GOTTHARD

Sometimes following your instincts is the easiest path to heaven. Clear style and unrelenting directness pave the way to success. Gotthard, the highly successful Swiss rock band, formed in 1992 followed this route. With their eighth studio album"Lipservice", the band presents gut-wrenching emotional work, which needs no explanation. Straightforward and skilful, the record satisfies every rock fan immediately. Gotthard in 2005 - uncompromising and spontaneous rock with an honest impact that gets to you. And it is this honesty which has always been a defining quality of the band. Nine years after the sensational album "G.", Gotthard finally returns to its roots. It combines the freshness of then with the experience and maturity of now. The first new single "Lift U Up" is a keen and confident statement - Gotthard hasn't sounded this strong in years! No doubt whatsoever - these guys know what to do! The band is making its own rules, making it personal and matching the mood of now. This Swiss band is recognised as a first-class act world-wide - as famous as the mountain whose name they share. The band displays a musical personality equalled by no other act. Singer Steve Lee's exceptional voice puts him among the greatest vocalists of all time. But that's not all. More than 2 million albums sold world-wide, gold, platinum, double platinum and triple platinum awards, plus a golden single ("Heaven" ) and the official Swiss Olympic song ("One Team, One Spirit) to their credit and the band is still on top. The new album "Lipservice" bears witness to the fact that they can still take you by surprise, pure hard rock extremely good! and maybe our favourite album. The word "stagnation" isn't in the vocabulary of this tireless group. The main goal of the band is to move ever forward. A small change more or less is taken in stride. One of those changes was that stage guitarist Mandy Meyer was replaced in the summer of 2004 by Freddy Scherer; his recruitment brought new energy to the whole group. The band recorded the complete album in their own studio near Lugano. Roland Prent (Rammstein, Manowar, Guano Apes) did the mixing and mastering of "Lipservice" in the Belgian Galaxy Studios - without adding any extras. The production team of Leo Leoni and Roland Prent concentrated on the essentials. In addition, for the first time Gotthard took control of its own financial affairs: G. Records was set up, enabling the band to access the music business in new ways. In Switzerland the new album will be released through G. Records. The strengths of the group, however, remain the same. They stay true to the principles established on the first day, unlike many other bands: no change in line-up, no major crises. Singer Steve Lee, Marc Lynn on bass, Hena Habegger on drums and guitarist Leo Leoni perform as one. The dynamic writing duo Leoni/Lee is responsible for most of the tracks on "Lipservice". And new addition Freddy Scherer - familiar to Marc Lynn since the old "China" days - played his part in creating some of the new songs. With "Lipservice", Gotthard indeed gets to the point. In fact, it could not have been done better! The sheer talent of this group, which has worked its way to the top on a scale that other bands can only dream of, absolutely cannot be ignored.