There are not many bands like the Lukas Tower Band (LTB) with its unsettled
history and which at the same time were almost completely ignored by the
music media. This can be traced back both to the genre, “a unique and
ambitious Art-Folk-Rock, based on jazz harmonies” (Record Mirror) and to the
respective Zeitgeist, which was usually contrary to LTB’s musical approach.
Their music aimed at cracking the Pop/Rock mainstream, which meant ending
all attempts at three minute streamlined compositions with formulaic repetitions
of verse/chorus structures. On the contrary, the band developed a predeliction
for asymmetrical verses, the repeated use of odd meters and rhythms and
lengthy, quasi psychedelic instrumental sections, mediated by intensive vocal
parts. Thus, if the listener wasn’t interested in investing time actively listening
and even reading the lyrics, it didn’t make good background music. > The roots
of LTB go back to 1979 in the atmosphere of the University of Munich, when the
students of art and psychology Fredi Orendt (keyb, b, fl), Dieter Göbel (g, voc) and
Frank Otto (dr) invited their fellow student Wolfgang Fastenmeier (g) to jam
sessions, starting with lightweight Pop/Rock efforts. Things changed when Göbel
disappeared to the far east mantra and Fastenmeier and Orendt moved in a
completely different musical direction by developing more ambitious songs.
First they were influenced by Folk and Prog heroes such as Jethro Tull, Steeleye
Span, Pink Floyd or Camel, but later they created their own brandmark of music
– first under the label “Rocaille”, then with the shortlived “Strange Ways”. This music
was sometimes softer, sometimes more powerful, often with dark edged songs
and ballads with epic flutes about minstrels, rogues, highwaymen, murder and blood
feuds, unhappy love and dionysean struggles of the soul. " In typical Rock fashion
some members departed after a few gigs for both private and musical reasons.
In 1984 the time had come for a really new formation: Fastenmeier and Orendt took in
Walter Krainz (b) and Harald Krüger (dr) and together with female vocalist Brigitte
Schmidt LTB was formed. The name refers to their domicile: one of the St. Lukas
church towers in Munich. Schmidt’s joining the band, endowed as she was with a voice
which sounded “as if Sandy Denny had been crossed with Janis Joplin” (Folk-Rock
Society) – turned out to be a stroke of luck and thus LTB could leave their mark in the
world of Prog by having a female vocalist up front. Schmidt had a particular feeling for the
textural eclecticism of the band: the adaptation of the poetry and the fairy tales of the
British and Irish Isles set to music under the direction of Fastenmeier. r This root
formation of LTB, some say the best, soon won a loyal cult following. Nevertheless,
LTB were unlucky as their music was falling on deaf ears in the time of the post-punk
era, the eighties with their clinical neon pop songs. After two years, Krainz called it a day,
returning to Austria. But first, good replacement was found and the band saw even
more potential to shape their sound by incorporating saxophone into the lineup.
In 1988 Schmidt departed due to her new role as a mother, no longer interested in
continuing her career. From then on the number of band members changed every three
months. The band tried to integrate funk and pop elements into their music to move more
into the mainstream and further away from their Prog and Folk-Rock roots, hoping for
radio time. It was a misguided plan, as it displayed only a very streamlined version of all
the elements that made LTB unique. It resulted in “a sticky Soft-Rock amalgam with thin
lyrics” (Progressive News), a situation that culminated in the early nineties. Fastenmeier
and Orendt devoted themselves to other projects, leaving the band reeling in a musical
Nirvana and it seemed only a question of time before LTB would quit. a So much more
surprising then, was the comeback of the band, highlighted as newcomer (!) of the year
2000 by Grooveme Records. The band now consisted of Fastenmeier (g), Orendt (keyb, fl),
Gerhard Heinisch (b), Albrecht Pfister (sax, fl), completed by ex-hard rocker Thomas
Willecke on drums and the expressive female vocalist Angela Maier, originally based on
the jazz tradition, and supplemented by varying guest musicians. Today, “the vital and
rejuvenated veterans” are able “to return musically to their starting point of their unique
Prog-Rock in a folky and jazzy vein” (Prog World). l
From: Paul Burglar (2000). A Comprehensive History of Rock. Edinburgh University Press.