The international story…

Is it at all possible to present a band's complete history on just a few pages of a CD-booklet? Well, no. To say that would be a disservice to a phenomenon. And in the case of Grobschnitt - one of the most prodigious and unique bands in German music history - trying to describe even just the most significant interludes would leave one equally deprived, as would saying “just listen to the music and look at the pictures”.

To put this band and it’s nearly 20 years of existence into perspective merits an entire book - and surely one of the thicker ones. Remarkably, the first few steps have already been masterminded by one of the bands own members, drummer and band co-founder Eroc. The Grobschnitt Story, a series of CDs released starting in 2002, 13 years after the band had quit the stages, features previously unreleased recordings from his personal archives.

So far the International Grobschnitt Story has been a mere whisper. Although the band had a substantial English lyrics repertoire, Grobschnitt was none-the-less a purely German phenomenon. But while on the one hand they bore some semblance to "typical" Krautrock bands on the other hand they were light years away - outside and ahead of any trends and fashions and most of their fellow colleagues of that era. And despite the fact that the band played only in Germany and on very few occasions in Switzerland and Holland their albums Rockpommel’s Land and Solar Music reached ears far beyond into the rest of the world. Their unique musical style and rumours about an outrageous stage-act generated a cult following that amplified their legend like a German musical holy grail. But the world is a big place and there are potentially hundreds of thousands of music-lovers whose ears have never been graced by a note from a Grobschnitt album, or who've not gotten closer to the story because of the barrier of language. Thus it’s elementary to finally release an official International Grobschnitt Story - at least on CD - at least with recordings of their most important songs - and at least with the attempt to write as much as possible about this group into a booklet. The story goes like this…

The band's first incarnation as The Crew - was formed in 1966 by three friends: Eroc (drums, electronics), Lupo (lead guitar) and Wildschwein (vocals, rhythm guitar) - and soon became a local sensation. A few years later, with the securing of a record contract under the German label Brain, the band re-christened itself to Grobschnitt - a name derived from a picture of roadie Toni Moff Mollo's grandfather's post World War I "Kapelle" (chapel band) by the same name. The three Crew founders formed the nucleus of the band - together with several bass players and keyboardists - and stayed together until 1983, the year in which Eroc departed. The band continued without him through several more personnel changes for another six years. Thus its active lifetime - starting with the Beat and Psychedelic phases of the 60's and ending at the doorstep of the digital age - spans more than two decades.

Grobschnitt's musical direction in the early days covered Blues, Swing, and Soul. Later Rock’n Roll and Prog Rock with classical influences (typified by Krautrock) became it's focus, with excursions into improvisational, meditative trance, even hard rock. To round it all off an unique and highly refined unorthodox stage show - complete with costumes, pyrotechnics and comical antics - complimented the band's live repertoire. Because of their one-big-family-vibe, created by roadies and fans which lived and travelled with the band, Grobschnitt was sometimes considered the Grateful Dead of Germany, although they also resembled Zappa’s Mothers due to their inherently unruly and rebellious nature. More than once they were compared to a silly "kindergarten" who never took anyone or anything too seriously. However as time went on the band carved out a unique identity - writing its own spasmodic chapter in world music history's cosmic chronicals.

Between 1972 and 1983 Grobschnitt released ten albums followed by four more after Eroc's departure, the last of which came in 1990, a few months after the group had disbanded. Eroc - himself acclaimed as a pioneer of the German electronic music scene - released four solo albums during his tenure in the band. Three more solo albums followed before he turned his attention to compiling and releasing The Grobschnitt Story series. His digitally re-mastered collection has since grown into a catalogue of ten double-CDs, each filled to the very last byte with highest fidelity live-recordings. It is from this series that the International Grobschnitt Story has been compiled. (The total collection can be found at www.grobschnittstory.de)

Grobschnitt worked with some of the more influencial people in the music business. One of them was the legendary German engineer and producer Conny Plank. Plank engineered the albums Grobschnitt, Jumbo and Rockpommel’s Land and assisted Eroc in the mixing of Solar Music Live. Plank also had a hand in Eroc’s solo album Changing Skies in 1986. Grobschnitt entered the studios of Dieter Dierks for the album Ballermann in 1973 and worked together with Walter Quintus in Hamburg for Merry-Go-Round and Volle Molle in 1979. Later, Eroc established his own studio facility at the band’s farm in 1980 culminating in the records Illegal and Razzia.

