Stay Insane with Garage Punkrock from Germany
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2010
Surrounded By Ghosts was released in Portugal in March
2010 followed by a 10-day tour through Portugal which the band played with
Pidi from Switzerland on drums. In May the Stereo Satanics decided to called it quits.
All of a sudden ... at the edge of harvesting the fruits for long time battling.
Their mission was to fail and this should become the last essential failure
... and as every failure in the Satanics' existence, it just felt right. Feeling artistically captured by self-made rules built on anti-rules, sittin' in a vessel enclosed by pack-ice, end-of-the-road signs flashing constantly, this
was the only possible path to follow.
The last show
ever took place at 29th
May 2010 in their hometown Balingen in southern Germany. To say Thanks to
their fans they provided a last 3-track-CD with not released songs. And
that was it.
2009
After few gigs in Germany to support the new record, the bandmembers concentrated
on their other projects which led to new records from the Suicide Souvenirs
and the Cha Cha Guerillas. In the meantime Surrounded By Ghosts got released
in more countries.
2008
New Satanic Army concept got fired off at 1. January 2008. The fans could
participate, discuss with the band and download bits of early song-versions,
live-songs and later videos showing the band in the recording-studio and
later fully developed songs for the upcoming album, which got released on
14th November on Fading Ways Records (led by Neil Leyton, socialist music
networker, musician and songwriter himself) and distributed in several european
countries, the USA and Canada.
Title: "Surrounded By Ghosts".
2007
Some gigging in the early year, then recording the second album called "Whole
Lotta Nothin'" which came out at 25th May 2007. Boris Retzlaff, local
comedian and member of filming group Geile Schnidde, particpated on the
tour and the first day in the studio which concluded in the one-hour-long
film "The Satanic Diaries" which was filmed to add it as a DVD,
including parts of a Satanics show in Hamburg, to the Satanic Army package
for Phase II.
26th and 27th of May saw a two-nights-release-party in our hometown Balingen
which turned out to be a success we didn't expected. Both nights sold out
quickly and the we layed down some of our best ever sets.
2006
After one of his regular passionate nights, ending with a bottle broken
over his head, Fabs subsequent Tinnitus forced him to quit Rock'n'Roll.
New bassplayer is Black Jetlag Matze, formerly known as Drummer of the Wendy
Bones.
New satanics-related side-projects: Suicide Souvenirs (Dan, Matze on Drums,
Lutz of the Mokicks on bass), Fender 55s (J. Wilde on guitar and vocals).
Because of the integration of a new bandmember with a following bunch of
gigs, plans for new records had to be rescheduled for early 2007.
August brought two special Wendy Bones reunion shows in London. As Jens
couldn't free himself out of the arms of his boss, Ralph on Fyre took over
on bass. In September Satanics paused to give time for side-project gigs.
Cha Cha Guerillas also did three gigs, now reformed as a duo. By October
Satanics filed together again. Mini-Tour in November with the High Heel
Horn Dogs. Then writing of some new songs for an upcoming album.
2005
Lotsa presswork. Lotsa gigs.
2004
Locked in the dark, humid and cold vault they call their
practise room, new songs broke out en masse as the four-piece again started
to rehearse and combine their creativity. The band also started to book
gigs on their own and finally in September 2004 recorded 12 new songs for
the first full-length album, that came to release on 20th December 2004
on Out-o-Space Records. The title of the album is "Pirate Love".
Launch of the Satanic Army which is kind of a fan group, kind of a financial
supporter project to be able to press CDs AND vinyl. The participants got
a package with an additional CD, containing 7 songs, all of them recorded
by Fab at the Satanics rehearsal room, including early versions of some
Pirate Love songs and some covers.
2003
Satanics caught new fire. Fab was back as a regular and the audiences finally
began to dig the Stereo Satanics and their music.
A CD-R, with all songs the band had recorded until then, was produced to
satisfy the needs of a new and younger audience that couldn't understand
the bands inclination for vinyl. This CD should also symbolize passed and
unstable times and a new beginning with more spirit and strength than before.
Which doesn't mean they quited playing their old songs. The band just skipped
one or two songs in their whole history and infuriated with the new power
hailed the early classics on top of the same lungs as the newest, back to
the first song they ever wrote: Stay Insane!
2000
In this lineup the band recorded 5 more songs and released two 7"s
on Out-o-Space Records, one a split with their pals "The
Hicktown Heroes". As Basti never really integrated in the band
and finally stopped to appear, Fab helped out for a few gigs but anyway
the band was on the downward spiral. Ralph was more interested in his new
band the "Cha
Cha Guerillas", Dan and J. formed the "Demolition Spitfires"
out of the ashes of the Wendy Bones. The band never ceased to exist but
doesn't wrote any new song until 2003.
1999
As Fab was unsatisfied with his minor part on bass and caught muscular problems
after practising 24 hours a day, the first difficulties arose. He joined
his third band, the "Plane Austers", as a paid guitar-player and
from then on couldn't manage neither his timetable nor his uncontrollable
temper and was therefore replaced by Basti van de Meijgloeckljes.
1998
Dan Shandog and Ralph on Fyre, both already busy in their own bands "Wendy
Bones" and "Supersonic
X", knew from the beginning that their musical interests were pretty
much the same. Who else in their rural hometown Balingen in southern Germany
was that much interested in all kinds of Rock'n'Roll-Music, especially the
raw cuts during the 60s and the 70s. Combined with their distinct interest
in early Punkrock the Stereo Satanics went on their way. As there were neither
a bassplayer nor a drummer present to join them, Fab, a musical genius,
local Underground-Rock-Icon and originally guitar-player and frontman of
the infamous and now deceased "Lilly Lavelle" took over on bass
and J. Wilde, parttime DJ, devoted Elvis-Fan and originally bass-player
for the "Wendy Bones" choose his place behind the drums.
So a troublesome threesome with Dan, Ralph and Fab, everyone the creative
spirit of his own other band, tightened together by the more restrained
and quite J., exploded in a variety of wild Punkrock-Tunes to live out their
visions of raw, untamed music, grounded on their rudimentary and old-fashioned
roots and spured on by Ralph on Fyres hateful, sad, mean and desperate lyrical
insights into the minds of persons you really never want to know.
Just a few months after the first rehearsals, they recorded a four-track
demo-tape called "Euphoria" and started out with a few savage,
loud and not much appreciated shows.
Till today shows were played all over Germany and in Switzerland with bands like Electric Frankenstein, New Bomb Turks, The Briefs, Nine Pound Hammer, Streetwalkin' Cheetahs (all USA), Mensen (Norway), The Scrags, Sons Of Cyrus (Sweden), The Riots (Netherlands), Peacocks, Hellmute (Switzerland) and loads of german bands like The Satelliters or The Boonaraaas.
Current Line-Up:
Ralph on Fyre - Guitar, Vocals
Dan Shandog - Guitar, Backing Vocals
Black Matze - Bass, Backing Vocals
J. Wilde - Drums
News/Shows - Bio - Discography - Photos - Merchandise - Lyrics - Press - Guestbook
madcap (at) stereosatanics.de