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LONG BLOG ENTRY
Hey everybody,
MIKEY here,
STARQUAKE's Times That Matter will turn 10 in a few days, so I thought I'd give you the background story, IF you're interested ;-)
Times That Matter started out as a follow-up to my first solo release, MIKEY: A Matter of Time—an album I totally self-produced, composed, and recorded. I brought in fellow musicians for drums and various solos. It was nice.
We had a little party celebrating the release of A Matter of Time in July 2010. I was riding high on a wave of: YES, this will bring me success.
Well, it didn’t.
But I took the energy and momentum to start writing some new tunes—putting fragments of ideas together, working on half-finished concepts—and pretty soon I had a nice collection of nine demos, ranging from acoustic ballads to metal to a 21-minute prog epic.
The way I work might seem a little weird, but it works for me: I demo a song, then slowly but surely add the final tracks to the demo—sometimes replacing the original instruments, sometimes adding to them, keeping the sloppy demo performance for color, mixed in quietly in the final version.
The song Times That Matter was based on an idea my longtime friend Wolfgang had.
He’d noticed that I often wrote songs clearly inspired by older tunes. So he suggested a little wordplay—continuing the previous album title A Matter of Time to Times That Matter, and giving the song a bit of a Nothing Else Matters vibe. Done.
Here I Go Again has nothing to do with the Whitesnake song of the same name—it was inspired by what a friend of mine told me about his relationship issues.
Yes, I know, No More Hate is basically an Iron Maiden rip-off—but hey, I like to see it as a tribute.
Fairytale is me trying to write a mini prog epic—soundscapes, moods, and all.
And then there's the 21-minute prog epic Rise and Fall—the song where I threw in the proverbial everything and the kitchen sink. Everything that didn’t find a home or needed a new one—like the little polka section that had originally been composed for my German party and Oktoberfest band years prior.
Part autobiographical, part fiction, I wanted to create my own Healing Colors of Sound, an epic by one of my favorite bands, Spock’s Beard.
I’m Goin’ Mad (You Comin’?) has a touch of Gentle Giant and Frank Zappa—that influence reached me through Spock’s Beard (particularly their songs Thoughts, Gibberish, Thoughts Pt. II).
Sidenote: the aforementioned Wolfgang is responsible for turning me on to SB—and so much more.
He had also designed the artwork for A Matter of Time, so of course I asked him to create a Times That Matter cover as well. I did a little update to it, and it’s now the cover for the 10th Anniversary Edition.
After recording these nine songs, I mixed the album myself and started sending out demo CDs to record labels, sure I had something great here. The big record deal was just around the corner—or so I thought.
Reality was: nothing happened... crickets.
Let me take you on a little excursion—a side trip, if you will.
In 2000, my friend Wolfgang and I made a little road trip to see every Spock’s Beard show in Germany on their then-current tour. We made friends with the band and crew, and I had the idea to become a crew member myself.
I had noticed SB had their own FOH sound engineer (the great Rob Aubrey) who mixes the sound for the audience, but they didn't have their own monitor guy—the engineer who mixes the sound for the stage monitors so the musicians can perfectly hear themselves play.
Long story short: I got the job. In June 2001, I went on tour with my favorite band, Spock’s Beard. Two weeks across Europe—and funnily, when I was in the States with the Oktoberfest band that July, I had a few days off, visited SB, and was put to work at the mixing desk there too.
After the show in Milwaukee, WI, Neal asked me if I’d like to come on tour again that November with his other band project, Transatlantic.
Of course I did. Are you kidding me?
Yep, I kinda had my 15 minutes of touch-to-fame.
In May 2010, Transatlantic was on tour in Germany again. Of course, I attended a concert—and got to meet Rich Mouser (mixing FOH), who had been mixing all the SB albums since 1997, plus all the Transatlantic records. I really loved his sound. He sure has golden ears.
So here we circle back to Times That Matter, because that’s how Rich got involved with STARQUAKE. I asked him to mix my wonderful nine songs—and he agreed.
Now, with GREAT sounding mixes for my songs, I had an album that would no doubt get me that record deal.
Not so fast, young fella. Not so fast.
I had everything done and ready for release just in time for my fortieth birthday in 2012. Now THAT would have been nice.
Unfortunately... crickets... again.
Nothing happened.
In 2014, I decided to send out one last batch of demo CDs to some smaller labels. If that didn’t amount to anything, I’d self-release... again.
Then we went on a family vacation in Italy.
One August afternoon while there, I checked my email and found someone showing interest in my music. I don’t remember exactly if we talked on the phone while I was still in Italy, but I sure remember the offer:
It was either: let’s release this album as-is and just see what happens, OR add two more rocking songs to the existing nine and get a real label deal.
OK. I was always playing around with new song ideas, had some promising fragments on my hard drive, so I finished two more songs and tried to match the sound of the first nine as closely as possible with my mixes.
