revised December 2007

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Marc Storace
Born in Sliema, on the Mediterranean Island of Malta on the 7^th October, 1951.
Father's name:   Anthony
Mother's maiden name:   Edna Crockford
Sisters:   Edith, Eileen and Helga
Brothers:   Bernard and George
Attended the Lyceum
Singer:   Self taught
Influences:   Rhythm & Blues, Pop and Rock
First public performance aged 14

In the mid-sixties, whilst still at secondary school, Marc made his first Live performances with two local bands. Stonehenge Union covered The Beatles, Stones, Kinks and did instrumentals and evergreens. The Boys covered a few of the same songs expanding on current chart-material and vocally challenging songs like Aquarius from the Musical “Hair”. In the late sixties The Boys changed their name to Cinnamon Hades and surprised their fans with a new Hard Rock repertoire covering Cream, Deep Purple, The Who, Led Zeppelin and also Jimi Hendrix.
Seeking to make a carreer out of what he loved doing best, Marc moved to London in 1970.

By the end of 1971 he had teamed up with a Swiss Progressive Hard Rock Band called TEA.
TEA toured with some Big Acts like Queen, Nazareth and The Ginger Baker Gurvitz Army Band and became the first Swiss Band to add Great Britain to their European-Tours. For a while, Armand Volker; Turo Paschayan; Roland Eggli and Mark lived together on a typical Swiss farm in the heart of Emmental, and released 3 Albums: sprouts; the ship; tax exiles produced by Dieter Dierks in Cologne, Germany. Dieter was responsible for the old Scorpions sound. These early seventies' TEA recordings are now available on CD.

Returning to England in 1976, Marc formed a band with the ironic name Eazy Money. They were active in London and one of their songs telephone man landed on a compilation called "Metal For Mutha's Volume 2", which was released in London later in 1980.
An audition on the outskirts of Geneva with Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, at that time with Roger Glover on bass; Don Airey on keyboards and the late Cozy Powell on drums, re-kindled Marc's love for solid melodic hard rock.
Shortly afterwards Krokus entered his life.
The phone rang in his London flat; the band was looking for a new singer and this call was an invitation to fly out to Switzerland for a 'weekend jam' ... to see how things worked out !
Marc still remembered the friendly Krokus boys from the days when they had opened for TEA on their last Swiss tour ... little did they realise that the hot rock-jam that took place in the band's snowcovered hometown late in 1979 was to change the History of Swiss Rock.

The Frontman
Marc's raw, high powered, three octave voice and charismatic stage presence propelled Krokus onto the International Frontline.
In 1980, Tommy Kiefer, Fernando von Arb, Chris von Rohr and Freddy Steady released their first album metal rendezvous with their new singer Marc on vocals. This was followed by sold-out concerts, instant media recognition, and soaring record-sales. Releases in the rest of Europe followed immediately afterwards.
Marc, who went on living in London, became a regular guest on the late Tommy Vance's Friday Night Rock Show on BBC Radio. The real taste of stardom had finally arrived and was growing fast .... the exciting news about this wild rocking outfit from Switzerland soon reached the USA.
In 1981 Krokus signed to Arista Records in New York. Clive Davis received the boys with open arms, and so did the band's new manager Butch Stone. The band's touring increased with every visit across the Atlantic. Canada and the USA quickly became their main touring territories: State to State, Coast to Coast, lasting six to nine months at a time. The Band played in clubs, opened in stadiums, became Special Guests and finally reached Headliner Status themselves .... A DREAM COME TRUE !
Krokus released 7 Studio Albums: metal rendezvous; hardware; one vice at a time; headhunter; the blitz; change of address; heart attack .... and one 'Live' Album: alive & screaming, during an intense period of 8 years. A few of these climbed the US Billboard Charts making Gold and Platinum. Their Music Videos were placed on heavy-rotation on MTV,the world's first music television channel, just as it was starting out. They caused a stir in South America too, started off by an energetic performance at Vina Del Mar in Chile to 40.000 enthusiastic fans from whom they received the prized People's Award. Not bad for a band coming from a country usually known for it's fine cheese and chocolate, watches, banks and snow covered Ski-Resorts !
The stress had taken its toll however, and by 1988 the boys were feeling quite burnt out. What once started out as the New Wave of Heavy Metal finally succumbed to the onslaught of the up and coming Grunge-Rock Movement .... they wisely decided to take a break and live to fight another day !

