Project Pitchfork

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German dark wave / industrial music group

title: "Project Pitchfork" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["german-electronic-music-groups", "german-rock-music-groups", "german-dark-wave-musical-groups", "musical-groups-from-hamburg", "metropolis-records-artists", "trisol-music-group-artists", "off-beat-label-artists"] description: "German dark wave / industrial music group" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pitchfork" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary German dark wave / industrial music group ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist "]

FieldValue
nameProject Pitchfork
imageprojectpitchfork-blackfieldfestival-2013.jpg
captionProject Pitchfork at the Blackfield Festival 2013
backgroundgroup_or_band
originHamburg, Germany
genre
years_active1989–present
label
spinoffs
website
::

| name = Project Pitchfork | image = projectpitchfork-blackfieldfestival-2013.jpg | caption = Project Pitchfork at the Blackfield Festival 2013 | image_size = | background = group_or_band | alias = | origin = Hamburg, Germany | genre = | years_active = 1989–present | label = | spinoffs = | website = | current_members =

  • Peter Spilles
  • Jürgen Jansen
  • Achim Färber (live drums)
  • Christian "Leo" Leonhardt (live drums) | past_members =
  • Dirk Scheuber
  • Markus Giltjes
  • Yenz Schrader
  • Patricia Nigiani
  • Carsten Klatte

Project Pitchfork are a German dark wave and electronic music group from Hamburg, Germany.

History

First years (1990–1994)

Project Pitchfork were formed by Peter Spilles and Dirk Scheuber. After agreeing to work together, they picked the project's name by choosing a random word from the dictionary. The band gave their first performance in Hamburg in February 1990 and released their demo, K.N.K.A, in August. In May 1991, their debut album Dhyani was released. The band's second album, Lam-'Bras was released in February 1992 and yielded the first vocal appearance of Patrica Nigiani. Six months later, the band's third album, Entities was released. The band switched labels to Off Beat for their 1994 release Io. The album featured two singles, "Renascence" and "Carrion", and marked the first time the band entered the German Charts. The album was followed by a lengthy German tour.

The development years and success (1995–2002)

In 1995, Project Pitchfork established their own label, Candyland Entertainment, through which they would release the majority of their material as well as some side projects and bands such as Philtron and Deep Red. 1995 also saw the release of two EPs, CH'I and Corps d'Amour, and one album, Alpha Omega. The year finished off with a tour supported by Rammstein. The next Project Pitchfork studio album ¡Chakra:Red! was released in 1997. It was the first album since Dhyani to be written as a group effort, rather than by Peter Spilles alone, and the first to include Jürgen Jansen as a permanent band member.

Immediately after their first US tour in 1998, Project Pitchfork returned with concept album Eon:Eon, their first while signed to label EastWest, an imprint of the major label Warner Music. The album yielded three singles, "Steelrose", "Carnival", and "I Live Your Dream". With the support of EastWest, the band had greater resources available to produce videos for their music, which led to their being the first gothic industrial band to receive airplay on music TV in Germany. The video for "Steelrose" earned the band a nomination for an Echo Award for Best Video National.

Between 1998 and 2001 the band built out their own studio which gave them more time to develop their next release. In 2001, the band released their eighth studio album Daimonion and supported the album with a European tour. In 2002 the band released the "NUN" trilogy which consisted of album Inferno and EPs View From a Throne and Trialog. This earned the band another nomination for an Echo Award, this time for Best Alternative Act National.

Recent years (2003–present)

Project Pitchfork returned with album Kaskade in 2005. In February 2009 the band released Dream, Tiresias! which received praise from electronic music magazine, ReGen. In 2010 the band's follow up album Continuum Ride was released along with a video to support the song "Beholder." Continuum Ride was inspired by the band's US tour in 2009, particularly their experience of Detroit, whose dilapidated skyline led to a more "dark and destructive" sound than that of their previous album. By 2011 Project Pitchfork ceased operating their Candyland label, having since begun releasing their work on the Trisol label.

