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THANKS to their charismatic singer and writer Jake they immediately created a very special final for their show, that always set the place ablaze: a very intimate version of the main title from the 60's TV series "Raumpatrouille" soon became the band's trademark throughout many years and caused almost tumultuous scenes in the audience. The line-up at this time was: Jake-vocals, Felix-drums, Ron-guitar, Marc-guitar, Jan-bass. First recordings took place at the BEAT Studio, Berlin. Although the band didn't sign a contract for a record so far and therefore was unable to turn these tapes to profit for a long time, it finally turned out to be a fine reserve for a 7" Single called THE VINTAGE TAPES , released many years later.
AFTER an ingenious correspondance with Fury Records, England, LOTA RED finally made their debut with "JOHNNY RIDES" on the LP "Something To Remember", a record hard to get nowadays. This sampler was released in 1989 and soon sold out. JOHNNY RIDES became one of the most demanded songs in the band's performances on stage.
MEANWHILE LOTA RED went through some change in their line-up, replacing their original bass player Jan with a new and fresh-blooded musician: Micha Frick. In 1993 their very first 12" EP DOOMSDAY appeared on Mental Disorder Records, Germany, creating an almost hysterical level of exaltation (esp. in France where the band was on Tour soon after the record was available in french stores, too) and helping owner Marcus Coenen to get a profound wealth that let him publishing other bands, too. It also showed for the first time the band's very own concept for the artwork of their record, a wild mixture between Comic-Strip-like colours and Pop Art subjects. In 1994 another Video Tape was released through this label, called BLAST OF SILENCE, showing the band live on stage. Although the quality of this early recording is very poor compared to today's common standard on e.g. DVD, the Tape almost achieved sustained success by selling continuously.
1994 was another great year in the band's history. Encouraged by the immense success, MD released LOTA RED's massive studio album and very first CD FIVE GRAVES TO CAIRO. This album tended to be a milestone in the band's career so far, featuring such classic tunes like GOOD DAY TO DIE and BAD SURPRISE. It soon sold out and was never re-released by MD, unfortunately.
THE following year Mental Disorder broke down 'cause of severe competition and a planned third album wasn't released through MD Records. Instead, another Label the band already thought of got the merit for it, PLANET RECORDS from Tokyo, Japan. Excited by the opportunity to release the album on this japanese Label LOTA RED signed the contract almost immediately after FIVE GRAVES TO CAIRO had been released. That turned out to be a big drawback for the band since certain following negotiations with PLANET RECORDS appeared rather confusing than productive. Finally, RAMPAGE appeared in 1996! The record represents quite another image of LOTA RED, being more "hard on the edge" with songs like THE DROWNING and SWEET A. Once again, LOTA RED made quite an impression with creating another exciting artwork that reminds the viewer of some kind of "Time Tunnel" theme.
DURING the Year of 1996, Micha Frick left the band and decided to start his own career in an all new project and LOTA RED again had to think about a new bass player. After a successful period with "slapping Frick" it seemed to be an almost unanswerable problem to find an adequate player. But soon an almost ideal and attractive succession was found: Sandy! This gal soon turned out to be a big hit in all it's meaning. Since then the band got another eye-catcher and LOTA RED's appearances on stage began to focus on Sandys ability and vibrancy.
THE following years a common technical progress wasn't deniable even to a band like LOTA RED. Using analog techniques, for recording and even for promoting, became more and more - let's say - unusual in a way. As a result LOTA RED launched it's own website in 1999 and started to think about an all "non-analog" recording session. Although a good analog recording was almost unbeatable at this time and regularly used by the band, LOTA RED began to explore digital techniques, too. But digital mixdown without lacking a certain saturation in sound was quite a problem at this level.
YET another new release was needed. CRAZY LOVE RECORDS turned out to be the band's new label, after recordings had begun in 1999. In the year of 2000 the new CD/LP called CLOSE TO THE SUN was released. Featuring a complete new artwork for the band and being published in a lavishly way, the album soon made it's way and took LOTA RED to a new era, using a fully digital studio for recording for the first time. Since the band has always been keen to produce even better and bigger sounds, the recordings were quite exhausting. But in the end it all paid off for the band and CLOSE TO THE SUN put a another mark in LOTA RED's career.
THROUGHOUT the years LOTA RED appeared on various Samplers and CD's, even early recordings of the band, recorded at the famous BEAT STUDIO, Berlin, were released due to the interest of such fans like the founders of SPRINTER RECORDS from Switzerland.
IN April 2007 the long awaited relaunch of the LOTA RED's website took place and new projects are focussed by the band. Almost twenty years of rockin' history and still on stage and in focus! That's another main aim for the band to keep on rollin'....
To be continued....
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