Faithful Breath

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Faithful Breath
FB Logo sw.jpg
General information
origin originally Bochum , soon Witten
Genre (s) Progressive rock (1967–1980) , hard rock and heavy metal (1980–1987)
founding 1967, 1987 as Risk
resolution 1987
Founding members
Heinrich (also: Heinz) "Heimi" Mikus
Horst "Piet" Stabenow (1967–1984)
guitar
 Reinhold Immig (1967–1969)
guitar
 Walter Scheurer (1967–1972)
Jürgen Fischer (1967–1970)
Last occupation
Vocals, guitar
 Heinrich (also: Heinz) "Heimi" Mikus (1967–1987)
guitar
 Thilo Herrmann (1985–1987)
Electric bass
 Peter Dell (1984–1987)
Drums
 Jürgen Düsterloh (1982–1987)
former members
Electric bass
 Georg Grebe (1967)
Ulrich Bock (1967–1971)
Vocals, keyboard
Manfred "Carl" von Buttlar (1971–1981)
Drums
 Jürgen Weritz (1971–1981)
singing
 Jürgen Renfordt (1976-1981)
Drums
 Uwe Otto (1981)
guitar
 Andy "Bubi" Hönig (1984)
Live and session members
Renate Heemann (1973)
Consultant, manager , music publisher
Bogdan "Boggi" Kopec (1967–1987)

The rock group Faithful Breath was formed in 1967 in Bochum . Over the years the musical style changed from progressive psychedelic to symphonic rock to hard rock and heavy metal .

history

Progressive and symphonic rock

In autumn 1967 guitarist and singer Heinz “Heimi” Mikus and bassist Horst “Piet” Stabenow, both just 15 years old, left their beat group “The Magic Power” to join Reinhold Immig (guitar), Walter Scheuer (guitar) and Jürgen Fischer (Drums) to start your own band. The name "Faithful Breath" ( English for "familiar breath") comes from a substitute guitarist named Georg Grebe, who represented Stabenow for a few weeks. Also from Magic Power came Bogdan "Boggi" Kopec; he looked after the band and the system. A little later, Ulrich Bock, who could play the saxophone and flute , was also included. The group managed to achieve a certain cult status in the region - after all, a band with three guitarists, plus bass, wind instruments and drums was something special even at the end of the 1960s. I created my own compositions with long improvisations . Immig's exit in the spring of 1969 was bearable for the “guitar-rich” band.

Boggi, Heimi, Carl, Jürgen and Piet 1974

In the fall of 1970, Fischer was drafted into the German Armed Forces and was therefore unable to continue. Substitutes came and went, it wasn't until Jürgen Weritz “loaned it out” at the beginning of 1971 that stability was ensured, at least on the drums. Weritz continued to play for the group Mama Werwoll from Witten , where Faithful Breath had moved to. A little later, Bock fell ill with tuberculosis , which is why the four of the band had to continue. At the end of 1972, Scheuer also had to pass. The classically trained organist and singer Manfred "Carl" von Buttlar was withdrawn from Mama Werwoll, which on the one hand resulted in their dissolution, on the other hand allowed Faithful Breath to swing in a symphonic direction.

With Heinz Mikus (guitar, vocals), Horst Stabenow (bass, vocals), Manfred von Buttlar (keyboards, vocals) and Jürgen Weritz (drums, percussion ) the first real line-up of Faithful Breath with semi-professional aspirations was now available . They traveled a lot in Germany and played a lot of concerts, especially in youth centers and small clubs . Faithful Breath settled in well and had worked out the pieces, which had previously only been performed live, to such an extent that an LP could be released .

Fading-Beauty.jpg

At the end of 1973 the band went to the Cologne studio at the cathedral and recorded three rock suites there, of which Tharsis is the best known. Renate Heemann from Witten took part in the recordings as a background singer . The record with the science fiction / fantasy themes and the title Fading Beauty was self-published in early 1974 (this also included the self-folding of the record sleeves ) in an edition of around 1500 copies. When the first edition with a brown cover was sold out, a second edition followed in 1975, this time in a blue and black design. On the back it also contained a reference to Boggi Kopec's music publisher. Altogether between 3500 and 5000 pieces of both editions were produced and sold, quite respectable for the time. Later, black pressings of Fading Beauty emerged that had not been legitimized by the group. In 1991 this LP was released on the American market as a CD , a vinyl re-edition was made in 2004 and a year later the Garden of Delights label released another CD, this time with an extensive booklet and the detailed history of the band up to in 1975. This album is now very popular among collectors and high prices are paid for well-preserved originals.

