Lucifer's Friend
| Lucifer's Friend | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) |
Hard Rock Progressive Rock Jazz Fusion Heavy Metal |
| founding | 1970–1982 1994 (as Lucifer's Friend II ) 2014 |
| Website |
lucifersfriend.com fan page |
| Founding members | |
| John Lawton | |
| Peter Hesslein | |
| Dieter Horns | |
| Peter Hecht | |
| Joachim Rietenbach † | |
| Current occupation | |
| John Lawton (since 2014) | |
| Peter Hesslein (since 2014) | |
| Dieter Horns (since 2014) | |
| Jogi Wichmann (since 2015) | |
| Stephan Eggert (since 2014) | |
| former members | |
| Joachim Rietenbach † (1968–1974) | |
| Herbert Bornhold (1974–1982) | |
| Mike Starrs (1977-1981) | |
| Adrian Askew (1980-1982) | |
| Curt cress (1994) | |
| Andreas Dicke (1994) | |
| Peter Hecht (1968–1982) | |
| Udo Dahmen (1994) | |
Lucifer's Friend is a German band that combines elements of progressive hard rock and early heavy metal . It was created in 1970 by guitarist Peter Hesslein, bassist Dieter Horns, keyboardist Peter Hecht and drummer Joachim Rietenbach.
Band history
Lucifer's Friend emerged from the group Asterix with Toni Cavanagh , after this left the group, Asterix changed its name to Lucifer's Friend. Lucifer's Friend have been a pure studio band for most of their existence. Only at the beginning of their career and after John Lawton left in 1976 did they give a few concerts.
The debut album was released on Philips, from the second LP their records were released by Vertigo Records , but in the USA they came out on small independent labels and achieved considerable success. In the late 1970s they signed with Elektra Records and recorded three albums of more commercial music, but interest in the band had waned and these records were even less successful than their predecessors.
Lucifer's Friend changed their style for each new album and followed new models. Her first album, recorded in the Maschen recording studio with Joe Menke , was influenced by Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath and appeals to fans of early heavy metal music . The second album, however, was very experimental and progressive and contained psychedelic rock with associative lyrics by John O'Brien-Docker . On their third album, I'm Just a Rock & Roll Singer , they changed styles again and brought swinging, funky rock in the style of Grand Funk Railroad , with reminiscences of Janis Joplin and Chicago . Their next record Banquet was recorded with the winds of the James Last Orchestra and went in the direction of swinging fusion and jazz rock . The following album Mind Exploding again contained straighter hard rock. Singer John Lawton switched to Uriah Heep in 1976 . He came back for the Mean Machine album in 1981.
On the two albums without Lawton, the group's music was very commercial, with strong echoes of Queen on Good Time Warrior from 1978 and disco style on Sneak Me In from 1980. With Lawton's return, the tide turned back to hard rock / heavy metal, this time with echoes of Foreigner and Bad Company . The band separated in 1982. In 1994 Lawton and Hesslein formed Lucifer's Friend II with new musicians and recorded the CD Sumo Grip .
On their later albums, they were joined by keyboardist Adrian Askew, who was previously with Edison Lighthouse , known for her early 1970s hit Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes) .
Others
- In the 1970s, singer John Lawton split his time between Lucifer's Friend and the Les Humphries Singers . Lawton called Les Humphries his employer, Lucifer's Friend his hobby.
- The guitarist Peter Hesslein produced Marius Müller-Westernhagen's first three studio albums.
- Several band members had secure jobs with James Last in the 1970s
- A side project was the band The Pink Mice , who played classical rock in the style of Emerson, Lake and Palmer or Ekseption .
- John Lawton's solo album Hardbeat was another collaboration between Lawton and Peter Hesslein in 1980.
Discography
- 1969: Asterix (as Asterix)
- 1971: Lucifer's Friend
- 1972: Where the Groupies Killed the Blues
- 1973: I'm Just a Rock & Roll Singer
- 1974: Banquet
- 1976: Mind Exploding
- 1978: Good Time Warrior
- 1979: The Devil's Touch
- 1980: Sneak Me In
- 1981: Mean Machine
- 1994: Sumo Grip
- 2015: Awakening
- 2016: Live @ Sweden Rock 2015
- 2016: Too Late To Hate
- 2019: Black Moon