The concept album „Chemical Invasion" was released in 1987, during the beer crisis between the EU and BRD. Also adding to their image was the artwork by Sebastian Krüger, who also worked for the magazine "Spiegel" and drew stars like Slash, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Another trademark was producer Harris Johns. This time for B-Day Tankard tried out Andy Classen, formerly of Holy Moses.

Back on board, though, is Krüger who after a couple of years absence decided to swing his paint brush again for the new anniversary cover. His artwork on "B-Day" will include the legendary Alien and Bomber, the beer swilling supermodel on the cover of "Kings of Beer".
The depiction of the Pope smoking a joint on the Chemical Invasion cover, much to Tankard's surprise, didn't pose any problems. At around the same time the Magazine "Titanic" portrayed the Holy one making love to a sheep and promptly had the Inquisition on their backs. Looks like even God is on their side, as was evident at the Rock Hard show in 1990 where they were the only band that played without buckets of rain pouring from above.

The Almighty has a sense of humor, though. The hobby alcoholics failed a beer test held the same day. The beer thrashers also hold diverse records. According to (own words) Germany's ugliest band they:

• were never bootlegged
• received 10,000 D-Marks from the Gema in 1991 because they were accidentally mistaken for the plastic combo "Captain Hollywood"
• were reviewed in an English article as "Fat ugly German bastards", thus the self-ironic title for their live album "Fat, Ugly and Live"
• outed Assassin in their special thanks list as "poor chocolate milk drinkers
• got only 2nd place for their 100 year Eintracht birthday hymn "Schwarz-weiß wie Schnee"
• toured Japan back in 1999. Two gigs
• Never get any groupies. The audience is mainly comprised of fat dudes with smelly vests on.
• Released two Schlager cover albums under the name "Tankwart" (gas station attendants)
• Auditioned a 50-year old guitarist called "Prince of Darkness" after Andy B. left the band. He didn't get the job. Instead the scepter was passed on to white-metaller Andy Gutjahr. (since Axel Katzmann left because of arthritis in 1995 they now only have one axeman)
• never received any recognition from the city of Frankfurt or the beer industry for their contribution to mass alcohol consumption.

Next >>

Bandbio-Pages: 1 2 3 4 5