Thumb was a German

alternative metal Alternative metal (also known as alt-metal) is a genre of heavy metal music that combines heavy metal with influences from alternative rock and other genres not normally associated with metal. Alternative metal bands are often characterized by ...

/ nu metal band formed in

Gütersloh Gütersloh () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in the area of Westphalia and the administrative region of Detmold. Gütersloh is the administrative centre for a district of the same name and has a population of 100,194 peo ...

in 1993. The group disbanded in 2005.

History

The band recorded and copied their first home-made tapes in 1994, and signed a deal with

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

in March 1995. Thumb's debut was released in September 1995, and over the next two years, they toured as support with Bad Religion, Dog Eat Dog,

Henry Rollins Henry Lawrence Garfield (born February 13, 1961), known professionally as Henry Rollins, is an American singer, writer, spoken word artist, actor, and presenter. After performing in the short-lived hardcore punk band State of Alert in 1980, Roll ...

and Foo Fighters in Germany. In January 1997 the group began writing their second album, ''Exposure'', released on 5 May. Thumb also toured in the United States, joining the 1998

Vans Warped Tour The Warped Tour was a traveling rock tour that toured the United States plus three or four stops in Canada annually each summer from 1995 until 2019. It was the largest traveling music festival in the United States and the longest-running tourin ...

to play 13 shows in three weeks. During preparations for their third album in early 2000, guitarist

Axel Hilgenstöhler Axel "Axe" Hilgenstöhler (born August 1975) is a German Record Producer, Mixing Engineer and Guitarist. He is a founding member of the band Thumb and played guitar with many Bands, e.g. Dog Eat Dog and 50 Cent. In 2003 Afrika Islam founde ...

left the band halfway through the year, and was replaced by Axel Pralat. Everything written and recorded up to that point was discarded. Thumb disbanded in 2005. Since then, Steffen Wilmking has joined

H-Blockx H-Blockx is a German rock band founded in Münster in 1991. After the success of their debut album in 1994, ''Time to Move'', the band received a nomination for Best Breakthrough Artist at the 1995 MTV Europe Music Awards. In 1999, the World Wr ...

, Jens Gössling is in Taetowier Studio, Jan-Hendrik Meyer is in Hudson, Claus Grabke is in Alternative Allstars, and Axel Pralat is in

Waterdown Waterdown was a hardcore punk and post-hardcore band from Osnabrück, Germany. The band emerged onto the scene in 1999 under the formation of: Axel Pralat (guitar), Marcel Bischoff (vocals), Jörg Schwoeppe (drums), Christian Kruse (bass), Holger ...

Members

* Axel Pralat – guitar (2000–2005) * Jens Gössling – DJ (1994–2005) * Steffen Wilmking – drums (1994–2005) * Jan-Hendrik Meyer – bass (1994–2005) * Claus Grabke – vocals (1994–2005) * Axel Hilgenstöhler – guitar (1994–2000)

Timeline

Discography

Albums

*''Thumb'' **Released: 1995 (Netherlands) on Spin Records **Track listing: *''Thumb (Encore)'' **Released: 25 July 1996 (Germany) on Spin Records **Track listing: *''Exposure'' **Released: 1 April 1997 (Netherlands, UK, Germany) on Spin Records **Released: 23 June 1998 (USA) on Victory Records **Track listing: *''Maximum Exposure'' **Released: 28 November 1997 on Spin Records **Track listing: *''3 (Three)'' **Released: 2001 (USA) on Victory Records **Released: 10 July 2001 (Germany) on EMI Electrola **Track listing:

Singles

*"Red Alert" (1995) *"No More Blood" (1996) *"Red Alert '96" (1996) *"Aside" (1996) *"Sell Myself" (1997) *"Seize The Day" (1997) *"Break Me" (1998) *"Down Like Me" (2001) *"Youth" (2001)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thumb Musical groups established in 1993 German alternative metal musical groups German hardcore punk groups German nu metal musical groups Victory Records artists