Artist description Pidgin Styles already have been on TV. The single "chance" has been bundled with 10 Million CD-ROMs!

Music Style Professional crossover rock

Musical Influences Different (pidgin) styles

Similar Artists The band is unique

Artist History Young and beautiful boys and girlis, who love rock and pop - went "back to real music" The members of Pidgin Styles are as different as the music the band plays. When we first got together in 1996 we were just six ambitious amateur musicians between 18 and 38 who were determined to make music and have a ball. The first lineup didn’t include background singer Claudia Heinen, and our original bass man was Georg Blömeling, better known as “Mr. Groove”. Georg is an orthopedic shoemaker by trade, and for the last twelve years he’s been devoting every minute of his free time to music. He actually hails from the heavier side of the rock scene and has already played in a number of bands ranging from Hard Rock to Heavy Metal, Punk and New Wave. He was also the one who really got the Pidgin stone rolling. We celebrated our first sessions in March 1996 with Alex “Tomahawk Jones” Küch on guitar and Ralf “Snake” Piel on drums. “Celebrated” is really the right word - as soon as we played the first bars together everything just clicked, and every rehearsal turned into a real party. Alex is the manager of the well-known Country band Nashville Music Company, and his guitar background is actually more jazz-oriented. He joined the band at the tender age of 30 with over ten years of stage experience - his last group before Pidgin was the rock band Between the Sheets. Drummer Ralf’s musical roots are in Soul, Funk and good old Rock. Now 32, he’s been drumming ever since he was ten. With over 17 years of stage experience he’s the band’s oldest hand and a jack of all trades who’s played in virtually every kind of band you can name, including cover/top 40, big band, rock and pop lineups. He’s even participated in really classic projects like 11 Drummers Drumming and Four Seasons - all in his free time, because he’s still holding down a full job as the director of an advertising agency. There are two key factors that influenced the development of the band: Firstly, it was impossible for us to cover songs because of our widely different musical tastes and backgrounds, and secondly we noticed that there was still a slight lack of pep at the beginning. Since we could never agree on what songs to cover we just picked out the best passages from our fantastic rehearsals and put them together. The result was “Chance”, the band’s first song. Chance is an unusual piece that’s difficult to classify in a specific musical style. We wouldn’t claim to have created a new style, but this approach definitely became the band’s basic theme. We decided we only wanted to produce our own songs, using a mixture of elements from all imaginable styles without any musical limitations or rules for the lyrics - and that’s also how we came to choose the band’s name. Then there was the question of pep. What was missing, we realized, was the unique voice of Anna Conrads, who was just 17 when she joined us, and a vivacious front man with a touch of craziness - whom we found in solo guitarist Stefan “Breidy” Breitkreutz (33). A little later we got another great addition in the form of background singer Claudia Heinen (19). Anna Conrads now writes the lyrics for all our songs and Breidy has pretty much become our “creative musical ideas and energy man”. Like Mr. Groove he comes more from the Hard Rock scene. Breidy has over 13 years of stage experience and he’s the band’s most talented improviser. At our rehearsals there were always a few friends who came to listen to the music and join in the fun. That’s how our Rolf Hilchner got involved - originally one of the friends at the rehearsals, he saw the group’s potential, organised the production of the first single, Chance, and now he’s the band’s manager. Over 10 million copies of Chance have now been distributed, clearly demonstrating that Rolf knew a good thing when he saw one. It was really a rocket start - everything happened in the space of a year - and the band soon attracted the attention of the local press, radio and a TV station, which gave us the opportunity to perform live on a television magazine show. All this gave us maximum motivation for the work on our first album, aptly titled “First”. Juan Andrews-Pollard (38), a Marenge and Salsa bassist from Cuba took over as bassist in early 1997, bringing some fresh and interesting new impetus to the band. This is clearly apparent in the song “Dame Mas” for example. All in all Pidgin Styles is an interesting blend of different musical styles without technical frippery - you could say that the goal is “back to real music”. There’s every reason to look forward to more hit surprises from their new album.

Group Members Vocals - Anna; backvocals - Claudia (and other members); Leadguitar - Stefan; Rhythmguitar - Alex; base and percussions - Juan; drums, percussions and harp - Ralf

Instruments Vocals, backvocals, leadguitar, rhythmguitar, base and percussions, drums, percussions and harp

Albums FIRST

Press Reviews Report on the band on TV, reports in news magazines

Location Oldenburg, Niedersachsen - Germany

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