Hi folks,

lotsa things are new. After a long time of weighing my options and wondering what to do, I've decided to put together a brand new band. It really had nothing to do with not getting along with Ed, Rüz & the captain.

There were two main reasons for wanting to try something new. Number one is we'd been playing together for over three years and it was getting to where it wasn't fresh and new and exciting anymore, musically. I brought new songs to the band and we were doing things to them - arrangement-wise - that we had done to other songs before. Not good. Number two is that we're no longer all living in the same city and it just got harder to find time to get together and rehearse and be creative. Ed is training to be a sound engineer in Frankfurt, the captain is working on his PhD in philosophy. Rüz is still in town and I'm looking forward to getting together with him and playing with him some time in the future.

For now, I just really want to get things going with the new band. It took me a long while to find the right guys but at the end of summer I had a really good band together. There's five of us now. In addition to a lead guitarist, a bassist and a drummer, I've found the man I'd long been looking for. The fifth band member is a versatile guy who can play accordion, mandolin, banjo and guitar. So we're a lot more versatile as a band in a live situation.

We've already played our first gigs. Our debut was a wonderful trip to Lyon where we played to a crowd of some 350 French music lovers. We played about a half dozen of new songs plus the best ones from the first three albums ... some of them in newly arranged versions, all of them with new enthusiasm. We got over real well and had a most wonderful time. You can find pictures, a concert review and an interview at www.countrywebzine.com

The week after that, we played our home turf, the Omnibus in Würzburg. That was a lot of fun, too. Currently, we're demoing new material for the upcoming album. I have a whole bunch of strong new songs. We have already arranged some of the new stuff and there's more to come.

Sorry that I kept you all in the dark about these goings-on but, as a matter of fact, I was uncertain about what to do for the longest time myself. Anyway, this is the new situation and I'm really eager to get back out there and play for you all with the new band. I'm sure that anyone who liked what I did with the old version of the Gunslingers will enjoy the new band. And hopefully some more people will hear about us soon and enjoy what we're doing.

Stay tuned for updates and keep rockin',

Markus