• Name: Simon Michael
• Plays: drums, percussion
• Born: 13.04.84 in Heidelberg; Schlagzeuger seit 2005

I was born on the 13th of April 1984 in Heidelberg, Germany. I spent the first five years of my life in Mannheim. These five years were the most important in my life because I decided to become a drummer in this time (I made up my mind when I was three years old while watching a TV- show. And there where those drums... from that day on till today I´ve been working hard to make my dream come true!). I began by playing all the beats I heard on the radio on some cardboard boxes my grandfather had given to me together with a pair of selfmade sticks when he came by to visit. When I was five, my family moved to Enger, a small town near Bielefeld. When I was six years old I finally played on a real drumset for the first time in my life! One year later we moved back to southern Germany to a place near Erlangen where I still live today. When I was seven, I had saved enough money to buy the legendary DD 11 by Yamaha (a small electronic drumset). At the age of eight the real thing was mine: my very first drumset! And from that day on, there's only been one true love in my life!
I began attending a musical secondary school in Forchheim/ Oberfranken when I was ten years old. There, I also started playing the piano and learning about such things as the classical theory of harmony and other horrors. These turned out to be the most important things I ever learned in my life as a musician.

In 1995, I founded the band "The Rising Force" (since 2005 "Silverlane") together with my brother Christoph - and it was with this band that I played my first real gig later that year! I've come a long way since that gig, and have played on countless shows and concerts, I've played as a solist, in a rockband, together with an orchestra, with Jazz ensembles etc.
In 2003 I finished school with an abitur (a- levels) and since then I try to make my way as a full time drummer.

The same year I started teaching at the public music school in my home town Forchheim and did so for about two years.

Today, I'm involved with all kinds of different styles (Just take a look at "Projects") and with all kinds of percussive instruments (drums, timpani, mallets etc.). But my favourite fields are Rock and Heavy Metal on the drumset!

I can't remember with how many bands and projects I've played during all the years. It must be something about 30 up to 50 different bands I worked together with, some of them are listed in the "projects" section.

In spring 2005 I finally joined one of Germany's most succesfull Metalbands "Subway To Sally". We played a lot of big festivals, such as Rock Am Ring, Rock Im Park, Novarock, With Full Force, Highfield during the sommer months. The Band's latest record "Nord Nord Ost" hit the German Albumcharts at number 5 and we hit the road for the following tour playing 30 liveshows in October and December 2005. Especially the tour in december was sold out completely and turned out to be one of the most succesful tours a band ever did in Germany.

2006 started also quite succesful with a nomination for one of the most important musicawards "Echo" in the category "Best Rock/ Alternative National", followed by Subway To Sally's first acoustic tour. During five weeks on the road we played 25 shows of which 21 were sold out. The last show in Berlin was recorded and will be released as DVD and as live CD as well in autumn. At the moment we're playing "Nord Nord Ost" shows again on different festivals in Europe. Just check the tour dates section. The recording process for a new studio record is planed to start in October/November.

Right now I'm working also on new material for a brand-new band...

I think that´s all so far :-)