trio (band)
| trio | |
|---|---|
 |
|
 Trio 1982 (from left to right: Kralle Krawinkel , Peter Behrens , Stephan Remmler ) |
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| General information | |
| origin | Grossenkneten , Germany |
| founding | 1979 |
| resolution | 1986 |
| site | www.stephan-remmler.de/ |
| Last cast | |
| Stephan Remmler | |
| Claw Krawinkel († 2014) | |
| Peter Behrens († 2016) | |
The group Trio was a band that became known from 1982. Typical for trio in the early years were the minimalism of their lyrics and the limitation to only two instruments, namely drums and guitar. The group Trio became internationally known with their biggest hit Da Da Da .
band history
prehistory
Stephan Remmler (b. 1946) and Kralle Krawinkel (1947–2014) played beat and rock music in a band called Just Us in the late 1960s . They primarily covered the Rolling Stones and were dubbed "The Stones of the Wesermarsch" by the media. The band's success was limited to northern Germany. After various line-up changes, "Just Us" disbanded in 1969, after which Remmler and Krawinkel continued to be active as solo artists. Krawinkel founded the band Cravinkel , while Remmler released two hit singles under the pseudonym Rex Carter. Peter Behrens (1947–2016) was the drummer for the psychedelic band Silberbart at the time (early 1970s) . However, none of these musical departures were commercially successful.
Remmler and Krawinkel studied together and were civil servant teachers in the 1970s, while Behrens attended the Milan Clown School. Nur Krawinkel continued to play in a band called the " Emsland Hillbillies ". At the end of January 1979, a "Just Us" reunion concert was held with Remmler and Krawinkel, which met with positive reviews. The two decided, together with various musician friends, to take the leap into the music business in a second attempt and resigned their positions as teachers. On July 17, 1979, a company called "Just Us Music Productions GmbH" was founded with the aim of producing successful music. Remmler and Krawinkel were employed by this company as musicians. The sponsors were various musician friends who believed that Remmler and Krawinkel would be able to produce profitable music.
The two rented a detached house in the Oldenburg district of Grossenkneten , Regente, for 600 DM a month , in which they tried out various band projects under the name "Wind" and also lived in a flat-sharing community . The band projects were numerous. At times up to 25 musicians are said to have worked on the project, with some positions in the band being occupied more than once, such as e.g. B. several bass players. The repertoire also included songs that were later performed as a trio with significantly reduced instrumentation ( e.g. Nasty or Energie ). Remmler in particular made use of his contacts with various schools and played the band's work results to the students in order to obtain opinions. During this time, Behrens, who was unemployed at the time, joined the band when Remmler and Krawinkel were looking for drummers through a newspaper ad. Behrens was now almost every day in the house in Grossenkneten and rehearsed alone with Remmler and Krawinkel, since the other musicians usually only rehearsed at weekends.
band formation
Around the beginning of 1980, the financial cover of the band project "Wind" was largely used up; Remmler and Krawinkel were forced to sell most of their stage equipment. In the end they decided to only play music alone with Behrens. Then there was the realization that their music sounded much more interesting without the bass . Remmler, Krawinkel and Behrens worked out a stage show that was planned down to the smallest detail. To underline their focus on the essentials, they simply named themselves after the number of their band members: Trio . On December 20, 1980, they invited their financiers and friends to their first concert in the local "Gasthaus Kempermann". After the concert, Remmler spoke about the band concept.
In early 1981, the band self-produced a 10″ demo mini-LP with three songs, with which they applied to numerous record companies for a record deal and received 23 rejections. At the same time, Trio was touring through northern Germany and, due to its unusual line-up, aroused a bit of media interest. A copy of the 10″ demo mini LP was presented to the manager Louis Spillmann at the Hamburg label Phonogram . The song Sunday you need love monday be alone caught his attention and he attended a Trio concert in East Friesland. In particular, the professional stage show finally convinced him to sign the band. The contract accepted by Trio was for a five-figure sum and ran for three years. Klaus Voormann (intimate of the Beatles and bassist with John Lennon in the early 1970s ) was hired as producer , who at his own urging also acted as mediator between the band and the management.