All in all Krokus sold close to 10 Million Albums worldwide.
Largest live audience was of  80.000 strong at the Texas Jam in 1986.
Amongst others, they worked with producers like Tom Allom ( Judas Priest ), Bruce Fairbairn ( r.i.p. ), Bob Rock & Mike Fraser ( AC / DC, Aerosmith, Bryan Adams, Bon Jovi, Metallica ).
The band also made a number of Music Videos including that of their LIVE Performance in New York in 1986.

In Spring 1989, Marc returned to Switzerland and wrote the songs for his first solo-project, the blue album. With it's fine collection of pop and soul influenced rock music, it was first officially released in 1991 by the new but very short lived record company Eurostar and later re-released under the name vergeat-storace ( Vergeat being Marc's guitar player and songwriting partner for this project ) in 1998 by BMG-Ariola, Switzerland.

1993 saw the team-up of Marc Storace & China. A 'Live' radio broadcast of one of their wildest steaming concerts in Sempach near Lucerne was released in 2000 by Phonag Records, Switzerland.
Acoustical Mountain was formed soon after that tour by Marc and China's two guitar players Claudio Matteo and Freddie Laurence. This semi-unplugged-trio without drums initially set out to win hearts by bringing classics and a rock'n'roll spirit to the Swiss Mountain Resorts. What began as Après-Ski entertainment soon spread like wildfire across the whole country and Acoustical Mountain is still to blame for stirring up the wildest parties right down to this day !

The first Amen Album was released in 1994 by Koch Records, Switzerland. This finely balanced mixture of funk influenced and soulfully executed rock songs, with a light touch of classical music, contains the lead vocals of Marc Storace and Glenn Hughes and was the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Manfred Ehlert.

Krokus re-visited 1994
During that same year, Marc encouraged ex-Krokus comrade Fernando von Arb to reform the Band. The following re-union tour in almost original line-up went down very well. As a result, the album to rock or not to be was released in 1995 .... followed by another rock-tour. Although a very good album indeed, the time was not ripe enough for hard rock on an international scale, but the saying goes: "Better to love and fail, than never to love at all".
1995 also saw the re-formation of Acoustical Mountain, this time with China's bass player Brian Kofmehl replacing Freddie Laurence on bass and guitar.

In 1996, the second Amen Album aguilar was released by Blue Martin Records, Switzerland. This one is rockier than the first and sung by Marc alone, bar one track which again features Glenn Hughes.

The year 2000 was somehow a year of releases.
Arista - USA released Krokus's 'the definitive collection' worldwide. This compilation contains some of the best songs from their heydays.
Then there was the release of Marc Storace & China's album alive by Phonag. This 'LIVE' performance from their 'one & only' tour of 1993 had been recorded live by the Swiss National Radio 'Road Show' called 'SFdrs3 Uff Dr Gass'.
And last, but not least, BMG-Ariola released DC/World's 'the ultimate tribute to Bon Scott & AC/DC' to coincide with the 20^th anniversary since the death of this legendary singer from the band's early days. On this medley Marc sings Bon Scott's and Peter Tanner sings Brian Johnson's parts. Bozzy plays lead-guitar; Dominique Favez rhythym-guitar; Tony Castell bass and Patrick Aeby drums. In Marc's own words: "Let's face it .... Bon's singing and those songs are really great and I got a real kick out of performing them and hope all his fans are pleased with the result just as much as I am today, God bless him !".

Later in 2000, Marc Storace & Band were invited to open for French Rock'n'Roll Star "Johnny Halliday" at the Olympic-Stadium of Lausanne. Marc's Band consisted of none other than his mates Tony, Dom and Pat from DC/World and Serge Christen on lead guitar. The sky was grey and it poured with rain on the 30.000 people standing out there in coloured macs. However, as soon as the band started playing their repertoire consisting of a cross-section of songs from Marc's whole career, the crowd loosened up, and the experienced frontman strutted down the long wet aisle bringing hot steaming charisma right into their midst. Dampened spirits lightened fast and they gave a magnificent lively response till the end.

