A year or two ago, German hard rockers Lucifer's Friend quietly reunited. Last year, the band performed a few shows and now in this year of 2016, the band has released a brand new studio album- Too Late to Hate- their first album in decades.
If you haven't heard of Lucifer's Friend, you're not alone: the band never toured the US but managed to have some success elsewhere during the 1970s and 1980s. Some fans of UK prog rockers Uriah Heep might be familiar with Lucifer's Friend, since LF's singer John Lawton replaced Heep's original lead singer David Byron from 1976 to 1979. In a way, Lucifer's Friend have a cult following amongst longtime rock music fans.
Lucifer's Friend were together from 1970 to 1981. During that time, the band released eight studio albums. The band reunited as Lucifer's Friend II in 1994, which resulted in a ninth studio album- Sumo Grip. Now with their newest album, Lucifer's Friend are back. While reunited, the band's line up is slightly different. The original band consisted of singer John Lawton, guitarist Peter Hesslein, bassist Dieter Horns, drummer Joachim "Addi" Reitenbach and keyboardist Peter Hect. Lawton, Hesslein and Horns have all reunited and are joined by drummer Stephan Eggart and keyboardist Jogi Wichmann.
I was able to conduct an email interview with the guys in Lucifer's Friend. In it, the band talked about their influences, their history and their future.
1.
How has the reunion of Lucifer’s
Friend been? What’s been the reaction from audiences and fans?
John:
The reunion has been good. It’s been a while since we last played together and
of course we are all a lot older…wiser I hope J.
The reaction from fans and the audiences we have played too, have been
exceptionally good.
Dieter:
John started it….the fans worldwide were happy
2.
What inspired you or made you
want to make a new studio album? When did you start writing for the album?
Peter:
Since the release of AWAKENING, we had put together lots of new ideas and after
the positive reaction of the music press, we decided to put together a new
album
John:
I think after writing 4 new tracks for the AWAKENING album, the momentum was
there to do some more. Peter has always been a prolific writer even in the days
we were not performing together, so he presented me with quite a selection of
new ideas which culminated in the new studio album TOO LATE TO HATE.
3.
Okay- I want to go to the
beginning of Lucifer’s Friend’s history now. Growing up, what were your music
influences and what made you want to go into music?
John:
My own influences in the early days were probably the early Blues singers like
John Lee Hooker, Robert Johnson and then came Elvis which turned me on to Rock
n Roll all these artists drew me into music and of course singing. I had been
an altar boy in the church at an early
age and a member of the choir, so that kind of paved the way.
Peter:
I had an uncle who played a bit of guitar and from the age of 10 I was allowed
to play around on it, from that moment on knew it was my instrument. My early
influences were the Beatles and Elvis.
Dieter:
Yeah the same for me, but I moved on to the bass guitar and pretty much the
same influences.
4.
Specifically for John, Peter and
Dieter- when did you all meet each other, along with Peter Hecht and Addi?
John:
I first met the guys in Hamburg in 1970.
They were looking for an English singer to front the music they had written and me
returning to settle in Hamburg after a couple of stints in the Top Ten Club with other
bands, was in the right place at the right time.
5.
Looking online, I’m reading the
band formed in 1968 or 1969. It’s also known that the band’s original name was
Asterix and you released an album under that name. Then there’s the two albums
by Electric Food. Wikipedia lists a bunch of groups from before then but I want
to know from you: how many bands were there before Electric Food and Asterix?
Dieter:
Quite a few J but only local bands like the
GIANTS and GERMAN BONDS and we did do some recordings but really for ourselves,
but we did record some stuff under different
names all in the name of studio work.
6.
How did you come up with the name
Lucifer’s Friend?
Peter:
The name LUCIFER'S FRIEND was originally a track on the 1st album,
but the producer Herbert Hildebrand liked the name because to him it might
concern the bad things that people go through unconsciously in their daily
lives….
7.
The debut album from Lucifer’s
Friend is a great heavy psych record. I love the distortion and fuzziness of
the production. The first song, “Ride the Sky,” was a bit of hit single for you
guys. What was the song writing process like for that one?
Dieter:
We had been writing some new material in between recording ASTERIX which to our
minds was very heavy and dark compared to that. A good friend of ours (John
O’Brian Docker) came up with lyrics that seemed to fit exactly to our ideas. RIDE
THE SKY was complete except for the lyrics which John Lawton came up with….yeah
it created a bit of a stir at that time J
8.
