Unheilig

Unheilig
Bernd Heinrich Graf - "Der Graf"
Background information
Origin	Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Genres	Neue Deutsche Härte, goth rock,[1] synthrock
Years active	2000–present
Labels	Universal Four Rock Entertainment Bloodline Nilaihah (North America)
Members	Bernd Heinrich Graf
Past members	Henning Verlage Christoph "Licky" Termühlen Potti

Unheilig [ˈʊnhaɪ̯lɪç] (German for "Unholy") is a German band with various pop and electronic influences. The band was founded in 2000 and now principally consists of singer Bernd Heinrich Graf - Der Graf (German for "The Count")-, with his live musicians Licky, Henning Verlage and Potti.

History

Early years (1999–2009)

In 1999, together with Grant Stevens (writer of the song “Everlasting Friends” featured in a Holsten Pilsener commercial on German television) and José Alvarez-Brill (Wolfsheim, Joachim Witt, De/Vision) the foundation for Unheilig was laid by Der Graf.

The single "Sage Ja!" (Say Yes!) was released on Bloodline Records in 1999, shot straight into the German DAC charts and became a club smash. In February 2001, the debut album “Phosphor” came on to the European market again on Bloodline/Connected Music.

Over the next few months, the band guested at major festivals and open air events throughout Germany (Zillo Open Air, Wave-Gotik-Treffen Leipzig, Doomsday Festival, Woodstage Festival) before taking a break from live work to write and produce the Christmas album “Frohes Fest" (Merry Christmas) released in 2002 and the third album Das 2. Gebot (The 2nd Commandment).

In February 2003, the band toured eleven European cities as support to L'Âme Immortelle, and played songs from the album Das 2. Gebot.

Directly after the tour, the EP “Schutzengel” (Guardian Angel) was released, including four previously unreleased tracks. The band played in festivals during the summer. The M'era Luna Festival was one of the highlights for the band and the fans. Der Graf produced remixes for Absurd Minds, Terminal Choice and other bands and produced a song for the Xbox game Project Gotham Racing 2. Then the band started recording the album “Zelluloid”.

Zelluloid was released on 23 February 2004, and at the same time, the band toured with Terminal Choice. With this release and the very successful tour, Unheilig finally reached all kinds of media and a lot of new fans. The result of this enthusiasm was that Unheilig gave the fans the chance to vote their own new single release which became Freiheit. The EP “Freiheit” was released 18 October 2004, and the band played some more release concerts to promote the record. The fact that Unheilig played more concerts in 2004 than ever before in their career revealed the need for a live CD. To this end, the CD Gastspiel was released on 31 January 2005. Preparations for the DVD “Kopfkino” started. Six weeks before the DVD was released, Unheilig was played for the first time on one of the regular music television channels (VIVA Plus) with their videoclip “Freiheit”.

The album “Moderne Zeiten” (Modern Times) was released at 20 January 2006. The main topic of the album is dreams and their implementation. The intro track has the following text (translated from German):

With that Der Graf calls in addition to life the dreams without any censorship. This message is also in songs like Lass uns Liebe machen or Ich will alles.

During 2007 the band limited their appearances to just a couple of festivals including Wacken Open Air, Amphi festival and Burgrock Altena festival for the preparation of their sixth album Puppenspiel.

In 2008, Unheilig released the album “Puppenspiel”.^[2] The Album would hit the Media Control Charts at number 13.

During their tour in 2008 they played at (M'era Luna, Zita-Rock, Wave-Gotik-Treffen and Castle Rock) festivals. Later the band released their second DVD titled “Vorhang auf” (“Curtain Up”).

In 2009 the band performed at the Amphi Festival, Summer Breeze Open Air and the Rockharz Open Air festivals.

On 3 July 2009, the albums Phosphor, Frohes Fest, Das 2. Gebot, Zelluloid and Moderne Zeiten were released with new artwork and a remastered sound. The Limited Edition albums that included extra songs were not included.

Große Freiheit and Lichter der Stadt (2009–2013)

On 7 December 2009, the official Unheilig website received a major redesign to reflect the upcoming release of Große Freiheit, including a three-minute trailer showcasing Der Graf with a suitcase playing “Das Meer”, the very first song off the new album.

On 14 January 2010, the first music video for their first single "Geboren um zu leben" (Born to Live) was posted on Unheilig's webpage. The single "Geboren um zu leben" was released on 29 January 2010 and debuted on the Media Control Charts in the top 10 at #2. The single also peaked on the Austrian Singles Chart in the top 20 at #8.

