Ulrich “Uli” Kusch

During the 1980s and early 1990s, he used to be a studio musician and played for many bands, such as Holy Moses, Mekong Delta among others. In 1990, after first drummer of Gamma Ray Mathias Burchardt quit the band, Kai Hansen recruited Uli to perform for his band. In 1991, this lineup released their second full-length studio album, labeled Sigh No More and went on a world tour. However, Uli quit Gamma Ray in 1992. He Joined Axe La Chapelle 1993 and played the drums for the album "Grab What You Can" before he joined Helloween, with whom he released Master of the Rings in 1994 and The Time of the Oath in 1996. That same year Helloween released the 2-CD live album High Live, providing a decent demonstration of Uli's skills for performing live. That time Uli himself formed and produced with Gamma Ray guitarist Henjo Richter the Rainbow tribute band Catch the Rainbow and soon other musicians joined them. Their album A Tribute to Rainbow, with eleven covers of Rainbow songs, was released in 1999. It featured other members of Helloween and Gamma Ray as well as other bands. He also played in Markus Grosskopf's side-project Shockmachine for their only album in 1998. Helloween recorded Better Than Raw the same year, followed by the band's album of covers Metal Jukebox in 1999. Uli stayed with Helloween up to 2000's The Dark Ride, developing into a key songwriter for the band. …