[ Bands ] [ News ] [ Tourdaten ] [ Hell Over Hammaburg ] [ Kontakt/Impressum ] Home > > Bands > > Archiv > > Gigantor Fotos G7! Gigantor www.gigantor.de Info: 1991 - Gigantor is born. Jens Gallmeyer (ex-PHOSPHOR, DER MODERNE MAN, ROTZKOTZ, SMARTIES and even CHANNEL THREE) and Nico Poschke (THREE CHORD WONDER) form the band to cover ("just for fun") a couple of good songs. Their favourite singer Gagu (still RUBBERMAIDS at that time) surprisingly agrees to join in immediately. Bernd Granz of LOST & FOUND RECORDS likes the idea so much that he offers to put out a 7" single right away. Drummer Heiko Bendlin (THREE CHORD WONDER) and californian bass-player Jay Lansford (ex-SIMPLETONES, CHANNEL THREE, RIK L RIK, THE UNFORGIVEN, SMARTIES) join up and away they go! 1992 - The fearless five record their first 7" QUICKER THAN QUICK... in Nico's garage in Wunstorf, Germany, on his old 8-track recorder. This 7"turns out to be more successful than expected and 4 months later they're already recording their second 7", MR. BLUE SKY, this time in Nico's new 24-track studio. The same session spawns the songs "Everything Counts" by DEPECHE MODE (which will be used later as the opening track for the LOST & FOUND Compilation "...And The Fun Just Never Ends") and "It's Gigantic!" on which Jay's old buddy Spencer Sercombe, whose tour with MICHAEL SCHENKER somehow led him to Hannover, plays a great solo. By the end of the year Gigantor is ready to hit the stage for the first time. They play a secret support for Gagu's RUBBERMAIDS in Hannover. In November they start rehearsing for the album " MAGIC BOZO SPIN" not knowing that it'll take a long long time to get it done... 1993 - In early 1993 Gigantor begin with the recordings for their first full length CD "MAGIC BOZO SPIN", to be released by LOST & FOUND. Estimated release date is August '93, a date that has to be rescheduled over and over again due to personal and organizational reasons. In April '93 Gigantor go on a short mini-tour with their friends, the RICHIES. People like it. The last show of the tour takes place in the sold out FLOHZIRKUS in Hannover. This time people really like it. Three weeks later LOST & FOUND releases the third 7" "It's Gigantic", a split single shared with L.A. punksters YOUTH BRIGADE. But wait, the year's not over yet, and LOST & FOUND think they should release two more records with Gigantor material.By the end of the summer they release a split-CD with DOWN BY LAW from California and another split 7" with GOOBER PATROL from England. Nevertheless Gigantor continue to play live. They quickly become one of the hottest live-bands in the country. 1994 - Gigantor are still working on their album but it's finally released in March. Gagu leaves the RUBBERMAIDS to concentrate full force on Gigantor. Suddenly there's a lot of fans in Japan. "MAGIC BOZO SPIN"is released in Japan in October. An invitation for a Japan-tour follows. 1995 - The band records five new songs for an E.P. on the VINYL JAPAN label and plays three shows in Japan in March 1995. "It's Gigantic!" is released in Japan, as well. The japanese fans are totally crazy about Gigantor and the tour turns out to be very successful. The three shows in Tokyo are SOLD OUT with 600 people each night. After the tour the band start working on new songs for their upcoming album "ATOMIC!". The recordings start in July and "ATOMIC!" turns out to be a monster of an album. It's released in October and features great songs and great sounds and even great guest villains, such as WWF-Wrestling-Star MAN MOUNTAIN ROCK who plays a ripping solo on "That's The Way It Is". A hot record and a big step for the band. Inbetween the band played support on the german part of the european tour of their favourite band , THE DICKIES, who immediately gave them one of their great songs ("H.I.V.") that's of course included on the album. And if this wasn't enough the DICKIES' lead singer, Leonard G. Phillips, records the song "She's The One " (yeah the RAMONES classic) with Gigantor. This is the only song where he sings outside his own band. We're not worthy. 1996 - "ATOMIC!" also gets released in Japan on the JVC label. In October the band returns to Japan to play one show in Osaka (Bay Side Jenny Club, 800 people, SOLD OUT!) and two shows in Kawasaki (Club Citta, near Tokyo, 1.500 people each night, SOLD OUT!). The shows are very successful and the band already gets an invitation to come back in 1997. For this tour the band releases "She's The One" (with Leonard Graves Phillips, the singer of the DICKIES) as a Tour-Only-Single on their own label G-FORCE-Records. 1997 - The band starts working on new songs and records the new album ("The 100! Club") in December for JVC Records / Japan exclusively. In October the fearless five play the TRIBUTE SHOW (as one of ten bands) for German chart-punks DIE ARZTE at the GROSSE FREIHEIT (a BIG club) in Hamburg. This show gets 'em BIG reputation and a 2-page spread in BRAVO (Germany's biggest teen-magazine). This time we ARE worthy! 