Tony Spillman (Earthen Grave), guitars - Bruce Franklin (Trouble), guitars - Lothar Keller (Sacred Dawn), vocals -
Willie Max (Shadoz Edge), bass - Chris Martins (Band Of Brothers), drums - Derrick Simpson, keyboards.
Live dates to be announced soon! For bookiing arrangements, please contact Mercyful Mike Smith at:
[email protected]





TONY SPILLMAN
From a very early age, Tony Spillman was very interested in music, mainly "sing-a-longs" like The Beatles and Three-Dog-Night.
Growing up in the 70’s was a very exciting time for music and Tony was exposed to a variety of different musical styles. He bought
his first guitar, a Lotus Les Paul, in 1978.
In 1978 he started playing in a local band called Mad Dog. They only knew 5 songs, but they played them over and over; tunes like
"Speedy's Coming" from the Scorpions, old Aerosmith – "Train Kept a Rollin", and Black Sabbath's "Paranoid". In 1981 Tony was
introduced to a band called Trouble. After hanging out with them at a few rehearsals, he began working for the band as a guitar
technician. It was a very interesting time in music. The days of thrash and death metal had yet to arrive, so metal music really was
not yet defined; it was still called rock and roll. Tony worked with Trouble until 1985.
From 1985-1991 Tony settled down to have a family and work on his own original music.
From 1991-1993 He started playing in a local band called Warfare – a speed metal band. From 1993-1994, Spillman played in grunge
rock/metal band called Mr. Crazy. By 1995, Tony launched a band called Epitaph, which was a groove rock/doom band. They played
throughout Chicago for 3 years, opening for a variety of national touring acts. After that, Tony became a founding member of Angry Chair,
an Alice in Chains tribute band. 37 songs and 4 years later, Angry Chair were touring all over the Midwest and East Coast.
After a successful run with Angry Chair, Tony felt it was time to move on, and relocated to Arizona where he started working on his solo
record called Spillage. During this time he continued working as a guitar technician for Trouble, Prong and Ministry.
In November of 2007 Tony moved back to Chicago. While working as a stage manager and back line technician, Ron Holzner called him
to work for his “new” band, Earthen Grave. Ron said, “Since it’s your birthday, why don’t you play a song with us”. The song they played
was Black Sabbath's "Children Of The Grave". A few days after the performance, Ron called and asked Tony to join the band.
Throughout his lifetime travels, Tony will tell you two things: "Life has a funny way of doing things", and “There are only three things that
really matter in life and music: Love, Character & Integrity”. The greatest is Love.

BRUCE FRANKLIN
Carving his niche in musical history with Chicago doom legends Trouble, Bruce Franklin needs no introduction. Having shared
duties with partner Rick Wartell in Trouble since its inception in 1979, Bruce has also played in Supershine, his solo project featuring
King's X bassist Doug Pinnick, and has done a few guest spots, most noteably with Krux and Tourniquet. Bruce is also no stranger to
producing, and he will be leaving his mark on the upcoming debut release from Spillage.

LOTHAR KELLER
Growing up, the Keller home was always filled with music and musical instruments. At a very young age, Lothar,
a North Carolina native, was trained classically by his parents and began to play everything available to him. First,
he learned the recorder and piano, then the trumpet. He also took voice lessons, which earned him a position in
the North Carolina Boys Choir. Finally he was introduced to the guitar. Lothar would practice for Hours upon hours
with influences like Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Howe, Brian May and Paul Gilbert.
At 14, Lothar's father took him to see his first Iron Maiden concert and he was hooked. Using money earned catching
chickens; he took out a loan to buy a Marshall stack and Fender guitar. He became a metal head, like a good child of
the 80’s, listening to everything from Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and Queensryche to Savatage and Metal Church.
When Lothar was 15 years old, he was in his first band called IHS. It was a Christianity-based metal band with Lothar
on lead vocals and guitar. His father, Pastor Keller played the bass. Although Lothar grew up in the church, metal music
saw no boundaries for him as he eventually created another band, Disciple 13 in 1995. Unlike IHS, this band was not associated
with Christian rock. It was darker, heavier, and it was also the dream that would never die. At the onset, Disciple 13, comprised
of Lothar on guitar, was a moderately successful venture. It was eventually revamped with new members and Lothar took over
vocal duty while still playing guitar. As the band made its plans, one member decided to quit. Blindsided by that decision and without
enough time to find a replacement, the band had to opt out of a tour and disbanded. Lothar laid down his guitar for the next 5 years.
Although Disciple 13 had parted ways, Lothar had a plan. He earned his degree from Full Sail Center for the Recording Arts as an audio
engineer and began pursuing his "other career" in audio. He landed a job as an Audio/Visual Engineer of mobile television trucks and
travelled around the country until finally settling in Chicago. It was there the inspiration to play was born again.
Drawing from new influences in the genre of progressive metal, like Dream Theater, Nevermore, and Fates Warning, it was time for Lothar
to start recording again. Combining his love of original metal with his influences in classical music, he began working on his solo project. It
was during that recording period that Sacred Dawn was conceived. Drawing from the primal metal sounds of the past, fused with the edginess
and maturity of metal today, Lothar was ready to make his dream a reality. Since the birth of Sacred Dawn, Lothar has also joined bands such
as The Skull on guitar, Divinity Compromised as vocalist, and now Spillage as their vocalist as well. Lothar also writes, records, and engineers
new music in his capacity as founding member of Qumran Records. Lothar is also working as an audio engineer for WGN-TV Chicago.

