Fools Garden

Fools Garden
General information
Genre (s)	Pop-Rock , Britpop
founding	1991
Website	foolsgarden.de
Founding members
singing	Peter Freudenthaler
guitar	Volker Hinkel
Drums	Ralf Wochele (until 2003)
Keyboard	Roland Röhl (until 2003)
bass	Thomas Mangold (until 2003)
Current occupation
singing	Peter Freudenthaler
guitar	Volker Hinkel
Drums	Jan Hees (since 2016)
Guitar, bass	Dirk Blümlein (since 2003)
Keyboard	Thorsten Kiefer (since 2016)
Lead guitar	Gabriel Holz (until 2005, since 2014)
former members
Drums	Claus Müller (until 2016)

Volker Hinkel. Guitarist and songwriter for the band Fools Garden.

Peter Freudenthaler. Singer and songwriter for the band Fools Garden.

Fools Garden (earlier spelling: "Fool's Garden") is a German band from Pforzheim , which moves stylistically between pop-rock and Britpop . She achieved international fame through the 1995 song Lemon Tree . The band has not been able to build on the success of this song to this day, which is why it is regularly referred to as a " one-hit wonder ".

Career

In 1991 Peter Freudenthaler (born February 19, 1963 , vocals ) and Volker Hinkel (born June 21, 1965 , guitar ) founded Fool's Garden and recorded the promo CD of the same name together . After the addition of Thomas Mangold (born September 25, 1965 , electric bass ), Roland Röhl (born April 6, 1971 , keyboard ) and Ralf Wochele (born February 23, 1968 , drums ), they played the album Once in two years later a Blue Moon , which included two new songs. This is the only commercially available album in which Volker Hinkel also sings several songs. The group achieved its first success in 1994 when the title Wild Days was selected for a commercial by C&A .

In 1995, the greatest success in the band's history followed with the release of the German number one hit Lemon Tree, which was also included on the album Dish of the Day . Both the single ( platinum in Germany, New Zealand and Norway ; gold in Switzerland , Austria , France and Sweden ) and album (platinum in Germany and Switzerland; gold in Austria) also sold very well outside of Germany . The single for Lemon Tree was at number 1 in the German charts for four weeks from February 23 to March 21, the album Dish of the Day in the week of March 8 to 14. In 1996 Fool's Garden was awarded the Bambi , the Golden Europe , the Golden Tuning Fork and the Echo as the most successful young band .

With their later releases, the group was no longer able to build on these successes: After long quarrels with the music labels BMG and Polydor due to declining sales figures, Peter Freudenthaler and Volker Hinkel separated from the other band members in 2003 after the release of the album 25 Miles to Kissimmee ; since then, Peter Freudenthaler and Volker Hinkel have been leading the band together with the newcomers Gabriel Holz (guitar), Claus Müller (drums) and Dirk Blümlein (bass) under the name Fools Garden (without apostrophe). Thomas Mangold and Roland Röhl have been running a joint advertising agency since they separated . Musically, Thomas Mangold works as a bass player in various bands (everything in the semi-professional field). Ralf Wochele is a drummer with the band "Cover Up" and works as a music teacher in various schools.

Fools Garden appears today in a duo or band. In Germany, the band mainly plays at open-air concerts, such as the 2013 Deutschlandfest at the Brandenburg Gate, and in smaller halls, but can boast successes in China , Lithuania and parts of Russia . For example, Fools Garden played at the 750th anniversary celebration in Königsberg on July 3, 2005 in front of around 100,000 visitors to the festive event in Königsberg .

In 2005 they received the Ravensburger Kupferle for Fool's Garden Meets Morscheck & Burgmann . In the late summer of 2009, the band's first best-of album was released as a single CD and as a limited edition 2-CD set. It is called High Times and contains 14 songs from the entire creative period as well as the new title High Time . The limited edition includes 15 live unplugged songs by the band on the second CD.

On September 14, 2012, Fools Garden released the single Innocence as a harbinger for the new album , which was released including a version with the Babelsberg film orchestra . The album Who Is Jo King? with 14 new tracks followed on 14 October 2012. Klaus Voormann , who has the legendary Revolver - Cover the Beatles drafted, is also responsible for the new album cover of Fools Garden. The video for the single Innocence is based on his graphics. The album was released in Germany by Seven Days Music and in Russia by Soyuz Music.

The song Man of Devotion is used as an opening credits wanted by daughter-in-law . The song became popular in Asia and Eastern Europe through its use in a VW commercial.

Fools Garden at the Blacksheep Festival in Bonfeld , 2016

The band's tenth studio album was released in April 2018. All songs were recorded in the band's own studio in Neuhausen . The video for the first single Save The World Tomorrow was shot in Freudenthaler's house in Ötisheim .

Music genre

Fools Garden is known for the mixture of rock 'n' roll and poppy pieces ( genre of pop-rock ) as well as a few ballads . Often their style of music is compared with that of the Beatles , who they also state as role models. The comedy song on the album Ready for the Real Life and Rainy Day from the album Go and Ask Peggy for the Principal Thing are also typical of the group .

