Karat
Biography Karat
KARAT
It has been around for a long time: The Berlin cult band KARAT will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2025. 50 years - that's two generations and almost a lifetime. There are only a few bands of distinction that can look back on such a long history. Most of them - let's be honest - have long since become nostalgic cover bands of themselves.
KARAT have gone a different, their own way: that of permanent searching, constant movement and self-questioning. There have been some breaks in this five-decade-long process. Musicians who have significantly shaped the band's course and sound for years have made room for new characters and new ideas. A permanent rejuvenation, a constant rejuvenation process. Some of those celebrating the band's 50th birthday today come from other generations and offer a broad spectrum of life experience. And despite this, or rather: precisely because of this, the idea behind it has always remained young.
This unique band development as an open creative system is clearly evident in the position of the frontman: Herbert Dreilich held this position for three decades. The band's greatest successes were celebrated, he gave them a face, so to speak. His son has been in his place for two decades. He silenced the sceptics long ago and has proven that he not only looks like his father, but has also inherited his creative energy. But Claudius Dreilich is by no means a copy; with his singing, his charisma and his approachable extroversion, he has become an artistic personality. So he can be just as much the driving force of the band today as his father was for 30 years.
50 years of KARAT are first and foremost the numerous big hits - all of which are now established classics. But they fit wonderfully into the here and now because they are timeless in the truest sense of the word: here the ashes of the fire are not worshipped, but its embers are carried forward. 50 years of KARAT are five decades of German-German music history. In the first decade, several milestones were achieved; in the Federal Republic of Germany they were honored with gold records, they were guests on “Wetten dass…” and Peter Maffay celebrated his biggest hit to date with the Karat cover “Über sieben Brücken muss du gehn” – all of this was not only extremely gratifying, but a sensation – for a band from the East. The second decade began with the award of the Golden Europa (1986) and ended in a long-reunified Germany with the tenth KARAT album “Die geschenkte Stunde” (1995) – three years earlier, guitarist Bernd Römer and his colleagues brought the new keyboardist Martin Becker into the band. The third decade brought together highlights such as an appearance at the “Rockpalast” and a tour with the Babelsberg Film Orchestra, but it ended tragically: Herbert Dreilich succumbed to cancer in 2004.
A new era began with the fourth decade, because with Claudius Dreilich as the new singer, KARAT experienced the stroke of luck that the band had reinterpreted the difficult farewell as an opportunity for the future. And they remained successful: in addition to many of their own tours, they were part of the “Ostrock Klassik” concerts, brought in an a cappella female quintet for a Christmas tour, collaborated with the Kiel Philharmonic Orchestra and enjoyed the interpretations of their songs by (among others) Helene Fischer, Chris de Burgh and Max Raabe. Last but not least, they received another gold record (2010 for “Vierzehn Karat”) and five years later the Goldene Henne.
In the last decade so far, KARAT have also been in the fast lane, with Universal Music being a new distribution partner for the new albums and even a pandemic cannot stop this band: KARAT are back from Covid19 obscurity with car and hotel room concerts and around 40 concerts with limited audience numbers. The fifth decade also marks another line-up change: Daniel Bätge and Heiko Jung are the new additions on bass and drums respectively. The seasoned musicians are known, for example, from their collaboration with Udo Lindenberg, Wolfgang Niedecken, Jan Josef Liefers and Clueso. Now, with groove, passion and musical ability, they are ensuring a new energy level at KARAT.
So nothing stands in the way of the big anniversary year of 2025. With an extensive tour that includes at least as many concerts as the band has years, a new album, a TV documentary, a new book and a big anniversary cruise with the AIDAdiva to Norway next May, KARAT will look back on five decades and also remember the deceased musicians Herbert Dreilich, Thomas Kurzhals and Ed Swillms. But they will also make it clear with every note that they are still a force to be reckoned with.
