Helloween guitarist
Roland Grapow said about Schwichtenberg in an interview 1999: The song "
Step Out of Hell" from the Helloween album
Chameleon is written by
Roland Grapow about Schwichtenberg's problems with drug abuse. After a six-hour telephone call with
Michael Weikath, in which he explained why they had made that hard and painful decision, Ingo was asked to leave Helloween after the album
Chameleon. Schwichtenberg was apparently somewhat dissatisfied with the direction of the band as well, even going as far as to refer to their song from the
Chameleon album "
Windmill", as "Shitmill".
Michael Kiske said about the recording: "Ingo was very sick, that was the last thing he did, after he did the drumming he had a breakdown." Drummer Ritchie Abdel Nabi covered immediate commitments and played on the
Chameleon Tour. After Helloween, Schwichtenberg's father had died in February 1995, and he slid further and further into his
schizophrenic episodes, culminating in his suicide on 8 March 1995 by
jumping in front of an
S-train in his native hometown
Hamburg. He was 29 years old. Schwichtenberg's replacement in the band was
Uli Kusch. Helloween dedicated the album
The Time of the Oath to him. His friend
Kai Hansen had dedicated the song "Afterlife" from
Gamma Ray's
Land of the Free to Schwichtenberg, who had committed suicide prior to that album's release.
Michael Kiske also made a tribute to Schwichtenberg with the track "Always" from his first solo album
Instant Clarity. == Discography ==