The band released Quantum Mechanics in 2011 as well as a video for the album's second track, "Lament". Later that year the band released a compilation album titled First Anthology. In 2013 the band released their fourteenth studio album, Black, and a music video to accompany the song "Rain". In June 2014, the band announced via their official website a new album titled Blood. To promote the record the band held a pre-release show in Hamburg. The album was released in September and featured a music video for "Blood-Diamond (See Him Running)" edited by Peter Spilles himself.

In 2016, Project Pitchfork released their Second Anthology, a double CD that included one new track, several unreleased rarities, and many re-recorded and remastered tracks. Also in 2016, the band released the album Look Up, I’m Down There to commemorate their 25th anniversary. The album was released in two versions: a standard CD release and a special, limited edition double CD with an 80-page art book containing complete lyrics and a short story by the fantasy author Björn Springorum.

In 2018, the band released the album Akkretion, the first of what was planned to be a trilogy of albums for release that year. On 12 October 2018, the second part of the trilogy, Fragment, was released.

Starting in 2019, Trisol began releasing reissues of all the band's material over the previous decade from Dream, Tiresias! through Look Up, I'm Down There.

On 2 March 2021 the band announced that cofounder and keyboardist Dirk Scheuber had left the band.

In 2024 the band release “Elysium” the third and final act of cosmic electro trilogy that started with “Akkretion”. To support the album release the band will commence a German tour in April 2024 with one date in the UK during May and will play various festivals.

Members

Current lineup

  • Peter Spilles – vocals (1989–present)
  • Jürgen Jansen – keyboards (1996–present)
  • Achim Färber – live drums (1999–present)
  • Christian "Leo" Leonhardt - live drums (1999–present)

Former members

  • Dirk Scheuber – keyboards (1989–2021)
  • Patricia Nigiani – backing vocals, live keyboards (1992–1994)
  • Markus Giltjes – live drums (1995)
  • Yenz Schrader – drums, guitars (1998)
  • Carsten Klatte – live guitars (1999–2011)

Timeline

ImageSize = width:850 height:auto barincrement:30 PlotArea = left:80 bottom:100 top:5 right:5 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1989 till:12/31/2022 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:3 ScaleMajor = increment:3 start:1989 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1990 Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:3

Colors = id:vocals value:red legend:Lead_vocals id:backing value:pink legend:Backing_vocals id:guitar value:green legend:Guitars id:keyboard value:purple legend:Keyboards id:drums value:orange legend:Drums,_percussion id:lines value:black legend:Studio_album id:lines2 value:gray(0.65) legend:Live_album id:bars value:gray(0.92) BackgroundColors = bars:bars

LineData = color:black layer:back at:03/01/1991 at:02/01/1992 at:10/01/1992 at:03/01/1993 at:02/07/1994 at:09/01/1995 at:02/05/1997 at:10/05/1998 at:02/26/2001 at:10/01/2002 at:05/30/2005 at:02/27/2009 at:07/23/2010 at:08/12/2011 at:01/25/2013 at:09/19/2014 at:10/28/2016 at:01/26/2018 at:10/12/2018 color:lines2 layer:back at:03/01/1997 at:11/03/2003

BarData = bar:Spilles text:"Peter Spilles" bar:Scheuber text:"Dirk Scheuber" bar:Nigiani text:"Patricia Nigiani" bar:Giltjes text:"Markus Giltjes" bar:Jansen text:"Jürgen Jansen" bar:Schrader text:"Yenz Schrader" bar:Färber text:"Achim Färber" bar:Klatte text:"Carsten Klatte"

PlotData= width:15

bar:Spilles from:01/01/1989 till:12/31/2022 color:vocals

bar:Scheuber from:01/01/1989 till:12/31/2021 color:keyboard

bar:Jansen from:01/01/1996 till:12/31/2022 color:keyboard

bar:Färber from:01/01/1999 till:12/31/2022 color:drums

bar:Nigiani from:01/01/1992 till:12/31/1994 color:backing bar:Nigiani from:01/01/1992 till:12/31/1994 color:keyboard width:3

bar:Giltjes from:01/01/1995 till:12/31/1995 color:drums

bar:Schrader from:01/01/1998 till:12/31/1998 color:drums bar:Schrader from:01/01/1998 till:12/31/1998 color:guitar width:3

bar:Klatte from:01/01/1999 till:12/31/2011 color:guitar

Discography

Studio albums

  • Dhyani (1991)
  • Lam-'Bras (1992)
  • Entities (1992)
  • IO (1994)
  • Alpha Omega (1995)
  • ¡Chakra:Red! (1997)
  • Eon:Eon (1998)
  • Daimonion (2001)
  • Inferno (2002)
  • Kaskade (2005)
  • Dream, Tiresias! (2009)
  • Continuum Ride (2010)
  • Quantum Mechanics (2011)
  • Black (2013)
  • Blood (2014)
  • Look Up, I'm Down There (2016)
  • Akkretion (2018)
  • Fragment (2018)
  • Elysium (2024)