Stefan—the guy from the label I’d been talking to—changed one of the song titles, made me think of a good band name, and established contact with famous artist Rodney Matthews for the cover artwork.
On May 29th, 2015, Times That Matter was finally released through Pure Steel Records.
And now, ten years later, you get a special Anniversary Edition—with the first nine tracks in the running order I had originally planned, the two extra songs tagged on as #10 and #11, alternate artwork, and some bonus tracks.
I hope you’ll enjoy this new-old album - coming soon
THANX
MIKEY
BLOG ENTRY
2025 marks the 10th anniversary of STARQUAKE's first albumTimes That Matter
thus 2025 also kinda marks the 10th anniversary of STARQUAKE
we'll be celebrating this ;-)
details coming soon..... stay tuned....
BLOG ENTRY
hey, somehow the new album is NOT coming along as smoothly as we thought
MIKEY decided to release some singles instead
you can find all our music on spotify
yeah, we know, not everybody likes spotify, but hey.... ;-)
back to work
hey
after months and months of slowly rebuilding SQHQ (after we had a little flood in the basement),
we're now finally back to making music ;-)
still aiming for a release date early next year
for the new album "The Fifth Quadrant"
slowly but surely rebuilding studiostuff
stay tuned
BLOG ENTRY
so with 2023 in the can, it’s time for a little recap and and a little outlook on the future…
2023 saw the release of „At The Circus“, and it seems quite many of you liked it,
thousands of streams and YouTube views attest to that,
so THANK YOU!
2024 already saw the release of „A Collection of STARQUAKE Rarities“, non-physical only,
so NO CD, no vinyl, no cassette tape, only digital streams n files,
we’ll see how that’s going to take shape ;-)
also, we’re already working on new material for a new release,
not sure whether it’s gonna be called an album or an EP,
it’s going to be 5 (or maybe 4, depending on how you look at it) songs,
it’s going to be the 5th (or maybe 4th, depending on how you look at it) album by STARQUAKE,
and the dialectic of 4 vs 5 will be represented in the title as well:
The Fifth Quadrant is the Fifth SQ album, IF you’re counting
the remaster of MIKEY’s A Matter of Time album as a SQ album,
OR IF you’re counting the Rarites Collection as a SQ album,
a point can be made for both of them ;-)
anyway, The Fifth Quadrant will be counted as SQ5 ;-)
and we’ll try to have it ready for release in 2025 (more reason to be calling it SQ5) ;-)
demos for SQ5 are almost done, stuff might still change a little, but not too much.
rough ideas for more following albums are slowly shaping up as well,
so MAYBE we’ll be able to give you SQ6 as early as 2026 (no promise though) ;-)
stay tuned for updates ;-)
HERE IT IS
another great ranking
click to see the complete Top 100 of 2023 @ ProgRadio
we're Top 10
click to check out the video @ The Prog Corner
new album A Collection of STARQUAKE Rarities
coming to bandcamp, January 5, 2024
we're currently re-working this website
NEW ALBUM coming early next year
"old" album STARQUAKE AT THE CIRCUS still available ;-)
there's a wonderful German review click here
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FROM THE ARCHIVE...
here's a list of nice reviews we've received for
At The Circus PLUS some interviews we did
sorry, most of it is NOT in English
REVIEWS:
New Wave of British Heavy Metal (EN)
INTERVIEWS:
Rock Castle Franken (DE)
and you can click on this here pic 
to find a review from Rock It! magazine (DE)
some more FROM THE ARCHIVE:
What is STARQUAKE?
What is Neo70sRock?
Starquake is a name given to MIKEY’s studio project for the release of the „Times that matter“ album.
After MIKEY’s first solo album A matter of time (2010), that went mostly unnoticed, MIKEY went back to the studio and wrote some more songs.
By 2012 9 tracks were done, completed, mixed and mastered by the great Rich Mouser, known for his work on Spock’s Beard and Transatlantic albums among others, who MIKEY had met on a TA tour.
With an album ready for release MIKEY started looking for a label.
Many CDs and emails were sent out, replies were few, with rejections aplenty.
After two years a reply was received from Stefan @ PureSteel Records, an underground label in Germany.
Stefan suggested MIKEY record two additional songs, offering a 5 year, worldwide record deal.
Of course a bandname had to be found for the project, so after some brainstorming Stefan and MIKEY came up with Starquake, a name that reflects the power of an earthquake and the mystique of the stars and space alike.
Stefan also managed to get Rodney Matthews (known for Asia, Magnum, Diamond Head, Nazareth and others’ album art) to allow one of his paintings to be used as album art.
