The story of Amyris started in Fall 1998 under a different name. It was then
when drummer Victor M. Garcia Sanchez replied to an advertisement placed by
guitarist Jürgen Pfrang. After the split of the band ELYSIAN FIELDS Jürgen was
searching musicians to form a new band. Together he and Victor formed the
band UNIO MYSTICA.

In winter 1998 the bass-player Jirka Dimitrov joined but he was sacked in March 1999
because of personal differences.

The next change in the line-up came when keyboardist Thomas Lehr (April 1999)
and guitarist Kai Bender (May 1999) joined the group. Before this both were
playing in the group MAJERE. At first Thomas suggested Kai to play bass but
then Kai came in with his guitar because he simply did not have a bass. Quickly
everyone was of the opinion that Kai should remain in the band as a second
guitarist.

In July 1999 bass-player Jirka Dimitrov rejoined. But in October 1999 he had to
leave the band again because of the remaining personal differences. He was
followed by a short appearance of Steffen Wieners on bass. He joined in
November 1999 and had to leave the band again the same month because of
problems he had in his job.

During that period the search for a talented vocalist was still going on,
of course. Sadly nobody of the candidates was able to convince everyone in
the band. It was not until January 2000 that the band found a talented vocalist
in Chris J. Marino (and an old schoolfriend of Jürgen!). Before, Chris was
singing succesfully in bands such as Scarlatyna, Crystal Crow or Ziron. He
also brought bass-player Stefan Thon with him, who also was able to convince everyone
immediately. After his split with his former bands Q-Squad and Infinity, Stefan
wanted to end his musicial career but the band was able to convince him not to
give up.

This completed the line-up of the band. Because of legal problems the band has
to rename itself into AMYRIS in March 2000.

In the same month the band began recording their self-produced debut-album
"Desolate Messiah" with the help of Marc Bugnard at the LFT-studio in
Rodgau/Weißkirchen, Germany. The recordings were finished in January 2001.

Not long after that Michael Kiem of Apanage Music Records was showing interest
in the band. In March 2001 Amyris signed a record deal with Apanage Music Records.
In April 2001 "Desolate Messiah" was released by Apanage Music Records.

In the beginning of June 2001 the band made its first ever live performance
on the "Mainuferfest" in Offenbach, Germany which was really satisfieing
for everybody.

But a few days after that gig Victor M. Garcia left the band to do more harder
orientated (trash-metal-)music in the future. In the same month the band found
a replacement with ex-Black-in-Mind-drummer Franz-Josef Kowolik-Seufert.

In the end of 2001 the band became more and more dissatisfied with the work of their
label Apanage Music Records, so because of this the band quit the label
in December 2001.

In the same month the band returned to the LFT-Studio of Marc Bugnard to start
recording their second album "Desire For Justice" which was released in January 2002.

For the rest of the year 2002 AMYRIS were playing many gigs in the south of Germany
and were writing on new songs.
At the beginning of 2003 the band played on the international band-contest "EMERGENZA",
reached the semi-final in Frankfurt and played before 800 people in the famous club
"Batschkapp".

During that period it became more and more obvious that the band and Chris J. Marino
were departing musically from each other. Because of this it came to the split between
AMYRIS and Chris J. Marino in the end of March 2003. Sadly the band also had to announce
the departure of Stefan Thon, who left the band because of this split.
Since then Jürgen Pfrang has taken over his part as a bass-player.

With Volker Bach a new vocalist was found in September 2003. He impressed everyone with
his vocal and lyrical abilities.
Only a few weeks later Lars Bittner joined the band as the second vocalist. Lars was not
a no-name for the band. Franz and Jürgen had played with him in the side-project
"Stronghold" where they were already impressed by his voice.

In the middle of the preparations for the new album, bandfounder Jürgen Pfrang left
the band for personal reasons. He wants to follow new defiances and musicial styles
aside progressive music.
In the same month the band found a replacement in Fall-Out bass-player Dominik Stotzem.

Now the band will prepare itself for the recordings of the new album, which will
(finally) start in Spring 2005.

...to be continued...



Source : http://www.amyris.net/inter/index2e.htm