Thomas P. Heckmann started doing techno-house music
professionally in summer 1991with his first release
EXIT 100 - LIQUID .
After doing all sorts of electronic music since age
eleven - including synthi pop, industrial, ebm, experimental
- he was attracted by the likes of KLF and 808 STATE´s
early stuff, that lead him into the new acid and techno
styles in 1989 .
His first release as EXIT 100- Liquid on the just
started label FORCE INC was a good start into the
then small techno world .
It brought him the respect of a lot of people and
the license on DANIEL MILLERS label MUTE RECORDS in
England, which was single of the month in MELODY MAKER
and reached number 20 in the independend charts in
1992. He also was one of the pioneer producers to
release new acid styles in the likeness of UNDERGROUND
RESISTANCE and +8 in Germany with his other projects
on FORCE INC : AGE and SKYDIVER . Another of his landmark
inspirations for germany !
After producing successfully for FORCE INC until 1993
he released new stuff on LABWORKS records in Germany
under the name SPECTRAL EMOTIONS and on DJAX-UP-BEATS
in Holland as PURPLE PLEJADE . 1993 he launched his
own label TROPE RECORDINGS with his first release
under his most successful project DRAX .
TROPE RECORDINGS invented new styles, new sounds,
new record formats and was soon one of the leading
independend techno labels in Germany and got friends
and big following all over the planet .
1994 saw the birth of another label called ACID FUCKER
UNITE (A.F.U), projected more as an acid-house and
dance-label with his own projects SILENT BREED and
ELECTRO NATION,
which also earned a big following all over the world
!
His first big hit came out in 1994 as DRAX LTD. II
- AMPHETAMINE, that became a world wide crossover
hit and even reached number 20 in the official french
charts .
It is still played all over the world and was influencing
lots of producers - commercial and underground !
Extensive live-touring through America, Australia,
New Zealand, Germany, England,
Switzerland, Austria, France, ... since ´91
made him one of the most respected and most freaked
out live-acts in the world .
Thomas rejoined FORCE INC in 1997 as AGE and released
a 12 inch which was followed by a complete AGE album
in march 1998 ! He also launched a new Label for Electro-Style
music called ELECTROCUTE SOUNDPLATES, with it´s
first release early september 98 .
Winter 98 was the most successful time for SILENT
BREED . The track “SYNC IN”, which was
originally released as A.F.U. 016 one year before,
was picked up as a crossover - tune and became a commercial
hit, reaching even position 83 in the official german
top 100 and reached also position 1 in all german
dance charts . . .
The follow up IN VIVO reached position 103 in the
german charts and also position 1 or 2 in all german
dance charts . SILENT BREED played twice at VIVAs
Clubrotation . SYNC IN changed the commercial scene
- all was getting more techno and harder - in germany
and people still trying to copy it until today !
Though still doing the music he loves and still doing
powerful techno tracks, people are more aware than
ever of thomas´ work, ´cause again he
changed the minds of a lot of people again and showed
them,
that one can do underground music, but can also be
successful without selling out !!!
In the underground field his most rockin´ projects
from 98 - 00 were on FORCE INC. again :
WELT IN SCHERBEN and KNARZ, the later introducing
vocals by Thomas and HECKMANN .
The SÄGEZAHN / SAWTOOTH sound he invented together
with cologne´s Mike Ink was  the”
techno-sound of late 98 !!!
In late 1998 he joined up with Carlos Peron (the founder
of YELLO) and they produced a complete album under
the name TRÜMMERFELD, that´s sadly still
not released .
Thomas produced an album for Wavescape as HECKMANN
called TANZMUSIK,
that got very good reviews in german magazines and
was even awarded record of the month in three of them
! He also started a WAVESCAPE sublabel called - as
if you knew - SUB~WAVE, that is the platform for techno-house
and not so hard techno stuff . The releases by T.P.
Heckmann were picked up very enthusiatic and are picked
up well by DJs from Ibiza to Chicago a.s.o. .
The last Knarz single was released in early september
2000 and is called “Kind der Nacht”,
that again featured the vocals of Thomas and includes
a cover version of Nitzer Ebb´s Join In The
Chant .
The cover version of Join In The Chant was licensed
by Mute in England and
was released in 2001 as a Nitzer Ebb remix 12”
. NITZER EBB VS. THOMAS P. HECKMANN !!!!
In 2001 he re-released one of his main anthems - AMPHETAMINE
-
again, reworked by himself as a final remix version
and to complement his best of tripple CD KOPFGEISTER
1991-2001, that featured most of his famous work and
a full length bonus CD in a very nice Digipack .
The rework was also licensed to Silly Spider/Universal
and is coming out with massive promotion and a very
stylish video before summer this year . After nearly
eight years, it´s still a rocking anthem !
Thomas made loads of remixes in the recent years (see
the discography) and is still doing a remix a month
at least . It seems that even after such a long time
in the music business, he can still impress !
Thomas fusion of EBM, Disco and Techno is his main
sound until today and he keeps up his weekly DJ work
and is playing live on a lot of festivals this year
. He is currently working on his new album, which
is planned for later this year or early next year
. A new Drax twelve inch with brandnew tracks is on
it´s way also !
Besides his techno activities he has just got back
into two other beloved music fields : deep experimental
electronic music and avantgarde .
Watch out for several new remixes for very diverse
artists like Ionic Vision (EBM), Mago (Trip Hop),
DJ Rush and many more...
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