Fred Banana Combo

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Fred Banana Combo
General information
origin Düsseldorf (Germany)
Genre (s) Punk , new wave
founding 1978
resolution circa 1985
Last occupation
Gottfried Tollman
Bill Brown
Vocals, drums
Nicolle Meyer

Fred Banana Combo was a German new wave and punk band from the early 1980s. Founded in 1978 in the vicinity of Düsseldorf scene center Ratinger Hof , they set out with their own mix of Pop - cover versions , and English lyrics with brass inserts enriched Wave a name. Disbanded in the mid-1980s, the group is still considered one of the most important exponents of early punk and wave in Germany .

history

The band was founded in 1978 by Gottfried Tollmann (guitar, vocals), the Englishman Bill Brown (bass) and the singer and drummer Nicolle Meyer. Tollmann and Brown had played in different formations before. Gottfried Tollmann (1950–2015), born as the son of Günter Tollmann in Gelsenkirchen and also works as an art dealer , started his first musical experiments as a member of Joseph Beuys' class at the Düsseldorf Art Academy . In 1972 he staged an artistic action with the aim of melting blocks of ice by playing rock 'n' roll . Tollmann's brother Christian, who played in the band Gesundes Volksempfinden and the musical theater Die Salinos, also belonged to the Beuys class . Bassist Bill Brown had previously played in the heavily free jazz- heavy Cologne Krautrock formation Eiliff . The native French- Canadian Nicolle Meyer, musically a blank slate to date, had made a name for herself as a model and photographer , including portraits of Joseph Beuys. The fourth band member during the first promo tour was Uwe “Schruuv” Fuchs, who had previously played with the Zeltinger band .

The first production was the single No Destination Blues / Jerk Off All Nite Long in 1978 - initially as a promotional product that was self-distributed and then distributed by Ariola . Together with the tracks of the second single, a wave version of the Lennon / McCartney song Yesterday and the radio on the back , No Destination Blues was also included on the first regular studio album. Fred Banana Combo, produced in 1980 and also distributed by Ariola, contained a total of five cover pieces - including a second McCartney / Lennon track ( She Loves You ) and the Chuck Berry classic Johnny B. Goode . What was striking about the production - in addition to the short pieces, usually two to three minutes long - was the sound , which was strongly based on rock'n'roll and the Mersey beat of the early 1960s. The recording took place in the studio of the well-known Krautrock and avant-garde producer Conny Plank . Different studio musicians took turns on the drums; The Ordinaires formed the background vocals .

The second plate 1981 in Hanover punk label GeeBeeDee appeared, brought stylistically distinct changes. The average length of the pieces was four to five minutes, well above that of the debut LP. With the exception of the Leonard Cohen song Bird on the Wire , the record only contained original material. The most striking element on The Incredible Fred Banana Combo was the stringent combination of driving wave in the style of The Cure and Siouxsie and the Banshees, as well as brass sections to increase the musical effect. The group's third LP, also produced by Conny Plank, brought a similar mix - Fred Banana Combo Same from 1983. Other special features: With Soldiers of the Green, an almost ten-minute sound-text collage about the horrors of war, contained the third LP a piece entirely in German. Nowhere bei mir, a love song by Nicolle Meyer, had previously appeared in a separate version by Meyer and was released as a single by Ariola. The cover motif of the third LP was also an in-house production: an oil painting by Gottfried Tollmann's father Günter Tollmann.

In the course of their active career, the group completed concerts and tours in Germany and abroad. As part of the ARD rock music program, she also performed at the Rockpalast in Cologne on July 2, 1980 . After the third record, the band became quieter. There was a brief reunion in 1988. The fourth record, succinctly Fred Banana! titled and created with the help of musician Stefan Krachten , who works in the Neue Deutsche Welle , pop and avant-garde sectors , offered a pop- funk- wave style that was rather unusual for the band . In retrospect, it is seen by many as atypical FBC or as an unsuccessful attempt to get the band back into business.

From the mid-1990s, the three founding members went different ways. In 1995 Nicolle Meyer and Gottfried Tollmann worked together with the music producer Helmut Zerlett on the music project Baked Beans . Tollmann moved to Los Angeles in the late 1990s , published several productions with the musician Ralf Hilden Beutel and then lived in Los Angeles and Paris . Nicolle Meyer later worked with the ex- Can singer Damo Suzuki and his formation Network and accompanied them on their Japan tour in 1999, among other things . Later she worked for years with the music producer and ambient / trance musician Stefan Krachten. Publication in 2008 by peacelounge: the single Sunny Day . Tollmann and Meyer, who had been in a relationship since 1980, separated in 1990. Nicolle Meyer lives in New York and Mexico and works as a book author and designer .