Große Freiheit was released on 19 February 2010 under Vertigo Records part of Universal Records, with a tour following immediately.^[3] The new album would then go on to peak in the Media Control Charts at number 1, in Austria at number 2 and in Switzerland at number 3. The band performed at the Greenfield Festival in Switzerland on the 12th of June.

The second single "Für immer" was released on the 21st of May & Peaked in the German Charts at #17.

Große Freiheit would break records as the longest staying #1 album on the German Media Control Charts, staying at #1 for 23 non-consecutive weeks. This beats the old record set by Herbert Grönemeyer in 1988 with the album Ö, which stayed at #1 for 14 weeks.

The third single "Unter deiner Flagge" was released on September 24, 2010 and peaked in the German charts at #13. On October 1 the band performed the song Unter Deiner Flagge at the Bundesvision Song Contest held at Max-Schmeling-Halle, as a result they won the contest, beating other acts like (Silly, Ich + Ich, Blumentopf) among others.

Winterland was released on November 19, 2010 as a fourth single from Große Freiheit, as it was also a part of the "Große Freiheit (Winter Edition)" as a separate CD containing remixes. The single would then become Unheilig's third top ten single in Germany, peaking at #4.

On March 25, 2011 Unheilig was nominated for five ECHO Awards (Best Video National for Geboren um zu leben, ECHO Radio, Most Successful Production Team, Best National Rock/Alternative Group and Album of the Year for Große Freiheit), eventually winning three.

On February 16, 2011, Unheilig announced they were writing new material for their upcoming 8th album Lichter der Stadt (City Lights), which will be a concept album. On December 2 the band announced that the first single from Lichter der Stadt, So wie du warst, will be released on February 24, 2012 while the album itself will be released March 16, 2012.^[4] The second single Lichter der Stadt was released on March 30, 2012.

The third single "Wie wir waren" was released on August 31, 2012. Unheilig will be releasing "Lichter Der Stadt: Winter Edition" on November 23, 2012. This new edition will feature the newly released song "Stark".

On January 18, 2013 Unheilig released a 7CD Autobiography titled Als Musik meine Sprache wurde. The CD comes with 6 CD's full of "Der Grafs" musical journey from his earlier beginnings all the way up to his success with Grösse Freiheit and Lichter Der Stadt. The 7th CD is complete with 13 songs from his beginning days including Human Nations.

Alles Hat Seine Zeit (2014-Present)

The Band will release their first "Best Of" album titled Alles Hat Seine Zeit on March 14th, 2014. This release will be followed by a Tour that spans from June to October. Dates include Germany, Switzerland , Austria and Russia.

Band members

• Bernd Heinrich Graf – vocals, programming (1999–present)
• Henning Verlage – keyboards, programming (1999–present)
• Christoph “Licky” Tremühlen – guitars (1999–present)
• Potti – live drums & percussion (2009–present)

Awards and nominations

Contests

• 2010 Bundesvision Song Contest winner

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

Singles

EPs

• 2002: Tannenbaum (As part of the Frohes Fest Limited Edition Release)
• 2003: Schutzengel – (Limited to 2,222 copies)
• 2004: Freiheit
• 2006: Astronaut – (Limited to 4,444 copies)
• 2008: Spiegelbild – (Limited to 3,333 copies)
• 2010: Winterland Special - (As part of the Große Freiheit Winter Edition Release)
• 2010: Zeitreise - (Limited Tenth Anniversary tour only release)
• 2012: Lichtblicke - (Exclusive Lichter der Stadt tour CD)

DVDs

• 2005: Kopfkino - (Germany #75)
• 2008: Vorhang auf - (Germany #3)
• 2010: Sternstunde (Only available during the Große Freiheit tour)
• 2010: Große Freiheit Live - (Germany #1, Gold^[8])
• 2012: Lichter Der Stadt Live

Music videos

• 2000: Sage Ja!
• 2004: Freiheit
• 2006: Astronaut
• 2008: An deiner Seite
• 2010: Geboren um zu leben
• 2010: Für immer
• 2010: Unter deiner Flagge
• 2010: Winter
• 2012: So wie du warst
• 2012: Lichter der Stadt
• 2012: Wie wir waren
• 2012: Stark

Other CDs

• 2008: Schattenspiel – (Limited to 3,333 copies)
• 2013: Als Musik meine Sprache wurde - (A 7CD Autobiography)

Re-releases

• 2009: Phosphor
• 2009: Frohes Fest
• 2009: Das 2. Gebot
• 2009: Zelluloid
• 2009: Moderne Zeiten
• 2011: Kopfkino

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Unheilig.

• Official site
• Unheilig on Myspace