19.06.1983 my first gig with the band
"Sioux" was a 3-man band (guitar, bass, and drums) that could not be pigeonholed. Funk, rock, latin, they sometimes played all together in one title. Three absolute virtuosi and unconventional musical characters who back then played more than 100 Gigs per year.
Special challenges / difficulties:
The very high musical standard of the band set the bar pretty high and cheered me on at the same time. The big number of appearances throughout Germany and the neighboring countries offered me the possibility to collect a lot of experience.
In June, 1983, working for the PA-company "Stamer", I was responsible for the realization of an open air festival at the castle ruin "Burg Lichtenberg" near Kusel. One of the Top-Acts that year was the band "Sioux".
After the gig the band members came up to me and asked me whether I could imagine going on tour with them. I decided to do so. Starting in January 1984 I went on tour with them for almost exactly 2 years. In this very special musical sphere, far away from commercial ambitions,
I found an unusually big freedom to influence the creative process in these musical events. It was time for to take the final step into the "business". I decided to make a career of professional work in sound-reinforcement and creative handling of the medium "sound". My experiences with "Sioux" covered a range from small club gig up to Open air festivals with far more than 30 000 spectators. The creative scope for development I was given in the cooperation with the band was a very important point: having the chance to use the mixing board and the entire periphery for the sound design. Now I was heading into the right direction. The way I had wanted to develop from someone who was just technically handling all the devices to someone who used all this equipment as creative tools in the musical process. I also had to register now as a self-employed artist with the tax office. As a job description I did not chosse "sound engineer", because that emphasized too much the technical side. But I created a new job title: "musicdesigner"
Since then I have been working as a freelance artist - one musician among others my main instrument being the mixing board.
Line up:
- Alf Schneider, Schlagzeug
- Rolf Dieter Schnapka, Bass
- Tommy Westrich, Gitarre