Grobschnitt was never a band who simply came to perform their music on stage. They were a happening: musical theatre, cult-phenomenon and crazy caboodle all rolled into one. The usual habit of pinning down a band into a niche or musical genre doesn't work in the case of Grobschnitt. They were their own genre. Many fans felt that the band never really came across on their studio albums. It was their live act - one big party where fans and band members took part in a sonic visual ritual often lasting more than three consecutive hours - that made Grobschnitt so ground breaking and legendary to their followers. No surprise then that the musicians themselves could never fully agree on any of their LP releases, despite their above average results. Perhaps this was what motivated Eroc to finally release his own CD-series of live recordings a full 20 years later. However a more important reason might be the thousands of fans in Germany who still cherish the good old times and eagerly lap up each "new" release with ears wide open. Now the flame is finally about to spread world-wide…

As a representative voice for many, here’s an excerpt from just one international reviewer - Andy Garibaldi from Dead Earnest in Scotland - about one of the releases of Eroc's Grobschnitt Story:

"...Over two and a half hours of previously unreleased tracks.... builds from the five minute 'Der Western' through nine minutes of fiery 'Nickelodeon' to eleven minutes of 'Magic Train', and all of this just the starter for what's to come, even though you'll hear some powerful and magical instrumental work from the guitars, synths and rhythm section that cook up a most potent brew... the best is saved for last as the band launch into a 1973 live rendition of the undeniably classic epic, 'Solar Music', and here you witness the birth of what was to become one of their - not to mention rock as a whole's - greatest live tracks ever. With a strong introduction that sees the band and vocalist on fire, the track dies down to a more cosmic Krautrock sea of atmosphere as guitars shimmer, the keys provide a deep river of sound below and the bass gently throbs... so potent you'd think you were in the middle of some Led Zeppelin maelstrom only proggier and way more psychedelic... Believe me, you'll play CD 1 for years and years to come - it's 32 years old and sounds absolutely timeless - and it's worth the price for this on its own. Another triumph from the archives and another reason you should own every version of 'Solar Music' (and there are many) that you can lay your hands on..."

A plethora of reviews and comments like this one have since graced the German and also the international press. Thousands of still-hardcore-fans of Grobschnitt, who grew up with the band back in their stage performing days, have proclaimed their delight in this series. It can easily be said that this is one of the broadest ranging and best sounding products by the band ever released. If you compare some of the tracks to live recordings by other German bands of the early 70s - many of which are not even in stereo - you quickly get the picture. But it isn't the sound quality alone that singles these recordings out: the music is the most important factor. If you’ve never heard of Grobschnitt there is no better starting place from which to embark upon a journey of discovery of their musical legacy than the 160 minutes found on this album. When one considers the fact that they used to play shows lasting up to 200 minutes on stage each night, you can only imagine what kind of stories about the band may yet be left untold…

Frank Jacob, April 2006

A brandnew 2-CD compilation from Eroc's Grobschnitt-Story designed for the international market:

Distributed by SPV Records

Release Date: 2006-05-26

www.spv.de

Just contact Eroc himself at: eroc@eroc.de

The International Grobschnitt-Story...

Here the original text of the IGS-booklet:

Is it at all possible to present a band's complete history on just a few pages of a CD-booklet? Well, no. To say that would be a disservice to a phenomenon. And in the case of Grobschnitt - one of the most prodigious and unique bands in German music history - trying to describe even just the most significant interludes would leave one equally deprived, as would saying “just listen to the music and look at the pictures”.

To put this band and it’s nearly 20 years of existence into perspective merits an entire book - and surely one of the thicker ones. Remarkably, the first few steps have already been masterminded by one of the bands own members, drummer and band co-founder Eroc. The Grobschnitt Story, a series of CDs released starting in 2002, 13 years after the band had quit the stages, features previously unreleased recordings from his personal archives. 

So far the International Grobschnitt Story has been a mere whisper. Although the band had a substantial English lyrics repertoire, Grobschnitt was none-the-less a purely German phenomenon. But while on the one hand they bore some semblance to "typical" Krautrock bands on the other hand they were light years away - outside and ahead of any trends and fashions and most of their fellow colleagues of that era. And despite the fact that the band played only in Germany and on very few occasions in Switzerland and Holland their albums Rockpommel’s Land and Solar Music reached ears far beyond into the rest of the world. Their unique musical style and rumours about an outrageous stage-act generated a cult following that amplified their legend like a German musical holy grail. But the world is a big place and there are potentially hundreds of thousands of music-lovers whose ears have never been graced by a note from a Grobschnitt album, or who've not gotten closer to the story because of the barrier of language. Thus it’s elementary to finally release an official International Grobschnitt Story - at least on CD - at least with recordings of their most important songs - and at least with the attempt to write as much as possible about this group into a booklet. The story goes like this…

The band's first incarnation as The Crew - was formed in 1966 by three friends: Eroc (drums, electronics), Lupo (lead guitar) and Wildschwein (vocals, rhythm guitar) - and soon became a local sensation. A few years later, with the securing of a record contract under the German label Brain, the band re-christened itself to Grobschnitt - a name derived from a picture of roadie Toni Moff Mollo's grandfather's post World War I "Kapelle" (chapel band) by the same name. The three Crew founders formed the nucleus of the band - together with several bass players and keyboardists - and stayed together until 1983, the year in which Eroc departed. The band continued without him through several more personnel changes for another six years. Thus its active lifetime - starting with the Beat and Psychedelic phases of the 60's and ending at the doorstep of the digital age - spans more than two decades.

