REFORM - CLOSE ENCOUNTERS

Reform was a German rock band from Magdeburg that was active from 1975 to 1986. The GDR Amiga label released three of the band's LPs. The band's name is a tribute to the Magdeburg district reform and symbolizes the band's efforts to "new sounds" in rock music. In 1975, guitarist Jörg Matze Blankenburg, who came from the Klosterbrüder group, founded Reform with Mike Demnitz (bass), Peter Piele (drums), Werner Kunze (guitar, keyboard) and Frank Schönfeld (vocal, flute, alto saxophone). After two years, singer Stephan Trepte joined. He came from Lift and became the new leader of the band. Mike Demnitz was replaced for the next two years by Jörg Dobbersch before returning to Reform. Most of the lyrics were written by Ingeburg Branoner. Reform's first title, produced on Nebel radio, immediately reached #1 on the Beatkiste special stage on Voice of the GDR (Stimme der DDR). The first LP, called "Reform 1", appeared in 1979. Shortly thereafter, Peter Beppo Förster came on as new drummer and Günter Grete Fischer as the band's new guitarist. In 1981, violinist Hans Wintoch became a member of Reform. In 1982, following the release of the LP "Der Löwenzahn" ("The dandelion"), Marcus Schloussen took over the bass, Thomas Kolbe the keyboards and Christian Jähnig the drums. In 1984, Wintoch left the band. Since then he has played the violin as Hans, the violinist (Hans die Geige). In 1985 came the third and final LP, "Uhren ohne Zeiger" ("Watches without hands"), and the band's founder Jörg Blankenburg left Reform because of hearing problems. In 1986, Michael Lehrmann joined the band as new guitarist and Reinhard Repke as bassist, but Reform dissolved shortly thereafter. Members in 1979: Stephan Trepte (voc, keyb), Jörg Blankenburg (g), Werner Kunze (g, keyb), Jörg Dobbersch (bg), Peter Piele (dr). Members in 1981: Stephan Trepte (voc, keyb), Jörg Blankenburg (ld, g), Günter "Grete" Fischer (g, voc), Michael Demnitz (bg), Peter Förster (dr), Hans Wintoch (v). Members in 1986: Stephan Trepte (voc), Michael Lehrmann (g), Reinhard Repke (b), Thomas Kolbe (keyb), Christian Jähnig (dr). Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.