A comeback tour should take place in 2015. Recordings for a new album took place. But when the double CD of the Fred Banana Combo , which was accompanied by a compilation of old titles, was just finished, Tollmann fell fatally with cancer.

reception

Like Hans-A-Plast , Male , Rotzkotz , 39 Clocks and other bands, which also only existed for a few years, FBC are counted among the pioneers of German punctuation. The author Thomas Pohle characterized the influence of the band as follows: “1983 was the time when punk was no longer an issue, the commercial version of the Neue Deutsche Welle was already ebbing and New Wave somehow appeared as a vague term. On the other hand, there was the pop 'Summer of Love' with softened but beautiful popper bands like Spandau Ballet , ABC and whatever they were called. And then there was still the Fred Banana Combo, which had been around since the late 1970s and released records in its own little world, played them live and was always close to the big breakthrough without ever grabbing it. "

A member of the Berlin band Fast Clean Cheap, the 1980 as the opening act for some Fred Banana Combo concerts occurred, reported in a blog post by the pleasant atmosphere, which spread the group of his wedding: "Somewhere on the net I have about them read, 'they made records in their own little world', that's probably true. They have been denied major commercial success (or perhaps better spared), but who cares? They produced a few good records and gave a lot of people a lot of joy, their concerts were 'typical good mood evenings', they could play brilliantly, the music was danceable and the songs were well arranged. Personally, I got to know the band members as nice, good-humored and humorous people, exceptional phenomena in the German music scene of the 80s. "

Discography

Albums

  • 1980: Fred Banana Combo (Ariola)
  • 1981: The Incredible Fred Banana Combo (Geebeedee)
  • 1983: Fred Banana Combo Same ( Virgin )
  • 1988: Fred Banana! (Polydor)
  • 2015: The Best of the Old Shit and the New Shit (MIG) box-set with 2 CDs + 1 DVD

Singles

  • 1978: No Destination Blues / Jerk Off All Nite Long (Warner / Plastic Fantastic Records)
  • 1980: Yesterday / Radio (Ariola)
  • 1982: The Heartbeat and the Train / The Captain (GeeBeeDee)
  • 1983: Soldiers of the Green (Virgin)
  • 1983: Nowhere bei mir (Nicolle Meyer; original version; Ariola)
  • 1988: Stars from Above ( Polydor )

Cover versions

literature

  • Günter Ehnert, Detlef Kinsler: Rock in Germany. Lexicon of German rock groups and performers. Taurus Press, 3rd edition 1995, ISBN 978-3922-5421-62
  • Hubert Skolud, Horst Stasiak: Don't plan us with you. Sounds from the state of the nation. Luebbe Publishing Group , July 1986. ISBN 978-3404-6010-28
  • Thomas Groetz: Art - Music: German punk and new wave in the neighborhood of Joseph Beuys. Martin Schmitz Verlag, Berlin 2002. ISBN 978-3927-7953-03

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Günter Ehnert, Detlef Kinsler: Rock in Germany. Lexicon of German rock groups and performers. Taurus Press, 3rd edition 1995, ISBN 978-3922-5421-62
  2. a b “The normal Cologne hears de Höhner.” Interview with Stefan Krachten , kölninside.de, accessed on January 7, 2012
  3. ^ On Ratinger Strasse , Tilman Baumgärtel , tageszeitung , September 6, 2002
  4. a b GRLZ - Women ahead of their Time , Vivian Goldman, crippled.com (music website), accessed January 7, 2012
  5. Fred Banana Combo , brotpaket.blogspot.de (music weblog), October 15, 2007
  6. Rockpalast Archive: Fred Banana Combo , last page upgrade: January 20, 2011, accessed on January 7, 2012
  7. Nicolle Meyer-Tollmann on Discogs
  8. a b Death cannot be a fan of rock music. In: The world. September 25, 2015, accessed July 31, 2020 .
  9. Stefan Krachten and Nicolle Meyer on Discogs
  10. Fred Banana Combo - III (LP 1983) ( Memento of the original from December 1, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) 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. , Alexander Pohle, backagain.de (music weblog), accessed on January 7, 2012  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.backagain.de
  11. Bananas from Düsseldorf ( Memento from May 24, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), experience report, music weblog harharharhar, July 29, 2011
  12. Blumfeld - Discography ( Memento from December 31, 2013 in the Internet Archive )