A
mirror of yourself above your bed...
Just a Brief History.
Me,
the founder of this project und the only member to date was born
and raised in a small town in germany which should remain unknown
to the rest of the world but became very famous due to a very
old castle built by an emperor in the middle ages. I got my first
guitar at the age of 10 and I am still checking out how to play it.
I started writing and recording songs at the age of 15, using
two cheap little tape recorders. In those days I began to listen
to bands like Pink Floyd, Genesis or Yes. Those heroes opened
up horizons for me. I really liked the melange of the dynamic arrangements,
dramatic chord progressions mixed with a lyrical content that was
far behind of what could be heard in the charts in those days. A
little bit later I discovered Jazz, Blues, Folk and.........Frank
Zappa. It is a fact that I played in a Punk Band at the age
of 16 only for a short time. At the age of 22 me and a couple of
other guys founded the band "Lamia". This was my first progressive
rock band I played in. I was the guitar player and we were mainly
covering stuff by Genesis or Emerson Lake & Palmer but also
did our first attempts writing our own material. Unfortunately we
didn't have much success and I quit the band in 1994, still dreaming of recording my own songs. It is absolutely true
that I started playing drums in 1995 and one year later I returned
to my old band as their new drummer. We constantly wrote our own
songs and played in small clubs. One studio album and a couple of
live-CDs were produced during that time. The band self destructed
in 1999. In between I played in some other bands as a drummer but
those connections always didn't last very long..... After a short, dark period in my life I began
to write songs and record them using a 4-track tape recorder
and a computer. This was the time when "Projection" was
born and shortly after the first album "Time Flies" was
released. From this time on I have fully concentrated on writing and recording
songs. Luckily, I was able to spread my little brainchilds to a small and
still increasing
group of true listeners. Over the years
I have developed my experiences in songwriting, recording and producing.
Besides I have constantly upgraded my recording devices with
no end in sight....... Yes I'm a music junkie. It's
true that the tone of my answering machine is really in f-sharp.People
say that I'm a capricious
kind of guy. I'm able to cook a three course dinner by having
four different kinds of vegetable and a microwave oven. Discography:
Time
Flies (released 1999)Bad experiences have led to this album. It was my first one and the beginning of "Projection". It deals with issues such as the loss of a friend, broken relationships and disillusion. It is a dark album, in most parts presented through a guitar, an electric bass and a drum box.
Touch (released 2000)
This album reflects a more positive vibe than
its predecessor. The songs tell stories of surreal
dreams, the unimportance of material things, sex without love and
the aftermath of a broken love affair. The arrangements of the songs
are much more diverse in comparison to the first album and the improvement of the sound quality on
this album is quite audible.
One Of Three Kinds
(released 2001)
Book
of Dreams (released 2002)
Metamorphosis
(released 2003)
"Metamorphosis" is a real concept
album about regression hypnosis and what you can experience while
you are hypnothized. The core of the album consists of a 25-minute
track. The story's protagonist experiences
a whole lifetime within a few minutes, while having a hypnosis session.
Afterwards he truly believes he knows everything about the meaning
of life.
Behind the
Cellar Door
(released 2004)
During the recording of this album my mother
died and this traumatic event had an enormous influence on the music
and lyrics of this recording. Some of the songs are very sad but
a spark of hope can also be noticed throughout the songs. This album
comes in a very strong progressive outfit, consisting of dynamic
arrangements, sometimes catchy melodies incorporated with extensive
instrumental explorations.
A Brief History 1999-2005
- re-recorded (released 2006)
At the end of 2004 I began to re-record some
of the old songs from the previous albums since I was not complete
satisifed with the arrangements and the sound quality on some of the recordings. It
was hard to decide which songs should made it on the album. The
list of songs got longer and longer and at the end I recorded everything
on that list. Finally a 140 minute Double-CD hit the streets reflecting
the best material from 6 albums newly arranged with clearer sound.
It is the most successful Projection album to date, artistically
and relating to the number of sold copies.
Over the years I fortunately had several
oppertunities to participate on records of other great artists or
providing own songs to song collection samplers mostly of beneficial
character. Here's the listing:
Various Artists -
A Flower Full Of Stars (released 2011)
The Musea label and the Colossus fanzine created an album in four CDs,
tailor-made for the excellency of famous progressive rock band THE FLOWER KINGS with 41 Artists from 18
different countries including myself with a version of one of the most ambitious
songs of the Kings named "Stardust We
Are". The Box-Set comes with a beautifully designed 80
page Booklet. It's a really nice collectors item to have and all the music on
this giant set is just great. Besides PROJECTION well known bands like
PHAEDRA, FLAMBOROUGH HEAD, UNITOPIA or ARGOS have participated.album can now be ordered through Amazon,
Musea,
JFK,
or via Digital Download through Mindawn
or Itunes.
The Healing Road -
Backdrop (released 2011)
This new release by Hanspeter Hess again consists in two long pieces of music. To create
something different from the previous albums, the composer set some
guidelines: less Piano sounds, less synthesizers, Moog or Hammond sounds... The
album should have an acoustic, rural, pastoral atmosphere and contain as much
acoustic instruments as he can get and play just as the old instrumental masterpieces
made by Mike Oldfield, like OMMADAWN or TUBULAR BELLS. He asked
me to play all the guitar parts as well as some tracks with electric
bass which I did with lots of fun and true inspiration caused by
this extraordinary composition. The album also features Roland Enders, performing the closing track, a
folk-song written and sung by him.