Luciano Pavarotti's Duets with Pop and Rock singers plus the famous barcelona-duet performed by the late great Freddy Mercury with the Opera Diva Monserrat Caballé revamped a trend of cross collaboration between modern and classical singers.
Hence, in 2001 Koch Records unsurprisingly released the song one world, a hymn where Rock meets Classic, sung by Marc Storace ( for the first time ever in German and English ) and the Swiss Opera singer Raphael Haslinger. Both singers with intense and powerful vibrant voices took the song to a smashing finale. It became quite popular on European TV Shows and a few live performances followed it's release.

On the 6^th October of 2001 Marc interrupted a holiday with his family in Spain, when he and Raphael gave a crowning farewell performance in Zürich's renowned music temple The Hallenstadion on Swiss Television's prime time show 'Hit on Hit'. An unforgettable after-show surprise-party was thrown for Marc by Pia Schellenberg, Raphael and various other friends. At midnight, the lights went out and all sang happy birthday, Swiss Television presented him with a Special Video-Clip depicting a chain of his performances throughout his career .... a wonderful gift for his 50^th Birthday !!
The same video-clip was shown on Dani Beck's 'Weekend Music Show' at 1.⁰⁰ am of the 7^th and Marc, Dani, the famous Swiss troubadour Gölä with Thomas his manager and Manfred Ehlert drank a few toasts in the hotel to celebrate. In the morning, Marc caught the early plane back to Spain, where he rejoined his wife Cornelia and their two kids Luca and Giuliana for the rest of what became his loveliest birthday ever !

During 2001, Marc worked sporadically on some own new material. The song look at me now, resulting from this writing period, found it's way onto the saturday prime-time Swiss TV Show on SFdrs1 called 'Rondo Mondo' in March 2002. This was a song for his wife Cornelia.

Towards the end of 2001, Marc felt the urge to exchange the confines of the studio with rocking the big stage and called his old mate Fernando von Arb, but Fern needed time to think things over.
In the meantime, Marc was to perform in the Hallenstadion yet again, this time as Special Guest with his new friend Gölä, who 'sold out' two consecutive nights. The whole stadium joined in to sing to Marc's specially arranged sing-a-long during the rendition of Krokus's bedside radio with Gölä and his band. A truly emotional event and living proof of the singer's true capabilities. This performance was broadcast direct by SFdrs TV and is available on DVD.

The next thing Marc knew, Fernando finally called him back, willing to give the reunion a damned good try. Storace and von Arb re-energised the spirit back into the heart of Krokus !
Tony Castell had coincidentally already been playing bass in the band with Fern since 2000 and Dominique Favez and Patrick Aeby followed right after Marc's return, adding the necessary reinforcements, to bring the old band back into the modern world of hard rock.

Early in 2002, this eager new team head-dived into a songwriting phase followed by recordings, only to emerge from the studio for some inspiring Swiss Summer-Festivals. The reaction to the re-energised band's performances was overwhelming !
Signed on by Chris Wepfer of Warner, Switzerland and with their new manager Reto Lazzarotto, Krokus launched a self-produced album rock the block in January 2003. The album went straight to No. 1 in Switzerland for the first time in Kro-History.
The European Tour that followed took Krokus as far north as Sweden for the very first time. The Swedenrock Festival audience was so bowled over by the band's musical and energetic performance, that they voted Krokus No. 1 on the Swedenrock's Popularity Poll. Not bad at all considering the great "Whitesnake" was Headlining.
That same summer, Krokus played the prestigious Montreux Festival in Switzerland, for the 1^st time too.

In August 2003, on invitation, Marc flew off to Los Angeles to sing the latest album called the wars of gods and men with American Cult Heavy Rockers Warrior.
Before he had just experienced something close to "transatlantic-writing" via the internet for the very first time. When he finally teamed up with guitar player extaordinaire Joe Floyd in the studio in Burbank, the whole music, the writing and recording sessions together with producer Warren Croyle's ecstatic creativity tantrums reached explosive levels of energy, breaking the sound barriers and the result is just awesome to hear !!!
Released by Reality Entertainment USA and Phonag Switzerland in 2004.

