Totentanz:

In 1993, there were two young, soaring bands. One operated so deeply in the underground that it didn't even have a name and they'd been searching for a suitable bassist for some time. The other, whose name was Acacia, after the departure of two members, was searching for a new singer and second guitarist. So it turned out that these two bands borrowed the missing members from one another and as these varied line-ups practiced it became apparent that four certain members were best suited to play together.

These were Thomas Buran (vocals) and Michael Tröstl (guitar) from the unnamed band, as well as Michael Kellermann (bass) and Julian Sotirov (drums), from ex-Acacia. At first they had no name but already songs such as "Die Hölle" (aka: "Infierno"), "Träume", "Die Verlierer", and others originated which are still heard to this day at Totentanz concerts. After awhile the four decided to search for a keyboardist and in the spring of 1996 Georg Plank joined the band. Straight away keyboard passages were added to the old works and with the new sound they also came up with a name... Cabale.

A short time later, Cabale got down to the business of recording their demo-CD which included the tracks "Flammen der Dunkelheit", Schwarze Wunden", "Ein letztes Mal", "Seelenwinter" and "Die Hölle". At that time the musical differences between the singer and the rest of the band became painfully obvious and, shortly after the completion of the CD, they parted ways.

The singer-less epoch didn't last long, though, because shortly thereafter the four remaining members found a comrade in arms with Harald Hinterbuchinger. After a settling in period, an organization for their first appearance was quickly decided upon and they got booked to play the Zugabe (a club, I guess). Also, in order to award and outwardly express the band's change in structure they gave themselves a new name... Totentanz.

In record time a two hour program was rehearsed and flyers were designed, printed and distributed. On Oct. 26, 1996, it was time - Totentanz gave their first concert. Further appearances occurred at fairly regular intervals, at various locations, sometimes together with other bands.

In the spring of 1998, the band entered the studio for 2 days to record "Vergraben", ""Die Verlierer", "Totentanz" and "Der Schwarze Vogel" for their first CD which was released in the fall of that same year.

A small highpoint of these early stage performances occurred in 1999, when Totentanz played support for Deine Lakaien at Planet Music in Austria.

In January, 2001, their drummer, Julian, left the band - a completely unexpected event which would change the band's sound dramatically. Instead of looking for a replacement drummer the four remaining Totentänzer decided to continue as a quartet. Using a drum computer and sequencer many of the old Totentanz songs received a new musical makeover. The band also used these new possibilities to give their songwriting and arrangements new paths to pursue without compromising their roots.

Scarely three months later, in April, 2001, the band played support for Goethes Erben and was able to present their new sound for the first time.

After that things were a bit quiet for the band. Their next return to the stage was in the fall of 2003 and it was their first full length concert as a quartet. As a small compensation for the two year long wait, everyone who attended the "return concert" received a limited edition promo-CD with the songs "Nackte Nadeln" and "Selbst mit Leid".

On Totensonntag (The Sunday before Advent, where the dead are commemorated) of 2004, Totentanz played for the first time in Aera (another club, I think..) and there presented their new program, "Der eisige Herbstwind schmettert..." which was a compilation of old, revitalized songs as well as completely new ones such as "Meine Sonne" and "Nur für Dich".

It became clear that the upcoming 10th year anniversary (in 2006) would not be without changes in the band. In 2005, keyboardist and the man behind everything technical, Georg, left the band. So their 10th year anniversary began with them asking themselves if they could continue with just three members and if so, how that could be done...

The three still wanted to play together. A Totentanz trio was conceivable for future performances but they wouldn't be like previous shows. So they decided to keep the fourth position open and when the time comes, a new keyboardist will be announced.

After some thought and breathing space, the band has been working further on their CD project since the beginning of 2006 and are hoping to find an interested audience to present it to at a CD Release concert when it's completed. -Mikki 11/06

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