Band Info
THIS DROWNING MAN is a Wave/Post-Punk band from Germany.
In the stories told in their songs the protagonists regularly plunge headlong into their tragedies and are guaranteed to have no happy endings.
The melancholic-pathetic sound of THIS DROWNING MAN combines and interprets any genre-forming influences from bands such as JOY DIVISION, THE CHAMELEONS, THE SOUND, THE CURE, U2, THE CHURCH etc.
In this way the band captures the spirit of the ’80s in every aspect, weaving a fragile, warming sonic fabric over the omnipresent emotional emptiness, inner withdrawal, and hopelessness, as a self-destructive portrayal of the world during that decade.
Every song is a lost place. Every line a silhouette. Nothing is explained. Nothing is healed.
This Drowning Man are:
Roland Klein: vocals, guitar
Veiko Tüllmann: guitars
Alexander von Falkenhausen: piano, keyboards, synth
Peter Paulsen: bass guitar
Jan Peter Zander: drums
Former Band Members:
Frank Haehnelt Kuhn: bass, keyboards, programming (2005–2020)
Jürgen Hardt: drums (2009–2020)
Band Biography
At the beginning of 2005, Frank Haehnelt Kuhn and Veiko Tüllmann started the project THIS DROWNING MAN in Hamburg. Together they began to create wave-inspired soundtracks, but soon found that neither of them was a viable singer. So Veiko’s childhood friend Roland was asked to support the project.
In mid-2007, singer Roland Klein joind, who made a name for himself in the 90s through his collaboration with SISTERS OF MERCY icon Andrew Eldritch and his release on whose house label MERCIFUL RELEASE.
At the end of 2007, Swen Meyer (TOMTE, KETTCAR, …) mixed and mastered the resulting song material in the M.O.B. STUDIOS in Hamburg so that in December 2007 the debut album BIG FAINT LANE could be released on the small label CHA.
The positive response to the debut from e.g. the music magazine INTRO, the Dutch alternative internet distributor RED SUN RECORDS or last but not least the Hamburg music publisher AMV TALPA led to the actual band founding of THIS DROWNING MAN with the entry of Roland’s former band mates Alexander von Falkenhausen (keys) and Jürgen Hardt (drums) in 2009.
As part of a re-release of BIG FAINT LANE on the label Danse Macabre in 2010, some drum and keyboard tracks were re-recorded by Jürgen and Alexander and the album was remixed and remastered by Ali Orhan at Tonstudio SH. The work on new songs and live performances such as supporting A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS and SAD LOVERS AND GIANTS determined the following two years.
In 2012 the band recorded their second album MELANCHOLIA MY LOVE with Ali Orhan at Studio SH. With the new songs, the entire band was involved in the songwriting at an early stage. As a result, the music gained maturity and professionalism and was well received by critics and audiences, when the label Danse Macabre released MELANCHOLIA MY LOVE in January 2013.
Personal setbacks and long distances between home and rehearsal room made it difficult for the band members to build on their first successes. So it became quieter around This Drowning Man in the following years. In 2020, drummer Jürgen Hardt left the band to devote himself to other musical projects. Shortly thereafter, founding member and bassist Frank Haehnelt Kuhn also decided to leave.
However, the remaining band members decided to continue and in the same year bassist Peter Paulsen was convinced to join the band. In the absence of a drummer, a drum computer was used during rehearsals, as in the early days. Eventually the drum computer was replaced by a humanoid life form again in 2022, when drummer Jan Peter Zander agreed to fill the last gap in the band.
With the new rhythm section in place, the band is currently recording their third album.