Krokus is a hard rock/heavy
metal band from Switzerland
. According to music website
Blabbermouth.net, they have sold over 13 million albums worldwide,
including one
Platinum Record and
one Gold Record in the United States.
Krokus was
founded in Solothurn
in 1974 by bassist (and original lead vocalist)
Chris von Rohr and guitarist Tommy
Kiefer. Former Eazy Money vocalist
Marc Storace joined the band as frontman in
time for their
Metal
Rendez-vous album in 1980.
History
Krokus enjoyed popularity in the 1980s in parts of Europe and the
USA.
They
toured with Nazareth in Europe and
with AC/DC, Motörhead, Rainbow, Rush,
Def Leppard, Judas Priest and Sammy
Hagar in the United
States
.
Chris von Rohr, who used to be the drummer, switched to lead singer
in the late 1970s. With that formation, they were successful in
Switzerland and toured throughout the country. After they saw AC/DC
in concert, they decided to change their musical direction and
became a riff-rock band. Since von Rohr was not capable of hitting
the third octave, the search for a new lead singer began.
Eventually, Marc Storace from TEA and Eazy Money was hired, and the
band recorded
Metal
Rendez-vous in 1980, which led to huge international
recognition.
The
follow-up album from 1981, Hardware, was recorded at the Hammersmith studios in London
and features
such songs as "Easy Rocker" and "Rock City", which are still a part
of the band's live repertoire today.
In 1982, with new American management, Krokus recorded
One Vice at a Time, which features
hits such as "Long Stick Goes Boom", the
Guess Who cover "
American Woman" and a duet with
Iron Maiden's
Bruce
Dickinson, "I'm on the Run". Chris von Rohr described it as
"the album AC/DC never made", since the sound is extremely close to
the Australian band. This fact caused doubt about the creativity of
the band since many considered them to be copycats.
Headhunter was awarded platinum album status in the United States and hit number 25 in the 1983 album charts.
It is the most successful album from Krokus to date and is also
widely considered to be their biggest musical achievement.
All Krokus
albums to date have gone platinum in Switzerland. It boasted the
power ballad "Screaming in the Night" which saw
heavy rotation on
MTV.
Judas Priest's
Rob
Halford also guested on backing vocals.
In 2005, longtime lead guitarist Fernando von Arb left the band
after continuing wrist problems required surgery.
Mandy Meyer, who had played with the band in the
mid-1980s, replaced von Arb in the lineup. The new formation
recorded the studio album
Hellraiser in 2006, which went
to gold in Switzerland on the first day of sales. It generally
received very good reviews. In an interview in 2008, Marc Storace
stated that Krokus was becoming more and more "
metal".
On 18 November 2007 the line up featuring Chris von Rohr, Fernando
von Arb, Fready Steady and Marc Storace reunited to play a medley
("Tokyo Nights", "Bedside Radio" and "Heatstrokes") during the TV
show
Die grössten
Schweizer Hits on Swiss television. This event broke the ice
between the members of the 1982 formation and led to their reunion
concert on 2 August 2008.
Krokus's cover of
Sweet's "
The Ballroom Blitz" also appeared in the
2007 game
Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s.
It was announced on 20 April 2008 that the classic lineup of Chris
von Rohr, Fernando von Arb, Freddy Steady, Mark Kohler and Marc
Storace had reunited and would be releasing a new studio record in
2009 with a supporting world tour.
On 2 August 2008 the band performed live in the Stade de Suisse in
Bern.
Krokus will perform the official anthem of the
2009 Ice Hockey World
Championships, which are hosted by their home country of
Switzerland. The song is entitled "Live for the Action".
Origin of band name
The band name "Krokus" evolved from the word for a flower common to
the region of southern Europe, the
crocus.
Early in the spring of 1975, band founder Chris von Rohr observed a
field of these flowers while traveling by train. He was returning
from L'Ecole des Chefs located in France after an aborted career in
the culinary arts, and it was around this time the idea for a Metal
band was formed. The band members stated that it was the perfect
name, since it features "Rock" right in the middle.
Discography
Studio albums
Live albums
Compilation albums
- Early Days '75-'78 (1980)
- Stayed Awake All Night - The Best (1987)
- The Dirty Dozen (1993)
- Definitive Collection (2000)
- The Collection (2000)
- Best Of (2000)
- Long Stick Goes Boom: The Anthology (2003)
Singles & EPs
- "Tokyo Nights" (1980)
- "Heatstrokes" (1980)
- "Bedside Radio" (1980)
- "Winning Man" (1981)
- "Rock City" (1981)
- "American Woman" (1982)
- "Save Me" (1982)
- "Bad Boys Rag Dolls" (1982)
- "Stayed Awake All Night" (1983)
- "Screaming tn the Night" (1983)
- "Midnite Maniac" (1984) #71 Hot 100, #10
US Rock
- "Ballroom Blitz" (1984)
- "Our Love" (1984) #22 US Rock
- "School's Out" (1986) #67
Hot 100
- "Screaming in the Night (Live)" (1987)
- "Let the Love Begin" (1987)
- "Let It Go" (1988)
- "Wild Love" (1988)
- "You Ain't Seen Nothin'
Yet" (1994)
- "I Want It All" (2003)
- "Angel of My Dreams" (2006)
Videos & DVDs
- The Video Blitz (1985, VHS)
- Fire And Gasoline (2004, Bonus DVD)
- As Long As We Live (2004, DVD)
Member history
Line-ups
| 1976 Krokus |
- Chris von Rohr
- Hansi Droz
- Remo Spadino
- Tommy Kiefer
|
1977 To You All
1978 Pain Killer
|
- Chris von Rohr
- Fernando von Arb
- Freddy Frutig (Freddy Steady)
- Jürg Naegeli
- Tommy Kiefer
|
1980 Metal Rendez-Vous
1981 Hardware
|
- Chris von Rohr
- Fernando von Arb
- Freddy Frutig (Freddy Steady)
- Marc Storace
- Tommy Kiefer
|
| 1982 Headhunter |
- Chris von Rohr
- Fernando von Arb
- Marc Storace
- Mark Kohler
- Steve Pace
|
| 1984 The Blitz |
- Fernando von Arb
- Jeff Klaven
- Marc Storace
- Mark Kohler
|
1986 Alive And Screamin'
1986 Change Of Address
|
- Fernando von Arb
- Jeff Klaven
- Marc Storace
- Mark Kohler
- Tommy Keiser
|
| 1988 Heart Attack |
- Chris von Rohr
- Dani Crivelli
- Fernando von Arb
- Marc Storace
- Mark Kohler
|
| 1991 Stampede |
- Fernando von Arb
- Many Maurer
- Peter Haas
- Peter Tanner
- Tony Castell
|
| 1995 To Rock Or Not To Be |
- Fernando von Arb
- Freddy Frutig (Freddy Steady)
- Many Maurer
- Marc Storace
- Mark Kohler
|
| 1999 Round 13 |
- Carl Sentance
- Chris Lauper
- Fernando von Arb
- Many Maurer
- Peter Haas
|
2003 Rock The Block
2004 Fire And Gasoline Live!
|
- Dominique Favez
- Fernando von Arb
- Marc Storace
- Patrick Aeby
- Tony Castell
|
| 2006 Hellraiser |
- Dominique Favez
- Mandy Meyer
- Marc Storace
- Stefan Schwarzmann
- Tony Castell
|
External links
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