Grobschnitt's musical direction in the early days covered Blues, Swing, and Soul. Later Rock’n Roll and Prog Rock with classical influences (typified by Krautrock) became it's focus, with excursions into improvisational, meditative trance, even hard rock. To round it all off an unique and highly refined unorthodox stage show - complete with costumes, pyrotechnics and comical antics - complimented the band's live repertoire. Because of their one-big-family-vibe, created by roadies and fans which lived and travelled with the band, Grobschnitt was sometimes considered the Grateful Dead of Germany, although they also resembled Zappa’s Mothers due to their inherently unruly and rebellious nature. More than once they were compared to a silly "kindergarten" who never took anyone or anything too seriously. However as time went on the band carved out a unique identity - writing its own spasmodic chapter in world music history's cosmic chronicals.

Between 1972 and 1983 Grobschnitt released ten albums followed by four more after Eroc's departure, the last of which came in 1990, a few months after the group had disbanded. Eroc - himself acclaimed as a pioneer of the German electronic music scene - released four solo albums during his tenure in the band. Three more solo albums followed before he turned his attention to compiling and releasing The Grobschnitt Story series. His digitally re-mastered collection has since grown into a catalogue of ten double-CDs, each filled to the very last byte with highest fidelity live-recordings. It is from this series that the International Grobschnitt Story has been compiled. (The total collection can be found at
 www.grobschnittstory.de )

Grobschnitt worked with some of the more influencial people in the music business. One of them was the legendary German engineer and producer Conny Plank. Plank engineered the albums Grobschnitt, Jumbo and Rockpommel’s Land and assisted Eroc in the mixing of Solar Music Live. Plank also had a hand in Eroc’s solo album Changing Skies in 1986. Grobschnitt entered the studios of Dieter Dierks for the album Ballermann in 1973 and worked together with Walter Quintus in Hamburg for Merry-Go-Round and Volle Molle in 1979. Later, Eroc established his own studio facility at the band’s farm in 1980 culminating in the records Illegal and Razzia.

Grobschnitt was never a band who simply came to perform their music on stage. They were a happening: musical theatre, cult-phenomenon and crazy caboodle all rolled into one. The usual habit of pinning down a band into a niche or musical genre doesn't work in the case of Grobschnitt. They were their own genre. Many fans felt that the band never really came across on their studio albums. It was their live act - one big party where fans and band members took part in a sonic visual ritual often lasting more than three consecutive hours - that made Grobschnitt so ground breaking and legendary to their followers. No surprise then that the musicians themselves could never fully agree on any of their LP releases, despite their above average results. Perhaps this was what motivated Eroc to finally release his own CD-series of live recordings a full 20 years later. However a more important reason might be the thousands of fans in Germany who still cherish the good old times and eagerly lap up each "new" release with ears wide open. Now the flame is finally about to spread world-wide…

As a representative voice for many, here’s an excerpt from just one international reviewer - Andy Garibaldi from Dead Earnest in Scotland - about one of the releases of Eroc's Grobschnitt Story:

GROBSCHNITT:  The Grobschnitt Story 5 (DBLCD)

"...Over two and a half hours of previously unreleased tracks.... builds from the five minute 'Der Western' through nine minutes of fiery 'Nickelodeon' to eleven minutes of 'Magic Train', and all of this just the starter for what's to come, even though you'll hear some powerful and magical instrumental work from the guitars, synths and rhythm section that cook up a most potent brew...  the best is saved for last as the band launch into a 1973 live rendition of the undeniably classic epic, 'Solar Music', and here you witness the birth of what was to become one of their - not to mention rock as a whole's - greatest live tracks ever. With a strong introduction that sees the band and vocalist on fire, the track dies down to a more cosmic Krautrock sea of atmosphere as guitars shimmer, the keys provide a deep river of sound below and the bass gently throbs... so potent you'd think you were in the middle of some Led Zeppelin maelstrom only proggier and way more psychedelic... Believe me, you'll play CD 1 for years and years to come - it's 32 years old and sounds absolutely timeless - and it's worth the price for this on its own. Another triumph from the archives and another reason you should own every version of 'Solar Music' (and there are many) that you can lay your hands on..."

A plethora of reviews and comments like this one have since graced the German and also the international press. Thousands of still-hardcore-fans of Grobschnitt, who grew up with the band back in their stage performing days, have proclaimed their delight in this series. It can easily be said that this is one of the broadest ranging and best sounding products by the band ever released. If you compare some of the tracks to live recordings by other German bands of the early 70s - many of which are not even in stereo - you quickly get the picture. But it isn't the sound quality alone that singles these recordings out: the music is the most important factor. If you’ve never heard of Grobschnitt there is no better starting place from which to embark upon a journey of discovery of their musical legacy than the 160 minutes found on this album. When one considers the fact that they used to play shows lasting up to 200 minutes on stage each night, you can only imagine what kind of stories about the band may yet be left untold…

Frank Jacob, April 2006

A special notice for all english speaking fans worldwide: the booklets of all issues of the original (German) Grobschnitt-Story contain only German text, except GS-Story # 4 ("Illegal Live") which is bilangual. To present the history of this unique band in full scale we are currently working on translations of the booklets, which will be available soon on this website, so that anyone interested in more details can read and print out the material in English.

We'll be back soon with news about this right here...

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