Gravestone

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Gravestone
General information
origin Illertissen and the surrounding area
Genre (s) Progressive Rock (1977–1982), Heavy Metal (1982–1992)
founding 1977, 2019
resolution 1990 (Gravestone) or 1992 (48 Crash)
Founding members
Berti Majdan (1977–1979 or 1980, 1982–1990 or 1992, since 2019)
Wolfgang Rittner (1977–1979 or 1980)
guitar
 Rudi Dorner (1977–1980 or 1981)
Keyboard , vocals
 Andy Müller (1977–1980 or 1981)
Mike Schmidt (1977–1979 or 1980)
Current occupation
singing
 Berti Majdan (1977–1979 or 1980, 1982–1990 or 1992, since 2019)
guitar
 Mathias Dieth (1982–1985, since 2019)
guitar
 Klaus "Doc" Reinelt (1982–1990 or 1992, since 2019)
Thomas Sabisch (1984–1990 or 1992, since 2019)
Drums
 Thomas Imbacher (1985–1990 or 1992, since 2019)
former members
guitar
 Socrates "Taki" Gradl (1980)
guitar
 Jürgen Metko (1986–1990 or 1992)
Drums
 Dieter Behle (1980–1985)
Bass, vocals
 Dietmar "Oli" Orlitta (1980–1984)

Gravestone is a German heavy metal band from the Neu-Ulm district , Bavaria . They were founded in 1977 by Berti Majdan as a progressive rock band and later established themselves as a heavy metal band. From 1990 to 1992 it was called 48 Crash.

Band history

The rhythm guitarist Rudi Dorner and drummer Mike Schmidt founded 1975 the progressive rock inclined towards rock band called radiator that soon the bassist and vocalist Berti Majdan joined. It went on under the more serious-sounding name Oregon. At the end of 1976, the members, who all knew each other from school, accepted another former classmate, Wolfgang Rittner, who was self-taught on the electric guitar . When keyboardist Andy Müller joined in the spring of 1977, the name was dropped again and from now on operated under the name "Gravestone".

Through almost daily rehearsals and growing live experience, they achieved routine and their songs finally extended the playing time, including improvisation passages , which are typical of space rock . The idea of producing an LP came more from the concert-goers than from the musicians themselves, and it was only after Dorner's chance encounter with the operators of a newly founded studio in Illertissen that they actually started the production in February 1979 after successful demo recordings there approach. Doomsday contains seven pieces, mainly structured by Rittner, of which only two have text. The band, ignorant of business matters, couldn't keep track of how many copies the studio-affiliated label had sold, not even how many had even been pressed.

Some things remained the same on the next LP, namely the studio, the label and the number of copies, but the line-up and style of the songs had changed. Of the old line-up, only Dorner and Müller recorded the album War . Second guitarist next to Dorner was Socrates "Taki" Gradl, instead of the drummer Schmidt Dieter Behle drums and the tasks of Majdan were newcomer Dietmar "Oli" Orlitta. Since the main songwriter was lost, the credits seem like they were put together. One song was recorded that was still by Rittner, another by Rittner and Majdan. Dorner had written another and worked on two, in which the manager Jürgen Stockmar also has an author's share - along with one Dieter Behle and one Taki Gradl. One piece comes from the internal composer couple Müller / Orlitta, one from the external Illertisser acquaintance Joachim Schilder. There were now four English-speaking , two German-speaking and one instrumental .

This ushered in a phase of frequent changes of musicians. It was not until 1982 that a permanent formation had formed, which, under the leadership of the returned Majdan, included the guitarists Mathias Dieth (Ex-Dust) and Klaus "Doc" Reinelt (Ex-Solaplexus) and the unchanged rhythm section Dietmar Orlitta / Dieter Behle. On December 17, 1983, as part of a Baden-Württemberg -wide youth festival final in the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle in Stuttgart , for which Gravestone had qualified in a local elimination round in July, their concert was broadcast live on television by Südfunk Stuttgart and broadcast on the radio. At this point in time, the already guitar-dominated music had shifted to heavy metal . In March 1984 the band got a contract with Scratch Records. Recordings for an LP began in April. In May Orlitta left the band because he did not want to enter into a contract and was replaced by Thomas Sabisch, who came from a funk band. The album Victim of Chains was released in August 1984.