First album, first performances
first edition
In the summer of 1981, the recordings for Trio's first LP Trio took place in a converted stable in Husum . Klaus Voormann produced the album as well as all later recordings. The production costs were only around 40,000 DM. Since some of the songs were difficult to convert to disc, because their added value was more based on the visual implementation on stage, they were significantly shortened and in some cases completely discarded. The album was released on October 20, 1981 and only showed the name "Trio" on the white cover , filling the format, and the full home address (which is actually written Regenter Str. instead of Regenter Str.) of the band in Grossenkneten and their home phone number. On the back, Remmler handwritten the order of the titles. More information about the music or the band could not be found on the cover. The authors Remmler and Krawinkel and Voormann as the producer were only named on the record sticker. Behrens, who was not involved in composing any of the songs on the album, was not even mentioned by name on the record.
refusal of major performances
With Trio refusing to play in bigger cities and bigger clubs, the group's manager, Louis Spillmann, sent the three of them on a tour of Germany's record stores to promote the band's first album locally. In the afternoons the trio played in the store, in the evenings in clubs.
Da da da
During this tour, a journalist gave Stephan Remmler a toy keyboard from Casio , on which he composed a song called Da da da ich lieb dich nicht du liebst mich nicht aha aha aha . This new song was well received in the set list of the concerts and by the audience. Klaus Voormann therefore decided to produce this song as a single .
The recordings for Da da da took place in early 1982 in the Zurich studio of friends from the band Yello . For the first time, Klaus Voormann himself played along – and a very subtle e-bass. Annette Humpe from the band Ideal , who was also friends with her , later sang along in the chorus in the Berlin audio studio and took over the whispered speaking position "I don't love you, you don't love me". Da da da was released in February 1982 as a single and maxi-single. Shortly after the release, Trio played a 75-minute show as part of the Rockpalast , which was broadcast on television nationwide. Da da da 's success came when the song was featured on the then-popular show Bananas . The success was further promoted by a band portrait in the cultural program retained .
At the beginning of May 1982, the trio appeared in the ZDF hit parade with Da da da . It was the first appearance in this hit show, which was attributed to the Neue Deutsche Welle. The single Da da da reached number two in the German single charts and sold around three million copies in Europe. On the debut album, the song was added later, whereupon Trio reached third place in the German album charts.
Other bigger stages
At the end of May/beginning of June 1982, the trio moved the concerts from small clubs to larger stages and played at various festivals, such as on May 30, 1982 at the Loreley open -air stage , whereby the show was significantly shortened and concentrated on the music, since many of the Show elements are not suitable for larger stages.
Trio gave a special concert in May in the Stadthalle Rottweil . A young law student had already booked the band in December 1981 for a fee of 2,500 DM. Despite the fact that the band now demanded ten times the fee due to their popularity, the student insisted on the fulfillment of the contract - in the end the trio played for the small fee. The student financed a three-month vacation in the USA from his ticket income.
Trio gave their last concert in Germany on June 6, 1982 in the Rhein-Neckar-Halle in Eppelheim .
National and international success
- International single covers
France
Italy
Trio attracted interest in the UK with their hit song Da da da , and the group were invited to appear on the worldwide show Top of the Pops , performing an English version of the song. This appearance led to an almost worldwide interest in the trio being aroused. Remmler, Krawinkel and Behrens subsequently recorded the song Da da da as an English version, which was published in about 30 countries. They had the greatest success with this version in Canada , where the single reached double platinum status. Although the single was also released in Japan and the USA , it was not a success there. The single Da da da sold about 13 million copies worldwide. The album Trio was released in 20 countries. In the course of their international success, the trio gave several concerts in other European countries, including the open-air arena in Verona ( Italy ).
Another single followed in October 1982 entitled Anna - Lassmichrein Lassmichrau (internationally as Anna - Letmein Letmeout ), which was released concurrently with the live album Trio live in the spring of '82 . This was only released as a music cassette (only in 1992 as a reprint on CD ) and was advertised with the slogan "The first record that only exists on cassette".
Around this time, Krawinkel began to build up a second musical mainstay alongside the trio. He joined Marius Müller-Westernhagen 's band and produced the album Das Herz eines Boxers with him.
Although Trio no longer gave concerts, they were seen on many television programs. In December 1982, the band performed as part of the ARD Classic Rock Night . In this program, Remmler, Krawinkel and Behrens presented new songs for the first time ( Immer immer mal and Tooralooralooraloo – Is It Old & Is It New ) and were accompanied by an orchestra and a choir . Da da da trio played in a special version that was linked to the duck dance .
In early 1983, the trio withdrew from the public eye and began working on a new album. The single Bum Bum was released as the first work result in May 1983. This single also appeared in an English version (Boom Boom) , which became successful in the USA. The cover of the record featured the deep cleavage of Hamburg prostitute Domenica Niehoff , with the words "BUM BUM" written in lipstick on her breasts. Niehoff also played the female lead in the music video produced for the song.
