Who was/is Die Phantom Brothers ? - CDs, Vinyl LPs, DVD and more
THE PHANTOM BROTHERS
The Phantom Brothers were founded in 1959 by the brothers Horst Krüger (lead guitar, vocals) and Rudi Krüger (drums), both seamen who belonged to a rocker gang, and the wholesaler Olgerd Woköck (guitar, vocals) as the Phantoms in Rendsburg.
The first public appearance of the trio, which had taken its name from the French Les Fentomes, took place in 1960. When Wolfgang Woköck, Olgerd's brother, who played lead guitar with the Bavarian instrumental group Tornados, joined the band as bassist, they logically renamed themselves Phantom Brothers. When the brothers had worked out a repertoire of about 30 instrumental and 5 vocal numbers, they met the manager and promoter Manfred Woitalla, for whom they set up the Lüneburg Star-Palast to perform there for two months immediately afterwards: their first professional guest appearance.
Woitalla continued to use the four (with 'Sir' Rudi (Krüger), the standing drummer) in northern Germany until December 1, 1963, when they took third place in the Star Club competition and were signed by Manfred Weissleder. The latter sent the Phantom Brothers all over Europe when they were not performing at the main house on the Grosse Freiheit.
Together with other Star Club bands, they made guest appearances at the Iron Door Club in Liverpool, where the girls combed Olgerd Woköck and Horst Krüger's rocker hairstyles into their foreheads, which they kept up, back in Hamburg. Later, the others also submitted to the Beatles fashion. Their music, however, was more Stones-oriented.
Olgerd: "We recorded the Chuck Berry tune 'Oh Carol' on record rather than the Rolling Stones."
As the 'German Rolling Stones' they were then also revered by the fans. And not only by the fans: "The Phantom Brothers were the absolute punkiest and hardest thing to see at the time. The Pretty Things later were perhaps similar. The Phantom Brothers were from the boonies. But they performed it so mercilessly, we could all just take our hats off." (Dieter Horns, German Bonds)
The Phantom Brothers, unlike most other groups, were constant in terms of personnel.
Olgerd: "The only one who played with us for a while was Bernd Schulz, who later became a keyboard player with the Rattles. But really only as a guest. And only during a Star Palace guest performance in Lüneburg."
The Phantom Brothers disbanded at the end of 1969. Today, Olgerd owns a large-capacity discotheque, Wolfgang works in his learned profession as a gas station attendant and performs as a solo entertainer in his spare time, Horst is a professional solo entertainer, and Rudi, a setter on a large machine, drums in a rock 'n' roll combo on the side.
© Bear Family Records®
Copyright © Bear Family Records®. Copying, also of extracts, or any other form of reproduction, including the adaptation into electronic data bases and copying onto any data mediums, in English or in any other language is permissible only and exclusively with the written consent of Bear Family Records® GmbH.
More information about Die Phantom Brothers on Wikipedia.org