1998 - Gigantor is in the studio 'til end of January recording the new album, "THE 100! CLUB". Their good friend and producer-ace Sascha Paeth produces it and it's released March 21st on JVC Records in Japan only. This album is a BIG step forward for the band. In July the fearless five play agin five shows with their friends, THE DICKIES. On August 28th the Hannover/Germany based label NASTY VINYL releases "THE 100! CLUB" on CD for the Europe territory, while GIGANTOR releases the album on vinyl simultaneously on their own label, G-FORCE Records. In September the band is playing the support-slot for the German leg of RANCID's Euro-tour. 1999 - Jens Gallmeyer starts writing new songs with the band's new guitarplayer, Andreas Mertens, who joined the band in January. In April, Gigantor went back in the studio with Sascha Paeth (who produced THE 100! CLUB) to record a couple covertunes by their favourite bands THE WILDHEARTS ("29x The Pain"), THE DICKIES ("Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind"), THE WONDERS ("That Thing You Do"), AGENT ORANGE ("Bloodstains") and THE Mr. T EXPERIENCE ("King Dork"). The song "Bloodstains" will also be used for the BLOODSTAINS-compilation, to be released by EMPTY RECORDS. Every band on this compilation plays the same song by AGENT ORANGE (hence the title). The original is included, as well. Finally, in late September, Gigantor are heading back to the studio to record the new album, "BACK TO THE ROCKETS!". This time the record is being produced by the band but mixed by Sascha Paeth. Among the 17 songs is a coverversion of "Asia No Junshin", a hugely popular Japanese pop-song by the Japanese girl-duo PUFFY. Of course the coverversion is sung in Japanese! In late October the first two split-7"s are released (one with ADZ and one with THE MR. T EXPERIENCE). "BACK TO THE ROCKETS!" was released in Japan on December 16. 2000 - The year starts off extremely well, as the new album is very well received in Japan. Sales are really strong and the band gets mucho radio-airplay with "Asia No Junshin". There's also offers for an upcoming tour in Japan.. For the first time his tour will take the band not only to Tokyo and Osaka but also to more remote cities like Fukuoka and Sapporo. Everywhere else in the world, the album is also gaining interest and the band is negotiating with various labels for a release. In March the third split-7" is released, which teams up GIGANTOR with Jay's old band THE STEPMOTHERS (from LA). In late September the fearless five once again take it to Japan where they play 8 shows in 7 cities. But before they (finally) get signed to SPV Records (Hannover, Germany). The tour is very sucessful and the band is capturing EVERYTHING on video. This material eventually ends up in the promo video clip for "Asia No Junshin". After returning from Japan in October the band starts working full power on the next yet unnamed album. 2001 - The year starts... oh, wait - we had that last year! ;) By January there are already 18 new songs written. In February the band is signing a deal for the USA and for Australia with Rotten Records, an American label. Rotten Records releases "BACK TO THE ROCKETS!" simultaneously with SPV in Europe on April 23, 2001. In May GIGANTOR tour all over Germany, supporting their friends LOLITA NO. 18 from Japan. This tour also gives a good reason to release yet another split 7" with the LOLITAs. Meanwhile Andy and Jens keep writing music for the next album. By July they have written over 20 good ones and the band hits the studio in July to record the new album, titled "Rhythm/Trouble!". The record is finished by the end of the year and the band has recorded 18 songs. 4 songs didn't make it on the album: "New Flesh (2001)", "Banished From My Mind", "Who Will Save Rock'n'Roll?" and "Top Of The World". 2002 - In January band photographer Joerg Kyas is shooting a video for "Umi E To", the japanese bonus track on "RHYTHM/TROUBLE!". The video is getting a great response in Japan and gets a lot of airplay on several japanese Musiv TV stations before the album release. "RHYTHM/TROUBLE!" is released in Japan on March 6th by JVC VICTOR. By the end of March, the legendary BELA B. (drummer for Germany's biggest punk band, DIE AERZTE) comes to Hannover to contribute some vocals to "Who Will Save Rock'n'Roll?". In August the band records 5 cover versions (to be used later on several releases) at Peppermint Park Studios in their hometown, Hannover. Another tour of Japan follows in October where GIGANTOR were invited by the japanese RAMONES FANCLUB to play once again at Club Cittá in Kawasaki at the first japanese RAMONES tribute show with lots of other japanese bands. The band is also introduced to legendary RAMONES art- and lighting director, Arturo Vega and to Barbara Ramone, wife of the late and great DeeDee Ramone (RIP). For the Japan-Tour, GIGANTOR releases yet another tour-CD with five songs, called "Great German Cook EP". 2003 - GIGANTOR takes it very easy in 2003. They play only two (!!!) shows in the whole year. Instead they concentrate on writing songs for their seventh album, "G7!" and demoing 5 of them, again at Peppermint Park Studios, Hannover. That's it. Oh, wait - in July, Doro Pesch (DORO) also contributes vocals to the still unreleased "Who Will Save Rock'n'Roll?". 2004 - The year starts with heavy preparations for the new album which the band records in February and March at Institut für Wohlklangforschung in Hannnover. 16 songs were recorded, including "Ain't Just Talkin' 'bout Love" which was sung by the band's old friend, Olga from THE TOY DOLLS. Olga was invited to sing on this song because when the song was played the first time at rehearsals, "it sounded like a TOY DOLLS song". Olga did a great job and also contributed a cool guitar solo to the song plus even more vocals to "Who Will Save Rock'n'Roll?", which finally appears on the "G7!" album. The album was being mixed in California by Jim Bacchi of power-popsters FUZZBUBBLE. Also in March, GOLF RECORDS (UK) re-released almost all previous GIGANTOR albums (incl. liner notes and bonus tracks) plus "Rhythm/Trouble!". In June and July, the fearless five tour in Germany with their friends BALZAC (Japan). The new album "G7!" will be released in Japan in September on JVC RECORDS and in Europe in November on GOLF RECORDS. [ Promotion ] [ Publishing ] [ Datenschutz ] [BILD] [BILD]