Bullet (German band)

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Bullet
General information
origin Bochum , Germany
Genre (s) Heavy metal
founding 1978 as a teaser
resolution 1986
Founding members
Paul Psilias (1978-1983)
Willi Bartkowski (1978)
Mike Lichtenberg (1978-1986)
Last occupation
singing
 Joe Schmeink (1984–1986)
guitar
 Jürgen Graf (1983–1986)
bass
 Fitty Wienhold (1982–1986)
Drums
 Martin Werner (1985)
former members
Vocals, guitar
 Klaus Thiel (1978–1984)
bass
 Volker Pechtold (1979–1982)
guitar
 Andy Hönig (1985–1986)

Bullet was a German heavy metal band that was founded in 1978 under the name Teaser, renamed itself Bullet in 1979, but gave up in 1986 after only two albums.

history

In 1978 guitarist Paul Psilias, bassist Willi Bartkowski and drummer Mike Lichtenberg joined forces in Bochum to form the heavy metal band Teaser. Psilias took over the singing for now. Bartkowski soon left the band to study theology . He was replaced by Volker Pechtold. Experience was gained at school appearances. In 1979, the singer Klaus Thiel came from a band called Challenger of Gelsenkirchen added, especially in the AC / DC - cover versions convinced. He was also able to support Psilias on guitar. A demo tape that was created did not convince any record company. Scorpions producer Dieter Dierks discovered the young group in 1980 and took on them. He tied her to his own label Hi Score Records and worked on an LP in his studio. This aroused the interest of Polydor , who wanted to take over the marketing. Before the album was released, a band from Enschede of the same name was noticed in which Adrian Vandenberg was playing, which is why he was discarded and renamed Bullet. (The Dutch band soon decided to change its name and was then called Vandenberg .)

Execution was published in 1981 . In Europe, of which about 30,000 units were sold and the coupled- song Cold Hearted Woman was when British troops other networks BFBS voted one of the ten best songs of the year. Afterwards they went on a European tour with Saxon and also performed with Ozzy Osbourne and Gary Moore under the motto "Heavy Metal Tour". 1982 Bullet was opening act of Maiden Iron experience and played at festivals, where Queen headliner was. It also went to France where they had also been hired as the opening act. Due to internal quarrels, Pechtold left the band after the tour and was replaced by Fitty Wienhold. In 1983 there was the next line-up change when Psilias resigned and Jürgen Graf was brought in for him. The time was a difficult one for heavy metal bands in Germany because the music industry and the media were focused on the Neue Deutsche Welle . Bullet lost its distribution contract with Polydor, which was linked to the support provided by Hi Score Records (but not Dierks personally) and switched to a label in Wolverhampton in Great Britain . There the album No Mercy was released in 1983 , which was recorded for Christmas 1982. After good import sales figures in 1984, the sound carrier was finally taken over by Arista, which served various European markets as well as the domestic US market. In the USA, the video clip for I Sold My Soul to Rock'n'Roll was well received and a US tour was being considered, while in Germany the band acquired routine through regular appearances in youth centers , rock clubs and small halls.

The constant stress, especially the singing with a "high [r] grating voice", damaged Thiel's vocal cords , so that he was forced to stop. With a different line-up, namely with singer Joe Schmeink and drummer Martin Werner (Graf and Wienhold stayed), the third album Ruff Cuts was recorded in the summer of 1985 , again in Dierks' own studio, but never released. In October 1985 Andy Hönig came from Faithful Breath for Jürgen Graf, but could not stay long because the group broke up in 1986. He found a new job at AB Spitfire from Hagen . Jürgen Graf and Martin Werner also released two LPs with their new band Sign between 1987 and 1988 . Bullet's two albums were re-released on CD in 1997 by High Vaultage .

style

Bullet has a range from rock to speed metal , which on average amounts to heavy metal. In Klaus Thiel you have a front man who sounds like a mixture of Rob Halford and Bon Scott , wrote Christian Gauss on musikansich.de .

The hard rock and heavy metal labels were awarded by the rockdetector internet platform .

In the Musikexpress , Andreas Kraatz found the style to be “supple”; he lacked the edges to meet his own requirements.

Götz Kühnemund positively mentioned one angularity in his review of earlier listening experiences for Rock Hard .

Martin Popoff felt the style more like his colleague from the Musikexpress . He wrote in his book The Collector's Guide of Heavy Metal. Volume 2: The Eighties , Bullet is a cross between Cheap Trick and late Scorpions, namely greasy, and if not, then a bad crocus cut.

Lee Martyn said in his book Masters of Metal that Bullet is floating in the wake of AC / DC.

AC / DC and Krokus also named Kühnemund as comparative bands. Nor did he deny the commercial Scorpions impact on No Mercy .

Discography

  • 1981: Execution (Album, Hi Score Records / Polydor)
  • 1982: Cold Hearted Woman (Single, Hi Score Records / Polydor)
  • 1983: No Mercy (album, Heavy Metal Records, then Arista)
  • 1984: I Sold My Soul for Rock'n'Roll (Single, Arista)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Bullet. Biography. (No longer available online.) In: rockdetector.com. Archived from the original on April 21, 2016 ; accessed on April 21, 2016 (English). 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.rockdetector.com
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Frank "Tank" Kleiner: Bullet . In: Metal Hammer . Hard Rock & Heavy Metal Poster Magazine! (July / August), 1984, pp. 19 .
  3. ↑ Tony Jasper, Derek Oliver: The International Encyclopedia of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal . Facts on File Inc., New York 1983, ISBN 0-8160-1100-1 , pp. 55 f .
  4. ↑ a b c Götz Kühnemund: Bullet. Execution, No Mercy . In: Rock Hard . No. 124 , September 1997, p. 111 .
  5. ↑ Jens Schmiedeberg: Metal Battle '85, Hamburg - Logo, 7.7. - 12.7. In: Metal Hammer . Hard Rock & Heavy Metal Poster Magazine! September 1985, concert review, p. 78 .
  6. ↑ Bullet . In: Metal Hammer . Hard Rock & Heavy Metal Poster Magazine! The really cool summer edition. (July / August), 1985, News, pp. 4 .
  7. ↑ Etienne Weischenberg: Hot autumn for Faithful Breath. To Nikolaus on US tour . In: Metal Hammer . Hard Rock & Heavy Metal Poster Magazine. November 1985, p. 28 .
  8. ↑ Emil: Spitfire. In: heavymetalrarities.com. March 21, 2013, accessed April 21, 2016 .
  9. ^ Christian Gauss: Bullet. Execution. In: musikansich.de. Retrieved April 21, 2016 .
  10. ^ Andreas Kraatz: Bullet . In: Musikexpress / Sounds . No. 342 , July 1984, Hard Rock / Heavy Metal, p. 84 .
  11. ^ Martin Popoff : The Collector's Guide of Heavy Metal . tape 2 : The Eighties . Collectors Guide Ltd, Burlington, Ontario, Canada 2005, ISBN 978-1-894959-31-5 , Bullet - No Mercy, p. 63 .
  12. Jump up ↑ Lee Martyn: Masters of Metal . 1st edition. Zomba Books, London 1984, ISBN 0-946391-48-3 , Euro Metal, pp. 29 f . (Bullet p. 31).

Web links