associated_acts years_active alias article_title background birth_date genre image origin name occupation
the lewd metal church presto ballet hall aflame 1978 -- present blobbo kurdt vanderhoof
 non_vocal_instrumentalist 28 june 1961 thrash power metal , progressive rock metal , heavy metal , speed metal , kurdt vanderhoof live.jpg aberdeen , washington , usa kurdt vanderhoof guitarist
kurdt vanderhoof

kurdt vanderhoof , -lrb- born jun 28 , 1961 -rrb- , is an american guitarist , best known as the lead guitarist and founding member of the american heavy metal band metal church .
as early as 1976 , in aberdeen , vanderhoof was ardently networking with local musicians and had formed a band called tyr , which included kirk arrington on drums and vanderhoof on rhythm guitar .
in 1978 vanderhoof joined seattle hardcore punk band the lewd adopting the stage name `` blobbo '' on bass guitar , switching instruments to guitar the following year .
the lewd relocated from seattle to san francisco in 1980 .
following vanderhoof 's departure from the lewd he formed metal church , named after a nickname given to his san francisco apartment .
vanderhoof moved back to his hometown , aberdeen , washington , with a vinyl single of trash can baby as proof of his interlude with the lewd .
in the summer of 1982 , he formed a heavy metal cover band named shrapnel .
it consisted of tom weber on drums , duke erickson on bass -lrb- both from hoquiam -rrb- , mike murphey -lrb- `` muff '' , from montesano -rrb- and a guitar player vanderhoof had jammed with in high school -lrb- aberdeen -rrb- .
shrapnel played four events to warm up , including a frat party at plu , after which the other guitar player quit , having had a religious experience , unwilling to cover the number of the beast by iron maiden .
his part was replaced by craig wells of aberdeen , and tom was eventually replaced by kirk arrington -lrb- also from hoquiam -rrb- on drums .
when mike murphy left the band , they recruited david wayne for vocal duties .
by 1983 , shrapnel had renamed itself to vanderhoof 's original band name , metal church .
after metal church 's second album `` the dark '' in 1986 , vanderhoof left the band but remained heavily involved in the songwriting process , however .
his first solo band was hall aflame , which only released one album before breaking up in 1994 .
metal church disbanded that same year .
vanderhoof formed another solo band , vanderhoof .
this band released the albums `` vanderhoof '' and `` a blur in time '' in 1997 and 2002 respectively .
in 2005 , kurdt vanderhoof and several members from his solo band formed presto ballet , a band dedicated to recreating the progressive rock sounds of the mid 1970s .
`` we recorded the whole album in a somewhat ` old-school ' manner , which means analogue synthesizers , real hammond organ and real mellotron sounds '' , said vanderhoof , regarding their debut album , `` peace among the ruins '' .
