 A “Big Warm Welcome” to the return of the Swiss Rock Giant – KROKUS was felt already at some Swiss Summer Festivals of 2002 . The sheer enthusiasm from the band`s local fans led to a straight-up number one Hit in the Swiss National Charts immediately upon the release of the last studio album to date, “Rock The Block”, in early 2003 !
Krokus, who enjoyed Gold and Platinum placings in the Top 100 of the American Billboard Charts during the 80`s, always achieved admirable chart positions in their own country, but never a No.1 with a Bullet … up to now.
The build-up to Krokus`s successful “Comeback” started in late 2001 when Marc Storace, the band`s mythical frontman with his trademark voice, returned to join forces with old colleague and lead guitarist Fernando von Arb. Tony Castell was already in Krokus at the time whilst also playing bass in Storace`s Solo-Project alongside Dominique Favez on rythym guitar and Patrick Aeby on drums. This combination of powerful energies soon culminated to what became the new “explosive” Krokus formation.
The new band enthusiastically dived into a songwriting period followed by some intense studio recordings taking a break only to play a few Summer Festivals in 2002. This gave them the opportunity to break out of the confines of the studio and they definitely stirred up a lot of excitement in their homeland. That gritty “live” feel and the bonding effect of going through the paces together on stage positively enhanced the band`s spirit, and this clearly reflects on their new record. ”Rock The Block” was produced by Aeby, Favez, Von Arb and Storace.
The European Tour that followed after the release of “Rock The Block” proved that this mighty group`s true calling was based around Marc`s high powered vocal performance, Fernando`s frenzied precision guitar playing and Tony, Dom and Pat´s raunchy drive and merciless tight delivery on stage.
In 2004 the band released a “live” double-album.”Fire and Gasoline” was recorded in Sweden as well as Switzerland and captures twenty greatest hits from a career which has spanned over three decades. Something which is frankly sensational, and such an opinion stretches far beyond the borders of Switzerland. “Fire and Gasoline” was again produced by Aeby & Favez with von Arb as co-producer. A bonus DVD contains the band`s performance to a knocked-out Montreux Festival audience and includes a few tracks from a Swiss Open Air Concert in the sweltering mid-summer heat of Wohlen. A guaranteed feast of sight and sound !
A sudden misfortune within the band in 2004 forced Marc and the boys to postpone their plans for re-visiting America, that great land of Rock`n`Roll, where Krokus celebrated their greatest triumphs and sold the majority of their 10 million plus records, for which the band still secures the title of Switzerland`s “all time” best-selling Rockband today. Krokus have left their mark on rock history with Classic Rock Albums like “Metal Rendezvous”,”Hardware”.”Headhunter” or “The Blitz”, as well as numerous immortal rock hits like “Heatstrokes”, ”Tokyo Nights”, ”Longstick Goes Boom”, ”Midnite Maniac”, “Bedside Radio”, ”American Woman” and the more recent “Mad World” and “Rock The Block” - not forgetting the passionate epic ballad “Screaming In The Night” – almost all these hits are of course included on the live double cd /dvd “Fire & Gasoline”.
It was with heavy hearts that the band parted ways from Fernando, earlier this year. Lead guitarist since the early days, Von Arb, who had held the band together through the lean years, decided to call it a day!
Destiny so had it that ex-guitar-player and colleague Mandy Meyer, veteran of the Krokus 1981 British, American and European Tours, happened to be free from other commitments at this point in time. Overjoyed with Marc`s call and the opportunity to return to the stage with this ex-comrade-in-arms, and the chance to play a “live” repertoire of enchanting Krokus Classics plus more recent material, with a band that never fails to deliver, seemed like an impossible dream come true!
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