in those times we really did not plan anything anyway. We made music from our souls and it was simply a result of those times. It could be unconsciously a combination of the first two LPs, I can remember that "Lambras," was very soft and I wanted to create a electronic counterpart." In any case the work of "Entities" made a flowing impression. After all the tracks were completed, Spilles came to the idea to create dramatical interludes between the songs he called "Mirror".

The so achieved compactness built the ideal foundation for Peter's lyrics. The songs were influenced by esoteric thoughts, like never before, and gained more importance over time. For the lyricist, some of the philosophical themes carried with them a little risk: "We have been smiled at by all the so-called heavy- weights in the scene, who had anything to do with the media. Although, we were always in the black scene with the strange lyrics, this already started with "Dhyani." Many people felt offended by the seriousness of the lyrics, and couldn't grasp the full-meaning." As strong as the doubt might have been of both musicians, the album "Entities" included the song "Souls," which was not only the most successful song in the bands history, but also known to many as the theme song of the scene. "Souls" presented the charming, romantic charisma of the band. It did nothing to lose their popularity, and even today the song remains successful. For many bands with songs such as these, the song becomes the identity of the band; which is more a curse than a blessing. That is not the case with "Souls" and Project Pitchfork.
"This song is a blessing and it is still an important song to me. I find it interesting, what people are connecting with this song, because I connect something different with it. I often see couples embrace each other during the song. Many see "Souls" as a love song. It is suppose to be about a group of people that together united advancing as one. It is more about joined thoughts".

In March of 1993, Project Pitchfork re-recorded the song "K.N.K.A,". and released it with additional remixes, that included new songs off the EP "Souls/Island." The great success of "Souls" did not lead to the new release "Souls/Island." "At this time "Souls" was not a success," Peter remembers. "The song evolved into a hit in the following years. And also "Conjure" became a hit much later even after "Souls". "When we played "Souls" live the first time, we seriously thought about taking it out of our program. I think that it is almost symptomatic for us that our CDs or single songs gained popularity with our audience after time. The reason might be, that we are slightly ahead of our time, or our lyrics are so hard-hitting and to the point that people need time to understand."

The First Curtain

The release of "Souls/Island" ended not only the collaboration with the previous Record label Hypnobeat, also the first period of the career of Project Pitchfork. They had within two years released three albums, an EP and now a MCD. They developed from primary newcomers to an established act in the local scene. Now Dirk Scheuber and Peter Spilles stood before the climax of their first big breakthrough with next album.

And the Moon is Watching

After the release of "Souls/Islands" in March of 1993, a period in the young careers of both musicians ended. Dirk Scheuber and Peter Spilles decided to end their work with the label Hypnobeat and switched to the newly formed label Off-Beat. They hoped for improvement in public relations. The MCD "Carrion" was released in the fall of 1993, which was the first CD on the Off-Beat label, and was relatively successful: more than 15, 000 copies were sold. A short time later, in February1994 the band released the album "IO", which climbed to place fifty-six on the media control charts. The album placed at number one for three months on the German alternative charts. "IO" represented again a great step in regards to production technique and musical style. For many outsiders the success of this album was a big surprise. Not for the musician himself Peter clarifies: "We were aware of our potential and it was clear to us, that by changing to Off-Beat, which was very small at this time and with some efforts in promoting the album; increased album sales the record would go into the charts". Project Pitchfork was setting new commercial standards, but they did not deviate an inch from their concept. It often has been said, that "IO" became increasingly engaged with worldly themes (for someone who is envious might say that the band compromised their musical intergrity for commercial success). This album was again filled with Spilles' esoteric thoughts, which were not as obviously presented as before. A limited edition of the CD was released in a box, which also contained a mini-CD "Little IO," and included re-released songs from the beginning.

In May of 1994 the band released the single "Renascence," which was a romantic, dramatic,complation. This song developed into one of the favorite songs in the band's history. Today, "IO", according to the opinion poll results on the Pitchfork-homepage, is the favorite album, as decided by the fans.

Side Projects

Before we turn to significant publications of Mr.Scheuber and Mr. Spilles, we will shed some light into their activities besides their current project together. Peter Spilles committed himself over the years to four other side-projects, one of which is Aurora, and was mentioned earlier in the biography. Peter also collaborated with Jurgen Jansen and published an album under the simple name Jansen/Spilles. Peter also worked with Yorck Eysel (Love Like Blood) and created the project REC. REC released an album, which contained particularly more jagged-edged and experimental songs. He also had a guest roll in the side project of Mindy Kumbalek (Goethes Erben) called Still Silent. Peter wrote the music and the lyrics for the song "Shockwave," which had a sound much like Project Pitchfork and became very popular.

