Danny and the Wonderbras

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Danny and the Wonderbras is a German rock 'n' roll / country band that was founded in 2005 by singer and guitarist Danny Wuenschel.

history

Beginnings

The band emerged in summer 2005 from a school band at the Helmholtz-Gymnasium Karlsruhe and initially consisted of Danny Wuenschel (born November 8, 1986 in Speyer ), drummer Tim Harbusch (born April 19, 1983, Karlsruhe) and Merten Lindorf on bass guitar. As a "classic" rockabilly trio, they first played a stage program made up of songs by Chuck Berry , Elvis Presley , Jerry Lee Lewis , Buddy Holly , Eddie Cochran and Carl Perkins . In 2007 double bass player Caron Pomp joined the band in place of Merten Lindorf. Many a time they toured at this time as support band together with Boppin 'B .

In January 2008 their first official album End of the Road was released by NIWO-Music / DMG. The recordings were made in the rehearsal room and, in addition to a large number of cover pieces such as Alice Cooper's Poison or Follow Me by Uncle Cracker , also contain the first original compositions, including Pretty Baby , Oh My Darling and Why Why Why . Tim Harbusch took over the lead vocals for two songs on the album, Hey Little Girl and the Gene Vincent classic Race With The Devil .

Upheaval

After several extensive tours through Germany and neighboring countries, Harbusch and Pomp left the band in June 2009 to take part in the musical production Buddy by Stage Entertainment . Shortly afterwards Danny managed to win the double bassist Matthias Kraus and the drummer Patrick Metzger as "new Wonderbras". The latter was then replaced by Torsten Neumaier in spring 2010.

Both drummers were involved in the recordings for the second album It's Time to Rock'n'Roll , which took place during this time. In contrast to the first CD , the proportion of self-written material on Time to Rock'n'Roll is significantly higher: some titles on the album such as Louisiana Summernights , Separate Ways , Cemetery Rock or My Bella enjoy a high level of awareness, both among DatW fans, as well as in the German rockabilly scene in general. Among the few cover songs on the album are Suspicious Minds , made famous by Elvis Presley, and Amy Winehouse's Valerie .

Since 2010 the trio has been steadily expanding its tour frequency, with up to 18 appearances in some months at festivals, in clubs, in pubs and at parties of all kinds, throughout Germany as well as in France , Austria , Italy , Sweden , Luxembourg , Belgium , the Netherlands , Great Britain and Switzerland . They are considered one of the most active rock'n'roll bands in Europe.

Projects

In addition to their own tours, the band has toured as a backing band for various artists, such as the Munich singer Chris Aron and James " The King " Brown from Belfast and above all with the American singer Ski King under the name "Ski King and the Wonderbras ”, not infrequently at tattoo conventions . The repertoire of this project contains mostly songs by Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley, but also hard rock classics by bands like Motörhead , AC / DC , Judas Priest or Guns N 'Roses .

Rockabilly party

In 2011 the band's third record called "Rockabilly Party" was released again by NIWO-Music / DMG, which contains pieces by Wünschel as well as the first composition by Matthias Kraus, Hot Rod Gang . In addition to hard rockers like Hear My Please , My Finger Do the Talkin or Ships Without Harbor , a cover by the Düsseldorf “Teddy Boy” band Black Raven , Danny and the Wonderbras go with titles like I'm on My Way , Laura Wood or You and Me and the Devil Makes Three stepped up in the country style , which caused both negative and positive criticism.

Rock it!

On February 1, 2013, the band's fourth studio album was released by DMG-Germany. It's called Rock It! . It is also the first DatW album to be released on vinyl in addition to the CD version . The songs contained on it are partly again strongly in the direction of country rock. In addition to some cover versions of well-known country songs, such as For example, The Race Is On by George Jones , Black Rose by Billy Joe Shaver or Me And Bobby McGee by Kris Kristofferson you will find many of the band's own compositions. Matthias Kraus also contributed two songs to the album with You Got It Girl and Carolin .

Live at the FUCK

During their summer tour 2011, the band recorded one of their concerts. The performance took place in Gelsenkirchen in the cult pub "Lokal ohne Namen", which is known to its regulars as more of a "Fuck". In addition to the songs from the albums that have been released to date, the trio played their way through a large repertoire of rock'n'roll and country cover songs that evening. The recordings were lost for a long time, but reappeared at the beginning of 2015 and were released as a double album for the band's tenth anniversary. The cover motif on which two monkeys drinking whiskey are depicted shows a painting which is on the DJ desk of the "pub without a name".

2012-2014

On March 17th, 2012, the trio took 1st place at the 1st Rockabilly Rumble Band Contest in Pullman City and on November 18th, 2012, 2nd place at the international Country Music Award in the "Trio" category. At the beginning of 2013 Neumaier decided to leave the group, whereupon his place on drums was taken by the Freiburg resident Sven Lück. In the course of the year the band grew to a quintet. On the one hand, Daniel "Junior" Leinmüller was joined by a young boogie pianist, and on the other, Danny found an ideal guitar partner with strong blues influences in Christoph "Chris Lee" Leonhardi. There are no publications of this line-up, apart from the joint album with Ski King, although a concert was recorded for the television studio "Kanal 21".

resolution

After a year Leonhardi left the group again in 2014 and Kraus announced his departure for the following year. In 2015, Wuenschel brought drummer Torsten Neumaier back into the band and the two went to Nashville, Tennessee to work together on an album for Wuenschel's solo project. After Kraus left, Wuenschel, Neumaier and Leinmüller played alternately with the Cologne bassist Lea Küpper and the bassist Guido Dieringer from Stuttgart. After the release of the double album Live at the FUCK and the anniversary concert in Essen, the band toured until the end of the year and played their last concert together on December 26, 2015. At the same time, Danny Wuenschel started a solo career as a country musician and now and then works with different parts the "Wonderbras" together.

Discography

  • 2008: End of the Road
  • 2010: It's Time to Rock'n'Roll
  • 2011: Rockabilly Party
  • 2013: Rock It!
  • 2014: Live at Wild at Heart (as "Ski King and the Wonderbras")
  • 2015: Live at the FUCK

Web links