Running Wild was one band from a wave of German Heavy metal bands to emerge in the early/mid 1980s (along with
Helloween ,
Rage ,
Blind Guardian ,
Grave Digger , etc). The music they play is compilation of heavy, power and speed metal. The band has carved its niche in the metal world as the first "pirate metal" band, a theme which took off with the release of Under Jolly Roger in 1987. The band played their farewell show at the Wacken Open Air 2009, for which setlist fans voted for.
...
In 1976 a new school band called Granite Heart was established in Hamburg, Germany under the command of Rolf Kasparek alias Rock'n'Rolf. Granite Heart consisted of: Rock'n'Rolf (lead vocals, guitar), Uwe Bendig (guitar), Michael Hoffmann (drums) and Jörg Schwarz (bass), who was replaced by Carsten David (bass) shortly after.
Around 1979 the band was renamed as Running Wild and in 1983 they released their first demo-tape with the following line-up: Rock'n'Rolf (lead vocals, guitar), Uwe Bendig (guitar), Matthias Kaufmann (bass) and Hasche (drums).
Running Wild astonished their hometown Hamburg, Germany with heavy speed Metal and a flashy leather image, so that finally the songs Iron Heads and Bones to Ashes were published on the Death Metal compilation by NOISE in 1984. Under the same label their debut album Gates to Purgatory was released in the same year and sold not less than 20.000 units in the first three months. The record climbed the german metal-charts and with the 12" maxi Victim of States Power there was a nice little metal goodie thrown onto the market. The legendary(although the second) line-up - read as Rock'n'Rolf (lead vocals, guitar), Preacher (guitar, vocals), Stephan (bass) and Hasche (drums).
>> Read Full Info
Read more...
