“We tried it but we understood in a short time that it would have been really impossible to have our friend and drummer ALEX HOLZWARTH playing for both RHAPSODY and RHAPSODY OF FIRE. In these conditions there was simply no way to go on and right now, having two tour agencies working for us and starting the planning of the live activity, we agreed that the best is to keep the two bands completely independent from each other. That’s why some time ago we found the only possible solution. Alex Holzwarth will go on playing for RHAPSODY OF FIRE and this makes sense because also his brother is playing in that band too. From our side, after thanking Alex for all the wonderful moments shared together and to have recorded the new album showing once more all his great technical skill, we started looking around trying to find a special person that could have taken his important place. Well, we can tell you that we found that person and it is surely special, very special… honestly one of the best drummers around we had the chance to listen to.
Therefore we are really proud to announce that the new drummer and permanent band member of RHAPSODY will be Mr. ALEX LANDENBURG. We are honored to have Alex with us, we admire his unique talent and we are sure we will have a lot of fun together, in the years to come, on the stages of the whole world!”
RHAPSODY
ALEX LANDENBURG
ABOUT ALEX:
Alex’s first major step into the spotlight was at age 26 when Jeff Waters asked him to join one of Canada’s most important Metal acts ever – ANNIHILATOR.
He toured with Annihilator, supporting the record “Metal” which was recorded by none other than drum legend Mike Mangini.
Shortly after touring Europe and the U.K. with Annihilator he was asked to replace yet another drum legend. Uli Kusch himself, of Helloween and Masterplan fame, asked Alex to replace him in the legendary progressive band MEKONG DELTA, the brainchild of composer and bass virtuoso Ralf Hubert.
After working extensively with Mekong Delta and playing to fans in Greece, Russia, Norway or Denmark, to name a few, Alex joined yet another famous German act in late 2008. AXXIS, one of Germany’s biggest acts of the early nineties, asked Alex to be their new drummer and record their upcoming album “Utopia” with them.
After releasing “Utopia” which made an impressive chart debut at rank 36 in Germany, Axxis toured Europe, including performances at some of the most important festivals in the Metal and Rock scene such as Master of Rock festival.
Recently Alex gained a reputation as an excellent drum clinician too.
In late 2009 he did clinics for DrumCraft drums in Shanghai/China and also at events such as the Musik Produktiv Messe in Switzerland where Alex had the honor of headlining the drum performances alongside drum superstar Jojo Mayer.
Later that year DrumCraft released a public edition of Alex’s first signature drum set, strictly limited to 50 units, which sold out within weeks after release.
In 2010 Drumheads magazine included Alex in their special issue “Drumheroes” which covered Germany’s 50 most influential drummers.
In the fall of 2010 Alex was asked to play drums for the Melodic Metal act STRATOVARIUS and to step in for their drummer Jörg Michael for the duration of the first part of their mutual tour with Helloween. Despite the sad circumstances that led to this – Jörg had been diagnosed with cancer, which luckily he has completely recovered from in the meantime – that tour was another highlight in Alex’s career till that point. Even more recently, in early 2011, Alex was asked again to step in for Uli Kusch, this time replacing him in Timo Tolkki’s (ex-Stratovarius) new “super group” SYMFONIA featuring a fantastic line up of highly accomplished musicians such as Jari Kainulainen (ex-Stratovarius), Mikko Härkin (ex-Sonata Arctica) and legendary vocalist Andre Matos (ex-Angra).
Together they did a tour of South America, playing to fans in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile.
Lately, Alex formed a new band together with his longtime friend and former Axxis bandmate Marco Wriedt called 21 OCTAYNE which just finished recording their debut album and is currently in talk with various labels.
Now, in 2012 Alex is super excited about his newest endeavour – playing with Luca Turilli’s RHAPSODY which he will join as their new permanent drummer!
Alex states: “What an amazing opportunity to join the band together with new singer Alessandro Conti and to start this new chapter together! I can’t wait to get out on the road and to play the new stuff as well as the Rhapsody classics”!