Pretty Maids

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pretty Maids
Pretty Maids live (2002)
Pretty Maids live (2002)
General information
origin Horsens , Denmark
Genre (s) Heavy metal , hard rock
founding 1981
Website www.prettymaids.dk
Founding members
Ronnie Atkins (Paul Christensen)
Ken Hammer (Kenneth Hansen)
Alan Owen (Allan Nielsen) (until 1990, studio until 2002)
John Darrow (Johnny Møller) (until 1984)
Phil More (Henrik Andersen) (until 1990)
Current occupation
singing
 Ronnie Atkins (Paul Christensen)
guitar
 Ken Hammer (Kenneth Hansen)
Drums
 Allan Tschicaja (since 2006)
Keyboard
 Morten Sandager (since 2006)
bass
 Rene Shades (2004, since 2011)
former members
guitar
 Pete Collins (Jan Piete) (1982-1986)
guitar
 Rick Hanson (Kim Hansen) (1983-1984)
guitar
 Ricky Marx (Henrik Mark) (1988–1991)
Keyboard
 Dominic Gale (1990, 1992, 1995, 1998, 1999)
bass
 Allan Delong (Allan Jensen) (1984–1990)
Drums
 Michael Fast (1991-2005)
bass
 Kenn Jackson (Kenn Lund Jacobsen) (1991-2010)
bass
 Hal Patino (2010-2011)
guitar
 Gerhard Angel Schleifer (198-1988)

The Pretty Maids are one of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) and the 1970-size Deep Purple and Thin Lizzy -inspired hard rock - and heavy metal - band from the Danish Horsens .

The band around singer Ronnie Atkins and guitarist Ken Hammer, which has existed since 1981, was able to sell hundreds of thousands of records around the world and through their songwriting and live performance they built a relatively high level of awareness in the metal scene; a lasting commercial breakthrough was denied them.

The Pretty Maids traditionally appear as headliners, but occasionally also appeared as the opening act for groups such as Black Sabbath , Deep Purple , Alice Cooper and Saxon . They also played at the Heavy Sound Festival in Poperinge (Belgium) in 1985, the German edition of the Monsters of Rock Festival in Nuremberg in 1987 , at Wacken Open Air in 2002 and 2013 and at Bang Your Head in 1999, 2006, 2011 and 2013 in Balingen .

Band history

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.
The majority is unoccupied. - Merkið ( discussion ) 16:32, Apr 11, 2020 (CEST)

Pretty Maids were originally founded as a cover band by friends Kenneth Hansen (aka Ken Hammer) and Paul Christensen (aka Ronnie Atkins ) in 1981 . Soon after the founding, they switched from cover versions to writing their own songs. In 1982 a demo tape was recorded, which brought the band their first record deal with the English underground label Bullet Records. At the request of the record company, the Danes gave themselves English-sounding pseudonyms . Bullet released a mini-LP in 1983 called Pretty Maids , whose "cheap cover" (Ronnie) horrified the young band. In the same year the band toured England.

As opening act for Black Sabbath's Scandinavian tour, they were able to convince their then singer Ian Gillan , who then gave them an appearance on the British BBC Friday Night Rock Show.

At the beginning of 1984 he switched to the major label CBS Records, where the self-titled debut EP was reissued with a much more handsome cover picture. In October 1984 the group's first album, Red, Hot and Heavy , was released. The title Back to Back contained on it was covered by Hammerfall on their album Legacy of Kings , among others .

In 1986 the band members went to the USA to record the album Future World together with producers Eddie Kramer and Kevin Elson . Flemming Rasmussen , known from Metallica, was also involved in the production of the album .

Future World was released in April 1987. Over 100,000 copies of the album were sold on the German market alone. On the following world tour the band performed a. a. as the opening act for Deep Purple and in the opening act of the Monsters of Rock Festival in Germany. This album marked the band's breakthrough in the rock scene. With this album, the Pretty Maids defined their style of aggressive rock riffs, paired with melodically sophisticated arrangements.

