TIM SUND electrified
"If you have a musical heart that beats for progressive and jazz rock, TIM SUND electrified is the place for you.
The Berlin trio consists of band leader Tim Sund (keyboards and synthesizers), Alex Will (e-bass) and Jonathan Gradmann (drums). Three musicians who have known each other for many years and have already played together in the progressive rock band "Green Desert Tree". After a long break, the overwhelming desire arose to make music together again.
So they met in Sund's small recording studio, where the experienced band leader threw some of his compositions at the feet of his younger colleagues. The spark jumped over immediately. “Over the years, a deep musical trust has developed between us. Alex and I know Tim's compositional style very well, so we know how to bring his pieces to life," says Gradmann, describing the trio's special band chemistry. Sund also quickly felt that something very special had developed between them. “Joni and Alex are to me what Dave Weckl and John Patitucci were to Chick Corea. A rhythm group that you can tailor your compositions to." The jam sessions initially resulted in a few video clips and a little later the idea of ​​developing further material and recording an album."
​ - Christian Erber, culture journalist (Radio Bremen)
About the band name and the album title:
When I came up with the band name TIM SUND electrified, I wanted to find something more exciting and expressive than just the term trio. And electrified now stands for "electrified" in terms of the instrumentation as well as in the sense of being inspired.
And so it made sense that Rusty could become a kind of mascot or trademark for us. And while composing the title track "The Future on our Doorstep", which is actually about processing current world events (pandemic and climate crisis), this alternative interpretation of the title quickly came to mind: the robot, the personified future knocks on our door.
How did the trio find each other?
The collaboration with Alex Will and Jonathan Gradmann goes back to the beginnings of my progressive rock band "Green Desert Tree" in 2015. This core trio was the driving force behind GDT's great first album.
But how the three of us met has an interesting history: Alex Will was in my pre-university class in his early 20s and was a student of mine, and I had already noticed his musical potential back then. And exactly on his last day at the StuVo, just before he was supposed to start his studies at the JIB, I took him aside and said: "Listen, I want to found a progressive rock band and I would be happy if you join.” And we've been close friends ever since. And Joni, our drummer, was actually a participant in the very first synthesizer workshop I gave. I didn't even know he was a drummer. Then at some point he showed me a recording of himself and asked if I knew a good studio to record his music. When I heard his playing I thought, "Wow, that's the most interesting drummer I've heard in a long time". "I want to play with you," I said.
Even though both are no longer part of the band, we've always stayed in close contact and in early 2020 we started meeting up and playing every now and then, just the three of us. And it didn't take long before the idea of ​​filming these meetings for my YouTube channel came up - this is how the video series "TIM SUND electrified" came about.
The original magic between us was right back with its incredible creative energy and exceptionally fast work pace. They both get my ideas straight away and implement them incredibly imaginatively, no matter what I put before them.