As Steiff (vocals), Harry (drums) and Chris (bass) founded the band in Munich in 1995, the plan was to rock some foundations – and so the rocking began. Once they’d found a guitarist who fit, they picked out what each of them saw as the best bits from the entire breadth of the hard genre and the FREE KEY BIT CHESS sound was born. After some changes on the guitar, Mick joined in 2001, bringing with him the final consolidating ingredients for that sound. In December 2008, Hamlet joined the band, when Chris decided to leave the band due to lack of time.
FREE KEY BIT CHESS – the name alone bears witness to the band’s irony and creativity, even if you may have to say it a few times in rapid succession to get the point. And the name is just the start of their agenda – no cliché grinding, no fad following, just uncompromising openness and loyalty to their own style. Equipped with contemporary riffs, straight grooves and roots deep in “old school” Metal, the “Bitches(s)”, as their fans know them, have crafted a sound that you just have to hear to enjoy – and they know how to carry that enjoyment over to their audiences at live gigs. In their eventful past FREE KEY BIT CHESS have shared the stage several times with the likes of Ektomorf, Farmer Boys, Legion Of The Damned, Tankard and Debauchery and proven that they need shy no comparison with their peers when it comes to professionalism and stage presence.
01. I Bleed… You Die
02. Me Against the World
03. Letters and Cyphers
04. Piece of the Action
05. Asylum
06. The Reliever
07. Pure Fuckin’ Mayhem
08. Testify
09. Emetic
10. Silence so Loud