Bassinvaders is the bass guitar

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

 focused side-project of Helloween

Helloween

Helloween is a German power metal band founded in the mid 1980s by members of Iron Fist and Powerfool. The band was a pioneering force in the European Power Metal movement and their second and third studio albums, Keeper of the Seven Keys, Pt...

 bassist Markus Grosskopf

Markus Grosskopf

Markus Großkopf, born 21 September 1965 in Hamburg, Germany, is the bass guitarist, and one of only two remaining original members of the German power metal band Helloween...

.

The project is a unique heavy metal

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 experiment which features only the bass guitar and does not included any conventional 6 string electric or acoustic guitars. The project focuses on the Bass guitar showcasing lead solo bass guitar, rhythm bass guitar and actual bass guitar along with accompanying drums.

The original project line-up consists of only Grosskopf himself, although many guest bassists, vocalists and drummers are featured in the debut album of the project.

History

The side project was created and in the actual line up only features Markus Grosskopf

Markus Grosskopf

Markus Großkopf, born 21 September 1965 in Hamburg, Germany, is the bass guitarist, and one of only two remaining original members of the German power metal band Helloween...

, most notably the bass

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

 player for German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 power metal

Power metal

Power metal is a style of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. The term refers to two different but related styles: the first pioneered and largely practiced in North America with a harder sound similar to speed metal, and a...

 band Helloween

Helloween

Helloween is a German power metal band founded in the mid 1980s by members of Iron Fist and Powerfool. The band was a pioneering force in the European Power Metal movement and their second and third studio albums, Keeper of the Seven Keys, Pt...

 and also a bassist for Tobias Sammet

Tobias Sammet

Tobias Sammet is the vocalist and primary songwriter of the German Power metal band Edguy, as well as the creator of the metal opera Avantasia and a member of the metal project Final Chapter. He also made guest appearances on the Rob Rock album Holy Hell and the metal opera Aina...

's symphonic metal

Symphonic metal

Symphonic metal is a term used to describe heavy metal music that has symphonic elements; that is, elements that are either borrowed from classical music or, as with progressive rock music, create a style reminiscent of it, e.g...

 project Avantasia

Avantasia

Avantasia is a heavy metal project created by Tobias Sammet, vocalist and frontman of the band Edguy. The project's title is a portmanteau of the words "avalon" and "fantasia" and describes "a world beyond human imagination"...

 and classic rock

Classic rock

Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...

 group Kickhunter.

While he was sitting in the bar and drinking, Grosskopf was inspired to created a bass guitar

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

 based band, which will feature no guitars at all, and instead will focus on the bass, and will feature a lead solo bass guitar, a rhythm bass guitar, and an actual bass guitar to play the bass parts, along with accompanying drums, and vocals.

He came to Frontier Records

Frontier Records

Frontier Records is an independent record label, started in 1980 in Los Angeles by Lisa Fancher, a former employee of Bomp! Records and writer of the liner notes for the first album by The Runaways....

 with the idea in the beginning of 2007 and presented the concept to them. The record label was immediately intrigued and gave it a go.

For the project, Grosskopf invited some well-known singing bass players from the German heavy metal

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 scene to join him and record with him. Those are Tom Angelripper

Tom Angelripper

Tom Angelripper is the founding member and main songwriter of the German thrash metal band Sodom.- Biography :...

 (Sodom

Sodom (band)

Sodom is a German Thrash metal trio from Gelsenkirchen, formed in 1981.Along with the bands Kreator and Destruction, Sodom is considered one of the "big three" of Teutonic thrash metal...

), Peavy Wagner

Peavy Wagner

Peter "Peavy" Wagner is a German heavy metal musician. He is best known for being singer and bassist of the band Rage.- Biography :...

 (Rage

Rage (band)

Rage are a German heavy metal band, formed in 1984. They were part of the German heavy/speed/power metal scene to emerge in the early to mid 1980s, along with bands such as Helloween, Running Wild and Blind Guardian.-Background:...

) and Marcel Schirmer

Marcel Schirmer

Marcel Schirmer, born on December 22, 1966, is a German heavy metal musician. Commonly known as Schmier, he is the founding bassist and vocalist of the thrash metal band Destruction. He left Destruction in 1989 to form Headhunter and reunited with them in 1999. Schmier owned a pizzeria named...

 (Destruction

Destruction (band)

Destruction is a German thrash metal band. They are considered one of the "three kings" of the Teutonic thrash metal scene, the others being Kreator and Sodom...

).

To push the project ever further and add to the variety of the record, Markus invited some of his bass heroes to play solos on the record. He expected to get a response from 2 or 3 musicians, while ended up more than 13 people to have a solo appearance on the record. Those include Billy Sheehan

Billy Sheehan

William "Billy" Sheehan is an American bassist known for his work with Talas, Steve Vai, David Lee Roth, Mr. Big, and Niacin. Sheehan has won the "Best Rock Bass Player" readers' poll from Guitar Player Magazine five times for his "lead bass" playing style...