In the summer of 1983, the trio left the common house in Grossenkneten for a few months and moved into a new domicile in Switzerland in order to be able to work on the new album in peace, as the fan and media hype in Grossenkneten no longer allowed concentrated work. In the production of the second album, Trio moved away from the minimal concept of the first album. Producer Klaus Voormann played bass on almost all of the new songs. The Christmas song Turaluraluralu - I'm doing BuBu what are you doing was arranged with women's choir and orchestra. Trio exclusively recorded a song by Yoko Ono , who Klaus Voormann was friends with due to his close relationship with the Beatles. This song (Wake Up) appeared as a contribution to a compilation of Ono compositions that was later released only in the US. A large part of the recordings took place in the studio of the band Can in Weilerswist . Can's Holger Czukay and Jaki Liebezeit took part themselves in the production of the instrumental W.W.W. which was previously released exclusively on a benefit disc for Greenpeace under the name Wir wolln Watt . A special feature is the production of Turaluraluralu - I'm doing BuBu what are you doing , whose singing Stephan Remmler recorded on Christmas Eve 1982 in the Paramount Pictures studios in Hollywood . Remmler later explained that he wanted to intensify the Christmas spirit of the song, since Bing Crosby had recorded his legendary Christmas song White Christmas in the same studio .
The second album called Trio Bye Bye . As with the first album, the cover was plain white. The front and back were each divided into eight empty fields with a note that commercial advertisements could be published there. An advertisement cost DM 10,000 per circulation and field . The first edition contained only one advertisement from the company Uvex . The second edition contained no ads at all due to legal complications. From the third edition the cover was filled more and more with advertisements. A total of five editions were made; in the last all 16 advertising fields were occupied. Trio donated the money raised to Greenpeace, which was also provided with an advertising field free of charge. Bye Bye peaked at number nine on the album charts. The singles Herz ist Trumpf (Then call you ...) and Turaluraluralu - Ich mach BuBu was mache du , which were released from the album, achieved even higher places in the German single charts, while Tutti Frutti , which was released in early 1984, only found itself in the lower positions who could place charts.
Bye Bye was also released abroad, but here it contained English-language versions of almost all the songs. The album was dubbed Trio and Error in the US and Canada and was well received by critics there . The trio then gave a few concerts in the USA and Canada at the end of 1983, including in the legendary “Ritz” club in New York . The New York Times reported:
“Trio's show at the Ritz emphasized the group's humor. A female dummy substituted for a backup singer, and several numbers featured toy instruments. The mixture of high technology, cheap instruments, subversive humor and genuine rock energy made for one of the year's more amusing Dadaist rock events."
“Trio's show at the Ritz emphasized the humor of the group. A doll replaces the backing singer, and toy instruments are used on several numbers. The mixture of sophisticated technology, simple instruments, enigmatic humor and unadulterated rock power made this performance one of the most amusing Dadaist rock events of the year.”
Overall, these concerts in America were the last of the trio. An offer to tour the United States with Joe Jackson was rejected by a majority (Remmler and Behrens).
Break
In 1984, Remmler and Behrens moved out of the house they shared in Grossenkneten. Remmler settled in Bavaria and Peter Behrens moved to Baden-Baden . Krawinkel remained as the only occupant of the house. Musically, the three wanted to go their separate ways for a year. Only in early 1985 was Trio seen and heard together in the band's song Nackt im Wind für Afrika .
Remmler released a single called Feuerwerk together with the girl Angela Smecca under the name "Stephan & Nina" . Directed by John Williams , he narrated the classic fairy tale Peter and the Wolf and dubbed a computer in the American feature film Electric Dreams . He also offered himself as a composer and producer for other artists, e.g. he was under discussion as a producer for the second Die-Ärzte album Im Schatten der Ärzte . However, the band took no pleasure in Remmler's compositions. In the end, no collaboration came about.
Krawinkel continued to work with Marius Müller-Westernhagen , released the album Die Sonne so rot with him and went on tour with him.
Behrens acted in two feature films ( 1000 eyes and André creates them all ). He spent four months in prison in 1984 and 1985 for a traffic offense that occurred a long time ago – he repeatedly drove drunk and without a license – but in an open prison . During this time he trained as a photographer .
1984 also saw the release of the Canadian student film Mother's Milk, Freud's Flesh , set to music exclusively by Trio.
