Enola Gay (band)

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Enola Gay
General information
origin Osnabrück , Germany
Genre (s) Power metal
founding 1987
resolution 2000 (or later)
Last occupation
singing
 Peter Diersmann
guitar
 Carsten "Cagge"
guitar
 Nico Luttenberg
bass
 Christian Meyer
Drums
 Marc Könnecke

Enola Gay was a German heavy metal band from Osnabrück . The band name refers to the American Boeing B-29 bomber Enola Gay , which dropped the first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 .

history

Enola Gay was founded in 1987 as a school band. After Rainer Rage, ex-guitarist of the German metal band SDI , and guitarist “Cagge” replaced founding members Michael Hildebrand and Carsten Duhme six years later, the first record deal was achieved with the demo Spectrum of Colors, which was produced shortly afterwards .

In the phase of the establishment efforts, drummer Marc Könnecke was the only person in a permanent position, guitarist Cagge was studying music and had a job as assistant director at the Osnabrück Opera , singer Peter Diersmann was training to become an electrical engineer in data processing and received BAföG and bassist Christian Meyer got by with odd jobs.

In February 1995 the “debut full of power” FOTH was released by Shark Records. The label expected good sales in Japan because the band had already created a solid fan base there through the demo. "Enola Gay better known in Japan than at home" was the headline of the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung in January 1995, when Japanese fans used their European vacation to visit the band in their hometown. FOTH appeared in Japan on JVC with the additional title Kingdom of the Light . In the German critics, Enola Gay achieved above-average ratings because of their appearances, they were characterized by "extremely agile stage acting" and gave "object lessons in power metal", so that Enola Gay a low-budget video about Close-Cropped Head produced, which was played several times on the music channel VIVA .

In April 1995 Enola Gay completed as support of the Finnish power metal band Stratovarius a tour of Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

After internal quarrels that began in mid-1995, Rainer Rage left the band in early 1996. For the second album, the band was looking for a suitable successor. But when it became clear that an adequate replacement would not be found anytime soon, the musicians decided to record the album Pressure with four people in the Mohrmann Studio in Bochum . Uwe Lulis ( Accept , Grave Digger ), a friend of the band, contributed some solos .

Pressure , published by Cream Rec./RTD in January 1997, received numerous positive reviews, e.g. B. an "excellent" in rock hard . A “mercilessly hard Thrash guitar sound with catchy melodies” convinced even the youth magazine Bravo , because Pressure is characterized by more compact songwriting and heavier guitar parts than on the debut. The singing largely dispenses with coloratura typical of the genre and is described as more useful for the piece. The “sure instinct in songwriting” is mainly due to singer Diersmann, who composed five of the nine tracks in full. Pressure appeared in a transparent neon green CD case, which was unusual at the time; a compromise between the band's desire for a black and white cover and the record company's request for color design. On Pressure Enola Gay released the "truly impressive Beatles - Cover Eleanor Rigby " her first cover song.

For example, Century Media, one of Germany's most famous underground labels, became aware of Enola Gay. Even before the third album of the band appeared, the band with the out was Seattle originating Nevermore and Iced Earth from Florida in April 1997 on an extensive European tour through Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, Netherlands, Belgium and Germany sent. The quintet was complete again with the guitarist Nico Luttenberg. Frank Albrecht attested the new line-up “enormous joy of playing” in Rock Hard and stated that Enola Gay “are by far the best that the German Power Metal underground has to offer”. So far, however, this has not been reflected in the sales figures, which were a manageable 5,000 copies worldwide.

On June 21, 1999, the third and final album Strange Encounter was released by Century Media. This CD also received good reviews: It was a “mighty album”, they had released “the right long player at the right time”. Strange Encounter was recorded in the Crownhill Studio in Düsseldorf , as was the song Heaven and Hell by Black Sabbath for the widely acclaimed sampler Holy Dio - A Tribute to Ronnie James Dio . The title Browsing appeared on the rock-hard CD supplement 18x Dynamit / Vol. 17 .

