Long Biography Until 1997

Gamma Ray begins with Helloween. In the early eighties, Kai Hansen and three friends,Markus Grosskopf, Piet Sielck, and Ingo Schwichtenberg, started a band named Gentry. Sielck soon left to engineer and produce many albums for various European Heavy Metal bands. Needing to fill the void, Gentry joined forces with a guitarist from Powerfool, a certain Michael Weikath. After joking around that "you could only have Halloween once a year but you could have 'Helloween' all the time" Ingo and Marcus gave birth to the name that would change the face of metal forever.With Hansen on vocals Helloween released the Helloween EP, Walls of Jericho, and the Judas EP in 1985. However, Kai found it too difficult to sing and play guitar together. For the remainder of their tours they enlisted the aid of vocalist Ralf Scheepers. At the conclusion of the tour, Ralf declined a permanent position in the band as he was committed to his own project, Tyran Pace. Still looking for a vocalist, Weikath recruited an 18-year-old prodigy. His name was Michael Kiske. In 1987 and 1988, these five men released two of the most acclaimed Heavy Metal albums of all time, Keeper of the Seven Keys Part I & II. They revolutionized the face of European Power Metal and secured their place in metal posterity with their quirky and melodic yet extremely aggressive style of music. However, in late '88, a rift developed in the band. The attitude of the band and atmosphere around it became progressively worse. With most of the hostility being directed at him, Hansen decided to leave the band he helped create. After quitting in January '89, Kai helped Blind Guardian with their albums Follow the Blind and Tales From The Twilight World. He helped compose music, played guitar for several tracks, and even made guest vocalist appearances. All the while he was looking for musicians for his own solo project. Kai soon met up with Ralf Scheepers again, and convinced him to leave Tyran Pace and become the vocalist for his project. Uwe Wessel (bass) and Mathias Burchardt (drums) also signed on. With these three and countless other musicians (most notably, Piet Sielck and Dirk Schlachter) Hansen recorded his first solo album. Originally, Hansen had never intended to start a new band, only a solo project that he and Scheepers were the members of. However, the recording process was so relaxed and smooth that Hansen decided to keep these musicians and form a new band. Heading For Tomorrow was released on February 19, 1990 and hailed as one of the best albums of the year. Hansen originally did not want to tour to support the album. However, he eventually changed his mind and recruited two new members. Dirk Schlachter, who played bass for several songs on Heading was a friend of Hansen's from college. Changing his instrument of choice, Dirk became Gamma Ray's second axeman. Uli Kusch (ex-Holy Moses) replaced Mathias, who left the band in order to concentrate more on his studies. The new line-up released the Heaven Can Wait EP in September '90, just as they began their first Asian tour. With the Asian tour a resounding success, Gamma Ray went to Denmark in February '91 to begin recording their next studio album. Ironically, the Gulf War began a month prior to that, on Hansen's birthday no less! Such a gift set a very morbid atmosphere for the material on the second album. The band was struck deeply by the war, Kai particularly. As a result, the fivesome released Sigh No More in September '91. A dark and brooding album, it reflects the uncharacteristic pessimism of Gamma Ray during that time. Shortly after they finished the Sigh No More tour, problems arose in the band. Uli and Uwe decided to leave Gamma Ray because of unreconcilable differences. Uli immediately joined up with Helloween, succeeding Ingo Schwichtenberg. Having lost his rhythm section, Kai needed to find a new one. He tapped the German band Anesthesia and found Jan Rubach (bass) and Thomas Nack (drums). The reformed Gamma Ray built their own studio in Hamburg (the infamous Hansen Studios) and set about recording their third album. On February 2, 1993 Gamma Ray began a small tour with Manowar. A few months later, in June '93, Insanity & Genius was released. With a harder and more aggressive sound, the strange variety of songs support the album title well. Soon after, Hansen & Co. began the Melodic Metal Strikes Back tour with Rage, Conception, and Helicon. However, in 1994, the band made more changes in their line-up. Long time vocalist Ralf Scheepers was released from the band. Hansen took over the vocalist position in addition to playing guitar. Problems had arose earlier that led to Ralf's departure from the band. Scheepers lived almost 700 kilometers away from Gamma Ray's base in Hamburg and was reluctant to relocate to a closer dwelling. This situation made it extremely hard for the band to compose and rehearse music. Additionally, at that time, Rob Halford had left Judas Priest and the band was auditioning for a replacement. Ralf, a long-time Priest fan, made it clear he would leave Gamma Ray if given