Feature film and last album
After Trio reunited in late 1984, the band decided to start work on a feature film and a new album at the same time. The film Drei gegen Drei was shot in Berlin in the spring and summer of 1985, directed by Dominik Graf and produced by Bernd Eichinger . Parallel to the film work, the trio produced its third studio album. Musically, Whats the Password no longer had anything in common with the original minimal concept of the band, electronic instruments now dominated the sound. The recordings were again made in Can studios, among others, but also in London , Berlin and Munich . Due to his prison stay, Behrens was not involved in the production. He was replaced by German drummer Curt Cress .
At the end of September 1985, the premiere of the feature film Drei gegen Drei took place, and the album Whats The Password was released at the same time . After a year's break, the trio was back on German television for the first time with an appearance on " Wetten, dass...?" ' to see. The film and album received poor reviews and fell far short of commercial expectations. Three singles ( Drei gegen Drei , Ready for You and My Sweet Angel ) were released from the album at the end of 1985 and beginning of 1986 , which, like the album, could not place themselves in the charts. Trio completed a few television appearances until the spring of 1986; Remmler, Krawinkel and Behrens had the last time together on March 19, 1986 in the program Dingsda .
tape resolution
After the commercial flop of the album and feature film, the trio disbanded. The reasons for the split are unclear. Remmler later explained that they actually wanted to meet again after six months to exchange new ideas. He was disappointed that Krawinkel and Behrens did not contribute anything towards a future together as a trio and decided to continue his career as a solo artist. He released some of his compositions, intended for a fourth trio album, on his first solo album in late 1986 . Furthermore, Remmler later gave the reason that the musical possibilities in this formation had been exhausted.
After the split, an unsuccessful best-of compilation by Trio was released in 1986 under the title 5 Years Too Much . After that, the band went quiet for many years. In the wake of the techno movement in the 1990s, remixes of the hit Da da da were repeatedly released, including by Jason Nevins . In 1997, a commercial by the car manufacturer Volkswagen appeared in the USA , which was accompanied by an English version of Da da da . The song then became popular in the US, and a reissue of the album Trio and Error was released under the name Da Da Da , which charted on the US Billboard charts.
Failed comeback
Around the year 2000, the trio tried to make music together again. The exact background is unclear, but three to five new titles were produced, including a re-recording of Herz ist Trumpf . Remmler later explained vaguely why the comeback didn't succeed, saying: "It would have been good if it had been good." The attempt at reunification went back to an initiative by Remmler's longtime manager George Glueck . The record company Universal Music had promised Trio an advance of around half a million euros. According to later reports from Behrens, the reunification attempt failed due to the different musical ideas of Remmler and Krawinkel.
solo careers
After the separation from the trio, only Stephan Remmler managed to establish himself as a solo artist. From 1986 to 1996 he released a total of six solo albums, the first two of which were able to place themselves in the German album charts. After a ten-year break, he released a seventh solo album in 2006, which included some original compositions as well as new interpretations of old trio songs. Remmler now lives in seclusion with his wife on the Canary Island of Lanzarote and occasionally in Basel . The couple have three sons. Remmler 's eldest son Cecil Remmler is part of the producer team of the musician Sido . Cecil Remmler is also married to the American singer Sarah Jane Scott , for whom Stephan Remmler has composed and produced two albums to date.
Kralle Krawinkel lived in the house in Grossenkneten until 1989 and then moved to Berlin. In 1993 he released an unsuccessful solo album as well as two singles including a duet with Nena . Most recently, Krawinkel lived mostly in Spain , in the province of Seville . He died in Cuxhaven on February 16, 2014 . On the fifth anniversary of his death, the album "@The Hoodoos" was posthumously released in early 2019 in a small edition, which contains previously unreleased demo songs by Kralle.
