Nicklaus Schandelmaier, (born 23 March 1968) is a German musician, better known by his stage name En Esch, and has been a member of the bands

KMFDM KMFDM (originally Kein Mehrheit Für Die Mitleid, loosely translated by the band as "no pity for the majority") is a multinational industrial band from Hamburg led by Sascha Konietzko, who founded the band in 1984 as a performance art project. ...

, Pigface, Slick Idiot, and . And more recently with NUKES, a 16 member band that includes Chris Connelly, John Bechdel, Mario Alberto Cabada, David J and more.

History

En Esch, born near Frankfurt, is an orchestra percussionist, drummer, programmer, producer, guitarist and singer. He was a member of the German

industrial rock Industrial rock is a fusion genre that fuses industrial music and rock music. It initially originated in the 1970s, and drew influence from early experimental and industrial acts such as Cromagnon, Throbbing Gristle, Einstürzende Neubauten ...

group,

, from 1985 to 1999, during which time he contributed to ten studio albums and more than a dozen singles as musician, composer and producer. Sascha Konietzko claims to have given Esch his nickname because the latter felt that his real name was inappropriate for the stage. It is derived from the German pronunciation of his initials (N. Sch.). Esch lived in Germany until 1992, when he moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

to join Konietzko, who had moved there a year earlier. It was at this time that Esch first worked with Pigface, whom he also toured with in the early 1990s. He released a solo album, '' Cheesy'', in 1993. A few years after that, Esch moved to New Orleans. When

temporarily broke up in 1999, Esch briefly worked with the band Pizza Whore, which changed its name to Barely Legal, and included Trixie Reiss of

The Crystal Method The Crystal Method is an American electronic music act formed in Las Vegas, Nevada, by Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland in the early 1990s. They were pioneers of the big beat genre and their music has appeared in numerous TV shows, films, video gam ...

. The band didn't last, and Esch began traveling to Canada to visit Günter Schulz, the former KMFDM guitarist. They formed Slick Idiot, and released their first album in 2001. They have released two more albums under that moniker since then. Esch has since begun working actively with Pigface again, joining them on tour in 2005. Esch was rumored to be the replacement lead singer of industrial group

Rammstein Rammstein (, "ramming stone") is a German Neue Deutsche Härte band formed in Berlin in 1994. The band's lineup—consisting of lead vocalist Till Lindemann, lead guitarist Richard Kruspe, rhythm guitarist Paul Landers, bassist Oliver Riedel, ...

, but this turned out to be a hoax. In 2007, he began collaborating with fellow German musician Mona Mur. The two released the album

120 Tage ''120 Tage - The Fine Art of Beauty and Violence'' is an electro-industrial studio collaboration between German musicians Mona Mur and En Esch (of KMFDM, Pigface, and Slick Idiot). It was released on February 15, 2009, on Pale Music International. ...

in February 2009, and toured together in support of the release over the next two years. Esch and Mur joined Schulz,

Raymond Watts Raymond Watts (also known by his former stage names Nainz, Nainz Watts and Ray Scaballero) is an English musician, the founding and sole member of the industrial music project PIG, sometimes written as <PIG>. Watts was an early member and p ...

, and Mark Durante to perform at the Wax Trax! Retrospectacle in Chicago, a charity event celebrating the industrial music label, and performed KMFDM songs from the 1990s. A second album by the duo of Esch and Mur was released in 2011. A second solo album, ''Spänk'', was successfully crowdfunded and released in late 2014. His third solo album, ''Trash Chic'', was originally scheduled for release on 31 May 2016, but was postponed to 1 July.

Personal life

Esch is a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetariani ...

and an

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the s ...

activist. He currently resides in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

Partial discography

Solo

* '' Cheesy'' (1993) * ''Confidence'' (single) (1993) * ''Spänk'' (2014) * ''Trash Chic'' (2016)

Slick Idiot

* ''DickNity'' (2001) * ''ReDickUlous'' (2003) * ''Screwtinized'' (2004) * ''Sucksess'' (2009)

with Pigface

* ''

Gub ''Gub'' is the debut studio album by American rock band Pigface. It is notable for featuring contributions from Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, with Reznor later re-recording the song "Suck" for the Nine Inch Nails EP, '' Broken'', released in 1 ...

'' (1990) * '' Welcome to Mexico... Asshole'' (1991) * '' Fook'' (1992) * '' Washingmachine Mouth'' (1992) * '' Truth Will Out'' (1993) * '' Easy Listening...'' (2003) * '' 6'' (2009)

with Mona Mur

* '' 120 Tage - The Fine Art of Beauty and Violence'' (2009) * ''Do With Me What You Want'' (2011)

with FM Einheit and Mona Mur

* ''Terre Haute'' (2013)

with Pig

* ''The Gospel'' (2016) *''Risen'' (2018) *''Pain Is God'' (2020)

References

External links

Slick Idiot Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Esch, En 1968 births Living people German industrial musicians KMFDM members Missing Foundation members Pigface members Slick Idiot members