In January 1989, the band began working on a new album as a producer in the USA together with Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover . Due to a car accident by drummer Phil More, the release of Jump the Gun was delayed in April 1990. Another world tour followed.

After various line-up changes, the album Sin-Decade, again produced by Flemming Rasmussen, was released in April 1992 . In the summer of the same year, the rock ballad album Stripped was recorded and released. In addition to eight original compositions, it also contains two cover versions: Please Don't Leave Me by Thin Lizzy heads Phil Lynott and John Sykes and 39 by Queen .

In the course of 1994 the band composed and produced the album Scream , which was released in Japan in 1994, but not until 1995 in Europe. The live album Screamin 'Live was recorded as part of the subsequent tour through Europe . Since the recording was made at a concert in Copenhagen, the announcements between the songs are exclusively in Danish.

The next album, Spooked , was again produced by the producer of Red, Hot and Heavy , Tommy Hansen, but with a much more modern sound. It was released in April 1997.

In October 1998 the Pretty Maids released a best-of album entitled Back to Back , followed by the next studio album Anything Worth Doing Is Worth Overdoing in 1999 .

At the end of 2000 the band released the album Carpe Diem . This was followed by a European tour with the Swiss band Crystal Ball as the opening act.

Planet Panic was released in February 2002. The song Virtual Brutality refers to the attacks of September 11th . On the following world tour they were u. a. accompanied by their compatriots Royal Hunt .

In the course of 2002 the band got into various financial and organizational difficulties due to the bankruptcy of their management company, because of which the band members took a longer break, during which no new studio album was released.

This break was interrupted by the release of another live album ( Alive at Least in March 2003) and various concerts at festivals in Europe. At the end of 2003 guitarist Ken Hammer was diagnosed with a serious illness, from which he recovered over the next few months. In the fall of 2006 the album Wake up to the Real World was released , which contains a cover version of Deep Purple's Perfect Strangers in addition to their own compositions . In late 2008, Ken Hammer and Ronnie Atkins went on tour with a different line-up. The former Royal Hunt drummer Alan Tschicaya joined the band for long-time drummer Michael Fast, while Dane Morten Sandager joined the band for long-time British session keyboardist Dominic Gale.

On April 27, 2010, Atkins and Hammer announced the separation from bassist Kenn Jackson, for which personal differences were given as the reason. As his successor, bassist Hal Patino (formerly Mercyful Fate , King Diamond ), also from Denmark, was immediately brought in as a permanent member. On May 14, 2010, the new album Pandemonium , produced by Jacob Hansen, was released, which was celebrated in the reviews of the trade press and placed in a row with the early successes. The band went on a European tour from the end of October 2010. In 2011, Hal Patino was replaced by Rene Shades, a Danish resident of Mallorca. Shades played guitar in a Danish hard rock band in the 1990s, with which he temporarily emigrated to the USA. Today he plays and composes between tours with the Pretty Maids together with his school friend Martin Peters in the duo Shades & Peters.

In March 2013 the 13th studio album Motherland was released . The single Mother of All Lies was released on January 22nd.

On March 21, 2014 the CD Louder Than Ever was released , a mixture of new recordings of old songs. You can also hear four completely new songs on it.