Peter Behrens released a few solo singles up until the early 1990s, none of which were successful. He suffered from a long alcohol and drug addiction and was repeatedly unemployed. His financial descent was consistently discussed in the tabloid press, so that he became a prime example of the run-down star. In 2013 he and his co-author Klaus Marschall published his autobiography The Clown with the Drum, which won the German Biography Prize in 2014 . In August 2014, Behrens presented together with the producer and singer Eckhard "Ecki" Schrader under the project name "Behrens feat. Ecki S.” the single I Am The Nowhere Man . Behrens died on May 11, 2016 in Wilhelmshaven , his last place of residence .
concept
"I don't set out to screw stuff like Frank Zappa . We just reduce and omit everything superfluous, which is usually used for upgrading in rock biz.”
instrumentation
Trio's original concept was that the band essentially only used two instruments ( drums and electric guitar ), which in turn were reduced to the most necessary components. The drum kit played live by Peter Behrens while standing consisted of just a bass drum , snare , hi-hat and a ride cymbal . Guitarist Kralle Krawinkel (called "Kralle") removed two of the three pickups from his Fender Stratocaster guitar because he considered them unnecessary and consequently only had one single guitar sound available. Singer Stephan Remmler occasionally used a megaphone and a throat microphone in addition to a microphone when singing . Remmler also played a few songs on toy instruments . Remmler often avoided a wide pitch range when singing, and spoke the lyrics ( talking song ) rather than singing them.
The minimal concept was also implemented in terms of production technology. In particular, bass components were removed from Stephan Remmler's vocals, resulting in a more nasal sound pattern. Hall or echo effects have also been completely dispensed with.
composition
Almost without exception, the music was composed by Krawinkel and Remmler, and almost all of the lyrics were written by Remmler. Peter Behrens was involved in only two compositions. Trio played very few cover versions. In terms of playing time and form, all of the band's songs are common rock songs , which are mostly based on a sequence of verse and chorus, with some songs even having no chorus (e.g. Kummer , Nasty or Sabine Sabine Sabine ).
Trio became known for its sparse texts, which can be heard in particular in the songs that were also released on singles . The text of Anna - Let me in let me out is exhausted by naming the five first names Anna, Berta, Carla, Dieter, Peter and the line "Let me in, let me out". Other songs, however, had longer lyrics. The texts were written in both German and English .
In terms of content, most of the texts deal with failed love relationships. In the song Sabine Sabine Sabine there is no lyrical text and instead a fake telephone conversation with a former girlfriend is performed, whereby only the voice of the man at one end of the line can be heard. The band's last album also dealt with social issues, mostly ironically or sarcastically (e.g. AIDS - Die Zeit der Liebe ist über or Krach bum bang zack armor ).
arrangement
In terms of composition, instrumentation and arrangement, Trio's songs are based on a minimalism that was typical of punk , new wave and - based on it - many bands of the Neue Deutsche Welle . In many pieces, the trio radicalize this approach to the point of parody , which they also expressed in their habitus (e.g. by Behrens eating an apple while playing the drums). Characteristic of Behrens' playing were binary structured, ie non - swinging beats in 2/4 time or 4/4 time, as they are common in march music , but also in fast styles of punk . Almost always only the heavy beats are emphasized, Behrens also dispensed with fills and other embellishments, for example runs over tom-toms , which his drum kit lacks from the outset. In contrast to other bands of the Neue Deutsche Welle, this attitude is not committed to brilliant dilettantism , which is shown by the fact that Behrens' drumming is precise and sometimes very technically demanding. Krawinkel limited himself almost exclusively to playing rhythm guitar with a distorted sound. Due to the restriction to these stylistic devices, the quotations from other musical genres had to be particularly conspicuous or also parodic. The following examples explain this:
- Punk (Ja ja ja) : A guitar plays staccato chords to a very fast 2/4 beatwhile Remmler sings aggressive lyrics ("Always just drunk to endure it all / And now stones are finally flying / and you're still asking, why?") and in between imitates the sound of a gunshot with his voice onomatopoeic ("Come on, let's go shoot first / Flash Gordon / Ra-ta-ta-ta, ta-ta-ta, bu bu bu bu ")
- Ballade (Kummer) : Peter Behrens plays a slow 4/4 time, to which Krawinkel plays mostly single notes on the guitar , alternating between root and octave. Remmler varies the line of text "Sorrow, oh sorrow / I have sorrow / My heart is no longer there / Is no longer there". In addition, church bells ring. At the end Remmler plays atonal on a toy guitar.
- Calypso (Energy) : In this song, instead of the drums, the rhythm section of an electronic organ provides the beat while the guitar plays offbeat . In order to conjure up a Caribbean atmosphere, the sound of waves can be heard at the beginning of the song, and Remmler recites a text that exaggerates the atmosphere in a clichéd manner: "Brown boys wash up [sic] on the beach on homemade folkloric instruments [...]." Although "energy" is a calypso, Remmler always announced the song on stage as reggae .
- Rock 'n' Roll (I love rock 'n' roll) : Peter Behrens exclusively hits the snare drum in the offbeat . In addition, Krawinkel plays several rock 'n' roll guitar riffs .
