Bassinvaders (also known as Markus Grosskopf's Bassinvaders) is the

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

-focused side project of

Helloween Helloween is a German power metal band founded in 1984 in Hamburg by members of bands Iron Fist, Gentry, Second Hell and Powerfool. Its first lineup consisted of singer and guitarist Kai Hansen, bassist Markus Grosskopf, guitarist Michael Weik ...

bassist

Markus Grosskopf Markus Grosskopf (born 21 September 1965) is a German musician who is the bass guitarist, backing vocalist and a founding member of the power metal band Helloween. Biography Grosskopf started playing bass at the age of 15 when he became friend ...

. The project is a unique heavy metal experiment which features only the bass guitar and does not include any conventional six-string electric or acoustic guitars. The project focuses on the bass guitar showcasing lead solo bass guitar, rhythm bass guitar and actual bass guitar along with accompanying drums. The original project line-up consists of only Grosskopf himself, although many guest bassists, vocalists and drummers are featured in the debut album of the project.

History

The side project was created and in the actual line up only features

, most notably the bass player for German

power metal Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in contra ...

band

and also a bassist for

Tobias Sammet Tobias Sammet (born 21 November 1977) is a German musician, singer, songwriter, music producer and radio host best known for being the singer and primary songwriter of the power metal band Edguy, and the founder of the metal opera project Avant ...

symphonic metal Symphonic metal is a cross-generic style designation for the symphonic subsets of heavy metal music subgenres. It is used to denote any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements. The style features the heavy drums and guitar ...

project

Avantasia Avantasia is a German supergroup metal opera project created by Tobias Sammet, vocalist of the band Edguy. It has been characterized as a rock opera, as it features the contributions of various vocalists and musicians and it consists of concept ...

and

classic rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, primar ...

group Kickhunter. While he was sitting in the bar and drinking, Grosskopf was inspired to create a bass guitar based band, which would feature no guitars at all, and instead will focus on the bass, and will feature a lead solo bass guitar, a rhythm bass guitar, and an actual bass guitar to play the bass parts, along with accompanying drums, and vocals. He came to

Frontier Records Frontier Records is an independent record label, started in 1980 in Sun Valley, Los Angeles by Lisa Fancher, a former employee of Bomp! Records and writer of the liner notes for the first album by The Runaways. History Frontier Records first ...

with the idea in the beginning of 2007 and presented the concept to them. The record label was immediately intrigued and gave it a go. For the project, Grosskopf invited some well-known singing bass players from the German heavy metal scene to join him and record with him. Those are

Tom Angelripper Thomas Such (born 19 February 1963), better known by his stage name Tom Angelripper, is a German musician best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, main songwriter, and the only original remaining member of German thrash metal band Sodom. Biog ...

( Sodom),

Peavy Wagner Peter "Peavy" Wagner (born 22 December 1964) is a German heavy metal musician best known as the lead singer, bassist and main songwriter of Rage. Biography Wagner was born in Herne, North Rhine-Westphalia, the second of four children. Hi ...

( Rage) and

Marcel Schirmer Destruction is a German thrash metal band formed in 1982. They are often credited as one of the "Big Four" of the German thrash metal scene, the others being Kreator, Sodom and Tankard. In addition to helping pioneer black metal by containing ...

(

Destruction Destruction may refer to: Concepts * Destruktion, a term from the philosophy of Martin Heidegger * Destructive narcissism, a pathological form of narcissism * Self-destructive behaviour, a widely used phrase that ''conceptualises'' certain kind ...

). To push the project ever further and add to the variety of the record, Markus invited some of his bass heroes to play solos on the record. He expected to get a response from two or three musicians, while ended up more than a dozen people to have a solo appearance on the record. Those include

Billy Sheehan William Sheehan (born March 19, 1953) is an American musician. He is best known for playing the bass guitar with acts such as Talas, Steve Vai, David Lee Roth, Mr. Big, Niacin, and The Winery Dogs. He is also known for his "lead bass" playing ...

Rudy Sarzo Rodolfo Maximiliano Sarzo Lavieille Grande Ruiz Payret y Chaumont (born November 18, 1950) is a Cuban American hard rock/ heavy metal bassist. He remains best known for his work with Quiet Riot, Ozzy Osbourne, and Whitesnake, and has also played ...

and

Lee Rocker Lee Rocker (born Leon Drucker, August 3, 1961) is an American musician. He is a member of the rockabilly revival band Stray Cats. He is the son of the classical clarinetists Stanley Drucker, the late former principal clarinetist of the New Yor ...

. The band's first studio album, ''

Hellbassbeaters ''Hellbassbeaters'' is the debut album by Helloween bassist Markus Grosskopf's bass guitar-based heavy metal side project Bassinvaders. The album was released on 25 January 2008 in Germany. The album is a distinctive piece of experimental mus ...

'', was released on 25 January 2008.

Band members

— bass guitar, upright bass (2007–present) *

— vocals, bass guitar (2007–present) *

Peter "Peavy" Wagner Peter "Peavy" Wagner (born 22 December 1964) is a German heavy metal musician best known as the lead singer, bassist and main songwriter of Rage. Biography Wagner was born in Herne, North Rhine-Westphalia, the second of four children. Hi ...

— vocals, bass guitar (2007–present)

Discography

References

Information from Frontier Records official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bassinvaders Musical groups established in 2007 German heavy metal musical groups German experimental musical groups