kaiser

Hi I..m Kai Lemke, also known as Kaiser.

I started playing bass and guitar at the age of 14 and joined bands straightaway due to the fact that nobody wanted to play bass.
When I heard Jaco Pastorius and Stanley Clarke I realised
there..s a lot to be done with this instrument. Before I picked up playing I was heavily into Kiss and AC/DC. But I really got into Jazz and Funk as well.

After school I moved about in Germany trying to find a new musical home, never found and felt encouraged to step up the game. With my then Band The Tuff Babies I met some crazy british people and enthusiastically moved to London. My first band there by the name of Tantric toured England and Europe extensively, but my main band was Lo Williams. Funky, poetic and savage we redefined music the way we saw fit. We supported among others George Clinton, Keziah Jones, Skunk Anansie, Average White Band. I remained in London from 1993-2000.

With the band Must I signed a deal with Wind Up Records (Creed, Evanessence, Seether) in New York and moved to the USA, living in NY, LA and Boston. We recorded our debut ..Androgynous Jesus.. in LA with english/ australian producer Nick Launay, who also produced INXS, Midnight Oil and The YeahYeahYeahs.
Promoting AJ we toured with the likes of Aerosmith, Kid Rock, Stone Temple Pilots, Matchbox 20 and INXS.
By the middle of 2003 I..d grown unbearably homesick and moved back to my hometown
of Dortmund/ Germany joining Sub7even via recommendation of Pop Singer Sasha.
With Sub7even..s singer Daniel Wirtz I wrote their third Album Love, Chains and Rockets which we recorded in Frankfurt..s 3R Studios. The album was co-produced by Stephan Weidner and we toured the material to kingdom come. Due to personal reasons I left end of 2007.

Too cut a long story short - too late - I..ve a new band called Svensson with Sven Schuhmacher (vox+guit) and Sven Petry (drums). Two of my favourite individuals musically
as well as being true soulmates, Svenson..s like a dream come true.

In March 2008 I joined The Perfect Tool, a Tool Tribute Band playing all over the globe. Since Tool being one of my favourite bands and my Boogie Rig being the exact fit for the job, I wholeheartedly embrace the venture as if an originals band.


In June 2008 I was recruited by the Dutch Jazzfunk Project Surfcake. I´m very pleased cos I can finally show off my Funk and Jazz skills, cultivating old and new chops.

On top of that I play bass in Vanessa Petruo´s (Ex-No Angels) band.

I enjoy writing and recording and playing real music with heart, soul and mind as well as pushing the envelope, which I unapologetically do in the jamband Witches Brew, an hommage to my hero Miles Davis.

My deepest respect goes out to everybody who shifts gears from within their personal realms with the love of truelly great music and trying to get it to as many listeners as possible. You know it when you hear it.

Get in touch and share the love.

Some of the Musicians I played with:

Sven Petry Sven Schumacher Sam Brown Steve Kilroy Nuno Bettencourt Paul Geary Charlie O..Neal Nick Launay Christian Neander Marcus Greiner Henning Stumm Peter Fox Sasha Achim Grebien Danny Morrissey Keziah Jones Godsmack Don Gilmour Silke Burckhardt Moritz von der Forst Patrick Fa Denis Cosmar Jonas Wilms Bart Oostindie Mike Roelofs Jurek Cruysberg Leon Bartels Ryan Carniaux Ron van Stratum Nippy Noya Cosmo Klein Philipp Noha Tobias Belker Lars Horstmann Jörg Brinkmann Rafael Arlet Michael Wurst Jonas Windscheid Uli Biggemann Tony Cerqua Ricardo Doppio Alex Britti Stefan Pommes Baader Robert Sack Esther Sack Thomas Frisch Stephan Hendricks Felix Gutierrez Kaspar Bierkämper Cosimo Cadore Shaw Petronio Ben Cowen Dave Dix Manu Loos Tom Bargel
Daniel Wirtz Christos Eftimiadis Stephan Weidner Alex Schönert Eddie Royce Dave Ireland Reuben Alexander

kaiser