*sigh of happiness* The Petards, one of Germany’s most successful beat-turned-innovative kind of psychedelic rock and pop bands, are absolutely marvelous musicians! They even went as far as becoming pioneers of Krautrock. Well, their progressive, incredibly experimental 1971 album Pet Arts (Favorite Arts) is the only Krautrock-oriented album they worked on.
Having its origins in Schrecksbach, located in the Schwalm-Eder District in the State of Hesse, The Petards (whose name is derived from the French for “bullfrog,” making the German name Die Knallfrösche an alternate name for the group) were the brainchild of two guitar-playing brothers, Horst and Klaus Ebert. Before The Petards, however, Horst and Klaus formed a completely different group called The Magic Stompers, who were more of Dixieland and Skiffle styles, complete with cover songs.
After The Petards were formed, they literally kicked things off by recording the ear-slaying, distortion-fueled garage rock of “Baby Run Run Run,” before producing more Beatlesque tunes such as the awesomeness that is “Right Time.” Note that the shrillness of the band’s early, garage rock-focused sound had actually caused them to be taken to court in Treysa for disturbing the peace! They even played a concert before the judge!
The music of The Petards is a sonic dinner of multiple courses, consisting of songs in the manner of garage rock, beat, pop rock, psychedelia, hard rock and even prog.
The band’s more poppier, light-hearted side is found in songs such as their first major hit single, “Shoot Me Up to the Moon,” as well as “Golden Glass” and “Misty Island.” On the flip side of that coin, they were able to produce more guitar-focused, hard rocking material on tracks such as “Keep On,” “Stone By Now,” “Good Good Donna.”
These guys are also known for the driving bass work of Rüdiger “Roger” Waldmann and the powerful drumming of Arno Dittrich. With his solos, Arno was literally able to hypnotize the band’s audience into a psychedelic trance. For an even more psychedelic drum extravaganza from Arno, check out the effects-laden “Spectrum” from Pet Arts. You’ll enjoy it!
However, Arno Dittrich, as popular as he was among Petardigae (as I would like to call Petards fans, the singular form would be Petardix) was not the original drummer of the band. Hans-Jürgen Schreiber is the one who holds that claim. He only appeared on the band’s first two singles, and then he called it quits. Arno wasn’t even the band’s second drummer; Franz Binder holds that claim as well, as temporary as Franz was with them. Arno came in third, but he is still one of the greatest drummers in rock history!
Enough with history and opinions. The focal point of this article is why The Petards were mostly popular within their native Germany, and why they don’t have the global recognition that they deserve.
Well, The Petards, as with other German beat and pop rock-oriented groups such as The Rattles and The Lords, were just as popular in Germany as the aforementioned two. These three bands sung their repertoire in English, but these bands never really took off outside Germany, other than some surrounding areas, like when The Petards had a following in the former Czechoslovakia, for example. My theory is that this may be due to a lack of outside distributors who were willing to release their stuff in the United Kingdom, the United States, etc. Another factor is the fact that the singles and albums that these bands released did not have much of an impact on international music charts or radio broadcasters as artists like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones had. Considering that these groups had their heydays in the 1960s in Germany, these bands may not have showed up in any American music catalogs or other music-related publications outside Europe at the time, and international imports, I believe, were very expansive at the time. Since the Internet did not exist, it would have been virtually impossible to be able to get their albums or at least have knowledge of these bands. Since the Internet came into being, people here in America and elsewhere were able to discover the music of The Petards, The Rattles, The Lords and their contemporaries.
The Internet also helped The Petards gain a new level of popularity, but even with the Internet, they still didn’t gain global recognition. These guys deserve it! Their albums and singles need to be reissued and put out here in the States and abroad, including, but not limited to, the United Kingdom, Japan, The Philippines, South Korea, Russia, India, Israel, Turkey, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, and even Greenland!
With good promotion and publicity, The Petards are sure to make it big!
Dear Jimmy Kimmel,
If you are reading this, I need your help to get The Petards recognized, just as you helped Lake Havasu City, Arizona, gain newfound publicity.
We need you, Jimmy!
This article is dedicated to the memory of Horst Ebert and Bernd Wippich.
The Opening of Their 2007 Reunion!
The Crazy Mind of Tré Roland 