- Schlager (Da da da) : A bored, partly English spoken chant is accompanied by the rhythm section of the Casio VL-1 toy keyboard, the prominent feature of which is a beep instead of a snare sample. In the refrain ("I don't love you / You don't love me / Aha"), the arrangement is expanded to include a background choir, a keyboard motif and three guitar chords . Castanets are alsoused to parody the folkloric elements often found in pop songs.
consequences of the concept
Citing different styles of music made Trio's music difficult to categorize. Since the band became popular in the course of the Neue Deutsche Welle , Trio was also assigned to this style. Trio himself rejected this and described the style as "New German Cheerfulness". At the same time, it was pointed out that Trio's music was developed at a time when the term Neue Deutsche Welle had not yet been coined and the majority of the repertoire was not even performed in German.
Nevertheless, the music was often interpreted as slapstick, which was also due to the performances. In 1982, for example, the magazine “ Bravo ” asked in a survey who was Germany’s biggest “idiot idiot”. The choices were Otto Waalkes , Mike Krüger and Trio.
On Trio's second album Bye Bye (1983), the band remained largely true to the minimalist concept, even if the instrumentation was expanded, in particular by electric bass . On the band's last studio album ( Whats the Password , 1985) Trio turned completely away from the minimal concept.
appearance
Remmler, Krawinkel and Behrens largely wore the same clothes at concerts and television appearances, which increased their recognition value . Peter Behrens wore a white T-shirt and white trousers to which he had attached red suspenders with safety pins. He wore red shoes and had his black hair styled into a single curl. Krawinkel was mostly dressed in jeans and wore a wool cap, later a peaked cap. The shaved-head Remmler usually wore a black jacket or a trench coat that was much too wide , which according to his own statements came from his father.
By his own admission, Peter Behrens developed this clothing and the distribution of roles in public appearances. As he explained, he was inspired by the commedia dell'arte and was referring to his training as a clown. It wasn't until 1985 that Trio ended this dress code. So Remmler appeared with long hair at the last trio performances in the spring of 1986.
The positioning on stage also differed from other bands. While usually the drums are in the back of the stage, the backing musicians left and right and the singer in the middle, Trio changed these positions. All the musicians stood equally in a row at the front of the stage – Behrens on the left, Krawinkel in the middle and Remmler on the right.
number games
Aside from having three band members, Trio also operated an extensive cult around the number three . Many songs only had three repetitive words ( Da da da , Ja ja ja , WWW Girl Girl Girl , ...) or referred directly to the three ( Drei Mann im Doppelbett , Drei gegen Drei ). Their songs were not counted with "one, two, three, four" as is usual with 4/4 time, but with One, two, three . They released three studio albums. The three also played a role in their respective age statements: "We have all three been 33 years old for three years and will remain so for the next three years".
trio live
In addition to the actual music, the trio presented a whole series of bizarre jokes on stage, which gave the concerts a show character. Although this and the sayings gave the impression of spontaneity, they were rehearsed. Peter Behrens always operated his drums with a motionless expression. Kralle Krawinkel blindly played the long guitar solo in the song Broken Hearts for You and Me by pulling a wool hat over his face. Since Remmler and Behrens didn't have anything to do during a guitar solo, they played table tennis on stage during it. An integral part of every performance was Remmler's explanation of how the band name Trio came about: Remmler reported on a joint visit to the "Candy Bar" (actually a brothel ) that was located near her house. There, a barmaid wondered about the band's name, since it didn't say anything, to which the band replied that the name "Trio" said that there were three of them.
The show elements were varied by Trio depending on the venue. At concerts in front of a large audience, the trio did without many show elements, as these were more suitable for smaller stages. The band's minimal concept was also continued on stage: the music was not optically enhanced. For example, the stage was illuminated with white light from just two spotlights.
Trio on TV
Overall, Trio made the TV appearances more pleasing than on stage. A recurring element was Peter Behrens playing his drums with just one hand while eating an apple with the other and playing his bass drum directly with his foot instead of a foot pedal. Trio usually played to a playback on television . For example, during an appearance on Swiss television, Remmler was able to chew gum instead of singing, while Behrens waved a small Swiss national flag instead of playing the drums to the playback.