EPs

  • Precious New World (1991)
  • Psychic Torture (1991)
  • Souls/Island (1993)
  • Little IO (1994)
  • CH'I (1995)
  • Corps D'Amour (1995)
  • Trialog (2002)
  • View From a Throne (2002)
  • Wonderland/One Million Faces (2007)

Live albums

  • Live '97 (1997)
  • Live 2003/2001 (2003)

Singles

  • "Carrion" (1993)
  • "Renascence" (1994)
  • "En Garde!" (1996)
  • "Carnival" (1998)
  • "Steelrose" (1998)
  • "I Live Your Dream" (1999)
  • "Existence" (2001)
  • "Timekiller" (2001) – #19 DAC Top 50 Singles of 2001, Germany
  • "Awakening" (2002)
  • "Schall Und Rauch/The Future Is Now" (2005)
  • "Earth Song" (feat. Sara Noxx) (2008)
  • "Feel!" (2009)
  • "Beholder" (2010)
  • "Lament" (2011)
  • "Rain" (2013)

Compilation albums

  • The Early Years (89–93) (1996)
  • Collector: Lost and Found (2001)
  • NUN Trilogy (2002)
  • Collector: Fireworks & Colorchange (2003)
  • First Anthology (2011)
  • Second Anthology (2016)

Videography

  • Va I Luce (1992)
  • Entities Tour (1993)
  • Glowing Like Io – Live Performance (1994)
  • Alpha Omega – Live (1995)
  • Live '99 (1999)
  • Collector – Adapted for the Screen (2002)
  • Live 2003 (2004)

References

References

  1. (24 August 2013). "Project Pitchfork: What Makes the Timekillers Tick?".
  2. (1996). "Project Pitchfork: Precious New World". Genocide Project.
  3. (5 June 2016). "Project Pitchfork: Great bands can be really great bastards".
  4. (18 September 2015). "Interview: Project Pitchfork".
  5. (16 August 2011). "Project Pitchfork – Twenty years in the making". The Dominion Magazine.
  6. (2 July 2001). "Interview with Jürgen Jansen of Project Pitchfork". College Media, Inc..
  7. "Review :: Project Pitchfork - Dream, Tiresias!".
  8. (23 July 2010). "Interview: Project Pitchfork".
  9. (22 June 2011). "Trisol Presents New Album by Project Pitchfork This Summer".
  10. (21 February 2013). "Project Pitchfork Wears Black".
  11. (21 October 2014). "Peek-a-Boo Presents the New Clip by Project Pitchfork".
  12. (17 April 2016). "Review: Project Pitchfork – Second Anthology".
  13. (19 September 2016). "Project Pitchfork to release new album 'Look up, I'm down there' also as a mega-limited 2CD art book".
  14. (11 December 2017). "Project Pitchfork returns with new album 'Akkretion' – here are the details".
  15. (15 December 2018). "Review: Project Pitchfork – Fragment".
  16. (4 October 2019). "Project Pitchfork continues reissue series with 2 more sets".
  17. (14 May 2020). "Project Pitchfork reissue 'Black' at the end of July on 2 double vinyl (incl. 2CD) sets".
  18. Brandon, Chris. (2021-03-02). "Project Pitchfork and Dirk Scheuber part ways".
  19. (2002). "DAC Top 50 Singles 2001". AMC Alster Musik Consulting GmbH.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

german-electronic-music-groupsgerman-rock-music-groupsgerman-dark-wave-musical-groupsmusical-groups-from-hamburgmetropolis-records-artiststrisol-music-group-artistsoff-beat-label-artists