WILLIE MAX
Willie-Max, also known "legally" as William Max Herzog, was born in Chicago in the 1960's and raised in the northwest suburbs of Chicago.
Although Willie-Max's family enjoyed a constant stream of music in their home, it wasn't until the late 70's when Willie-Max first got his hands
on an actual guitar. He'd been watching his older sister playing bass with her boyfriend's band and she let him give it a try. Up until that time,
Willie-Max had been playing saxophone, but by the time he was in junior high school, he'd sold his saxophone and bought a guitar, knowing
he'd never turn back.
During his first year of high school, Willie-Max purchased a bass and a drum set and as his love for music grew, he began playing out with several
bands during the 80's, attempting to master all three instruments, with his passion for guitar continuing to grow.
After completing a few underground recording projects at the start of the 90's, Willie-Max moved to Florida to check out the music scene there.
While in Florida Willie-Max had the pleasure of playing bass with the legendary Christian guitarist Mike Pachelli, making appearances on the Mike
Pachelli TV show in Tampa.
Returning to Illinois in the early 2000's, Willie-Max again picked up the bass and made a bold statement by auditioning for the band Disturbed.
Although Disturbed passed on hiring him, Willie-Max's determination and feedback from the band prompted him to join a local band, Shadoz Edge,
who enjoyed a few years of playing out in suburban Chicago.
Now that Willie-Max has taken a short break, he's ready to take on his latest project with the band Spillage.

CHRIS MARTINS
Chris is currently the driving force behind Band of Brothers, a Chicago area musical collaboration established in 2008
with some long-time friends to initially pay tribute to a fallen friend. The band continues today, performing a blend of
classic heavy metal and hard rock anthems they grew up on with original material -- of which Chris is a contributor,
both musically and lyrically.
Chris picked up his first pair of drumsticks at the age of 12 and as was the case with many a young drummer, was
immediately drawn to the playing of Buddy Rich. Shortly thereafter, he heard his first Black Sabbath album and the manic
playing of Bill Ward set Chris on his path. As his skills continued to develop, Chris incorporated elements of his favorite
drummers into his style, most notably Bill Ward as previously mentioned, as well as Cozy Powell, Tommy Aldridge , Frankie
Banali and Animal.
Following the traditional route, Chris joined his first “garage” band with a group of friends and continued to play in various
incarnations of bands throughout his high school years. During his time in one of these bands, Horizon, an up-and-coming
young drummer would frequent their rehearsals, observing and admiring Chris’s playing; this influence can be heard today
in the style of Sacred Warrior’s Tony Valesquez.
As the years progressed, so too did Chris’s dynamic playing. In the mid-Eighties, he joined the band 200 Proof, who enjoyed
a solid local following in the Chicago-land area. After this stint, Chris reconnected with some of his old bandmates and provided
his solid percussive skills for about 5 years gigging and recording original material with Never Never, a band which enabled Chris
to showcase his progressive roots and technical proficiencies. During this time, he also joined forces with some other friends to
help create the metal powerhouse DVS. He spent the good part of the Nineties