Erich and the Polk
Erich and the Polk were a German folk rock band around the ex- Zupfgeigenhansel Erich Schmeckenbecher . The band's theme was the idea, pursued by Schmeckenbecher since 1987, to create a new German folk music that combined different musical styles such as polka , rock , blues , waltz , Tex-Mex , Cajun, etc. As a name for the mishmash, Schmeckenbecher coined the term POLK.
Erich and the Polk came into being in 1992 when Schmeckenbecher put together a band for a performance at the Rudolstadt dance and folk festival , which at the time was still called Erich and the Polka Masters. In the autumn of the same year the band recorded their first CD as Erich und das Polk: Immer wieder - Volksmusik aus der Urgrund . The CD was awarded the German Record Critics' Prize. Erich and the Polk got a contract with the record label eastwest. With their second CD Wir sind das Polk (1994), published there, Erich and the Polk briefly swam on the wave of success of the so-called new folk music , which had set in with the success of the Austrian Hubert von Goisern .
In addition to Erich Schmeckenbecher ( mandolin , vocals , guitars ), Erich and the Polk played Ulli Beeg ( accordion , vocals), Stefan Hiss (accordion, vocals), Volker Schuh ( bass ), Michael Roth ( harmonica , accordion) and Egbert Fugger ( drums ). In 1994 Rainhard Albrecht replaced Egbert Fugger on drums, in 1995 Patch Pacher joined the band for Rainhard Albrecht and Hiss friend Andi Feller (guitar) for Ulli Beeg.
Through the various personnel changes, the band had moved away from their original, unique polk sound, which was highly praised by the press and the audience. The once colorful troupe of different individualists was increasingly dominated by Stefan Hiss and his musical and content-related ideas, which led to differences over the further path of the band.
In March 1995, Stefan Hiss finally left Erich and the Polk and the band fell apart. A short time later, Hiss founded his own band HISS with Roth, Schuh, Pacher and Feller . Erich Schmeckenbecher continued his solo career. Ulli Beeg performed with changing partners as a trio or duo Bagatelli until his death in May 2004.
CD publications
- Again and again - folk music from the primordial reason (self-published, 1992)
- We are the Polk (eastwest, 1994)