K...!

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K...! in 2006. From left to right: Bernd Römer, Martin Becker, Claudius Dreilich, Christian Liebig, Michael Schwandt

K...!, known as Karat until 2005, is a German rock band, founded in what was then East Germany in 1975. One of East Germany's best-known bands, Karat were also popular outside the GDR, with their most notable success their 1982 album Der blaue Planet (The Blue Planet), which was one of the year's top sellers in West Germany.

1 History
2 Members
- 2.1 Former members
3 Discography
4 Literature
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] History

Über sieben Brücken earned Karat a following outside East Germany

The band developed from the previous group Panta Rhei, which dissolved when singer Veronika Fischer left to pursue a solo career in 1973. The initial Karat lineup consisted of singer Hans-Joachim ("Neumi") Neumann, keyboardist and songwriter Ulrich "Ed" Swillms, bassist Henning Protzmann, drummer Konrad Burkert, guitarist Herbert Dreilich and guitarist Ulrich Pexa. The following year, Burkert was replaced by Michael Schwandt and Pexa by Bernd Römer. Neumann left the band in 1977 due to military service, and Austrian-born Dreilich became the band's sole vocalist.

The group released several singles, which were compiled on their 1978 self-titled debut album. Although much of this was fairly pedestrian rock, it contained the hit single "König der Welt" (King Of The World), which established much of the subsequent Karat sound, a melodic brand of progressive rock. Poet Kurt Demmler wrote the words, and like most of Karat's output the song was philosophical in character.

The band's second album, Über sieben Brücken (1979) was its breakthrough. It contained the seven-minute Albatros (Albatross), the lyrics to which (Der Albatros kennt keine Grenzen, "The albatross knows no borders") were an indirect criticism of the Berlin Wall and the GDR's travel restrictions.

The title track "Über sieben Brücken mußt du geh'n" (You Must Cross Seven Bridges), is the band's best-known song, and helped introduce Karat to audiences outside East Germany, thanks to West German singer Peter Maffay, who recorded a cover version of it that became a massive hit for him in 1980.

The band's third album Schwanenkönig (The Swan King), released in 1980, cemented its following in both East and West Germany, although it failed to produce any hit singles. Its cerebral lyrics were penned by journalist Norbert Kaiser, who would be responsible for the band's lyrics for the following six years.

In contrast, the 1982 album Der blaue Planet sold more than 1.3 million copies, propelled by its uptempo, radio-friendly title track about the dangers of nuclear and environmental cataclysm; the song is still frequently heard on German radio. Der blaue Planet became not only Karat's best-selling record, but the biggest-selling album of any East German artist, inside or outside the country. In 1984, the band were honored with the National Prize of East Germany.

Karat turned away from the mainstream appeal of Der blaue Planet on its follow-up album Die sieben Wunder der Welt (The Seven Wonders Of The World) in 1984, although it also ended up being successful, and it is considered by many fans to be a high point of the band's output. In 1986 Karat received the Goldene Europa, West German television's oldest award.

Bassist Protzmann left the band to be replaced by Christian Liebig for Fünfte Jahreszeit in 1987, a more commercial release with tracks such as "Der Doppelgänger" and "Glocke Zweitausend" (The 2000 Bell), the latter featuring Silly singer Tamara Danz, with whom Swillms, Römer and Dreilich had performed in the East German supergroup, the Gitarreros.

However, in 1987, principal composer Swillms left Karat, citing health concerns; the band had already recruited second keyboardist Thomas Kurzhals in 1984. (Swillms would return as a part-time member 18 years later.) The band's first album without him, ... im nächsten Frieden (...In The Next Peacetime), was released in 1990, after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Although it contained a duet with Peter Maffay on a new version of "Über sieben Brücken" it was largely ignored, as Karat, like other East German bands such as the Puhdys and City, seemed to be passé, as their fans were now able to buy western albums with ease. During 1990, many top rock acts performed in East Germany for the first time, and free shows such as Roger Waters' The Wall extravaganza in Berlin, which featured no East German performers, took their toll on East German performers' fanbases.