Discography

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
Future World
  DE 57 06/01/1987 (4 weeks)
Jump the gun
  DE 35 May 14, 1990 (11 weeks)
  CH 20th May 13, 1990 (6 weeks)
Sin decade
  DE 62 03/30/1992 (6 weeks)
Stripped
  DE 85 09/20/1993 (4 weeks)
Scream
  DE 92 03/06/1995 (3 weeks)
Spooked
  DE 74 04/28/1997 (1 week)
Anything Worth Doing Is Worth Overdoing
  DE 71 03/08/1999 (2 weeks)
Planet Panic
  DK 38 03/29/2002 (1 week)
Pandemonium
  DE 83 05/28/2010 (1 week)
  CH 63 05/30/2010 (1 week)
  DK 14th 05/28/2010 (1 week)
It Comes Alive - Maid in Switzerland
  DE 81 04/06/2012 (1 week)
  CH 37 04/08/2012 (1 week)
  DK 23 04/06/2012 (1 week)
Motherland
  DE 71 04/05/2013 (1 week)
  CH 29 04/07/2013 (1 week)
  DK 13 03/29/2013 (3 weeks)
Louder Than Ever
  DE 59 04/04/2014 (1 week)
  CH 52 03/30/2014 (1 week)
  DK 11 04/04/2014 (1 week)
Kingmaker
  DE 35 11/11/2016 (1 week)
  CH 31 11/13/2016 (2 weeks)
Undress Your Madness
  DE 36 11/15/2019 (1 week)
  CH 13 11/17/2019 (2 weeks)
Maid in Japan - Future World Live 30 Anniversary
  DE 31 05/29/2020 (1 week)
  CH 27 05/31/2020 (1 week)

Studio albums

  • 1984: Red, Hot and Heavy
  • 1987: Future World
  • 1990: Jump the Gun (released in the US and Canada under the title Lethal Heroes )
  • 1992: Sin Decade
  • 1993: Stripped
  • 1994: Scream
  • 1997: Spooked
  • 1999: Anything Worth Doing Is Worth Overdoing
  • 2000: Carpe Diem
  • 2002: Planet Panic
  • 2006: Wake Up to the Real World
  • 2010: Pandemonium
  • 2013: Motherland
  • 2016: Kingmaker
  • 2019: Undress Your Madness

Live albums

  • 1995: Screamin 'Live
  • 2003: Alive at Least
  • 2012: It Comes Alive (Maid in Switzerland)
  • 2020: Maid in Japan - Future World Live 30 Anniversary

Compilations

  • 1998: The Best Of ... Back to Back
  • 1999: First Cuts and Then Some
  • 2014: Louder Than Ever

EPs

  • 1983: Pretty Maids
  • 1990: In Santa's Claws
  • 1992: Offside
  • 1999: Massacre's Classix Shape Edition ( Shape-CD )

Singles

  • 1985: Red, Hot and Heavy
  • 1985: Waitin 'for the Time
  • 1987: Future World
  • 1987: Love Games
  • 1990: Savage Heart
  • 1990: Young Blood
  • 1992: Please Don't Leave Me
  • 1992: In the Minds of the Young
  • 1993: If It Ain't Gonna Change
  • 1994: Walk Away
  • 1997: Hard Luck Woman
  • 1999: Hell on High Heels
  • 2010: Little Drops of Heaven
  • 2013: Mother of All Lies
  • 2013: Sad to See You Suffer
  • 2016: Face the World

Promo singles

  • 1997: If It Can't Be Love
  • 1999: With These Eyes
  • 2000: For Once in Your Life
  • 2000: Clay

Videography

Video albums

  • 2012: Bonus DVD for It Comes Alive (Maid in Switzerland)

Music videos

  • 1987: Future World
  • 1987: Love Games
  • 1990: Savage Heart
  • 1992: Please Don't Leave Me
  • 1999: Hell on High Heels
  • 2010: Little Drops of Heaven
  • 2013: Mother of All Lies
  • 2014: Nuclear Boomerang
  • 2014: My Soul to Take
  • 2014: Heart Without a Home
  • 2016: Face the World
  • 2016: Kingmaker

swell

  1. ↑ Dirk: Pretty Maids - Pandemonium , April 14, 2010, accessed April 4, 2013.
  2. ↑ Rene Shades
  3. ↑ Shades & Peters ( Memento of the original from March 21, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.shades-peters.com
  4. ↑ News ( Memento of the original from July 29, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed April 4, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.prettymaids.dk
  5. ↑ http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/pretty-maids-to-release-louder-than-ever-in-march/
  6. ↑ Chart sources: DE CH DK

Web links