Faithful Breath was also on tour frequently from 1974 to 1976, including a tour with the jazz rock formation Volker Kriegel & Spectrum . In 1976 the singer Jürgen Renfordt joined the group and together they developed some pieces for a new stage program. The first single Stick in Your Eyes / Back on My Hill was recorded in the Rhein-Ruhr film studio in Bochum , with Jürgen Renfordt as the band's new singer. It was released in October 1977. In 1978, the not yet released LP Back on My Hill was presented on WDR 2 . Moderator Winfrid Trenkler , one of the most important personalities in the national rock business at the time, invited the band to a longer interview in Cologne and helped with his positive presentation. Peter Orloff finally signed the LP for his label Alladin, but a release was repeatedly postponed. Nonetheless, Faithful Breath traveled a lot in Germany and neighboring countries and became known in the scene thanks to their sophisticated live repertoire thanks to the cast of Jürgen Renfordt, "Heimi" Mikus, Manfred von Buttlar, Horst Stabenow and Jürgen Weritz .

Back-on-my-hill.jpg
Faithful Breath 1977
Faithful Breath Live 1978

A contract termination with Peter Orloff was achieved and the release of Back on My Hill took place on Sky Records , a label for German bands by Günter Körber. For the first time, German texts were also processed. The title This is My Love Song was presented in the WDR Schlager rallye . The song stood up to the competition from Mike Oldfield to Santana for months and landed in the top ten of the annual ranking . The second single was released in 1981 with the titles Die Mörderbiene and Keep Me Away as a maxi single on Sky. Similar to the first LP Fading Beauty , this single and the second LP Back on My Hill became rarities. These respectable successes came too late for the current line-up of the group. In 1981 three of the five musicians left Faithful Breath, Manfred von Buttlar first became a hospital doctor, then a resident doctor, Jürgen Weritz hired as an advertising specialist and Jürgen Renfordt tackled his career as a solo artist and occasional radio music editor.

Hard rock and heavy metal

Mikus and Stabenow decided to continue, but with different music, because heavy metal was on the rise and originally there was already a hard rock influence anyway. Together with the drummer Uwe Otto, they had a completely new beginning including a new name in mind, which, like the opening title of their next LP Rock Lions , also a single from it, should be: Hurricane . Due to the contractual relationship with Sky Records, which insisted on the introduced name, the Faithful Breath logo continued to adorn the publications. On the other hand, the record company had nothing to complain about with the added Viking outfit. With the Viking image, the trio wanted to set themselves apart from the usual leather and rivet uniforms of the other heavy bands. With the second, like Rock Lions with a small budget and under time pressure, called Hard Breath , which only served the contract and was classified as "moderate", Faithful Breath said goodbye to Sky and signed with Mausoleum Records . Uwe Otto had already left the band in 1981, which is why Jürgen Düsterloh recorded the Hard Breath album , which was released in 1983 .

Climax and end

In order to create a “denser sound”, Andy “Bubi” Hönig was hired for the album Gold'n'Glory, which was started in January and February 1984 . The album, which is considered the best in Faithful Breath history, or at least its Metal phase, sold 15,000 units within the first six weeks. In addition, the single was A Million Hearts a success, it increased but in the WDR 2 - hit rally from zero to one and remained so for several months. Good press in England made the band expand into the UK .

The Belgian genre label Mausoleum, which specializes in the emerging new heavy music, and the producer duo Udo Dirkschneider and Michael Wagener were jointly responsible for the upward trend at Faithful Breath . However, Stabenow left the band in the same year and was replaced by Peter Dell. Kopec's management company flourished and expanded thanks to Faithful Breath. The Cologne bands Mad Axeman and Underdog, which were taken under his wing, were unable to match Faithful Breath in terms of popularity, despite being housed at the Mausoleum and intensive marketing campaigns .

On October 5, 1985, the band performed at the second Shockwave Festival organized by Mausoleum in Genk, Belgium . However, this ended the collaboration with the financially troubled label. A co-owner went into business for himself, took over the band and an LP was immediately recorded for his newly founded label Ambush and the great international breakthrough was longed for. Hönig had switched to Bullet and Thilo Herrmann had taken his place in the recording sessions. The mausoleum renegade was not up to the demands of the music business - Ambush didn't last long. Skol was not widely marketed and therefore difficult to obtain, wrote the metal magazine Crash , but did not regret this, because it was only "mediocre" anyway. Faithful Breath set out on a short tour to the USA right on time at the beginning of December . Half a year later, on June 7th, 1986, the band performed at the Scream Live Festival in the Gelsenkirchen ice rink next to Helloween , Sinner and Mad Butcher . A recording of the event was later broadcast by WDR 1 as part of the Scream program.

