AT VANCE was formed in 1998 by Olaf Lenk – already well known as a very virtuous guitar player recording solo projects and as a member of Metal bands like VELVET VIPER and the progressive Metal project CENTERS - and Oliver Hartmann - known before as the singer of CENTERS. After the first demo recordings, the line-up was completed with Rainald König on the 2nd guitar, 19 year old drummer Spoony, Ulli Müller on keyboards and Jochen Schnur on bass guitar. In April 1999 AT VANCE was signed by Shark Records and recorded their first album "NO ESCAPE" which was released in September 1999. The musical concept of walking in the footsteps of great and virtuous bands like Yngwie Malmsteen, Deep Purple, Rainbow or Dio formed the band and helped them to become an insider tip in Europe and a well known and established metal act in Japan. After drummer Spoony had left the band, Jürgen Lucas joined AT VANCE in November 1999.
The second album "HEART OF STEEL", released in March 2000, was selling over 20,000 copies world-wide and got great reviews in Metal magazines all over the world. It fulfilled all expectations of fans and critics around the globe. After playing several single shows in Germany and Spain (e.g. Rock Machina festival 2000), the 3rd album "DRAGONCHASER" was released in March 2001. Having problems with their label during the whole time, At Vance left Shark Records to sign up with AFM Records who became aware of the band because of Oliver’s appearance on projects like Tobias Sammets´ AVANTASIA – The Metal Opera, a project that turned out to be a great success.
After producing the last 3 albums at Olaf Lenks’ Guitarland studios, AT VANCE decided to produce their new album "ONLY HUMAN" with Sascha Paeth (a.o. Rhapsody, Luca Turilli, …) at HEAVENS GATE studios in Wolfsburg / Germany. The release date is scheduled for the middle of February 2002.
At Vance are:
Oliver Hartmann 1999- Vocals Olaf Lenk 1998- Guitars Rainald König 1998- Guitars Sascha Feldmann 2002- Bass Jürgen Lucas 1999- Drums