Times That Matter was released May 29, 2015
Neo 70s Rock is a style of music basically invented by MIKEY. Deeply routed in Classic Rock from the 70s, with love for Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Uriah Heep, the kind of music that MIKEY has been playing with BOXHEAD for many years. With great admiration for the amazing variety of rock found in the music of Queen, the heavy yet melodic style of IRON MAIDEN’s NWOBHM, Starquake's music is seasoned with a little prog rock, that MIKEY soaked up listening to The Beatles (yes, they were one of the first prog-ressive bands), Genesis, and most notably Spock’s Beard and, a little later, Gentle Giant. Thus creating a mix of heavy guitars, huge drums and sophisticated vocals, with quite some Hammond Organ, Mellotron and great arrangements, to take you on an impressive journey through the 70s and 80s with the modern sound of today.
"Weed for the Ears"
German Rock Hard magazine review for TIME SPACE MATTER
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ABOUT THE ALBUMS:
Times That Matter (2015)
11 cool tracks, short sweet ballads, heavy rockers, and a 21 minute epic
special guests on Times That Matter:
Sandra Wenzel: additional vocals
Jan "Donkey" van Meerendonk: all drums
Alex Kugler: guitars and solos
Andi Pernpeintner: Hammond solos
Michael "Wopsi" Wopshall: guitars and solos
Joe Wagner: guitars and solos
Corinna Reif: violin
TIME SPACE MATTER (2019)
Concludes the trilogy that was started with MIKEY's solo album A Matter of Time.
a crazy trip, more extravagant than before, with stops in Dallas, in church, in the year 1581, raging about cancer, travelling through time, space and matter.
band on TIME SPACE MATTER:
Jan "Donkey" van Meerendonk: drums
Alex Kugler: many lead, rhythm and solo guitars
Andi Pernpeintner: Hammond and piano
special guests on TIME SPACE MATTER:
Corinna Reif: violin
Sibylle Rupprecht: flute
Cleff Amend: trumpet
Joe Wagner: guitar solos on trax 2 and 3
very special guest:
Soulman as JFK on track 3
At the Circus (2023)
The album that almost didn't get released
and it doesn't really have much to do with the COVID pandemic
if you want to know details ask MIKEY ;-)
At the Circus is a loose concept album,
MIKEY was aiming very high,
like reaching for the stars, trying to write Sgt Pepper meets A Night at the Opera,
of course an undertaking like this is bound to fail, BUT
even though these masterpieces will never be reached, on your way there you create something very special,
an album with reoccurring themes, beautiful melodies n catchy hooks
arguably the best STARQUAKE album so far (yeah, they always say that) ;-)
CIRCUS artists:
MIKEY - all vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards n stuff except:
Jan „Donkey“ van Meerendonk - drums
Andi Pernpeintner - Hammond on 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 13, 17 - Hammond solo on 12, 13, 17
Joe Wagner - guitar solo on 3, 5, 7, 10, 12, 13, 14,15, 17
Alex Kugler - guitar solo on 2, 5, 7,12, 13, 14, 17 - harp on 10
Reinhold „Oki“ Okon - vocals on 4
Gaby Weihmayer - duett vocals on 7
Michael Ocker - vocals on 12
Niklas Rölz - oboe on 4, 14
Martin Treppesch - bass and baritone guitars on 3
Jochen Schertel - guitar solo on 9
Florian Ebner - guitar solo on 15
string quartet on 6 and 17:
Versilian Studio Chamber Orchestra
arranged n conducted by MIKEY
CD artwork photos of the German Reichstagsgebäude by Jörg Braukmann (front, reworked inside) and Diego Delso (delso.photo)(back)
(taken from Wiki under CC)
A Collection of Starquake Rarities (2024)
15 nice tracks,
some rare, some previously unreleased, some edited versions, some NEW stuff
...and all STARQUAKE albums are dedicated to the loving memory of Martino Wenzel
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2022 recap
so 2022,
what a crazy year,
and that’s not only due to the COVID pandemic.
It started out quite good when the first CD master was done in February, and we really liked it.
We started promoting the album in the hopes it would be released very soon.
Unfortunately the record label had suffered a little those last few years, again not ONLY due to COVID, but we won’t go into details.
So the project was kind of put on hold.
February till May saw MIKEY working on a remix and remaster project for German band Major Knockout.
In June MIKEY had a minor health set-back, he suffered a double-pierced arm, when misstepping while setting up for a gig.
For the month of July MIKEY was knocked out almost completely by another health issue,
again, details shall remain untold,
if you really want to know ask MIKEY.
When on holiday in Italy in August, not only was MIKEYs wallet stolen, he also contracted that friggin virus.
Towards the end of the year talks with the label were picked up again, we talked about releasing Starquake At The Circus.
Label wanted to go in a slightly different direction, Starquake said OK, but we’d need some kind of amendment to the original deal,
label came up with a totally new contract that MIKEY after a lot of consideration just could not sign.
So we came to the conclusion we’d go our separate ways from 2023 onward.
So here we are, with a lot of music coming out in 2023, hoping you’ll love it as much as we do.
THANX for your continued support,
rock on,
MIKEY (Starquake)
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