Zeltinger Band

CATCH-UP DATE FROM 06.04.2024

1979-2024: 45 years of the Zeltinger Band

In 1979, Jürgen Zeltinger (in full: Hans Jürgen Maria Zeltinger, known as de Plaat - the bald one; * May 25, 1949) joined forces with several musicians to form the Zeltinger Band. In addition to Zeltinger, who took on the lead vocals, the founding members were Ralf Engelbrecht (guitar), Norbert Zucker (bass), Peter Gramen (guitar), Jaki Liebezeit (drums) and Arno Steffen (guitar, vocals). On Weiberfastnacht 1979, the band played their first gig in the Cologne nightclub "Roxy". The band was so well received that 19 more concerts followed in the remaining days of the carnival. Drummer Jaki Liebezeit left the Zeltinger band after just a few gigs and was replaced by Uwe "Schruuv" Fuchs. Guitarist Arno Steffen also soon moved on to other projects.

In August 1979, the first album De Plaat im Roxy & Bunker live was released; the producer was Conny Plank from Cologne. With the folk song Mein Vater war ein Wandersmann and the Cologne/German versions of Lou Reed (Stüverhoff) and Ramones songs (Müngersdorfer Stadion), the album contains songs that are still played at every Zeltinger Band concert today. Müngersdorfer Stadion (B-side Tuntensong) was released as a single and became the Cologne band's first hit. The studio album Schleimig followed in 1980 with the single Asi mit Niwoh, with the frequently quoted lyric "I polish the critics' food, I make dinner for the band". The Cologne band's second single also received good airplay. Jürgen Zeltinger's somewhat breathless vocals and Cologne style are typical of almost all the songs. In the spring of 1980, the Zeltinger Band went on a joint tour of Germany with the Boomtown Rats and appeared on the ZDF program "Rockpop" and on Alfred Biolek's talk show Kölner Treff.

At the end of 1980, guitarist Peter Gramen left the band and was replaced by Alex Parche. Alex Parche and Kay Wolf left the group in July 1981. Over the next few years, the three founding members Zeltinger, Engelbrecht and Zucker were repeatedly replaced. Manni Hollaender took over the guitar and Edgar "de Gaulle" Liebert the drums. With this line-up, the third, musically heavier album Der Chef was released by Ariola in 1982. In 1982, the Zeltinger Band did not perform at an already booked concert as part of the ZDF series "Rockpop in Concert" and was subsequently no longer supported by the record company Ariola. As a result of further line-up changes, the only singles released until 1986 were Zeltinger wird Präsident, Urlaub in Hongkong and Italia. Things did not pick up again until 1986, when a new manager was found in Serdar Boztepe. With Schon wieder live and an extensive tour of Germany, the band returned in 1986 with Alex Parche on guitar and Robbie Vondenhoff on drums. From 1988 onwards, the Zeltinger band pursued a harder musical line, which was reflected in the two albums Weder Mensch noch Tier (1988) and Ich bin ein Sünder (1990). Alex Parche left the band again at the end of 1990. His successor, guitarist Holger Obenaus, joined the band in January 1991.

In 1992, Jürgen Zeltinger devoted himself to other projects and released the album "Solo Plaat", on which Wolfgang Niedecken and others collaborated. Jürgen Zeltinger was also involved in the Cologne project against right-wing extremism called Arsch huh, Zäng ussenander. In 1993, the best-of album "Asi mit Niwoh - das Beste aus 15 Jahren" was released. Also in 1993, the Zeltinger Band recorded five new tracks, which were released on the CD Rares für Bares - Das Schrägste aus fünfzehn Jahren together with old song material. At the turn of the year 1993/1994, drummer Markus Ulrich suffered a hand injury and was replaced for a few months by Charly T (Charles Terstappen), who had already worked with Westernhagen. In the summer of 1994, Scheiße was released, an album with which the band returned to its origins. On the CD, produced by guitarist Holger Obenaus and Thomas Hauptmann, Zeltinger sings the Waggershausen title Zu nah am Feuer in a duet with Walter Bockmayer, among others. The track Du bist Scheiße was released as a single from the album. In the same year, the Zeltinger Band recorded the title Ene Mene La le Lu, which appeared on the Cologne compilation Pänz un Bänds un Rock un Roll on EMI.

In 1995, Jürgen Zeltinger declared the band disbanded. In reality, however, only bassist Norbert Zucker, guitarist Holger Obenaus and drummer Markus Ulrich left the Zeltinger band. However, Zeltinger carried on and brought two old acquaintances back into the band: Alex Parche and Robby Vondenhoff, with T.S. Crusoe taking over on bass. A short time later, the last remaining founding member besides H. J. Zeltinger, Ralf Engelbrecht, also left the band. Ulf Häusgen now played guitar alongside Alex Parche. He was replaced some time later by Stephan Neumeier. 2003 saw the release of the live CD Voila! Leckens am Arsch... with four new studio tracks, which heralded a harder pace again. At the end of 2005, the band released the DVD and maxi CD Mit nacktem Arsch und Rock'n'Roll. At the end of 2007, guitarist Alex Parche suffered a stroke. His place in the Zeltinger band was taken by Volker Voigt. The band signed another record deal with EMI and released the best-of album Geschmack, Charakter, Zeltinger in 2008.

To celebrate the band's 30th anniversary, a concert was held in Cologne's Live Music Hall in October 2008. In addition to the current band, the "original line-up" Zeltinger/Zucker/Engelbrecht/Gramen/Wolf/Steffen also reunited. They played the songs "Sozialamt", "Rock'n'Roll Betrug" and "(So wie ein) Tiger". On the latter, the band was joined by Ralle Rudnik. In May 2009, the first three albums by the Zeltingen band De Plaat - Live im Roxy/Bunker, Schleimig and Chef - were released on CD for the first time. In 2009, long-time guitarist Stephan Neumeier left the band. His place was taken by Wolfgang Günnewig, who had already been a member of the band in the mid-1980s.

The deceased Alex Parche's place was then taken by Dennis Kleimann, who also ran an unplugged project with Jürgen Zeltinger, which resulted in the 2014 album Avjespeck under the name Zeltinger/Kleimann.

In 2024 they are back and celebrating their 45th anniversary.