Twenty of the best tracks from the Live recordings of many of the concerts from Krokus's 2003 'Rock The Block' Tour were chosen and remixed in the band's Lausanne Studio and a Double Live Package called fire and gasoline was released by Warner in February 2004. A Bonus LIVE - DVD of the Band's 2003 Performance in Montreux comes as part of the package in Europe. This shot to No. 6 in the Swiss Charts .... no 'matter of fact' for a live album in any day and age, but Fire & Gasoline truly deserves the glory, because it simply leaves other LIVE albums lying flat !!!!

That summer of 2004, Krokus played a few more Swiss concerts, after which Fernando underwent minor surgery. He had earlier complained of shooting pains from the middle finger of the left hand all the way up to his shoulder.
The band, of course, had to abandon all plans of returning to tour the USA that autumn, and so, Krokus switched back to songwriting-mode.

In November of 2004, Marc was contacted by German producer Michael Voss and asked to sing on the new BISS album. The demos of this German melodic rock band around virtuoso, guitar player Doc Heyne, sounded so full of great pumping riffs, nice melodies and positive chord energy, that Marc felt these songs were too good to be true.
Krokus was having a break at that moment, so he quickly jumped to it and by mid January, face-off was already in the can. "This was by no means without the help of the 'everbusybody' of Mr. Voss, whose inspiring ways of doing things got one positively fired up, whilst leaving tons of elbow room for free movement in the personal creative zones .... if you know what I mean!" explained Marc.
Released by AOR Heaven in May 2005.

Soon after Marc's return from Germany and during Krokus's early February 2004 meeting, Fernando von Arb finally told his colleagues, that he had taken the final decision to leave the band, because he felt, he would otherwise unwillingly be blocking their forward development. A sad end to a successful reunion story, especially since Marc had shared the stage with Fernando for so many years .... but the show simply had to go on.
Marc had kept a good friendship going with Mandy Meyer since after the days that this young gifted guitar player had toured with Krokus through Europe and the USA in 1981. They both had a lot in common besides music, so Marc decided, there was no better suited man around for the job. Mandy had gone a long way after his short stint in Krokus, playing in Cobra, Asia, Katmandu and more recently .... Gotthard.
Fortunately, he was free of commitments, when Marc called him the very next day. Mandy was really excited about the offer and immediately decided to take the 'bull by the horns' !!
A week later, the band started regular rehearsals, building up a strong momentum in time for the coming Swiss Tour of June 2005.

In April 2005 Marc joined Steve Lee of Gotthard and the Swiss female singer Gigi Moto for the recordings of a Queen-Medley tailored for Swiss National Television SFdrs1. This was performed LIVE on the 7^th May on the ever popular 'prime time' variety show called 'Benissimo' and even awoke the curiousity of Queen's Brian May himself, who asked for a recording of this very well recieved Performance.

It's now the beginning of June and Krokus with Mandy Meyer have three amazing live performances under their belt, the last being in Freiburg Germany together with the Scorpions. The band and their fans are overwhelmed by the almost 'overnight-swiftness' with which Mandy took control of his role as Krokus's new lead guitar player, inspiring the Band to climb to new heights !
More Good News came, when the band's management confirmed the first leg to Krokus's approaching Comeback in the USA !!!