The follow-up album Back to Attack was already available in April 1985 , and it went on tour in northern Germany and neighboring countries. All activities always had to be compatible with life apart from music, because Sabisch was a student, Reinelt and Dieth were doing community service and the other two had a job (Behle, for example, was a bricklayer) or had a job. As positive as the release of Back to Attack was for the establishment of Gravestone in the metal scene , the snap shot resulted in a cover glitch, which is why most of the records with the incorrectly printed song sequence had to be used for promotional purposes. At the end of 1985 Thomas Imbacher, an 18-year-old student, joined the band, replacing Dieter Behle. Behle reappeared in 1987/1988 with the Ulm formation Tyrant . The next change concerned one of the guitarist positions and was completed in early 1986 with Jürgen Metko's entry. Dieth had previously announced that he wanted to switch to Sinner , but still played the Christmas festivals in December 1985 for Gravestone.

The new line-up started with festival appearances in France . The album Creating a Monster in 1986 continued the continuous series of new releases. Back to Attack had gone well abroad, especially in France. Creating a Monster had already found 15,000 buyers in Germany after a few weeks. Tours through France and Hungary as well as some TV appearances had to be canceled because Metko was involved in an accident while he and Sabisch were on their motorcycles, which left him with a serious hand injury.

At the end of 1988 there was a separation from the record company because a contract, or more precisely a condition, had broken out. The band wanted to draw a line, but at the same time - since no record company offer seemed fair - try out a new financing model. This was accompanied by a name change to "48 Crash". The manager at the time, Thomas Bauer, provided the idea. A fund was set up. The depositors who become shareholders should receive a share in the profits. Today the term crowdfunding is used for this . The pooled funds were used to finance a 30-day studio stay in the renowned Horus Sound Studios in Hanover . The staff had an equally good reputation : producer Will Reid worked for Supertramp , Saxon , Thin Lizzy , Motörhead and Thunderhead , and sound engineer Ralf Krause for Gamma Ray . A music publisher was found to safeguard rights, a separate label called Fortune Records was founded for production and an agreement was reached with SPV for distribution . The album Some Like It Hot was presented in autumn 1990 . Despite the supposedly smooth progress, 48 ​​crashes were resolved.

In March 2019 it became known that after more than 30 years in the line-up of December 1985 (Majdan, Reinelt, Dieth, Sabisch, Imbacher), the band had come together again for concerts.

style

The early works are assigned to the "Seventies Progrock". In its debut, the Eclipsed also recognized the signs of the direction it had taken later by writing about "space sounds (like on the first two UFO albums) and hard rock patterns". The UFO cover version Flying is on the CD re-release as a bonus track .

Metal Mike Blim said with regard to the Victims style, it was "[e] more infamous, fast HM, who still puts a lot of emphasis on melody". Accept served as a yardstick and the Scorpions and the ambitions or prospects are similar to those of Trance , Warlock , Steeler and Sinner .

Jens Schmiedeberg made a classical arrangement, a ballad and above all “steam hammer rock” on Back to Attack . The Speed ​​Metal passages, he praised, stand out from the usual Speed ​​Metal in that they show and combine “power, pressure, dynamics and, above all, the ability to play”.

The internet platform stormbringer.at said about Creating a Monster that it was real, hard metal for people who like Hammerfall or Stratovarius .