The album comes with a nice booklet made by
Mathias Klaiber featuring again some pictures of paintings made
by Herbert Wanderer. It can now be ordered worldwide by
Amazon,
Musea
Records or through the
website of The
Healing Road.
Roland Enders & Friends - About
Angst (released 2010)
This Double Concept Album by writer and musician Roland Enders
features a song cycle inspired by one of the Brother Grimm's fairy tale "The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth
to Learn What Fear Was" on which I participated as a singer on three tracks as well as
taking the role of the associate producer.
The album reflects a broad range of different musical styles such as classical music, folk and rock.
The second disc, named "Daydreamer" consists of different songs written by Roland Enders. It's a fantastic album and I
feel very honoured
that Roland has asked me to participate on this great project.
The album comes in a beautifully designed digipack and can still be ordered on Roland Ender's website
"Songs & Stories".
The Haiti Projekt
(released 2010)
Together with some of the world's greatest prog acts like Neal Morse or Roine Stolt
(The Flower Kings) I have donated a special remix of the song "Inside" to this compilation which were produced to help the victims of the earthquake desaster at Haiti in January 2010.
This downloadable album features 40 acts and songs and can be purchased directly through "The Haiti Projekt"
The Healing Road - Tales From The
Dam (released 2009)
This is my third appearance on an album by The Healing Raod aka Hanspeter Hess.
It is called "Tales From The Dam" and it consists of two 20 minutes parts which keep perfectly well the balance between dynamism
and contemplative inspiration. Very diverse rythms, percussion and keyboard sounds, together with a strong, beautiful melodic work can be heard. Together with a bunch of other musicians I have provided bits
with acoustic and electric guitar to this extraordinary composition of Hanspeter
Hess who also did his excellent keyboard work on this record.
The first edition of this album has been released as a Vinyl/CD-Set, the artwork is fantastic and the music is absolutely awesome. The album has earned great reviews worldwide and can still be ordered at various places such as
Musea Records
Amazon
The Healing Road Website
The Healing Road - Timanfaya
(released 2008)
"Timanfaya" is a concept album about
the travels of Hanspeter Hess to the Isle Lanzarote. This
album consist of several instrumental progressive rock tunes
which perfectly representing the colours, the atmosphere and the
mood of this interesting place. I played bass and guitar on some
of the songs and together with a great bunch of other guest musicians
Hanspeter Hess once again proofed his awesome writing and playing
skills. Andy Horn mixed and mastered the album. The painter Herbert
Wanderer provided great paintings for the artwork.
This album has received very good reviews throughout
the prog world and it can still be ordered at
Musea Records
Amazon
The Healing Road Website
The Bearded Project - Hope/Omid
(released 2007)
This
album was a huge efford to do. A lot of fine musicians of the german
Spock's Beard Community produced this big double CD sampler of different
songs in a wide variety of musical styles and they also came
together (personally and through the internet) to record a 40 minute progressive rock epic named "Hope". I
had the honor to produce and mix the track and I also sang, playd guitar,
bass and additional keyboards on this track. Futhermore I have provided
the song "It won't last forever" to this compilation.
All incoming money from the sale of this fine CD has been routed
directly to the "German Aid for Afghan Children".This private organization has founded several so called Peace-Schools in this
crisis region.
To this day over 10,000 Euros have been
collected and we are all very proud of it. The album can still be
purchased, so if you want to do something for a good cause and
listen to good music at the same time, here's the deal.
The album earned great reviews worldwide and is still available at following places:The
Bearded-Project-Website
Musea
Records
The Healing Road - s/t
(released 2006)
Sometimes
you are the witness of something extraordinary. In this case it
was the birth of a very talented artist on CD.
This is the debut album of the artist named Hanspeter Hess, who
one day started his Homercording Project called "The Healing
Road" (named after a book of the famous drummer of the Band
"Rush", Neil Pert). This is his first attempt of writing
and recording his own songs and put it on a CD and what a successful
attempt it was ! The music is just fantastic, very emotional driven
and very well composed and played. I'm proud to sing and play guitar,
bass and additional keys on a track named "Espresso Bar".
It was our first collaboration with more to follow in the upcoming
years.....
This really nice designed
Digipack is still available at Itunes
The
Healing Road - Website
The Lamia - Empires To Dust
(released 1998)
Personally my first appearance on an album
made
by my first progressive rock band "The Lamia". Even
the album is not availalbe anymore
some great memories are connected with the recording of this piece
of music and it was the initial start for me as an recording
artist and ambitious musician. I guess without this album "Projection"
would not exist.The members of Lamia were:
- Katja Bill: Vocals
- Dominik Hüttermann: Keyboards, Synthesizer, Percussion
- Ingo Wolff: Electric and Acoustic Guitars
- Harald Schuster: Electric Bass
- Thommy Frank: Drums, Percussion, Backround Vocals, Guitar