From Marc, re - his first "Rock Meets Classic" Concert in Lucerne, Switzerland, on Friday, August 19th, 2005:
"For the first time in my carreer I sang a couple of my fave Led Zeppelin Songs with a whole Symphony Orchestra and band !! The magical John Axelrod, from Texas, directed the great Luzern Symphony Orchestra, which is celebrating 200 years since it's foundation.
Friday came and went, and not only did we end up playing to a packed indoor venue, instead of the planned Open Air on the idyllic "Inseli" of Luzern (a Penninsula on the Lake) but there were even 2000 people left standing outside ! We were forced to move indoors because the weather forecast was bad. That same evening torrential rains caused serious flooding in Lucerne (see swiss news online) and many other parts of Switzerland.
The event was informal and relaxed, no flowers, no crystal chandeliers ... a warmly lit stage and a humble jesture to show, that good music belongs to everybody.
The audience showed their gratitude from the word go and during the quite classical parts one could almost hear a pin drop. My favourite pieces, the "Hungarian Rhapsodie" and Bach's "Toccata und Fuge in d-moll" proved how a live orchestra can really move airwaves and people too ! This special event climaxed with loud standing ovations and encores after "Stairway To Heaven". Teenagers danced in the aisles and everybody joined in for the sing-a-long on "All You Need Is Love" even adding "She Loves You - Yeah-Yeah-Yeah" to what ended up as a free for all ! It became one of the most exciting and emotional concerts I ever experienced, and to top it all we spontaneously added Zep's beautiful "Kashmir".
A dream come true ... no joke !
A very special thanks to John Axelrod for being so down to earth, and all the talented orchestra musicians plus the whole LSO team who organised and made it happen. Last and not least, a BIG Thank You to all you loyal fans, who joined us. My heartfelt apologies go to so many who found no room in the hall to share the evening with us, and I pray we can make it up to you one day ... soon."
All the best & Rock On to the music, Marc.

On the 9th September 2005, Marc and a newly energised Krokus started a long-awaited Comeback in the USA ! The boys arrived in New York a few days earlier to jam out the set on their stateside equipment, and for Marc to undertake some interviews including an after-midnite "Krokus-Special" with none other than the reknowned Eddie Trunk (see Press & Interviews) ! During a very energetic 22 gig stint in the short space of 30 days, the band recieved a very warm welcome from their fans who had waited 17 whole years to see their return ! The tour concentrated mainly on the east coast, which by far was never Krokus`s stronghold in the 80`s. However, every single gig was totally exciting because every night, wherever the band played, the crowd rocked and sung to their classic songs like they did back in the 80`s !!! Amongst the general excitment of his being back on tour in the USA after so many years, Marc also recalls the warm welcome he recieved from old friend Alice Cooper, whose song "School`s Out" Krokus had covered in the 80`s, and surprisingly enough became the only song from this band to ever enter the US Singles Top-40 !!! A very special event took place in Denver when his old friend Peter Waelti, who also managed TEA in the late 70`s showed up at the hotel ! Peter made the band`s stay in Colorado very adventurous with his typical personal touch ! He even arranged for Marc & Tony to perform a live acoustic set on the "Lewis & Floorwax" Classic Rock Radio Show. This reunion was to have a very positive repurcussion in that, later on, the band asked Peter if he would employ his endless energy and hearty enthusiasm into setting up a long needed Fan-Club for Krokus ! www.krokusonline.com The next day the band drove to Salt Lake City where Marc was surprised with a Birthday Cake accompanied by a very loudly sung Happy Birthday Song from Krokus`s audience and the sound of popping champagne to go with it !!! The Tour ended with a gig in Reno, followed by a wild "night on the town" in L.A, including the obligatory visit for a few parting drinks at Krokus`s old 80`s haunt, this being none other than the old "Rainbow* on Sunset Strip ! Thank You America...we`ll be back ! (to be continued) 
 
 
(Continuation of Biography Sept`07)

AFTER THE 2005 US-TOUR:
Back home in Switzerland the vines are laden with heavy grapes and the autumn sun is shining brightly on foliage turned gold. 
Once again I enjoy the warmth of being back with my children and savour my wife`s delicious cooking and the season`s first hot & spicey pumpkin soup ! 
In these days of laptops communication has drastically improved. 
Compared to the endless gruelling 80`s tours the burden of being away from your loved ones for long stretches of time is considerably lightened by easier and cheaper access with a far better sound quality than your average hotel phone…and anyway what`s a month compared to the years spent “ploughing the highways” during the eighties ?!!!

