It´s been a while since I introduced some German music to you. So it´s time to continue with this little series. Today I´ve got a band for you that might sound a little strange to some of you because they were…let´s say a little bit different 😉

I´m talking about Trio which was a band that emerged in 1982 during the so called “Neue Deutsche Welle” (New German Wave) although they always dissociated themselves from it. The Neue Deutsche Welle also brought Nena with her 99 red balloons. I guess this one is familiar to a lot of people all over the world.

The special thing about Trio was, that they totally minimized their sound and lyrics. So they mainly played only two instruments (guitars and drums) and the lyrics often consisted of a few words. Their biggest Erfolg (success) was the song  “Da da da” that is known in other countries as well.

In the late 60’s Stephan Remmler (vocals) and Kralle Krawinkel (guitars) already played zusammen (together) in a Rolling Stones cover band called “Just Us”. In 1969 they split and both of them carried on to make music on their own. But things didn´t turn out to be successful.

Remmler and Krawinkel  became Studienkollegen (fellow students) and worked as teachers during the 70´s. 1979 there was a “Just Us” reunion concert that has been quite successful, so they decided to give the whole music thing another try. Remmler and Krawinkel quit their jobs and started a Firma (company) with the goal to produce profitable music.
They rented a house in the north of Germany where they lived and worked together. Band sessions with up to 25 musicians took place on weekends. During the week, Remmler and Krawinkel probten (rehearsed) only with Peter Behrens, a drummer that they contacted through a newspaper advertisement.

In the beginning of 1980, there was a shortage of money and Remmler and Krawinkel were forced to sell most of their equipment. Finally they decided to continue only with Behrens and to abstain from the other musicians. For this Grund (reason), they called themselves “Trio” and in December 1980 they had their first concert.
They produced a demo record to apply for a Plattenvertrag (record deal) and due to their extraordinary live show, they also had some quite good response in the media. In 1981 they finally got their deal and the first record was made. During the following tour, the song  “Da da da” was written by Stephan Remmler and the Publikum (audience) loved it.

From there, things went fast and they started to play even in TV shows and became very successful. The band released another album and then decided to make a Pause (break) in 1984.
In 1985 they met again and produced another album and a movie that was released at the same time. But the album couldn´t reach the Beliebtheit (popularity) of the older records and so the band finally split. Krawinkel and Remmler started their solo careers but Behrens had to struggle with alcohol and drugs. In the end, Stephan Remmler was the only one who could successfully continue to make music.

The story of the band didn´t last for a long time. But nevertheless, due to their unique sound and concept, the band created something really special. I never listened to music that could be compared to Trio, so “Hats off!”

Take a look at the music video to “Da da da”:

What a bad taste, isn´t it? 🙂

Some vocabulary to this post:
Neue deutsche Welle – new German wave
der Erfolg – success
zusammen – together
die Studienkollegen – fellow students
die Firma – company
proben – to rehearse
der Grund – reason
der Plattenvertrag – record deal
das Publikum – audience
die Pause – break
de Beliebtheit – popularity