Dirk in 1999 released a side project called Kyova, which is more rock and guitar sounding. At least for Peter Spilles there are already plans for further side-projects, which will give him more opportunities for his extreme ideas.

Back to the Actual Theme

The year 1995 brought all those involved with Project Pitchfork tons of changes. After a relatively short time with Off-Beat ended, the band established their own record company named "Candyland Entertainment". Simaltaneously the band replaced their old logo, through which they achieved a new visual appearance. In April of that year Peter Spilles and Dirk Scheuber released "Corps d' Amour" an EP that contained an aggressive and heavy guitar style that attracted attention.

The theme of the CD was SEX, and the fans were debating the reason why. The circumstance was that a year and a half earlier Peter separated from his partner Patricia, which led journalists to believe that was the reason for the change in style and strange themes. Often "Corps d' Amour" has been seen as Peter's settlement with the broken relationship. "I have read it too, that's normal," the comment he offered on the speculation. "When people, like in this case, do not get any information, they interpret what they want from it. That is naturally all Bullshit!" Regardless of all the discussions it was hard for Pitchfork to satisfy the fans with this EP. This EP was bulky in comparison to the harmony on the previous albums, and it appeared that Scheuber and Spilles had taken too big of a step for the listeners. However, "mastermind" Spilles expected this reserved reaction: "In general changes are not so welcome because of the structure of our scene. With Project Pitchfork I wanted to oppose this trend. Under no circumstance did I want to make the mistake of confining myself by releasing several CDs with the same style or same feeling."

Threats of the END?

While "Corps d'Amour" had start problems, the popularity of the band at this time reached a problematic extent. The reaction of the fans was so enthusiastic that it brought Peter Spilles to think of the end of Project Pitchfork. "There was a concert once, on which somebody told me I would be their God. This happened to me several times in a short period and I began thinking deeply, if I, the one who is fighting, that religion as an institution should be seen as a stupid idea; and everybody should realize how important the individual is. Perhaps, it would be better to stop making music. Then I thought I should change something, and the results of these thoughts was the fact that "Corps d' Amour" sounds like it sounds. The song "Self-Knowledge" for example is based on the events that took place."

I Can Not Believe It

The first full length album on Candyland appeared in September 1995 and was named "Alpha Omega". There was a limited edition that was enclosed in a tin case, which was from recycled tin plate. As beautiful as the idea might have been, the disadvantage was that the CD ring that held the CD in place was a fraction of a millmeter too big, so that several CDs after a short time broke. Project Pitchfork musically created a uniform piece of work. Previous albums included hit songs like "Souls," "Renascence," or "Conjure" that were a bit different. "Alpha Omega" despite prominent tracks like "Requiem" or the title track had a very compact and atmospheric impression. The impression was reinforced through the fact that the individual songs connected with another as on "Entities." A one of kind delivered Pitchfork with their song "Endzeit", this the first song with German lyrics. The reason they decided to use they Native language, Peter explains as follows: "We were asked many times why we sing in English and not in German. At this time we could have answered the German language was not ready to present this music. We did not know any bands that had succeed with that. To me it was simply interesting to hear how my voice sounds in German." "Alpha Omega" spent nine weeks on the German Media Control Charts and climbed to number forty-five.

Shortly after the appearence of "Alpha Omega", "CH'I" (which means lifeforce) was released. On this MCD there were two new songs, along with remixes of songs off "Alpha Omega." In the summer of 1996 the band released in the domestic market "The Early Years" a best of CD. For the German fans no new or unpublished material was included, and this was criticized. But lets not forget that the CD was only supposed to be sold in America. It was to give the American fans a chance to become familiar with some of the older Pitchfork songs. Already in the fall of 1996, many followers became impatient again for new material from their favorite band.

Parsely on the Soup

The middle of 1996 brought the release of the-best of complation "The Early Years", which was originally determined only for the U.S. Market. The fans who were already familiar with this material included on the best of CD were awaiting new material. In that same year these waiting fans could enjoy a new single. "En garde" was the name of the single and it was a sign of a soon to be released album. When the album appeared , no one could find the song "Engarde" on the album. Peter Spilles and Dirk Scheuber decided to make the unusual step to release an advanced Maxi that would not be included on the record. "I simply like to break fixed schemes," explains Peter on the step. "At this time everybody said that "Engarde" should have been included on the album, but I did not see the necessity in that. The song was written much earlier than the other material for "Chakra Red," therefore it was my opinion it would not fit nicely on the CD."

