I did my military service around the area of the Lake of Thun. A beautiful and scenic landscape extending from the south of Bern to the alps and glaciers close to the border of the canton of Valais. In some undisclosed facilities around that area I had to spend 3-5 weeks every year until I was 34 years old. Mainly to let the time pass and until someone screamed a meaningless command through the battalion. I miss that time, as it was in some years the only leisure time away from the studio, the only time that I didn’t had to keep up a daily production or label schedule. I didn’t even had internet access nor did the cell phones have signal up there. I was forced to go on distance with the music business if I wanted or not. It often recharged my batteries way more than any days off, were you still have your phone next to you to check charts and sales all the time. I want to invite you now to join me on a little throwback journey through my days as an active soldier of the Swiss military corps.
To SPIEZ I always had to go for the roll calls in the mornings and in the evenings. The little town directly at the lake has so many beautiful things and attractions to offer; a tourist could stay in town for a full day and still wouldn’t be able to see it all. The Spiez castle is probably the most famous building in the village and this is on my private instagram account the very first pic uploaded somewhen in 2012.
A few kilometers south lays WIMMIS, a very small farming village with lots of green meadows and endless pasture. The military rented or owned (not quite sure) an old building there, where we had to sleep and keep a field phone up and running 24/7. OBERHOFEN is closer to Thun and we always started excursions there and used it as a point of intersection. Oberhofen was also home to one of Swiss biggest rock musician, Polo Hofer, he used to live there until he died almost 2 years ago.
Next year I will turn 40. I’ve come a long way. My first releases I had in the mid 90s, when some of you weren’t even born yet and I don’t intent to stop or slow it down just yet. Still music is my passion and I love to go to the studio every day and create music and share it with the world
I currently live 30 minutes outside of Nashville in the United States. I love it here. But allow me to preserve a little piece of home in my heart. WIMMIS – SPIEZ – OBERHOFEN is where I left a little piece of my heart.
– PASSENGER 10 –