I’ m also curious about “In the
Time of Job When Mammon Was a Yippie.” It has some great guitar work and the
song title is pretty trippy too. Is there any story behind writing that one?
Dieter: We had the riff and the basic structure….and
along came O’Brian Docker with another great lyric….We did spend a lot of time
in the rehearsal room working the songs out, because studio time is expensive.
9.
At the time of its release, how
was the debut album received? How much touring was done for it?
John: I think the album was well received,
especially as it was a “German Band” and we were basically the first heavy
metal band to come from the “fatherland” J. The
problem with
touring especially in
those days was the lack of money. The record company was reluctant to put funds
behind the band and we all had other incomes from other musical projects which
kind of took priority…..looking back, we should have persevered
10. I’m
not finding anything on tour dates from back in 1970s. As whole in the band’s
original run, how much did you tour and where? Did you tour the US at all?
John:
The same answer as above. No we never toured in the USA.
11. Listening
to the albums that follow the debut album, it’s pretty cool that they are all
different in sound- while still maintaining some of the heavy psych sounds. Where The Groupies Kill the Blues was
slightly more prog rock while Banquet is
pleasantly jazzy. For the albums that followed the debut, did you always go
into the studio with the intention of making a different album each time?
Peter:
We never set out to record in a different style everytime….it just depended on
the style of the individual songs we were writing at the time. However we did
set out to record BANQUET the way it was intended….
12. Going
back to Banquet, you got to work with
a 30 piece band. What inspired the jazz fusion direction of that album? It’s a
great album with some strong production.
Dieter:
At that time we were prepared for everything: Rock, Tamla, Fusion Jazz and
Classic. That is the result.
John:
This is my all time favourite LF album…great playing from all the guys, such a
joy to record. A lot of work went into this album, especially rehearsal time.
13. For
John: In 1976/77, you joined Uriah Heep as their new lead singer, replacing
original singer David Byron. Can you remember what your audition was like for
Heep or how the band got in touch with you? I’ve read they auditioned people
such as David Coverdale.
John:
Ken Hensley called me out of the blue. The band had heard tapes of my vocals
with LF and other projects that I had done and I suppose they considered my
vocals fitting to their future plans. To do the audition, I literally had to go
out and buy the “Best Of” album to familiarize myself with bands material. However
after doing a couple of numbers I got the job.
Side
note: While waiting for the answers to the
questions, I came across an interview Ken Hensley gave on the Inside Uriah Heep DVDs. According to
Hensley, Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover had recommended Lawton to the band.
14. For John: Being a Heep fan, I do enjoy the three
albums you made with them- especially Firefly.
I am curious to know: did you ever get to meet David Byron?
John:
No I never got to meet him personally…he was at the first gig I did with the
band in London and we did kind of walk past each other with a nod of the head
and a quick Hi L
15. For
Peter and Dieter: Lucifer’s Friend went on with singer Mike Starrs for two more
albums (Good Time Warrior and Sneak Me In). What was that time like
when Mike was in the band? How did the fans respond to Mike as the new singer?
Dieter:
Could anyone replace John Lawton? No. But we found a new way playing live. Mike
was perfect as a musician and a friend to us. Everybody cancelled their jobs
and we were making records and going on tours. [We were] supports to Manfred
Manns, Van Halen and Scorpions. See Rockpalast: The fans liked it.
Side
note: For those unaware, Rockpalast was a
German concert show and venue. During their time with Mike Starrs, Lucifer’s
Friend played there. You can find the concert on CD and maybe some videos on
YouTube.
16. For
John: What do you think of the music Lucifer’s Friend released with Mike?
John:
The guys in the band as musicians would be good regardless of who the singer
was J.
Hey Mike was and still is a good singer. I think the band went slightly poppy
at that time, but hey they are always good.
17. How
did the band reunite in 1981 with John back in the group? What events led up to
it?
Peter:
A combination of a few things….we (LF) had played on John’s solo album
HEARTBEAT and we talked about doing another LUCIFERS album, we had new material
so we said “why not?” It was also the 1st time that we had recorded
outside of Germany, which was a good experience for us.
18. After
releasing Mean Machine in 1981, the
band broke up. What were the reasons behind it? Also, how successful would you
say the band was during its original run?
John:
Firstly, the band never really broke up….yes we went off and did different
things, but we never said “Okay let’s call it a day.” In the time that Mike was the singer, the band
toured quite a lot together with Van Halen, Manfred Mann so it was good to get
the band name out there.