 (Mr. Big

Mr. Big (band)

Mr. Big is an American rock supergroup, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1988. The band is a quartet composed of Eric Martin , Paul Gilbert , Billy Sheehan , and Pat Torpey ; Mr. Big also included Richie Kotzen, a reputable blues-based guitarist who replaced Gilbert in 1999...

, Steve Vai

Steve Vai

Steven Siro "Steve" Vai is a three time Grammy Award-winning American guitarist, songwriter and producer who has sold over 15 million albums. Steve Vai is widely known as a flamboyant guitar virtuoso....

's band), Rudy Sarzo

Rudy Sarzo

Rudy Sarzo is a Cuban American hard rock/heavy metal bassist. Sarzo has played with many well known heavy metal acts including Quiet Riot, Ozzy Osbourne, Whitesnake, Manic Eden, Dio and Blue Öyster Cult.-Early life:...

 (Dio

Dio (band)

Dio was an American heavy metal band from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Formed in 1982 and led by vocalist Ronnie James Dio, after he left Black Sabbath with intentions to form a new band with fellow former Black Sabbath member, drummer Vinny Appice. Naming the band Dio made sense from a commercial...

, ex-Whitesnake

Whitesnake

Whitesnake are an English rock band, founded in 1978 by David Coverdale after his departure from his previous band, Deep Purple. The band's early material has been compared by critics to Deep Purple, but by the mid 1980s they had moved to a more commercial hard rock style...

, ex-Quiet Riot

Quiet Riot

Quiet Riot is an American Heavy Metal band. They are best known for their hit singles "Metal Health" and "Cum On Feel the Noize". They were founded in 1973 by guitarist Randy Rhoads and bassist Kelly Garni, under the original name Mach 1, before changing the name to Little Women and finally Quiet...

), Lee Rocker

Lee Rocker

Lee Rocker is an American rockabilly double bass player. He is the son of the classical clarinetists Stanley Drucker and Naomi Drucker. His sister Roseanne is a country music singer-songwriter...

 (Stray Cats

Stray Cats

Stray Cats are an American Rockabilly band formed in 1980 by guitarist/vocalist Brian Setzer , upright bassist Lee Rocker and Slim Jim Phantom in the Long Island town of Massapequa, New York. The group had numerous hit singles in the UK, Australia and the U.S...

), Marco Mendoza

Marco Mendoza

Marco Mendoza is an American musician. He spent his formative years living with his grandmother in Tijuana, Mexico. He started playing the guitar at an early age, adopting the bass when he was invited to join a band that needed a player....

 (Thin Lizzy

Thin Lizzy

Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Two of the founding members, drummer Brian Downey and bass guitarist/vocalist Phil Lynott met while still in school. Lynott assumed the role of frontman and led them throughout their recording career of thirteen studio albums...

, ex-Whitesnake

Whitesnake

Whitesnake are an English rock band, founded in 1978 by David Coverdale after his departure from his previous band, Deep Purple. The band's early material has been compared by critics to Deep Purple, but by the mid 1980s they had moved to a more commercial hard rock style...

), Nibbs Carter

Nibbs Carter

Timothy 'Nibbs' Carter , British born bassist for heavy metal band Saxon. He is the most enduring bass player in Saxon history, appearing on thirteen of their albums...

 (Saxon

Saxon (band)

Saxon are an English heavy metal band, formed in 1976 in Barnsley, Yorkshire. As front-runners of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, they had 8 UK Top 40 albums in the 1980s including 4 UK Top 10 albums. Saxon also had numerous singles in the Top 20 singles chart...

) and much more.

The band's first studio album, entitled "Hellbassbeaters

Hellbassbeaters

Hellbassbeaters is the debut album by Helloween bass player Markus Grosskopf's bass guitar based Heavy Metal side project Bassinvaders. The album was released on January 25, 2008 in Germany....

" was released on January 25, 2008.

Session members

• Marcel Schirmer
  Marcel Schirmer
  Marcel Schirmer, born on December 22, 1966, is a German heavy metal musician. Commonly known as Schmier, he is the founding bassist and vocalist of the thrash metal band Destruction. He left Destruction in 1989 to form Headhunter and reunited with them in 1999. Schmier owned a pizzeria named...
  
   - vocals, bass guitar (2007-present)
• Tom Angelripper
  Tom Angelripper
  Tom Angelripper is the founding member and main songwriter of the German thrash metal band Sodom.- Biography :...
  
   - vocals, bass guitar (2007-present)
• Peter "Peavy" Wagner
  Peavy Wagner
  Peter "Peavy" Wagner is a German heavy metal musician. He is best known for being singer and bassist of the band Rage.- Biography :...
  
   - vocals, bass guitar (2007-present)

Discography

Release date	Title	Record label
January 25, 2008	Hellbassbeaters Hellbassbeaters Hellbassbeaters is the debut album by Helloween bass player Markus Grosskopf's bass guitar based Heavy Metal side project Bassinvaders. The album was released on January 25, 2008 in Germany....	Frontier Records Frontier Records Frontier Records is an independent record label, started in 1980 in Los Angeles by Lisa Fancher, a former employee of Bomp! Records and writer of the liner notes for the first album by The Runaways....