At the end of 1986 a live album simply titled Live was released . Ambush had been left. The inexperienced company accused the band of having only concentrated on the American market, of having financed a mini tour there - and only there - although their native Germany and the Benelux countries , where the success story of Mausoleum had been laid, had a certain presence the band expected. In addition, the stocking of the record stores with Skol left a lot to be desired, which significantly reduced the sales figures. The Berlin label Noise Records came to an agreement with the dissatisfied band and expanded the release, originally planned as a bridging EP, into a full album. As expected, the accepts from Gold'n'Glory derived album material the Gros a of the plate. Heinrich Mikus took over the production and final mix , who immediately announced that he wanted to produce the next studio record himself. Manager Kopec, who meanwhile also took care of Kreator and Rage , set his sights on a Poland tour because Gold'n'Glory was published there late.

At some point in 1987 the decision to change again, this time accompanied by a name change, matured. Under the name " Risk " without (historically incorrect) horn helmets, Speed ​​Metal was used from now on . The band stated that Risk evolved from Faithful Breath. But a Viking image and a speed music style would not go together. With the new start, more original arrangements and more meaningful texts are connected. The live LP was a conclusion to the Viking era. The latter, of course, sounded different a year earlier. Peter Dell said that Risk no longer had much in common with Faithful Breath, except for the vocals, which understandably cannot be changed so easily with the same person. By 1993 the LPs / CDs The Daily Horror News (1988), Ratman (EP, 1989), Hell's Animal (1989), Dirty Surfaces (1990), The Reborn (1992) and Turpitude (1993) were released.

Bogdan "Boggi" Kopec expanded his field of activity by founding the GUN Records label and the management agency Drakkar Promotion (later: Drakkar Entertainment ). He looked after groups like Nightwish , Rage , Running Wild and Lordi and helped some of them to break through. In 1989, the last two studio LPs were combined into a CD release under the title Double Thing . The cover image shows gleaming gleaming insignia of their metal era draped on the cloth : electric guitar, wood-carved scepter and horned helmet. At the end of 2007 Garden of Delights released the second Faithful Breath LP on CD. In addition to the five tracks on the original LP, there is also the bonus track Die Mörderbiene . An extensive booklet was added here, this time telling the story of the band up to 1991.

style

The Eclipsed wrote about Fading Beauty that it offered “imposing arrangements” of kitsch-free symphonies with “progressive and psychedelic elements”. In terms of content, it is about science fiction material.

Norbert von Fransecky ( musikansich.de ) identified a tendency towards rock at Back on My Hill . Uriah Heep and Lucifer's Friend are just clues, not direct style relatives.

Part two of the transition phase with Rock Lions and Hard Breath sees Carsten Vollmer from Ox-Fanzine , at the time himself a record buyer instigated by WDR-2 top places, looking back as "boring rock music of a somewhat harder pace that should be sold to us as hard rock". Further: “But everything sounds conservative and stuffy, without the right pressure and urge to move forward. That is simply not enough for 1980 or 1983. The first albums were pure Kraut / Prog-Rock and cannot be compared with them at all. " Musikreviews.de sees no Heavy Metal in Rock Lions , instead remnants of the Prog phase, which are not that strong, which is probably why blues rock on the whole , Classic Rock and Ur-Hard Rock (à la Deep Purple , Led Zeppelin ) come out. Hard Breath , on the other hand, is clearer hard rock, clearly pointing towards heavy metal.

The album Gold'n'Glory had the greatest and most positive response - that's why it is best known . In the Metal Hammer it was read that the listener expected "wildly groovy loose music with a good dash of guitar power from the brand Hard 'n' Heavy". Rock Power magazine called the predecessors failures. With this LP, Faithful Breath would have revealed a concept for the first time and reached an international level. Some pieces sound like Accept , which is not surprising, as the production team was Michael Wagener and Udo Dirkschneider. Almost ten years later, the magazine categorized the group as a "melodic rock band". For Gold'n'Glory , Musikexpress , who was otherwise ignorant or critical of the band, found benevolent words.

Generally speaking, that is, not related to individual albums, opinions also differ. Frank “Tank” Kleiner summed up his live impression in the Metal Hammer with the words: “Hard rascals with catchy choruses”. And Norbert von Fransecky even asked himself, "Why Faithful Breath never went through the roof". The musicians had offered “Heavy Metal at its best” and “an astonishingly large number of catchy tunes ”. In contrast, the Eclipsed took the view that it was "boring and primitive Metal".

There was agreement on the style description of Risk: Speed ​​Metal. Götz Kühnemund gave a big name as a comparison: “Instead of commercial heavy rock according to the Accept knitting pattern” it was after the stylistic modification “varied Speed ​​Metal à la Metallica ”.