SONG FOR A FILM:
No sooner was the band back on swiss soil, Reto our manager, informed us that “Turnus” productions were looking for a good rock song to fit a film starring the internationally known swiss comedian Marco Rima, and that the band would act in the movie. The Silver Screen at last … he,he !!!
We had already started writing new songs for the new album prior to the US stint so we pulled out a few tracks and sent them over. My song “Hellraiser” was chosen because of it`s typically Krokus style and wild lyrics…(more about the film to follow in the 2006 chapter !)

THE PRODUCER: 
The band voted to give the producer task for the new album to someone outside the band for objectivity. We decided for none other than our new German based American friend… Mr. Dennis Ward…the Warlord ! 
We had listened to some of Dennis`s production work and met him later in Southern Germany when his band Pink Cream 69 opened for us. We played inside this huge Circus tent in Bayern on a very rainy day !
Dennis is a bass player and a singer so it helped him to understand how sensitive we felt about entrusting the band`s sound into someone elses hands. 
He realised that the next Krokus album was very crucial and a turning point in our carreer. Fernando von Arb had left the band of his own accord prior to our US tour and some older fans had not taken it on the light shoulder and were feeling skeptical about the next release ! (more about the new album to follow in the 2006 chapter !)

MANDY MEYER:
However, Mandy Meyer was the perfect replacement for Fernando, and not because we wanted someone who would sound like Fern but simply because he is his own entity and a friend of old ! 
Apart from being the guitar player to replace Thomas Kiefer in 1981, and the only one after Tommy to play slide-guitar, Mandy earned his spurs during our extensive World “Hardware” Tour. He already knew the ropes !
In the meantime he had flourished from that denim clad 19 year old boy, who dragged and kicked his guitar around the stage, to a true master and tested craftsman. He gained priceless experience working with bands like Cobra to Asia and from Katmandu to Gotthard. The latter are to this day a noteworthy band on the Swiss Music Scene. 

CORRADO:
On looking back at 2005 and the USA re-visited, I must say that Mandy and I found plenty of time whilst sitting on that tour bus, to reminisce and get our heads back together. It did both of us a load of good to slip back into the old routine, and it felt great to be back in the good ol` USA…even if we did not play the old Krokus strongholds like Florida, Texas and California again……yet ! 
During that tour we received the sad tidings that our good friend Corrado, switzerland`s top guitar-roadie, and Mandy`s right arm for many years when he played in Gotthard, had sadly lost his fight against cancer ! This news threw us all in a state of melancholy, which we only brushed aside before the lights went on every night for the rest of that tour. 

DENVER:
When we reached Denver, my friend since 35 years, and ex-manager from the TEA days, Peter Waelti, picked me up from our hotel and we drove over to his folks. We spent quality time catching up and also took a trip to Boulder City and checked out the Redrocks amphitheatre, where I had performed a couple of gigs with Krokus in the 80`s. A night before my birthday he and his wife took me for a pre-birthday treat of buffalo balls and ribs at The Fort ! Delicious stuff with heavy red wine !
Peter hung out with the whole band for the 1st time since the late 80`s and organised for me and Tony to play “live” on the Lewis & Floorwax Breakfast Show ! Everyone at The FOX Radio Station was really cool ! The whole band got a good vibe off Peter and from then on we always find it hard to part ways.

COUNTING OUR LUCKY STARS:
After the Denver show our bus headed out of town and slowly up the mountain pass to Salt Lake City. 
I was sitting across the middle aisle from Roberto (our guitar roadie) in the front of the bus, next to the door. Together with Mandy we were celebrating my birthday with a couple of drinks. The conversation inevitably drifted to Corrado and his hilarious pranks…Mandy stood up in the aisle to imitate Corrado and WHAM !!! ..we all went flying towards the front of the bus and if it wasn`t for Roberto`s and my fast reaction; we caught Mandy by an arm and a leg; he would have gone flying neatly out of that door and through the huge bus windscreen !!! We had hit a fairly sized deer and it was now lying dead on the roadside !
When we arrived at the venue in Salt Lake I called home and caught the kids eating breakfast before going off to school. They wished me a Happy Birthday but I only told the story about what we`d just been through on the mountain pass to my wife.
The concert was more than great and towards the end some fans walked up on stage with this huge lighted cake and the whole audience sang happy birthday while I did the honours ! One or two glasses of champagne later we were well into the next encore…and the next … and the next !!!