Trio's television appearances in particular were the reason for their great popularity in Germany. Although the band saw itself as a rock band, the three performed in hit shows. Trio did not pursue the goal of provoking in television programs, but understood their songs as entertainment music, which is only performed in an unusual way, but fits into pop shows. At the same time, Trio also appealed to a larger audience - combined with corresponding commercial expectations.
influences
Trio emphasized that their roots lie in rock 'n' roll of the 1950s and 1960s. However, the three musicians stated that they had no common musical role models. When the band was asked about their influences in a meeting at the record company Phonogram , Krawinkel named the British rock band Status Quo , Remmler the pop singer Peter Alexander and Behrens the clown Grock . In retrospect, the music has always been associated with Dadaism and punk .
The author Tim Hofmann from the daily newspaper Freie Presse sees the unexpected success of the song Da Da Da as a source of inspiration for other musicians:
“Weird troops, who brutally collided with the conventional understanding of Schlager, occupied television, radio and mass consciousness. 'Da da da' quenched a thirst: it was new, self-confident, different, combined the do-it-yourself attitude of punk with a radical departure from the conventional content of pop culture - even from that of rock. […]
The trio's impulse opened fundamental floodgates in pop music. This only happens once a decade at most.”
Trio's direct musical influences on other musicians are small. In an interview (2001), Remmler jokingly stated that he could demand royalties from anyone who raps "Aha" once, alluding to the fact that Trio had supposedly made the symptom interjection "Aha" popular with the hit song Da da da . Although there are bands that play music like trio with a drastically reduced instrumentation (e.g. The White Stripes ), none of these groups pursued the musical concept of trio. Instead, several bands have been formed in Germany that only play trio songs (e.g. "Die Reise von Holzminden nach Oldenburg", "Abfund", "Los Paul" or "Drei Mann imdoppelt").
Since the release of the single Da da da , numerous musicians around the world have played this song and sometimes translated it into other languages. A small part of these cover versions was also successful in sales. In Germany, Frank Zander (1982) and Herbert Grönemeyer (2000) were successful with their interpretations. In the UK, the group Elastica released an English version, which sold well, and in Thailand child star Anan Anwar sang a successful version in Thai in 2000 .
In 2004 a small record label from Kiel released a CD entitled Krach Bum Bäng Zack Döner , on which bands performed trio songs.
A marketing campaign developed by the advertising agency Jung von Matt for the energy supply company RWE was launched in autumn 2008 . The focus of animation spots were three characters representing trio. Because the advertised electricity tariff also included nuclear energy , the campaign was controversial and satirized.
discography
studio albums
| year | Title music label |
Top placement, total weeks/months, awardchart positionschart positions (Year, Title, Music Label , Rankings, Weeks/Months, Awards, Notes) |
Remarks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 EN
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 AT
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 CH
|
 UK
|
 U.S
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| 1981 |
Trio Mercury Records |
EN3 (25 weeks) EN |
AT16 (½ month) AT |
— | — | — |
First published: October 27, 1981
|
| 1983 |
Bye Bye DE Trio and Error EN Mercury Records |
EN9 (25 weeks) EN |
AT20 (½ month) AT |
CH15 (10 weeks) CH |
— | — |
First published: August 30, 1983
|
| 1985 |
Whats the Password Mercury Records |
— | — | — | — | — |
First published: September 17, 1985
|
gray hatched : no chart data from this year available
Movie
- Da Da Da - The Story of a Hit. (Alternative title: Da Da Da - Three men in a double bed. ) Documentary film, Austria, Germany, France, 2009, 60 min., Written and directed by: Hannes Rossacher , Production: arte , C-Major-Entertainment, MCC, First broadcast: 20. August 2009 at arte, synopsis of arte.
literature
- Christian Graf: The NDW encyclopedia: the new German wave - bands and soloists from A to Z. 1st edition. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-89602-529-5 .
- Didi Zill: New German Wave (photo book) . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-89602-405-1 .
- Thorsten Schmidt: New German wave . Rollercoaster Publishing, 2001, ISBN 3-89719-406-6 .
- Jürgen Teipel : Waste your youth . A docu-novel about German punk and new wave . Suhrkamp , Frankfurt am Main 2001, ISBN 3-518-39771-0 .
- Mathias OC Döpfner and Thomas Garms: New German Wave - Art or Fashion? Ullstein paperback publisher, Frankfurt am Main / Berlin / Vienna 1984, ISBN 3-548-36505-1 .
- Günter Ehnert, Detlef Kinsler: Rock in Germany. Lexicon of German rock groups and performers. 3rd Edition. Taurus Press, Hamburg 1984, ISBN 3-922542-16-6 .
