A HIT TRIO

Rockstars come from New York, Los Angeles, London and Paris. In Germany: Hamburg, Munich or Berlin have traditionally been the suppliers of that country's successful bands.

When a group try to make their way from a small town into the upper echelons of the music scene then one usually findsthat they will embarassingly try to deny their roots and head for the nearest big city.

It takes a certain amount of courage when three musicians by the name of TRIO appear and don't attempttohidetheirgeographical origin. In fact they take it one step furtherand proudly printtheirname and address on the sleeve of their first album entitled, funnily enough "Trio." So farthey haven't had any troublefrom doing so, infactcertain German radio producers have been enterprising enough to take advantage of this hot line and have 'phoned through to them unexpectedly and presented the band as a surprise live act on their programmes-generally to the background of running bath water orthe clinking of glasses as the band partook of a little "schnapps."

A meeting with Trio tends to prove that this is one band who doesn't fit into an accepted category in the music business. Comparisons to other bands are difficult to draw as they seem to rangefrom Elvis Presley, through Status Quo, to the Sex Pistols! In fact most journalists who have seen the band have been rendered speechless! Critics, whether they see Trio as a pure joke combo, a new wave band or tried to drawa parallel to their minimal rockabilly traits, have generally found a common ground somewhere along the line in the fact thattheyarea "fun" band. In fact a typical Trio audience represents a gathering of a cross section of today's musicfans.

Ah, but it almost looks like we do, after all, have a band with no stereotype, fabricated image and supported by the usual promotion campaigns etc., But no, regarding the latter there was initially a discussion as to which was to come first, the chicken orthe egg? Trio are not a band aiming at any particular market. They are three friends, namely Steven, Peter and "Kralle" who changed their eccentricity into a virtueandwho initially brought their minimal arttothe people without any outside financial backing.

It isn't a calculated ploy of theirs, designed to stimulate extra attention, that they don't have the (normally believed) indispensable bass player. Their line-up is Peter-snare drums; Steve-vocals and casio and "Kralle" on guitar. In the past they did have a succession of bassists but musically it didn't work out with any of them. Recalls Peter: "We just said, sod it, the three of us were able to practice better-we were more intense-and more to the point."

By the same token the mini-equipment isn't meantto represent some sort of concept but is born out of necessity from a financial point of view: less expenditure, less cost-1 suppose it does make sense!

Klaus Voorman, ex-Beatles sleeve designer, heard the self-penned and financed mini Trio album and decided to putthem into a studio to record the real thing. The resulting album was promoted nationwide in record shops and clubs. Unfortunately records, being one-dimensional, could not put across what the band are like live. Steven (who tends to wear oversized suits); Peter (track suit and woolly hat) and "Kralle" (whose optical appearance would cast him perfectly as leading man in Willhelm Busch's film "Max and Moritz") stands on stage between piles of records and musicassette boxes. If you catch them on a good club night you get to meet Carmen (their exclusive inflatable playmate from one of Germany's mail-order sex shops!) She is perhaps, a little worse for wear from her three-fold burden! The tamer aspects of their set take in the use of a plastic to yguitar with synthesiser effects.