Showing posts with label Dark Star Records. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dark Star Records. Show all posts

Herman Rarebell and the fascinating tale of ‘Heya Heya’

Isn’t it strange how a little rock novelty ditty can rise up and become an unexpected smash in one country or region and be almost completely ignored by the rest of the world?

Such is the case of “He Ya” by the early ‘70s cult outfit Jeronimo (mislabeled on the cover on a Holland release as Geronimo). A huge hit in Germany and other European countries, “He Ya,” along with another success in “Na Na Hey Hey,” helped Jeronimo merge into hard rock’s fast lane, as the band shared stages with the likes of Deep Purple, Golden Earring and Steppenwolf, who once served as their touring partners.

In the U.S., though, Jeronimo was barely a blip on the radar screen. Being a native of Germany, Herman Rarebell remembers Jeronimo well … so well in fact that the former drummer for The Scorpions has reworked the song for his new Herman Ze German solo album, Take It as It Comes, out now on Dark Star Records. Ghostly Native American chanting and tribal drums give way to monstrously heavy guitars riffs from Horst Luksch, more chanting from the Children Choir of Unterensingen, Germany and dark electronic washes in Rarebell’s version, called “Heya Heya.” The total package is incredibly compelling.

Rarebell explains how “Heya Heya,” perhaps the most strikingly original track on the album, evolved.
“It’s an Indian tribe song and ‘Heya Heya,’ you know, is actually a cover song,” said Rarebell. “It was done in 1971 here in Germany and it became a big hit by a band called Jeronimo. It was written by two Americans, and they’d covered it in ’71 and it became #1 in Germany and it stayed #1 in Germany for nearly six months.

It was one of the longest #1s. But it never ever got outside of Germany. So, you know, my version is completely different, of course. As you can hear, it sounds really big, but basically, being a drummer, I always liked that Indian beat and I decided to make it really heavy. So it sounds really big, that kind of thing.”
Marquis De Schoelch plays keyboards and Jens Peter Abele trades off between bass and rhythm guitar on the track, which Rarebell recorded for one of his favorite charities, World Vision, an organization that seeks to assist children worldwide. But it is Luksch who plays a starring role on “Heya Heya.”

“When we did this, we did it for charity in the beginning for an organization called World Vision,” said Rarebell. “On World Vision, you literally can support a child in the Third World for about $25 a month. So basically, they really bring those kids up there, educate them. I have, for example, two kids that I’ve supported for over 25 years now; they are now doctors in Germany. So they go to school with that $25, they buy clothes, they buy their school books. They probably feed half their family with it too. And we had 30 children sing on it. We recorded it in Unterensingen. That’s where the studio is, near to Stuttgart. So when we recorded this in this place, this village actually, there was the school and the teacher. We told her this and she made the kids sing along with the song. She rehearsed it with them for about an hour and then she came down and we recorded it, because it was good fun to do this along when they’re singing “Heya heya heyay,” and when you go to YouTube, you can order the video. Yeah, I made a video of it, too.”

“Heya Heya” is not the only surprise Rarebell has in store for everyone. An interesting re-recording of the Scorpions’ biggest hit, “Rock You Like a Hurricane,” also makes an appearance on Take It As It Comes, the album title being a mantra of sorts for Rarebell.

“When you really look at the world nowadays, there’s not that much you can do about catastrophes and look at the thing that’s happening right now here in Europe and in Russia (wildfires were raging across the region at the time of this interview),” said Rarebell. “The whole of Russia is burning down at the moment, and then you look at east Germany right now, which is completely under water. What I’m talking about is if there’s a higher thing structuring you, natural catastrophes, you can only make the best out of them and look forward and take it as it comes. There’s not much you can do about it. And it literally could be your last days, so live it like this. And that’s my philosophy. You know, looking back on life nowadays how are you going to change it. See what I mean? Take it as it comes, think positive and it’s the same in America. You have recession there and it’s very difficult for a lot of people. You have to take it as it comes and look forward. Otherwise, you’ll never get out of this shit anymore. This is just what I think, you know? It’s better to think positive to the future rather than negative.”

