Some months ago, when I took guitar lessons from Victor Smolski (the Russian guitarist from Rage, a Progressive Metal band from Germany), I discussed my plans with Victor. Soon after that he set the studio date in the VPS Studios at Hamm/Germany and the right drummer, Dirk Zimmermann. Thanks Victor!

A drummer has to play in a creative way, and Dirk is such a drummer. With his feeling for powerful, but also groovy and interesting rhythms (Dirk, your baby-snare is "big!"), he added a lot of life to the songs.

Charly Czajkowski is the owner of the VPS Studios. In his very atmospheric studio we recorded the drums with Dirk. Charly did also a pre-mix, so we could use his ideas and knowledge at Tritone Studio for the final mixing phase.

After some sessions with different bass players I contacted Sebastian Mereu, a very interesting bass player using various techniques like flageolets or chord tapping. Not in a "fast'n furious" way, because my songs are mostly written in a slow but powerful groove. No, he has the gift to find very catchy bass lines!

Right after the rhythm section was tracked, I started to record the guitars. I recorded all the guitars and bass tracks at Tritone Studio. It was very comfortable there, because I could use the studio (quite - *lol*) whenever I liked.

We decided to put a vocal version of the song "Slaves of Pyramid" on the album. This bonus track is performed by Natali Keller, former singer of the band Queen Of Nile. Dude, if you like female Metal vocals, check out this track! If not, check it out anyway - and you will like it!

Joseph "Joe" Anastacio Glean, the keyboard wizard, contacted me concerning his own album. He asked me to play a short Sonata from  Niccolo Paganini for an upcoming album. And I dit! In return, Joe played some cool solo parts on my album "Electric Storm".

During my researches for an art director who leads and creates the visual things, like album artwork and the new "Sultan of String" logo, I got to know Nathan (Fuzzy) Jon Tillett, a very creative guy!

Fans ask me about the story behind the album name "Electric Storm". Well, look at the album cover - it's an electric guitar in a thunder storm!"

Dan Keller
January 2004