Barish Kepic

I started playing guitar at the age of 15. A friend gave me his old nylon-string acoustic and showed me some chords.
 
One year later I got my first electric guitar and started playing to records from Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Kiss, Van Halen, Judas Priest, Ozzy, ect.
 
At the same time I joined my first Band. The other guys where 4-5 years older than me. It was a great learning process with writing songs and playing live. I was totally into hard rock/ heavy metal and loved this Rock ‘N’ Roll “lifestyle”. Of course, I still do. Yes! I've sold my soul to R ‘N’ R...;=))
 
A few years later I formed my own Band „ACEZ“ (well, I never liked this band name really, but the 4 big letters where always an eye catcher on posters and flyers ;-) back in 1992. But we weren't really satisfied with the lead singer and couldn't find the right person in Germany. So I decided to go to L.A. and stay there for a few weeks and look for a front man with the right voice and attitude.
 
Finally our choice fell on Ex-Fortress/Mesheen lead singer Ted Michael Heath. He seemed to be the right guy, and we started writing new songs and recording demos. After a few months he came to Germany and we played a little tour as opening band for different headliners, and recorded a new demo.
 
We got some offers from labels, but all in all we weren't really happy with the whole situation and the band split up in 1996.
 
Two years later I joined JADED HEART. To be honest: somehow in the beginning musically this band wasn't the right thing for me, 'cause I came from a heavier background. But the great friendship inside the band made me stay for almost 8 years. Anyway, after I joined, Michael Bormann and I „overworked“ some of the „ACEZ“-songs, and many of them were released on the JADED HEART albums.
 
In late 2002 I started writing and recording songs for a solo-project. When I began writing, I didn't have any concrete plans, when this material would be produced and released. I just wrote 11 songs and recorded them as demo versions. After that we started working on the next JADED HEART Album &Trust& which
 
has been released in early 2004.
 
Later, the same year we parted ways with our singer and songwriter Michael Bormann. We replaced him with Johan Fahlberg and started making plans for the next Album. In between the singer change, I wrote and arranged some songs for the FARO cd &Angelost&(released in January 2006 on MTM), and recorded all the guitars in my home studio. I always wanted to do an album with my longtime friend Chity Somapala, and this was just the right time for it.
 
As soon as the work on the FARO cd was finished, I focused on JADED HEART again. The new Singer was there and we needed new material. So I decided to offer the songs of my solo-project.
 
Actually about 80% of the music on &Helluva Time& was originally written for my solo album. The only reason why I didn't use all of the lyrics too, was new member Johan Fahlberg.
 
My intention was to make him feel &real& integrated in the band and therefore he &got the job& of writing new lyrics for almost all of the songs.
 
Unfortunately, the idea for the future of JADED HEART between the rest of the guys and me was too different, and a few months after the release of &Helluva Time& I decided to leave the Band. That was definitely the right decision and I'm looking forward to new things and challenges out there. YEAH!...let's boogie ;-)