In the Rock Hard Encyclopedia there is the description: "Gravestone play rough, fast Heavy Metal with sawing guitars and distinctive vocals". So they belonged to the series of "Teuton Metal" with Running Wild , Helloween and Grave Digger , but without making the breakthrough. The new start under the name 48 Crash should be approached with "party-compatible" music, but it was even less successful.

In his review of Some Like It Hot, Andreas Schöwe ​​criticized the all too wanted and therefore unbelievable "American rock 'n' roll - and blues atmosphere suspecting the southern states".

Discography

  • 1979: Doomsday (AVC)
  • 1980: War (AVC)
  • 1984: Victim of Chains (Scratch Records)
  • 1985: Back to Attack (Scratch Records)
  • 1986: Creating a Monster (Scratch Records)
  • 1993: Gravestone ( best of album , Laserlight)
than 48 crash
  • 1990: Some Like It Hot (Fortune Records)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Gravestone (Illertissen) - Doomsday - 1979. Information. In: krautrock-musik Zirkus.de. Retrieved November 20, 2014 .
  2. ^ A b Gravestone (Illertissen) - War - 1980. Information. In: krautrock-musik Zirkus.de. Retrieved November 20, 2014 .
  3. ↑ a b Gravestone - War. In: discogs.com. Retrieved November 20, 2014 .
  4. ↑ a b c Gravestone . In: Metal Hammer . October 1984, Bands in MH-Portrait, p. 13 .
  5. ^ A b Metal Mike Blim: Gravestone. "Victim of Chains" . In: Metal Hammer . No. 6/8 (July / August), 1884, p. 58 .
  6. ↑ Gravestone . In: Metal Hammer . June 1985, p. 20 .
  7. ↑ George Roth: Gravestone. With 'Back to Attack' in the German concert halls . In: Metal Hammer . September 1985, p. 24 .
  8. ↑ We come to the Germany News . In: Metal Hammer . January 1986, News, p. 8 .
  9. ↑ a b inried Kuhl: Gravestone . In: Metal Hammer . February 1987, p. 100 .
  10. ↑ Hucky Heppke: Gravestone . In: Crash . April 1987, SPOTS - briefly exposed, p. 67 .
  11. ↑ Ulf Kaldeuer: Christmas-Metal-Attack-Festivals. Hof / Ulm / Essen / Ludwigsburg, December 1985 . In: Metal Hammer . February 1986, Live on Stage, p. 78 f .
  12. ↑ Gravestone . In: Metal Hammer . June 1986, News, p. 9 .
  13. ↑ Now we know why Gravestone has not been heard so much lately . In: Metal Hammer / Crash . December 1987, German Metal News, p. 34 .
  14. ↑ a b Gravestone / 48 Crash . In: Metal Hammer . No. 19-20 / 1990 , September 1990, German Metal News, p. 161 .
  15. ↑ Martin Groß: 48 crash . In: Metal Hammer . January 1991, p. 46 .
  16. ↑ a b Holger Stratmann (Ed.): Rock Hard Enzyklopädie. 700 of the most interesting rock bands from the last 30 years . Rock Hard GmbH, Dortmund 1998, ISBN 3-9805171-0-1 , Gravestone, p. 143 f .
  17. ↑ [1]
  18. ↑ [2]
  19. ↑ [3]
  20. ↑ rls: Gravestone: Creating a Monster. In: crossover-agm.de. Retrieved November 20, 2014 .
  21. ^ Alan Tepper: 2 bands. "2 albums" . Gravestone - "Doomsday". In: Eclipsed . No. 71 , April 2005, News from the Past, pp. 62 .
  22. ^ Jens Schmiedeberg: Gravestone. "Back to Attack" . In: Metal Hammer . (July – August), 1985, pp. 66 .
  23. ↑ adl: Gravestone - Creating a Monster (Re-Release) (CD). In: stormbringer.at. July 7, 2005, accessed November 20, 2014 .
  24. ↑ Andreas Schöwe: 48 crash. Some like it hot . In: Metal Hammer . October 1990, p. 68 .