Karat recorded their second self-titled album in 1991; it was meant to suggest a new beginning. Instead, it sold poorly, and Karat would not record again for four years.

The lull in popularity of East German recording artists ended about 1993-1994, and Karat's albums, which had been re-released on compact disc with DSB, the successor to the East German state recording label Amiga, sold well. The band celebrated its 20th anniversary at a sold-out concert at the horse racing track at Karlshorst in Berlin, with appearances by well-wishers including City, the Puhdys, and singer Ute Freudenberg. Coinciding with the concert was the band's new album, Die geschenkte Stunde (The Given Hour), the first with keyboardist Martin Becker, which sold well to the band's core of eastern fans. Thereafter, Karat was one of the former East Germany's top live acts, although they eschewed the Ostalgie movement, emphasizing new material in concert. The 1997 followup, Balance, enjoyed similar success.

In 1998 lead vocalist Herbert Dreilich suffered a stroke on stage; he returned to performing one year later. However, Karat's performance schedule slowed down in subsequent years. In 2000 they celebrated their 25th anniversary in front of 20,000 people in Berlin, with Swillms making a guest appearance; the stage was also shared with the Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg and Peter Maffay. This concert was released as a live album and DVD the following year. The 2003 album Licht und Schatten (Light and Shadow) was to be his last (notably, it contained the only Karat song in English, "Someone Got Hurt," a demo from the 1980s). A tour in 2004 together with the Puhdys and City was cancelled at the last minute when Dreilich was diagnosed with lymph cancer. He died in December that year, at the age of 62.

At Herbert Dreilich's suggestion, the band replaced him with his 35-year-old son Claudius Dreilich, previously manager of an IKEA furniture store in Austria. The younger Dreilich bore an uncanny resemblance to his father, both in appearance and in his vocal style, and was immediately accepted by the group's fans, and the rest of the band, whom he had known for many years. Swillms rejoined the band, although he only did some several performances live with them.

However, due to a legal dispute with the elder Dreilich's widow, who claimed the name "Karat" because her husband had trademarked it in 1998, the band began to perform under the name K...! in 2006. In December 2006 they implemented a special christmas-tour named "Winterzeit" with the a-cappella-pop-band "mëdlz" as special guests.[1]

[edit] Members

Claudius Dreilich - vocals (since 2005)
Ullrich "Ed" Swillms - keyboards (1975-1987, returned 2005 but does not usually tour with the band)
Bernd Römer - guitar
Martin Becker - keyboards (since 1992)
Michael Schwandt - drums
Christian Liebig - bass (since 1986)

[edit] Former members

Herbert Dreilich - vocals (1975-2004; as vocalist-guitarist until 1977)
Henning Protzmann - bass (1975-1985)
Ulrich Pexa - guitar, vocals (1975)
Konrad Burkhardt - drums (1975)
Thomas Kurzhals - keyboards (1984-1992)
Hans-Joachim "Neumi" Neumann - vocals (1975-1977)

[edit] Discography

1978 Karat
1979 Über sieben Brücken (Across Seven Bridges)
1979 Albatros (Albatross), West German debut album, compiling first two albums
1980 Schwanenkönig (The Swan King)
1982 Der blaue Planet (The Blue Planet)
1983 Die sieben Wunder der Welt (The Seven Wonders of the World)
1985 10 Jahre Karat - Auf dem Weg zu Euch - Live (Ten Years of Karat - Coming At You Live) — Live album
1987 Fünfte Jahreszeit (The Fifth Season)
1990 ... im nächsten Frieden (...In The Next Peacetime)
1991 Karat
1995 Die geschenkte Stunde (The Given Hour)
1997 Balance
2000 Ich liebe jede Stunde (I Love Every Hour) — Compilation album
2001 25 Jahre Karat - Das Konzert — Live album
2003 Licht und Schatten (Light and Shadow)
2005 30 Jahre Karat — Compilation album
2006 "Der letzte Countdown" — (Single; first release under the name K...!)