User:Wspearlman

William Schmidt (1960), drummer, Christian artist, Wisconsin.

William Schmidt started his career as a drummer and musician in 1969, at the age of 9. In 1978, he joined the heavy metal rock group, Blackdog (A.K.A.,"Redline"). At the age of 22, he experienced a conversion experience to Christianity. This conversion took his life in an entirely different direction, spiritually as well as musically. In late 1982, along with his brother, Robert, he formed the contemporary Christian band, Zoe. Zoe enjoyed a wide following locally in SE Wisconsin until the group disbanded in late 1985. Afterwards, Schmidt joined the Christian hard rock group, Messenger. They recorded two albums between 1985-87. In late 1987, Schmidt left the band to work on building his jazz chops. In 2001, he was approached by Thomas Salamone, the leader of the Christian horn band called BEACON, to join the group. Beacon recorded its first and only CD to date in late 2005, simply called "BEACON." The CD features eight original pieces written and copyrighted by Salamone. Most recently, Schmidt launched an instrumental jazz group called Five Hours (formerly, The DFJ Project) with fellow band members, Steve Weber (principle songwriter, tenor sax) and Michael Sancho (bass). He more recently spent time with the group Eden's Crown. Schmidt leads worship at various churches throughout SE Wisconsin. He is currently a worship team leader at Kettlebrook Church in West Bend, Wisconsin (USA). He has made numerous public speaking appearances on the discussion of Christianity, music, and drumming. He has also been a guest clinician several times at the Wisconsin Chapter of Drummers For Jesus.