Flaming Bess
| Flaming Bess | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| origin | Dusseldorf , Germany |
| Genre (s) | Progressive rock , art rock , krautrock , radio play |
| founding | 1969 |
| Website | www.flaming-bess.de |
| Founding members | |
| Hans Wende | |
| Horst Wagner | |
| Rolf Seelbach, d. 2010 | |
| Peter Figge | |
| Current occupation | |
Bass, guitar, keyboard |
Hans Wende |
Guitar, keyboard |
Achim Wierschem |
Keyboard |
Peter Figge |
Drums |
Hans Schweiss |
Electronics, synthesizers
|
Claas Reimer |
| former members | |
Keyboard |
Joachim Jansen |
Guitar, keyboard |
Barry Peeler, d. 2011 |
| Peter Wahle | |
| Ute Freudenberg | |
Percussion , sound engineering |
Dieter Joswig |
Flaming Bess is a German rock band that has existed since 1969.
history
1969 to 1990
In 1969 the band Flaming Bess formed for the first time in Düsseldorf and is thus one of the oldest, active Düsseldorf and German prog rock bands. In the founding line-up with Hans Wende, Horst Wagner, Rolf Seelbach and Peter Figge, they developed a regional fan base through live performances and stuck to their instrumental progressive rock concept .
In 1977, around the former line-up Hans Wende, Joachim Jansen, Peter Wahle and Dieter Joswig, those demo tapes were created that already showed all the characteristics of the later Flaming Bess music: well-arranged, instrumental rock music, combined with noises, collages and a spoken fantasy - Story. The demo sent to WDR impressed presenter Wolfgang Neumann and he presented the group as part of his Rockstudio series . In order to keep the costs for the elaborate production low, Neumann took over the part of the speaker himself. This led to the biggest audience reaction of the year and the band released their first LP Tanz der Götter in late 1979 . The musical potential of the band was initially not recognized by the record companies. But then followed 16 weeks of placements in the Schlager rallye , the then important German listener hit parade, with the single release Tanz der Götter , overwhelming press reactions and more than 35,000 LPs sold in just 6 months.
After separating from Peter Wahle, the band strengthened itself with Achim Wierschem, Barry Peeler and ex- Streetmark Hans Schweiß and recorded the second LP Lost World in 1981 . At the same time, one of the first German music videos was produced. This sound carrier was also a great success with more than 40,000 copies sold. The single Mythos lasted 8 weeks in the WDR hit rally . Nevertheless, the collaboration with the record company did not last. Then a new core team was formed, which is still up to date today: Hans Wende, Achim Wierschem, Peter Figge and Dieter Joswig. In 1985 they released the LP " Encrypted in the heyday of Neue Deutsche Welle" with the jazz and blues singer Gudrun Derichs under the pseudonym KEY , a condition of the record company at the time. Since 1984 the band has been producing again under their original name Flaming Bess, u. a. with Ute Freudenberg as singer.
Since 1991
The 1990s were a time of reflection and preparation for Flaming Bess. From 1990 to 1996 the band developed new song material. A collection of them appeared in 1996 on the third official Flaming Bess CD Fata Morgana in self-distribution. As early as 1998 the band, which was always open to new trends, decided to expand the line-up, as the project also had to develop further. With DJ Claas Reimer , a young member was accepted into the band in order to integrate the influence of modern stylistic elements more strongly into the music. With the result that Flaming Bess presented itself more contemporary than in the past. The collaboration documented in 2005 in the double CD Dark Sun / Black Sun .
The path taken with Finstere Sonne was continued in 2008 with the album Wächter des Lichts . An elaborately produced radio play in the style of The Lord of the Rings was combined with 15 songs of the music typical of Flaming Bess. The Flaming Bess album, the most elaborate to date, will be published by arkana-multimedia distribution and also offered by download services. The mixture of concrete, "set to music" story and modern music has been positively received by fans and the trade press.
On August 22nd, 2013 the second part of the spheres trilogy The Fallen Star will be released as a previous masterpiece with 15 titles and 77:41 min. Total runtime. A tour is finally planned for 2014.
Discography
- 1979: Dance of the Gods, LP, EMI and ASD
- 1979: Dance of the Gods, single, W + W
- 1981: Lost World, LP and cassette, Polydor
- 1981: Mythos, single, Polydor
- 1985: (as "Key") encrypted, LP, EMI
- 1985: (as "Key") Illusion, Long Version Single, EMI
- 1985: (as "Key") Illusion, radio version single, EMI
- 1990: Dance of the Gods, CD, moonlight
- 1996: Fatamorgana, CD, arkana
- 2001: Fatamorgana Special Edition, CD, arkana
- 2003: Lost World Special Edition, CD, arkana
- 2005: Finstere Sonne, CD, arkana
- 2005: Dance of the Gods Deluxe Edition, CD, arkana
- 2008: Guardian of Light, CD, arkana
- 2013: The fallen star, CD, arkana