19. What
were each of you doing after the band broke up…..
Peter:
I was touring a lot with the James Last Orchestra together with Peter Hecht and
Herbert Bornhold, the drummer with LF. Dieter was playing with a party band and
playing bass in the Orchestra for the musical CATS in Hamburg. As John says, we
really never broke up. We took some “time out” J
Side
note: When Lucifer’s Friend reunited in 1994, Lawton
and Hesslein were the only members from the original line-up present. When the
band released Sumo Grip in 1994, the
album was released under a new name- Lucifer’s Friend II.
John:
The reason [why we changed the name] was because
[Dieter] Horns & [Peter] Hecht were not on the album (their choice). They
objected to using the LF name as normal, but legally they had no standing when
we put a "II" to the name. Any animosity has long since been
forgotten, by the way…
Side
note: Playing keyboards on Sumo Grip was Jogi Wichmann.
Wichmann was brought back for the current line-up to replace Peter Hect once
again.
John:
The reason [why we changed the name] was because
[Dieter] Horns & [Peter] Hecht were not on the album (their choice). They
objected to using the LF name as normal, but legally they had no standing when
we put a "II" to the name. Any animosity has long since been
forgotten, by the way…
Side
note: Playing keyboards on Sumo Grip was Jogi Wichmann.
Wichmann was brought back for the current line-up to replace Peter Hect once
again.
20. For
Jogi: It was in 1994 when you joined the reunited band. Can you remember how
you came to join the band and were you aware of the band or even a fan?
Jogi: Peter asked me if I had pleasure and time to work at the new LF-Album.
I have met Peter with some studio-jobs in Hamburg in 1985. Also I´ve joined his
Club-Band “Bonds” for some gigs. In 1988 we even spent a summer holiday with
our families in Tunesia. He was the guy who led me in the history of LF. I
knew the titles of LF not very well except “Ride the Sky”. After his
request I listened to the first album. I was very impressed. The mixture of
Rock, Prog, Jazz und Classic – wonderful, like me 70´s heroes Keith Emerson,
Jan Hammer and Chick Corea.
21. Unfortunately,
original drummer Joachim
“Addi” Reitenbach passed away. Would anyone in the band know what year he
passed and how he passed?
John: We are sorry
to say it was drugs and alcohol related. Very sad, he was a good drummer and a
good friend
22. What led to the reunion that’s happening right
now?
Stephan: I think the band
had got offers to play some live shows. So the idea was to record some new
songs to make a best of album plus new tracks to show that Lucifer´s Friend is
back to the present.
23. For
Stephan: How did you get to become the drummer for Lucifer’s Friend? Prior to
joining the band, had you heard of them and/or were you a fan of their music?
Stephan: I heard of them by Peter Hesslein. I met him in 2002 when I joined the
James Last Orchestra where Peter was playing since decades. So there he told me
lots of stories from his band and the 70s during all the touring that we did
with JL. But it was a big surprise when Peter called me in 2014 to ask if I
would like to become a Lucifer’s Friend. He told me about their plans for the
Awakening CD and some Live Shows. For sure I said yes. What an honor to play
with these legendary guys who created and played all this fantastic music. And
they still are on fire!
24. It’s
hard for people who might be interested in the band today to find your music on
CD or vinyl. I notice that a few albums have popped up on iTunes here and
there- including The Awakening set
from last year (along with Banquet and
Mind Exploding). Would you be open to
having your other albums up for digital download or reissued?
John:
Yes of course, but there have been some re-issues and remastered albums in the
last few years. But of course these days it’s mostly downloads.
25. What’s
your favorite song to play live and is there a song you would like to play live
Stephan:
So much great stuff:
I the time of Job, Keep going, Ride the Sky… What I miss: Toxic Shadows (I
think Jack White loves this tune also)
Dieter: Ride The Sky…Cool Hand Killer…
Peter: Ride The Sky…Burning Ships and
anything from the new album TOO LATE TO HATE
26. Now
with the new album Too Late to Hate coming
out, what’s next for Lucifer’s Friend come 2017?
John:
We start at the end of January with some gigs in Germany, and then we are
talking about recording another new album in spring. We are looking at touring
next year and already have festivals booked for the summer period.
To read my review on Lucifer Friend's new album, click here.
If you would like to learn more about the band, click here to visit their official website.
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