Project Pitchfork gained attention with this MCD and their release in 1997 of the album "Chakra Red." The band from Hamburg showed again their strength, from a quite unusual side. Scheuber and Spilles had up to this point still never moved away from their previous classical mixture of electro and wave, but this album was full of modern influences. This was first time since "Dhyani" Pitchfork released a record that was not all written from A to Z by Spilles. Dirk Sheuber and Jurgen Jansen contributed structure and ideas for some tracks and "Chakra Red' was richer in influence than usual. But which method: Teamwork or working alone did Peter like better? "It depends. It seems that the CDs I made by myself, were better liked by the Gothic Public," Peter atates. "The reaction I saw appeared that starting with "Chakra Red," most the of criticism came from the Gothic scene. Principally I like, when my ideas are realized. This also could be done with songs written by others." Like in the case of the earlier albums, "Chakra Red" was a concept. After all the songs were written, the concept was realized. The themes were divided into three parts on the album Chakra: Blue, Green, and Red. The intent to provide Pitchfork albums with concepts, Peter explains, " With "Chakra Red" it is a bit like "Entities" when combining mirror parts were added afterwards, because I thougth that the songs should be closer together. With "Chakra Red" I realized at this time that some songs were thematically close. That is the reason for the division. This might be a bit like "Parsely on the Soup."

Rainforest instead of Bon Jovi

As glamorus as the music business appears to the outside, behind the scenery only album sales and chart placement predict growth or downfall. Even in this hard business, Scheuber and Spilles did not care about conventions and they provided a fresh wind. Peter recalls the band giving at this time an existed Tippern on the media control charts a present. The present was a certificate of ownership of several thousand marks worth of Rainforest, instead of giving him a present that was expensive and senseless to make them favorable. "These were gentlemen who are use to getting watches or similiar items from bands like Bon Jovi. And if you do not do the same, you already would have lost, " explains Spilles. "We thought if we really have to do that, we should do something without throwing our money out the window."

Commerce = Betrayal

Nearly a whole year and a half later Project Pitchfork had no new studio material. Within the year and a half the band released their first Live album in the band's history. The first sign of life was in form of a single that was released in June of 1998. "Steelrose" was the name of the MCD and it hit like a bomb. The second single was released shortly afterward and the band achieved enormous success. By the release of the album and the two singles, like previous signs had shown in the past, there was something happening with this band. The two men stood by the major record company East West, which made possible a whole other work. In October 1998 "EON:EON" appeared, the new full-length CD. Like both the CD singles hinted, the sound on the new Pitchfork album was modern, varied, and experimental, as was the case already on "Chakra Red." The whole "EON : EON" album had many influences that were even harder to clarify. "To me it is something Like Rundumschlag," accounted Spilles on the work. "As if I had taken a scoop of the best of pieces of our CDs and put it into the new one."

Also "EON : EON" (meaning eternity) included a fundamental theme: 200 years into the future world, where people are manipulated by machines (computers). In the final song an imaginary hero, believes that he could exist in other peoples' dreams. The song became part of the rotation at commercial radiostations. "I Live Your Dream" released in January of 1999, became known by a wide variety of the public. It was a perfect pop song.

With the big success came increased criticism, major changes, as well as the recent strong presence of the band in radio and television. The band filmed videos for each of the singles. Many of their older fans became suspicious, suspected betrayal, and the band selling out. Spilles has changed nothing in the method of working: " The only thing the label tried to do to influence our work, was suggesting to add photos into the booklet, THAT'S IT! All remains the same. Only opportunities have changed." Nevertheless the "Commercial Question" remains open and Peter had his own answer ready:
"If a German band has reached a certain commercial success, they often try to destroy it. That is sad, but it's symptomatic for Germany. When a successful American band is coming to Germany, it draws more attention in the media than a German band that is two or three times more successful. In Germany you have to explain as soon as you say your successful, and attribute your success to your great fans. But if you suggest to be successful because you are a good band and you make good music, you immediately run into problems. If an American band claims that, it is okay. It is even expected from them, to be arrogant to admit that they are simply good. We are getting tired of always having to talk about that. Commercial intent is not first in our minds at Pitchfork. Sure I want to sell CDs, but not at any price. I would not change Pitchfork to such an extent that we would sound like Oasis, just to sell CDs. If you give up on yourself and do things you don't like then that, in my opinion, is commerce."

The Temporary Final

From the beginning since the first album from 1991, Dirk Scheuber and Peter Spilles went their own way. They succeeded; they entered as the Newcomers everyone smiled at. They became established and successful, as well as becoming very popular in the German music scene. The fact that Project Pitchfork in the course of their careers had the courage to open themselves to new influences and ideas, for their style became unforseeable and varied. The band's various influences and ideas reached a deverse public and at the same time made the band vulnerable. The duo with their extreme ideas criticized, might have been misunderstood, but the success of the last ten years showed Peter Spilles and Dirk Scheuber they were right.

Author: Stefan Brunner from Orkus Magazine
Translated by: Lady Leviathan