ToJa die Band
Tim
Tim, born in '76, the youngest of the ToJa members initially comes from the Blues and Hardrock camp.
When he started drumming in ’87 he got into different kinds of music from Queen, Led Zeppelin, Peter Greens Fleetwood Mac to U.F.O., Blue Oyster Cult, Free, Bad Company, Rory Gallagher, Dave Matthews Band, some Blues stuff, Rock, Hardrock, Indie, Folk, Heavy Metal to HipHop, Soul and Funk. Almost everything that follows a guideline:
handmade music
This is his motto until today. From schoolbands, familyprojects, a Blues outfit with Henrik Freischlader, a local Hardrockband (biggest performance as part of the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy 2003), different studiojobs to Tom Liwas Flowerpornoes (2007-2009) Tim’s groovy and melodic style is a trademark of its own - in the studio and on stage. For this CD he recorded the drumstracks in his own studio in Wermelskirchen/Germany.
His Drumset is pure american: a Ludwig Superclassic with (depending on stagesize and music) up to 2 x 24’ bassdrum, a Black Beauty Snare and 6 Toms, Cymbals by Zildjan (Z & A Custom).
Tim - a studied Audio Engineer who grew up in a musical family together with 3 sisters – is married and has 3 kids. He lives in the Saxon area in east Germany far from his home turf in Westphalia.
Tommy
Since the age of 14 Thomas is used to be on the stage as a rock singer. He was born in 1958 and raised in Mühlheim on Main/Germany. Tommy, like friends call him, fronted bands like APRIL, DEEP THROAT and SYDER.
This brought attention outside the Frankfurt area where
they played different venues like open air concerts but even Hafenbahn
or Batschkapp supporting Sinner and other pro-bands.
An absolute highlight was to play „Frankfurt Alte Oper“ in front
of 1500 people as part of a beneficial event set up to support the
local „LOBBY“, an organisation to help and support the “poor and
homeless people in Frankfurt”.
Tommy said farewell to stage-life in 1997.
His pipes still provide 4 Octaves and where developed in the “Scuola del Belcanto” by Maestro Appiani. Beside his “big love” singing he loves to play bass and guitar sometimes which can be heard on the album as well in places.
His roots lie in the ‘70s and ‘80s - Uriah Heep, Pink Floyd, Saxon, Judas Priest and especially Rob Halford are his favorites.
In the recent past also bands like Edguy, Nightwish and Cornerstone were given a listen once time allowed.
Since November 2002 Tommy is married to Sabine and lives in Mühlheim together with his sons Tommy jr. and Andreas.
His slogan:
“Keep on rocking .. just take me the way I am – I won’t change”.
J.J.
Born near Frankfurt on Main in 1966, JJ played in various local Bands before he joined Syder in 1994.
The educated audio-engineer and Multi-Instrumentalist played Keyboards, Guitar and did some Backing-Vocals. He’s also an educated violinist and loves to play drums. He first teamed up with Tommy in Syder. His musical roots lie in the ‘70s and ‘80s, Deep Purple is his favourite band since then – until today.
Unfortunately due to business and family related reasons he had to quit work in the band. Later on he met Tommy and they decided to set up the ToJA project. Jan is married to Syke and has two little daughters called Zoe and Luna.
His slogan for Rock’nRoll:
Life’s too short to just hang around, make your way, enjoy life – make the best out of it.
Ole
Since the age of 15 Oliver “Ole“ Dietz, born in 1967 in Frankfurt/Main, is playing bass on stage.
Until he entered the Syder camp he worked with different Cover bands such as Ranze Rock, Back UP etc. In those days he first met JJ and they did some sessions together.
In Syder he also worked together with Tommy for the first time. Fame began to rise.
2001 Syder disbanded and Oliver again played with different Coverbands.
In May 2005 he got married to his wife Vera and since then he is one of the most happy guys on this planet.
His musical roots lie within the Blues and Melodic-Rock of Bands like Kiss, Dio, Def Leppard, Deep Purple and Georgia Satellites but nowadays even Nightwish, Nickelback or Razorlight are welcome.
In 2008 JJ and Tommy ask him to join for a playback TV-show. He agreed, enjoyed and helped on the production of the ToJa release “Train of life”.
Since March 2009 his is a permanent member of ToJa.
His slogan:
As long as the bass is rumbling everything is fine.