MORAL:
The road, like the sea, can make or break you but this band grew incredibly tight in a short space of time, technically and socially. This had been the main goal in the first place, to solidify the team into a tough punchy but harmonious rock machine…and it had worked ! You could have put us on any stage after 2 weeks into that tour, and we would have blown anyone clean away…it was a great experience !

RUSSIAN WINTER:
The phone rang and it was Francisco calling from Spain….and was I free for two gigs in Russia at the end of the month ?! Crickey Russia ??? Why … Krokus had never played Russia before and …hell yeah…I was free !!!

THE FLIGHT:
So well routined as we were, we simply turned up at Zürich Airport without a single rehearsal. America was still fresh in our blood and here we were checking into a flight for Moscow ! 
Memories of the cold war and the events that led to the final destruction of that ugly Berlin Wall swept through my mind during the entire flight. 
The Scorpions` song, the one they wrote to commemorate the start of democracy and the freedom to rock the ex-USSR sounded in my head, with Klaus Meine whistling to “The Winds Of Change.” I looked at my watch and smiling I ordered another Vodka and tomato-juice with a slice of lemon ! 
Krokus was finally flying into a Russian Winter. 

MOSCOW:
We checked into a huge hotel across from the Kremlin and immediately it started to snow..very fitting to this special occasion ! I hardly had time to unpack my bags…too excited….interviews, and later, a Russian dinner ! 
The next day we braved it through the dense traffic and ate lunch at the Hard Rock Café. Later soundcheck at the “TOCHKA” Rock Club not far from the Gorky Park and the first russian fans appeared, shy at first, or should I say respectful, but slowly edging their way in for autographs and conversation. 
The young american journalist who flew in on our plane turned up backstage, just as she had promised, she was set on making a report of the show. We obliged by inviting her to use our dressing room.
The lights went down and the crowd let loose all the way to the top back row !
It was amazing to see how they pushed themselves forward towards the stage…and even started to climb it ! The security guards showed no mercy and shoved them back down onto the dance-floor. This behaviour carried on halfway into our set and seeking to change the vibe I grabbed a fan who was being led off and held onto her. This I did whilst singing and beckoning the security guard to go easy at the same time…and to my surprise, he let go of her and things immediately took a swing for the better. After that, nearly all the other fans jumped off stage of their own accord ! After all they were only feeling happy to dance away frustration !!! 
The real Krokus party had only just started and the whole house went bananas ! 
Long Live Freedom !

THE TRAIN:
Just like in one of those old spy movies the whole band was rushed off in black vans with tinted windows to catch the overnight “Trans-Siberien Express” to St.Petersburgh. 
The station was packed and it was snowing. After boarding we made ourselves comfortable in the bar and exchanged views with some cool people on their way to the huge “Car Exhibition”. The next hot thing in Russia was “pimp your car”! Well nothing new for us and we all poured vodka and tomato-juice until halfway through the night. Believe me…I slept very well in that rolling old wagon.

ST.PETERSBURGH
St.Petersburgh looked as majestic as I had imagined from history book pictures and the underground “Liverpool Club” welcomed us with open arms to a tasty lunch. After checking into our hotel I took a walk through the city and discovered a record store ! Man, you could find anything you wanted including not yet released albums on the black-market ! But what the hell…it wasn`t my job to control that and besides I had a soundcheck to attend to. 
An icey wind was blowing inland across the ocean…freezing my poor ears off, so I decided to turn down an invitation to return in December ! I couldn`t anyway, and what about my family ?….there`s nothing like being home for XMAS !
I`m sure it must be a romantic feeling riding around in a horse-drawn sleigh under the Christmas lights of St.Petersburgh in December, but I had a few concerts coming up with “Acoustical Mountain” too, and a Kick-Off Party for SWEDENROCK 2006 comin`up for Krokus in Stockholm…and that`s something I would not have wanted to miss in a hundred years !!! 

 
(Continuation of Biography Dec`07)

Cheers !
www.threestyle.ch

( to be continued )