After several appearances with Metal Church , Skyclad , Mercyful Fate , Testament , The Sweet and Saxon , Enola Gay set to work on the fourth album. But due to musical differences, there was never a successor. Enola Gay is considered dissolved.

style

The style is assigned to the genre Power Metal . The band itself describes their music as "basically a progressive-edged melodic metal affair".

Frank Albrecht wrote in Rock Hard : "In the past it would have been called Speed ​​Metal, today it is simply well played, varied and powerful Heavy Metal, which is peppered with numerous great melodies and technical subtleties."

Discography

  • 1993: Spectrum of Colors (demo)
  • 1995: FOTH (album, Shark / RTD)
  • 1997: Pressure (Album, Cream / RTD)
  • 1999: Strange Encounter (Album, Century Media / SPV)

Contributions to compilations

  • 1993: Rockbilanz '93 - Title: Spectrum of Colors
  • 1994: Rare, Heavy and New (Shark / RTD) - Title: Spectrum of Colors , Doomwatch
  • 1997: Stahlmaster 2 (Cream / RTD) - Title: Who's my God
  • 1997: Stahlmaster 3 (abs / RTD) - Title: Kingdom of the Light
  • 1999: 18x Dynamit Vol. 17 (Rock Hard) - Title: Browsing
  • 1999: Holy Dio - A Tribute to Ronnie James Dio (Century Media / SPV) - Title: Heaven and Hell

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Holger Stratmann (Ed.): Rock Hard Enzyklopädie . 700 of the most interesting rock bands from the last 30 years. Rock Hard GmbH, Dortmund 1998, ISBN 3-9805171-0-1 , Enola Gay, p. 106 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f [Thomas] "Fish" [Finke]: Nothing going on without moss . Enola Gay. In: That's It! No. 11 , p. 44 ([January 1997]).
  3. ↑ a b c d [Uwe] "Buffo" [Schnädelbach]: Enola Gay . Between business and opera. In: Rock Hard . No. 147 , August 1999, p. 110 f .
  4. ^ Wolfgang Schäfer: Enola Gay . FOTH In: Rock Hard . No. 94 , March 1995, Record Review, p. 99 .
  5. ↑ Enola Gay better known in Japan than at home . In: New Osnabrück Newspaper . January 1995 (add missing information!).
  6. ↑ Volker Raabe: Enola Gay, Holy Mother . Osnabrück, warehouse. In: Metal Hammer . The international hard rock & heavy metal magazine. April 1995, Live, p. 140 .
  7. ^ Johannes Berndt: Enola Gay, Holy Mother . Osnabrück, warehouse. In: Rock Hard . No. 95 , April 1995, Live Review, pp. 150 .
  8. ^ Frank Albrecht: Enola Gay . Pressure. In: Rock Hard . No. 117 , February 1997, 10 times dynamite, p. 107 f .
  9. ↑ Bravo . 1997 (means 2/97 2nd week of the year or February ?; add missing information!).
  10. ↑ Break Out . January 1997 (add missing information!).
  11. ↑ EMP spring catalog 1997 . 1997 (add missing information!).
  12. ^ Frank Albrecht: Iced Earth, Nevermore, Enola Gay, Lion's Share . Cologne, Live Music Hall. In: Rock Hard . No. 122 , July 1997, Live Reviews, pp. 134 .
  13. ↑ Enola Gay . In: Rock Hard . No. 144 , May 1999, News, pp. 12 .
  14. ↑ Break Out . June 1999 (add missing information!).
  15. ^ Wolfgang Schäfer: Enola Gay . Strange encounter. In: Rock Hard . No. 146 , July 1999, dynamite. The cracker of the month and the ass bomb, p. 102 .
  16. ↑ [Thomas] "Fish" [Finke]: Enola Gay - "Pessure" . In: That's It! No. 11 , p. 60 f . ([January 1997]).
  17. ^ Frank Albrecht: Enola Gay, The Traceelords, Jar. Dortmund, FZW . In: Rock Hard . No. 151 , December 1999, Live… and dangerous. Westphalia Festival, S. 137 .