beast
| beast | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Heavy metal |
| founding | 1980 |
| resolution | 2000 |
| Founding members | |
| Uwe Klotz | |
| Frank Lawrenz | |
Guitar, vocals
|
Norbert Bode |
| Hartmut Rosenhahn | |
| Wolfgang Schröder | |
| Last occupation | |
guitar |
Mario Bessin |
singing |
Norbert Bode |
bass |
Hartmut Rosenhahn |
Drums |
Matthias Gotze |
| Volker Hiebsch | |
| former members | |
Drums |
Ralf Wiesenack |
Guitar, keyboard
|
Jürgen Phieler (guest musician) |
Biest was a German heavy metal band that had its greatest successes in the GDR in the late 1980s .
history
In 1980 the guitarist and singer Norbert Klempo Bode (born January 18, 1951 in Sülldorf near Magdeburg) founded his first band in Jüterbog . The company Frostschutz was a regionally known blues rock band.
The founding line-up consisted of Frank Lawrenz ( guitar ), Norbert Klempo Bode (guitar, vocals ), Hartmut Rosenhahn ( bass ) and Wolfgang Schröder ( drums ).
This amateur band had a high musical level. Her repertoire consisted mainly of her own compositions. Nevertheless, she complained of an increasing lack of response from the audience. The “heyday” of the blues in the GDR was over. Punk and hard rock had taken its place. When a young heavy metal scene with bands such as Moshquito , Panther , Pent , Merlin , Feuerstein and Cobra began to establish itself in the mid-1980s , it was also the incentive for Bode to look for new paths.
Bode, who had intended to concentrate only on the vocals for a long time, brought the guitarist Uwe Klotz from Kiowa from Ludwigsfelde into the band in the spring of 1985 . After half a year of intensive rehearsal work, they presented themselves to the public as a metal band on June 30, 1985 under the name “Biest”. The first concert did not take place until November 8, 1985 in Hohen Neuendorf . Although only moderately attended, it was a complete success. The first radio production Metal landed straight away at number 1 in the rating program “Beatkiste” at the beginning of 1986, lasted for weeks and gained the band a wide audience nationwide. In March 1986 Biest was classified as an “amateur band of the special class” and in February 1987 received the classification in the “special class”. In the same year the band received the award “Outstanding Folk Art Collective”. Further prizes followed.
At the end of 1986 Schröder left the band. Ralf Wiese Wiesenack came for him . In the meantime, other studio productions such as Motortraum , Manne , Grab im Moor , Hard Feeling and Crash Trash were made. Motortraum made it to number 37 in 1988 and Grab im Moor reached number 30 on the annual hit list in 1989. At the end of 1988 Biest received professional status. The Amiga quartet single "Crash Trash", recorded in 1987 , was not released until October 1989. A long-playing record planned for 1989 on the GDR label Amiga was no longer possible due to the fall of the Wall .
As for many East German bands, this also meant the end of their successful career for Biest . The dwindling interest of the public and a lack of interest from the media led to financial problems. In 1991 the band, which was now oriented towards speed metal and thrash metal , tried a new beginning with a 5-track demo Only Tears . In the meantime Mario Bessin had replaced the second guitarist Frank Lawrenz. The hoped-for record deal did not materialize, however. In 1992 the band took part in a European rock competition in Austria and finished 10th out of 185 participants. When Uwe Klotz left the band, Biest made another change in style to hard'n heavy with keyboardist Jürgen Phieler . After another demo CD Der Zocker was recorded in 1998 and then replaced by Phieler on keyboard by Volker Hiebsch and on drums by Matthias Götze by Wiesenack, the band split up in 2000 due to ongoing tensions within the band. Rosenhahn and Bessin went to the Black Sparks , Wiesenack switched to Enjoy and Bode later worked with Mario Le Mole and other Eastern musicians on the Pandea project .
Discography
- 1989: Crash Trash (EP)
- 1998: The Gambler (Demo CD)
See also
literature
- Roland Urbanski: Biest - tough, uncompromising and effective , In: Melodie und Rhythmus , Heft 5/1989, pp. 14-15
Web links
- Biography of Norbert Bode
- Beast on ostmetal.de
- Portrait at deutsche-mugge.de
Individual evidence
- ^ GDR - hit lists 1975 - 1990 at ostbeat.de ( Memento from October 8, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Melody and Rhythm , Issue 10/1989, p. 1