Bauer, Garn & Dyle
Sturmfrei
Born in 1952, guitarist Hannes Bauer founded Bauer, Garn & Dyke in Hamburg in 1978 with Tom Garn (bass) and Roy Dyke, who had previously played drums for Pat Travers and Ashton, Gardner & Dyke, among others. Hannes Bauer recalls the founding of this cult trio as follows: "In 1978, I founded the legendary three-man band 'Bauer, Garn & Dyke'. It was quite simple: I met Roy Dyke, the drummer, in the supermarket while buying oatmeal, and I found Tom Garn, the bassist, in a music magazine under the heading MUSUGRU (Musician Seeks Group). (Of course, it wasn't quite that simple; in my lovely Hamburg, I naturally had to search for the right supermarket for quite some time before I could find Roy Dyke!) Frank Dostal was supposed to produce the record, but he demanded that I sing in German. After I had explained to him at length that one couldn't sing in German and that I wasn't Peter Kraus, he told me I could forget about the record. A little brain check, you know what I mean, and that's how the lyrics to the blues number 'Rock Me Baby' became: 'I'm in the mood, baby". So Frank, I, and a host of amateur poets and wannabe Bukowskis started twisting the words, using brute force and a rhyme-or-I'll-eat-you dictionary if necessary,and out came a bunch of witty lyrics. Including the Tree Frog Blues. In 1978, our first self-invented pet project was born:the Bauer, Garn & Dyke LP "Sturmfrei" (Free to Play). That was the beginning of a wonderful friendship with the Autobahn, the carburetor, and the ADAC (German Automobile Club). Gigs in every town and village in Germany became increasingly frequent,and we drove thousands of kilometers every weekend between Hamburg, Hamborn, and Hammerfest in our rickety band cars