- Peter Behrens, Klaus Marschall: Peter Behrens: The Clown with the Drum - My Years with TRIO. Schwarzkopf + Schwarzkopf, 2013, ISBN 978-3-86265-282-2 .
web links
- Official trio site
- Trio at Discogs
- Trio at laut.de
- Works by and about Trio in the German National Library catalogue
- Danny Kringiel: Celebrated, drunk, enjoyed the luxury . In: one day . January 18, 2011.
- Timo Ebbers: The Clown, the Strategists and Their Fame . In: Northwest newspaper . August 14, 2014.
itemizations
- ↑ The Nordenham Rock and Folk Lexicon
- ↑ Website of the University of Oldenburg ( Memento from February 20, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Commercial register file HRA 25003 at the District Court of Charlottenburg, Berlin
- ↑ Sheet music of the group " Wind " in the archive of the German Music Archive
- ↑ Official website ( Memento of February 7, 2008 at the Internet Archive )
- ^ a b Günter Ehnert: Rock in Germany. Lexicon of German rock groups and performers. ISBN 3-922542-16-6 .
- ↑ Ralph Otto: SPEX - music at the moment . No. 1/82 . Wilfried Rütten, Cologne 1982, p. 16 .
- ↑ Documentary Da Da Da - The Story of a Hit . ( Memento of March 27, 2013 at Internet Archive ) arte , August 20, 2009.
- ^ Article about "Da da da" as part of the RBB production "Popsplits" (2008) ( memento from April 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ a b c d e f g Der Spiegel , No. 29/1982, pp. 150/151.
- ↑ a b portrait at Laut.de
- ↑ Ulrich Schellenberg: A worthwhile pop concert. In: The daily mirror online. September 21, 2009, retrieved October 12, 2021 .
- ↑ Canada Gold/Platinum Database
- ↑ Music Scene, No. 11, November 1983, p. 17.
- ↑ Liner notes for the Remmler album 10 years at the pole
- ↑ Interview with Kralle Krawinkel in the trio portrait "Da Da Da Drei Mann imdoppelt", arte 2009.
- ↑ a b Interview with Behrens in Sticks - Magazine for drums & percussion, issue 12/2007, p. 38 ff.
- ↑ drums & percussion , 4/86.
- ↑ Max Dax : "I can afford the music." In: World on Sunday . April 2, 2006, interview with Remmler.
- ↑ stephan-remmler.de ( memento from December 6, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Claw - @ The Hoodoos. Retrieved June 12, 2019 .
- ↑ The Star , Issue 37, 1995.
- ↑ Peter Behrens: The clown with the drum. My years with the trio – but not only . With Klaus Marshall. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf , Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-86265-282-2 .
- ↑ Robin Patzwaldt: Reading with music: Homage to the trio drummer Peter Behrens in Bochum. In: RuhrBaron.de. September 6, 2018, retrieved October 12, 2021 .
- ↑ Timo Ebbers: Ex-trio drummer releases new single. In: Northwest newspaper . 21 August 2014 (accessed 21 August 2014).
- ↑ NDW-Kultband Trio – Drummer Peter Behrens ist tot ( Memento of May 12, 2016 at the Internet Archive ), retrieved May 12, 2016.
- ↑ Research on http://www.gema.de/
- ↑ Musikexpress / Sounds, No. 4, April 1983, p. 30 ff.
- ↑ Mathias OC Döpfner and Thomas Garms: New German Wave - Art or Fashion? ISBN 3-548-36505-1 .
- ↑ Interview with media theorist Peter Weibel during a documentary about Trio ( Memento of March 27, 2013 at Internet Archive ) for arte , broadcast August 20, 2009.
- ↑ Stern, issue no. 37/1995, p. 202.
- ↑ Music Scene , No. 5, 1982, p. 10 ff.
- ↑ Musikexpress / Sounds, No. 4, April 1983, p. 30 ff.
- ↑ Galore , 2006, No. 18, p. 15 ff.
- ↑ http://www.freiepresse.de/NACHRICHTEN/KULTUR/Vor-30-Jahren-veroeffentlichte-die-Band-Trio-ihre-Single-Da-Da-Da-artikel7919432.php (link not available)
- ↑ Spex , No. 5, 2001.
- ↑ List of covers on the Trio website ( Memento from 6 April 2014 at the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Information on the tribute CD on Stephan Remmler's homepage ( Memento from July 10, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Advertisers vs. Environmentalists . In: the daily newspaper . April 3, 2009.
