Asp biography

ASP is a German Gothic Novel Rock band from Frankfurt am Main formed in 1999. The name is basically identical with the pseudonym of the Band’s leader Asp Spreng and to be pronounced as one word.

ASP were formed in 1999 by Alexander ‘Asp’ Spreng and Matthias ‘Matze’ Ambré, producing their first 3-track demo CD later that year. The following year saw a record deal with Trisol, who released the bands debut album Hast Du mich vermisst? (Der Schwarze Schmetterling Teil I), as well as the bands first live performance, at the Gothicworld festival (having added a bassist, drummer and a choir section to the line-up).

The following three years saw the release of two further albums, :duett (Der Schwarze Schmetterling Teil II) and Weltunter (Der Schwarze Schmetterling Teil III), which, along with the debut, formed the album series Der Schwarze Schmetterling (german, The Black Butterfly). ASP also became a popular live act over these years, regularly appearing at high profile festivals.

The band suffered some difficulty in 2004 with the bankruptcy of distributor EFA, though their albums were reissued later that year, along with the Interim Works Compendium, a 2CD collection of ASP rarities as well as selected tracks from their three albums to date. Another string of live dates took them through to the release of Aus der Tiefe (Der Schwarze Schmetterling Teil IV) in May 2005, the fourth part of the Der Schwarze Schmetterling series. The fifth part, Requiembryo (Der Schwarze Schmetterling Teil V) followed in 2007.

The year 2008 saw the release of three new albums. First, a best of-album Horror Vacui: The Eeriest Tales of ASP so Far was released in February. This was followed by a tour in Europe. At the end of August the band released Zaubererbruder – Der Krabat-Liederzyklus, an album based on the Sorbian Krabat legend. The live recording Akoasma: Horror Vacui Live is available since December 2008.