Tobias Gruben was born on the 28th of July 1963 in Athens, Greece and raised in Starnberg, Germany. His first band was 4 Kaiserlein with Christoph Schlingensief, who would go on to become a famous director for film and theatre as well as an author and actor. Gruben then relocated to Hamburg and formed Cyan Revue in 1984. The band released three albums and toured with Alien Sex Fiend before disbanding in 1987. After this, he formed Die Erde with Horst Petersen. The group released two albums - one studio and one live - and toured alongside Einstürzende Neubauten, but split up in 1991 due to personal and musical differences.

Also in 1991, Gruben joined the band Heroina alongside Katrin Achinger and Matthias Arfmann of Kastrierte Philosophen, but the group dissolved that same year. He then worked on private projects until meeting Felix Huber in 1994. The pair released a 7 as Sol (23) before changing their moniker to Die Erde II. An album was planned for release in 1997 but was cancelled following Gruben's death from a heroin overdose on November 2nd 1996.