Looking forward, and not back, seems to have worked out pretty well for Rarebell.

- Peter Lindblad

Official Herman Rarebell Website:  http://www.hermanrarebell.com/

CD Review: Herman Ze German "Take It As It Comes"

CD Review: Herman Ze German "Take It As It Comes"
Dark Star Records
All Access Review: B


Some dime-store philosophers and would-be poets choose to drown themselves in misery, and who can blame them? The nightly television news is a horror show of unimaginable human suffering. Great numbers of people in the United States are out of work and desperate to escape the financial straits they’re in. Massive earthquakes, tsunamis, mudslides, drought and a whole host of other natural disasters have been visited upon the third world, wiping out fragile infrastructure and causing death, disease and homelessness.

How could anyone with any sort of sensitivity and compassion not gaze upon it all and succumb to incurable melancholy? Big-hearted and a true humanitarian, former Scorpions drummer Herman Rareball, aka Herman Ze German, won’t turn a blind eye to such tragedies. Nor, however, will he simply throw his hands up and give in to despair, as the title of his latest solo LP indicates. Rarebell enjoys life. Our time on this earth is fleeting, after all, and to not have any fun and joy during our short stay would be a waste of such a precious gift.

Believing wholeheartedly in the words emblazoned in scary movie graphics across the album cover, Rarebell is anything but dour here. Blazing away with heavy doses of adrenalized pop-metal spiked with saxophone flourishes courtesy of wife, and actress, Claudia Raab, Rarebell points a double-barreled blast of rock straight at your heart in the somewhat bluesy title track and the life-affirming epiphany “Don’t Lose Your Trust.” The dirty underworld of phone sex operators is explored on the darkly erotic “Rough Job,” before the seductively sinister “Freak Show” tears into reality TV and its shameless pandering to the worst in all of us.

Of course, there’s the obligatory string-laden power ballad “Your Love is Hurting” and it’s not without its melodic charms, even if it is a somewhat predictable exercise at this point in Rarebell’s career. “Let Me Rock You,” espousing how great rock and roll is, is also a fairly obvious cliché. But when Rarebell experiments with moody atmospherics and exotic rhythms, like he does on the mysterious, heavy cover of the obscure “Heya Heya,” a hit in Germany by the long-forgotten German trio Jeronimo, or Geronimo as their name mistakenly appeared on record in Holland, he reveals a restless artistry that is continuing to expand and grow. With its Native American beats and chanting, not to mention the heavy guitar magic courtesy of wunderkind Horst Luksch, “Heya Heya” is a beast of a track and clearly the heavyweight champion of Take it as it Comes.

But what of the mix of black electronica, robotic metal and almost spoken-word lyrical delivery of the Rarebell’s new, and possibly controversial, cover of “Rock You like a Hurricane”? Well, it’s different, that’s for sure, and Rarebell certainly doesn’t play it safe in tackling this Scorpions’ classic. Perhaps he should have played it safe and left well enough alone. In its original state, “Rock You like a Hurricane,” often cited as one of the greatest hard-rock songs ever, was perfectly carnal, a rush of sexual heat and desire that dripped blood and other bodily fluids from its mouth. This one, while perhaps a little more evil and aggressive, feels somewhat disjointed and awkward. Still, give Rarebell credit for not simply rehashing an old chestnut. This version is interesting, and given time, and an open mind, you might just warm up to it.

There are moments of astonishing brilliance on Take it as it Comes. “Backattack,” with its frenzied harmonica and hell-spawned, country metal vibe, is really a unique and thoroughly satisfying blending of genres, and Rarebell’s ability to mesh modern-rock elements with old-school metal is work in progress that is undeniably compelling.

-        -  Peter Lindblad