Discography

  • 1974: Fading Beauty (FB Music)
  • 1977: Stick in Your Eyes (Single, FB Music)
  • 1979: Back on My Hill ( Sky Records )
  • 1981: Die Killerbiene (maxi single, Sky Records)
  • 1981: Rock Lions (Sky Records)
  • 1981: Hurricane (single, Sky Records)
  • 1983: Hard Breath (Sky Records)
  • 1984: Gold'n'Glory ( Mausoleum Records )
  • 1984: A Million Hearts (single, Mausoleum Records)
  • 1985: Skol (Ambush Records)
  • 1986: Live ( Noise International )
  • 1989: Double Thing ( re-release of two albums on CD, Steamhammer Records )
  • 2012: Rock Lions / Hard Breath (re-release of two albums on CD, Sireena Records )

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Walter Nowicki: Faithful Breath. (PDF; 208.55KB) Biography. In: krautrock-musik Zirkus.de. Pp. 1–3 , accessed on November 24, 2014 (apparently booklet text).
  2. ↑ a b c Jürgen Weritz: Local rock legends - Faithful Breath. In: City magazine Witten. May 2006, accessed November 24, 2014 .
  3. ↑ a b c Faithful Breath . In: Metal Hammer . No. 3 , April 1984, pp. 7 .
  4. ^ Faithful Breath. Jurgen Weritz. (No longer available online.) In: pearlsofrock.republika.pl. February 1, 2005, archived from the original on June 25, 2016 ; accessed on November 24, 2014 . 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.pearlsofrock.republika.pl
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g Frank "Tank" Kleiner: Faithful Breath . In: Metal Hammer . No. 9 , September 1984, pp. 22 .
  6. ^ Faithful Breath. Symphonic Prog, Germany. In: progarchives.com. Retrieved November 24, 2014 .
  7. ↑ Faithful Breath - Gold'n'Glory. In: discogs.com. Retrieved November 24, 2014 .
  8. ↑ a b c Klaus [Uschmann]: Faithful Breath - Gold'n'Glory . In: Rock Power . Magazine. June 1984, plates, p. 44 .
  9. ↑ a b Faithful Breath . In: Rock Power . Harder than the rest. No. October 29 , 1993, A [-] Z, p. 41 .
  10. ↑ a b Andreas Kraatz: Faithful Breath . In: Musikexpress / Sounds . August 1984, Hard Rock / Heavy Metal, p. 57 .
  11. ↑ a b Oliver Klemm: Faithful Breath. Live . In: Metal Hammer . November 1986, LP's, p. Special Service 6 (booklet within a booklet).
  12. ↑ a b Ator the fire hammer: Metal hammer . No. October 10 , 1984, News, pp. 5 .
  13. ↑ Underdog . In: Metal Hammer . December 1984, p. 13 .
  14. ^ A b Alfie Falckenbach: Mausoleum - The story behind the legendary heavy metal label. Part I [1982-1986]. In: geocities.ws. March 2002, accessed November 24, 2014 .
  15. ↑ a b Etienne Weischenberg: Hot autumn for Faithful Breath. To Nikolaus on US tour . In: Metal Hammer . November 1985, p. 28 .
  16. ^ Faithful Breath. Skol . In: Crash . The definitive hard rock & metal magazine. July / August, 1987, CD reviews, p. 73 .
  17. ↑ Charly Rinne: Scream Live. Helloween, Sinner, Faithful Breath, Mad Butcher. Gelsenkirchen, ice rink, 7.6.1986 . In: Metal Hammer . July 1986, Live on Stage, p. 99 .
  18. ↑ a b c d e Oliver Klemm: Faithful Breath . In: Metal Hammer . November 1986, German Metal, p. Special Service 27 (booklet in booklet).
  19. ↑ a b Götz Kühnemund: Risk. The jump into the cold water . In: Metal Hammer . March 1988, German Metal, p. 44 .
  20. ↑ a b Götz Kühnemund: Risk. The Daily Horror News… In: Metal Hammer . October 1988, German Metal, p. 46 .
  21. ^ A b Alan Tepper: Faithful Breath "Fading Beauty" . In: Eclipsed . 68 (December / January 2004/2005), Die Schwarze Rille, p. 56 .
  22. ↑ a b [Alan Tepper]: Faithful Breath "Fading Beauty" . In: Eclipsed . No. 81 , April 2006, News from the Past, pp. 68 .
  23. ^ A b Norbert von Fransecky: Faithful Breath. Double thing. In: musikansich.de. Retrieved November 24, 2014 .
  24. ^ Carsten Vollmer: Faithful Breath. Rock Lions / Hard Breath. In: ox-fanzine.de. June 2012, accessed November 24, 2014 .
  25. ↑ Steffen: Faithful Breath: Rock Lions / Hard Breath (Review). In: musikreviews.de. May 4, 2012, accessed November 24, 2014 .
  26. ↑ a b Faithful Breath. (No longer available online.) In: The BNR Metal Pages (bnrmetal.com). Archived from the original on September 8, 2015 ; accessed on November 24, 2014 . 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.bnrmetal.com
  27. ↑ Frank "Tank" Kleiner: Faithful Breath, Underdog . Rockpalast / Hohenlimburg September 7, 1984. In: Metal Hammer . November 1984, p. 25 .

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