Chris Witchhunter

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Chris Witch Hunter (* 18th December 1965 , † 8. September 2008 in Essen ; actually Christian Dudek ) was a German Metal - musician and drummer of the thrash metal band Sodom .

Life

Dudek grew up in the Ruhr area . At the age of 16 he became the drummer of Sodom in 1982 and was primarily responsible for the music until his retirement. At the time he was living with his mother, who very often housed and fed his bandmates and friend Tom Angelripper , but also other musicians and sometimes entire bands. As early as the 1980s, Dudek is said to have had problems with alcohol. Marcel "Lubricant" Schirmer , singer and bassist from Destruction , said of the 1986 tour on which Dudek helped out as a live drummer:

"Back then, he always liked to lift one and tweeted a few beers too many a few times before playing."

- Lube

Around 1986 Witchhunter Thomas "Quorthon" visited Forsberg in Stockholm, as he was looking for a new drummer for his band Bathory . There were a few rehearsals over a period of about a week, but no joint appearances, recordings or Witchhunters joining.

Eventually there were differences between Tom Angelripper and Dudek within the band, which in 1992 led to Dudek being kicked out. According to Angelripper, this was due to Dudek's unprofessionalism due to his drug problem, while Dudek accused him of greed:

"Well, as I said, Tom was getting more and more money-hungry. I mostly wrote the music with the guitarist because Tom never had time to come to rehearsals. Sometimes he wrote his texts quickly in the toilet and collected 60 percent of the GEMA coal for it. "

- Chris Witchhunter : Rock Hard No. 146

The separation from Sodom also meant the end of Dudek's musical career. In the following years he tried to build a new band in the style of Megadeth and Metallica and had already composed some new songs. However, the project failed because he could not find a singer who met his ideas. In the meantime he became a father and tried his hand at editing some fanzines . His last musical sign of life was in 2007 the new recording of the 1984 Sodom EP, which was recorded and published along with other old songs by the band on the sound carrier The Final Sign of Evil in the cast of 1984. But Dudek's illness was already noticeable during the recording, said Angelripper. On the morning of September 8, 2008, Dudek died of multiple organ failure .

In his honor, a benefit concert took place in Oberhausen on April 11, 2009 , and the proceeds went to Dudek's mother, Erika Winkler. Only bands with a personal relationship with Witchhunter and with their roots in the 1980s were booked, including Artillery , Assassin and Holy Moses . The band Kreator could not participate due to a tour; after a commitment to destruction and the completion of the poster for the concert, “Lubricant objected to the size of the logo”, with the demand that it be recreated according to his wishes; he informed Sodom via email that “he does not want to be made 'the opening act' with Destruction” and that the band should “find someone else”, which was followed by the cancellation of the Destruction performance. After "all ambiguities and misunderstandings had been cleared out", Angelripper finally announced "the definitive commitment from Destruction".

Style, influence

Dudek is considered to be one of the drummers who decisively shaped German Thrash Metal in the 1980s. Not only was his drumming considered extraordinary, a large part of the music of Sodom also came from his pen. Guido "Atomic Steif" Richter (drummer for Assassin , Holy Moses and Sodom, among others ) attributed the Dudeks style to the fact that he played drums as a left-handed as a right-handed person. Where others hit 8 or 16 to keep time, Dudek did 9 or 15, which is why his drumming was wrong for a musician who plays strictly by notes. According to Bobby Schottkowski (Sodom), Dudek was a "pioneering drummer".

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b CAUSE OF DEATH - CHRIS WITCHHUNTER .
  2. ↑ a b c Cause and exact date of death of Sodom drummer Chris "Witchhunter" Dudek known. Metal Hammer Online, accessed February 15, 2016 .
  3. ↑ Markus "shilrak" Jakob: Obituary for Chris Witchhunter. In: metalnews.de. October 4, 2008, archived from the original on October 25, 2011 ; accessed on March 6, 2020 .
  4. ^ Arto Lehtinen, Luxi Lahtinen: Interview with Tom Angelripper of SODOM .
  5. ^ Bathory - Under the sin .
  6. ↑ Luxi Lahtinen: BATHORY - An Epic Interview With Quorthon .
  7. ↑ Sodom . In: Slayer , No. 5, 1987, p. 45. Quoted from: Jon Kristiansen : SLAYER . N ° 1 to 5 . Rosières en Haye: Camion Blanc 2009, p. 457.
  8. ↑ CHRIS WITCHHUNTER TRIBUTE CONCERT .
  9. ↑ Erika Winkler and family: THANKSGIVING FROM CHRIS WITCHHUNTER'S MOTHER AND FAMILY .
  10. ↑ a b c d CHRIS WITCHHUNTER TRIBUTE CONCERT .
  11. ↑ STATEMENT TOM .
  12. ↑ WITCHHUNTER TRIBUTE CONCERT .
  13. ↑ a b STATEMENT TOM .
  14. ↑ DESTRUCTION CONFIRMED FOR THE CHRIS WITCHHUNTER MEMORIAL CONCERT .
  15. ↑ a b Witchhunter Tribute Special .

swell

  • Andreas Stappert: Dug up - what is actually ... Chris Witchhunter . In: Rock Hard . No. 146 .
  • Witchhunter Tribute Special , RockHard Rock Guerilla.tv Vol. 13, 2009 (interviews with Tom Angelripper , Frank Blackfire , Guido Richter and others)
personal data
SURNAME Witchhunter, Chris
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dudek, Christian (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German metal musician and drummer of the thrash metal band Sodom
DATE OF BIRTH December 18, 1965
DATE OF DEATH September 8, 2008
Place of death eat