Project Pitchfork

Project Pitchfork

Project Pitchfork is a German dark wave, electronic rock group from Hamburg, Germany, active since 1989. The line-up includes Peter Spilles, Scheuber, Patricia Nigiani, Jens Schrader and Jürgen Jansen. Their work spans dark wave, EBM, electronic, electronica, futurepop and gothic styles.

Formation and early releases

The group forms when Peter Spilles and Dirk Scheuber decide to work together, and they choose the name by picking a random word from the dictionary. Their first performance takes place in Hamburg in February 1990, and they release the demo K.N.K.A later that year. Their debut album, Dhyani, follows in 1991. The second album, Lam-'Bras, appears in 1992 and includes the first vocal contribution from Patricia Nigiani. Six months later, they release Entities.

Label changes and 1990s releases

In 1994, Project Pitchfork move to Off Beat for Io, which includes the singles Renascence and Carrion and marks their first entry in the German charts. The release is followed by a lengthy German tour. The group set up their own label, Candyland Entertainment, in 1995 and use it for most of their later material. That year they also release the EPs CH'I and Corps d'Amour, plus the album Alpha Omega, and finish the year touring in support of Rammstein.

Later albums, recognition and label work

¡Chakra:Red! appears in 1997 and is their first album since Dhyani to be written as a group effort rather than by Spilles alone. It is also the first to include Jürgen Jansen as a permanent member. After their first US tour, they release the concept album Eon:Eon in 1998 on EastWest. The album produces the singles Steelrose, Carnival and I Live Your Dream. With EastWest’s backing, the band has enough resources to make more videos, and becomes the first gothic industrial band to receive airplay on German music television. The video for Steelrose earns an Echo Award nomination for Best Video National.

In 2001, the band release Daimonion and tour Europe. The following year they issue the NUN trilogy: the album Inferno and the EPs View From a Throne and Trialog. This brings another Echo Award nomination, this time for Best Alternative Act National. Kaskade follows in 2005.

2000s and 2010s output

Project Pitchfork release Dream, Tiresias! in 2009, an album praised by the electronic music magazine ReGen. Continuum Ride follows in 2010, alongside a video for Beholder. The album draws on their US tour in 2009, especially their experience of Detroit, and has a darker, more destructive sound than the previous record. By 2011, they stop operating Candyland and begin issuing releases through Trisol.

Also in 2011, the band release Quantum Mechanics and a video for Lament, and later issue the compilation First Anthology. In 2013 they release their fourteenth studio album, Black, with a video for Rain. Blood follows in 2014, promoted by a pre-release show in Hamburg; the video for Blood-Diamond (See Him Running) is edited by Peter Spilles.

In 2016, the group release Second Anthology, a double CD containing one new track, unreleased rarities, and re-recorded and remastered material. That same year they release Look Up, I’m Down There to mark 25 years of the band, in a standard edition and a limited double-CD edition with an 80-page art book, complete lyrics and a short story by Björn Springorum.

In 2018, Project Pitchfork release Akkretion, intended as the first part of a trilogy. Only the second part, Fragment, is released. From 2019, Trisol begins reissuing the band’s material from Dream, Tiresias! through Look Up, I’m Down There.