Red Neck Roller

Description

Sometimes you wonder why a record remained unknown and only attracted attention in one region. With Poker, you don't know where to start with all the arguments that should have made them conquer the rock world. Let's start with the musicians who founded this band in 1980. The name Kin Ping Meh appears twice, which makes Krautrock fans take notice. Guitarist Gagey Mrozeck and singer Michael Pozz were part of that legendary band, while Peter Oehler (guitar) and Jürgen Astor (drums) came from the Geff Harrison Band. Poker was not only connected to the Mannheim region, it was also a star-studded band, especially since the names "Nine Days Wonder" and "Twenty Sixty Six And Then" must also be mentioned, so the list of former bands is half complete. The energetic hard rock was put on record in 1981 with internationally competitive production. "Red Neck Roller" is the name of the "red thing," which was artistically exciting in terms of visual concept, but also seems to have had little importance. Even the vinyl itself was red. Neither the cover nor the inside contained a group photo. Another problem was the label SLRecords (Gama), which was still quite new to the business and had nowhere near the distribution potential of a major company. Today, experts agree: If "Red Neck Roller" had been released by one of the major companies, it would have "really made an impact"! The unreleased 1983 demo, which is included as a bonus on the CD version of this reissue (the LP contains one track from the demo), confirms this hypothesis. Hypothesis? Let's rather call it a fact. Thus, "Red Neck Roller" became the band's first and only album. And this album has now been released in new splendor for the first time as a reissue (CD, LP) in cooperation with the band (Peter Oehler) and Break Out Classics (Mike Möller) via Golden Core, remastered by Neudi. Some of the band members went on to have careers after Poker became history! Gagey Mrozeck joined Herbert Grönemeyer and wrote for him, for example, the hit "Alkohol." After his time with Edo Zanki and Poker, he played a major role for Grönemeyer from 1982 to 1990. Michael Pozz and Jürgen Astor remained faithful to rock music! Both joined the British band Tokyo Blade and had their own band called Dead Ballerinas. Astor also played drums with Stahl, while Peter Oehler changed genres and played with Costa Cordalis for many years. Knowing all these names, it's normal to be a bit astonished. Listening to "Red Neck Roller," this concentrated skill stands out! It is complemented by the simple fact that Poker's music is simply great!