Krokus is a Swiss hard rock band. At the moment, "veterans of the heavy scene" have sold more than 14 million records. For a genre in which the inhabitants of the German-speaking canton of Solothurn perform, this is a colossal success.
After the break that the group had in the 1990s, the musicians perform again and delight their fans.
The beginning of the career of the Krokus group
Krokus was formed by Chris von Rohr and Tommy Kiefer in 1974. The first played bass, the second was a guitarist. Chris also took on the role of the band's vocalist. The band was named after the ubiquitous flower, the crocus.
Chris von Rohr saw one of these flowers from the bus window and suggested the name to Kiefer, who at first did not like this name, but later he agreed, because in the middle of the name of the flower there is the word "rock".
The first composition was able to record only a few compositions, which were rather "raw", did not impress either the listeners or the critics.
Although the wave of hard rock was already in Europe, on its crests it failed to bring the guys to popularity. Qualitative changes were needed.
Chris von Rohr left the bass and took over the keyboards, which allowed to add melody and brighten up the heavy guitar sound.
He was joined by experienced musicians from the Montezuma group - these are Fernando von Arb, Jürg Najeli and Freddie Steady. Thanks to the second guitar, the band's sound became heavier.
Simultaneously with the arrival of new members of the team, the Krokus group received its own logo. This event can be considered the real birth of Swiss rockers.
The path of the Krokus group to success
At first, the group's work was strongly influenced by the AC / DC group. If everything was in order with the sound of the Krokus group, then one could only dream of a strong vocalist. For this, Mark Storas appeared in the group.
This line-up was used to record the disc Metal Rendez-Vous. The record helped the band take a qualitative step forward. In Switzerland, the album went triple platinum. Further success was consolidated with the help of the Hardware disc.
Both discs in total scored 6 real hits, thanks to which the group enjoyed great popularity in Europe. But the guys wanted more, and they set their sights on the American market.
The musicians signed a contract with the Arista Records label, which specialized in heavy music. The record One Vice At A Time, recorded after the change of publisher, immediately entered the top 100 of the American hit parade.
But the true love of the overseas audience began after the release of the Headhunter record, the circulation of which exceeded 1 million copies.
A special love of the "fans" of the group was the ballad Screaming in the Night, which was recorded in the hard guitar riffs traditional for the group, immersed in a melodic sound. The composition was even called Krokus-hit.
The group's popularity led to strong lineup changes. First, Kiefer was asked to leave. After leaving the group, he was unable to recover and committed suicide.
Then they kicked out the founder and author of the band's name, Chris von Rohr. The conquest of America was successful, but it was a "Pyrrhic victory". Both founders were left behind.
The new composition of the group
But the group continued to release hits one after another after the departure of its founders. In 1984, Krokus recorded The Blitz, which went gold in the US.
Seeing an opportunity to earn a lot of money, the label began to put pressure on the musicians, which led to another perturbation with the lineup. The main thing is that the music has become softer and more melodic, which some "fans" did not like.
The musicians decided to abandon the label after recording the next record. After recording the live CD Alive and Screaming, the guys signed a contract with MCA Records.
Immediately after that, its founder Chris von Rohr was returned to the group. With his help, the Krokus recorded the Heart Attack album. The guys went on tour in support of their record.
During the next performance, a scandal occurred that led to the collapse of the team. One of the old-timers of the group Storas and Fernando von Arb left the Krokus group.
The next album of the group had to wait a very long time. The album To Rock or Not to Be came out in the mid-1990s. The album was well received by critics and fans of the band, but it failed to achieve commercial success.
Heavy rock in Europe began to disappear, dance styles of music became popular. The musicians have practically ceased their activities. They had nothing to do in the studio, and rare concerts were held not so often.
New era
In 2002, new musicians were attracted to the Krokus group. This helped Rock the Block reach number 1 on the Swiss charts. It was followed by a live album, which helped build on the success. But for a short time the guys rejoiced at the success.
Returning to the group, Fernando Von Arb injured his hand and could not play the guitar. He was replaced by Mandy Meyer. He had already worked in the group in the 1980s, when the line-up was in a fever.
The group exists to this day, periodically giving concerts and getting out to various festivals of heavy music. The Hellraiser record, recorded in 2006, hit the Billboard 200.
In 2017, the disc Big Rocks was recorded, which is the last one in the band's discography so far. The composition of the Krokus group is currently close to "gold".
