Ghost driver (band)

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Geisterfahrer is a rock and dark wave band from Hamburg that was founded in 1979.

history

The early years

The band was founded in 1979 by Michael Ruff (vocals), Matthias Schuster (guitar, synthesizer, vocals), Hans Keller (violin, synthesizer, bass) and Holger Hiller (synthesizer). Supported by a drum computer, the group had one of their first appearances at the Hamburg “In die Zukunft” festival, where they provoked the hardcore punks there with improvised electrical noise so much that the electricity was switched off during the gig. Holger Hiller got out shortly afterwards to bring Palais Schaumburg into being. Jürgen Weiss (drums, bass) joined the band as a replacement.

The Ghost Drivers were the first band to release a single for Alfred Hilsberg's record label ZickZack Records . However, the EP Geisterfahrer turned out to be of poor quality due to a lack of studio technology, so that the group then became the first German new wave band to sign a contract with a major label.

In 1980 the debut LP " Schatten vor" was released . With lyrics by their singer Michael Ruff about scarlet fever and plague crosses, as well as a musical mixture of cold wave , gothic rock and medieval moments, the ghost drivers steered into the dark wave environment and stylistically anticipated the new German death art . In 1980 they were pretty lonely with this kind of music.

A short time later, Hans Keller left the formation to work as a music journalist in New York. Shrunk to a trio, the follow-up LP, Fest der viel Sinn, was much more rock-heavy. The group now increasingly oriented itself towards the dark wave sound a la Joy Division and Bauhaus . With Heaven on Earth , there was even a smaller hit that found its way onto various NDW samplers. For the subsequent tour, the group around Erdem Güngörecek (bass) strengthened.

Style change

After various live concerts, the next LP Topal was finally produced in 1983 , which was again produced independently of the industry in GF's own studio, but did not match the success of the previous records. Matthias Schuster recorded a few experimental electronic soundtracks for the GF video together with Erdem Güngörecek and Michael Bühl (trumpet, trombone, flute), but these were only released on vinyl in 1987 under the title The Other Side of ... in a limited edition Edition.

In 1986 the group finally returned with the line-up of Michael Ruff, Matthias Schuster, Erdem Güngörecek, Jürgen Weiss, expanded by Andy Giorbino (guitar) and Kirsten Klemm (cello). With the LP Fisch Gott, the group was able to follow up on the old classics like Festival of the Many Senses . However, the successor Stein & Bein was disappointing . Although the title song was successful again, the rest of the record irritated the audience with English-language mainstream rock.

After the successor G-Far-I, recorded with the new bassist Marco Van Basten, turned out to be similar and offered nothing new, the band Geisterfahrer was quiet for a long time from 1990, as the band members pursued various solo projects. On September 29, 2005 they returned to the stage on the occasion of a new vinyl single and a retrospective CD 1979-1989 and played in Hamburg's Hafenklang .

Discography

  • 1979: Geisterfahrer (MC, demo album, self-published)
  • 1980: Wrong Driver (EP, ZigZag )
  • 1980: Shadow ahead (LP, competition / Phonogram , 2005 re-release as CD with bonus tracks on Plastic Frog Records)
  • 1981: Festival of the Many Senses (LP, Competition / Phonogram, 2007 re-release as CD with bonus tracks on Plastic Frog Records)
  • 1983: Topal (LP, competition)
  • 1986: Fisch Gott (LP, What's So Funny About )
  • 1987: The other side of ... (LP, Independance )
  • 1988: Stein & Bein (LP, What's So Funny About)
  • 1989: G-Far-I (LP, What's So Funny About)
  • 2005: 3rd millennium (EP, NLW)
  • 2005: 1979-1989 (Best of, CD, Onomato-Pop)
  • 2006: Heaven and Hell (EP, Dom Elchklang)
  • 2007: Back to the Future - Live 1979 (CD, NLW)

Web links