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)			Remarks
		DE	AT	CH
1995	Dish of the Day	DE1 platinum (36 weeks)DE	AT4th gold (19 weeks)AT	CH3 platinum (33 weeks)CH	First published: February 1995 Sales: + 838,500
1997	Go and Ask Peggy for the Principal Thing	DE44 (4 weeks) DE	-	CH50 (1 week) CH	First published: September 5, 1997
2000	For sale	DE84 (1 week) DE	-	-	First published: November 28, 2000
2005	Ready for the real life	-	-	-
2018	Rise and Fall	DE97 (1 week) DE	-	-	First published: April 20, 2018

More albums

• 1991: Fool's Garden (Promo CD by Peter Freudenthaler and Volker Hinkel)
• 1993: Once in a Blue Moon (mainly contains songs from Fool's Garden )
• 2003: 25 Miles to Kissimmee
• 2005: Ready for the Real Life
• 2009: High Times (Best-of-Album)
• 2012: Who Is Jo King?
• 2015: Flashback (cover versions of songs from the 1990s)

EPs

• 2008: Napster Session 2008 (Download EP)
• 2008: Home (Limited Tour Edition)

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)				Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK
1995	Lemon Tree Dish of the Day	DE1 platinum (37 weeks)DE	AT1 gold (18 weeks)AT	CH2 gold (38 weeks)CH	UK26 (5 weeks) UK	First published: November 1995 Sales: + 900,000
1996	Wild Days Dish of the Day	DE59 (13 weeks) DE	AT37 (2 weeks) AT	-	-	First published: April 1996
1997	Why Did She Go Go and Ask Peggy for the Principal Thing	DE76 (9 weeks) DE	-	-	-	First published: June 1997
	Probably Go and Ask Peggy for the Principal Thing	DE86 (8 weeks) DE	-	-	-	First published: August 1997
2000	Suzy For Sale	DE75 (9 weeks) DE	-	-	-	First published: April 14, 2000
	It Can Happen For Sale	DE86 (3 weeks) DE	-	-	-	First published: October 26, 2000

More singles

1991: Careless Games 1992: Once in a Blue Moon 1996: Pieces 1998: Rainy Day 2000: Happy (Special Tour Edition) 2001: In the Name 2001: Dreaming 2003: Closer 2004: Save Me (Steve Rhyner feat. Fool's Garden) 2005: Man of Devotion 2005: Does Anybody Know?

2005: Cold (Promo) 2006: I Got a Ticket 2009: high time 2010: Everywhere the Light Shines (download single) 2012: Innocence 2012: Maybe 2016: New World (Promo) 2016: New World (Fools Garden & Karl Frierson) 2017: I Burn 2018: Save The World Tomorrow

Awards for music sales

Golden record  Belgium 1996: for the single Lemon Tree  France 1996: for the single Lemon Tree  Italy 2019: for the single Lemon Tree  Sweden 1996: for the single Lemon Tree  Thailand 1997: for the album Dish of the Day

Platinum record  New Zealand 1997: for the single Lemon Tree  Norway 1996: for the single Lemon Tree  Singapore 1997: for the album Dish of the Day  Taiwan 1997: for the album Dish of the Day 2 × platinum record  Malaysia 1997: for the album Dish of the Day

Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.

Country / Region	gold	platinum	Sales	swell
Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources)
Belgium (BEA)	gold1	-	25,000	ultratop.be
Germany (BVMI)	-	2 × platinum2	1,000,000	musikindustrie.de
France (SNEP)	gold1	-	250,000	disqueenfrance.com ( Memento from February 23, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
Italy (FIMI)	gold1	-	25,000	fimi.it
Malaysia (RIM)	-	2 × platinum2	50,000	Individual evidence
New Zealand (RMNZ)	-	platinum1	15,000	nztop40.co.nz
Norway (IFPI)	-	platinum1	10,000	ifpi.no ( Memento from February 6, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
Austria (IFPI)	2 × gold2	-	50,000	ifpi.at
Sweden (IFPI)	gold1	-	25,000	sverigetopplistan.se
Switzerland (IFPI)	gold1	platinum1	75,000	hitparade.ch
Singapore (RIAS)	-	platinum1	15,000	Individual evidence
Taiwan (RIT)	-	platinum1	50,000	Individual evidence
Thailand (TECA)	gold1	-	25,000	Individual evidence
All in all	8 × gold8th	9 × platinum9

swell

1. ↑ https://www.pz-news.de/kultur_artikel,-Pforzheimer-Kultband-Fools-Garden-bringt-ihr-zehntes-StudioAlbum-raus-_arid,1224746.html
2. ↑ https://www.pz-news.de/kultur_artikel,-Pforzheimer-Kultband-Fools-Garden-bringt-ihr-zehntes-StudioAlbum-raus-_arid,1224746.html
3. ↑ https://www.pz-news.de/muehlacker_artikel,-JubilaeumsKonzert-mit-Ueberraschungsgast-Peter-Freudenthaler-in-Oetisheim-_arid,1258094.html
4. ↑ https://www.pz-news.de/kultur_artikel,-Pforzheimer-Kultband-Fools-Garden-bringt-ihr-zehntes-StudioAlbum-raus-_arid,1224746.html
5. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: Singles Albums UK
6. ↑ ^{a b c d} Ellie Weinert: A Short-List of German Global Hits. Billboard, December 20, 1997, p. 36 , accessed April 2, 2020 . 

Web links

Commons : Fools Garden  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website
• Fools Garden at Allmusic (English)
• Fools Garden at Discogs (English)