Blind Guardian

Together with Jon Schaffer - leader and founder of Iced Earth - Kürsch is part of a side project called Demons and Wizards. The Breeders are widely expected to release a new album sometime in late 2005 or early 2006. The single for "And Then There Was Silence," for example, reached #1 in Spain and #7 in Canada, despite its length. In 2004, Warner Music Group announced plans to drop the Breeders from their label following low album sales of "Title TK." The decision came with Warner's plans to drop several other artists as well. Blind Guardian's popularity has continued to grow from an initial following in Europe and Japan to one of the most well-known power metal bands in the world. The Deal sisters recruited new personnel to play several live shows in 2001, and returned to the studio with guitarist Richard Presley, bass player Mando Lopez and drummer Jose Medeles to record the third Breeders studio album "Title TK" with Steve Albini. On several occasions the audience has been known to sing along even to André Olbrich's guitar solos. Rumors of Kim Deal reuniting with the original band continued to circulate in the 90s, although the only material to surface was a cover of "Collage", recorded for The Mod Squad soundtrack.

Considering the already anthemic and singalong quality of their choruses, it is unsurprising that the band's 2003 live album, Live, sounded much like their studio recordings: although the overdubs of vocalist Hansi Kürsch were lost, the live audience reproduced them faithfully and enthusiastically. Getting her life back together, Kelley started the Kelley Deal 6000 and also formed the unlikely Last Hard Men with Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach, ex-Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlain and Jimmy Flemion of The Frogs. This technique, especially notable in the guitar and vocal tracks, creates the impression of a vast army of musicians playing in unison and singing in harmony. In 1995, Kelley Deal was involved in a drug bust, so sister Kim formed the side project The Amps with MacPherson and two others. Blind Guardian's music is characterized by the classic fast guitars and double bass drumming of power metal, but is relatively unique in its use of overdubs to create an extremely dense, "epic" sound. The album spawned the unexpected hit, "Cannonball". The 1998 album Nightfall in Middle-Earth, for example, is a concept album based on Tolkien's The Silmarillion, while the 2002 album A Night at the Opera features a 14-minute song about the Trojan War, titled "And Then There Was Silence." Over the years, a running theme has developed associating the band members with traveling bards. Donelly exited the band for Belly and drummer Jim MacPherson joined in time for Last Splash.

Tolkien and other fantasy authors, as well as traditional legends and epics. By the four-song EP Safari, Deal was out of Pixies and had enlisted her twin sister Kelley to play guitar for the Breeders. R. Deal's influence is obvious, but bassist Josephine Wiggs and Slint drummer Britt Walford (credited here as Shannon Doughton) add to the ensemble sound. R. Their debut release was Pod in 1989, recorded by Steve Albini. From the very beginning, Blind Guardian have been inspired by the fictional worlds of J. After those original bands became more inactive, The Breeders became more important to both artists.

Before calling themselves Blind Guardian, the band released a demo under the name Lucifer's Heritage in 1986. The Breeders are an American rock band, formed in 1988 as a side project between Kim Deal of Pixies and Tanya Donelly of Throwing Muses. Blind Guardian is a power metal/epic metal (more recently) band started in the mid-1980s in Krefeld, Germany. Jim MacPherson - drums. Imaginations Through the Looking Glass (DVD) (2004). Kelley Deal - guitar. Live (2003). Tanya Donelly - guitar.

A Night at the Opera (2002). Josephine Wiggs - bass. Nightfall in Middle-Earth (1998). Kim Deal - guitar. The Forgotten Tales (1996). Imaginations From the Other Side (1995).

Tokyo Tales (1993). Somewhere Far Beyond (1992). Tales from the Twilight World (1990). Follow the Blind (1989).

Battalions of Fear (1988). Lucifer's Heritage (demo) (1986). Oliver Holzwarth - bass (touring member). Thomas "Thomen" Stauch - drums.

Marcus Siepen - guitars. André Olbrich - guitars. Hansi Kürsch - lead singer and (formerly) bass.