the opportunity to sing for Priest. The lack of substantial commitment eventually came to an end when Ralf and the rest decided it would be better if they parted ways. Ralf did not get the Priest position and has subsequently formed his own band, Primal Fear. In May '95 Land of the Free was released and hailed as one of the best albums of the year and even of all time. Hansen made his spectacular return to vocals, sounding better than ever. Fans all over the world have raved about the feeling evident in the songs now, and one can't help but notice a certain level of cohesiveness in the album. The album featured a slew of guest vocalists, most notably Hansi Kursch (Blind Guardian) on Farewell and Michael Kiske (ex-Helloween) on Time To Break Free. The last track Afterlife was dedicated to Ingo Schwitchenberg who committed suicide March 8, 1995 after battling immense personal problems (Rest in peace Ingo). Following the release of the album a year long tour ensued, ending in Nov '96. During breaks in the tour, Hansen found time to work with Adrian Smith (ex-Iron Maiden) and Michael Kiske on Kiske's solo project Instant Clarity. Kai shared guitar duties with Smith on a few tracks and even helped compose one song (New Horizons). The first half of 1996 saw a lot of new offerings from the band. In February '96, Gamma Ray released Silent Miracles, a beautiful but decidedly different EP from previous releases. It featured four ballads, including A While In Dreamland. Composed in a bar late one night by Kai and Dirk, it is an extraordinary composition featuring Hansen's voice with Schlachter's piano. Most fans agree it is Hansen's most stunning vocal performance to date. In April, Gamma Ray released their first official live album, Alive 95. And during the summer, Gamma Ray recorded two songs for the two volumes of the Judas Priest Tribute. By themselves, the band did Victim of Changes and with Ralf Scheepers, Gamma Ray covered Exciter. Despite the collaborations with Scheepers and Kiske in '95 and '96, Gamma Ray has made it very clear neither man will be joining and Hansen will remain on vocals. But more changes rocked the band in the second half of '96. Dirk had been a bass player before joining Gamma Ray and wished to return to his most loved instrument. Discussions took place between the members of the band about the possibility of moving Jan Rubach to the guitar and letting Dirk take over on the bass. To make the matters more complicated, Jan and Thomas were beginning to grow tired of Melodic Metal. Their last band, Anesthesia, played more of a thrash/punk style and that was what Rubach and Nack loved to play. Rubach decided to leave the band and rejoin his former band. The timing could not have been worse for Gamma Ray was scheduled to start a Spain tour in September. Although Dirk would play bass, Gamma Ray still needed another guitarist. Hansen enlisted the aid of Henjo Richter. But Thomas had been friends with Jan a long time prior to Gamma Ray and he did not want to break up their team. He informed Kai and Dirk he would finish the Spain Tour but then would leave the band. While Hansen was writing material for Gamma Ray's next album and looking for new members, he found time to work with Piet Sielck's Iron Savior project. Playing guitar and occassionally singing vocals, Hansen was an integral part of the band. Iron Savior plays straight power metal, sounding a lot like Helloween's classic Walls of Jericho. Hansen and Schlachter began writing new material for the next album in late '96 while looking for new members. Kai met Henjo through a singer who wanted to be the new vocalist for Gamma Ray. Although Kai told the vocalist that they were not looking for one, he still became friends with him. He became acquainted with his band as well, including a certain guitarist named Henjo Richter. Impressed with his playing, Hansen signed him on to play guitar for the Spain Tour. After doing a phenomenal job filling in, Hansen asked him to write a few songs to see how well his style would fit with Gamma Ray's. Needless to say, he passed with flying colors. Hansen himself has said that Henjo "writes more typical Gamma Ray material than myself!" To fill the empty drummer position Dirk suggested a young musician named Daniel Zimmermann, from the band Lancer. Kai and Dirk had produced an album for Dan's band and Schlachter remembered his incredible talent. With the team reassembled, Gamma Ray concentrated on finishing the new album. The band ad the incredible task of not only topping a highly regarded album (Land of the Free) but incorporating two new members into the band. These four rose to the challenge. In May '97, they released the Valley of the Kings EP to raving fan reaction and followed it up with the full LP, Somewhere Out In Space in September. Hansen & Co. had done the impossible; they followed a modern classic with another modern classic. With an edgier feel and the incredible melodic contributions of Henjo Richter (The Guardians of Mankind and The Winged Horse) this album is considered by most fans to be Gamma Ray's best to date.