- Kurdt Vanderhoof
Kurdt Vanderhoof is the guitarist and founding member of the American heavy metal band
Metal Church . He formed the band in 1980 after the alias given to his San Francisco apartment. Vanderhoof moved back to his hometown, Aberdeen,Washington . In 1981, he formed a band named Shrapnel. It consisted of Kirk Arrington on drums, Mike Murphy on vocals, and Craig Wells handling guitars. Vanderhoof brought in a friend, Duke Erickson, who could play bass, completing the Shrapnel line-up. Mike Murphy left the band so they recruited David Wayne for vocal duties. By 1983, Shrapnel had renamed itself to Vanderhoof's original band name, Metal Church.However, in 1990 Vanderhoof left the band he had founded and was replaced by long-time friend John Marshall. His first solo band was "Hall Aflame", which only released one album, before breaking up on 1993. Metal Church disbanded that same year.
Vanderhoof formed another solo band "Vanderhoof". This band released the albums Vanderhoof and A Blur in Time in 1997 and 2002 respectively.
In 2005, Kurdt Vanderhoof and several members from his solo band formed
Presto Ballet , a band dedicated to recreating theprogressive rock sounds of the mid70s."`We recorded the whole album in a somewhat 'old-school' manner, which means analogue synthesizers, real Hammond organ and real mellotron sounds.`" said Vanderhoof, regarding their debut album
Peace Among the Ruins .Vanderhoof currently plays for both Metal Church and Presto Ballet.
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