AXXIS – “Best Of” on the occasion of the 30-years anniversary
With numerous festivals both at home and abroad (including their first time in Russia) as well as an anniversary tour in selected cities and two big anniversary concerts in Memmingen and Bochum, Axxis are celebrating their thirtieth anniversary.
The first Blu Ray in their Band History “Bang your Head with Axxis” was already released and the new double CD “Best Of EMI-Years” will be released on 15th of November 2019. Old Classics were all re-recorded and produced in a contemporary way. “We want to transport the best songs of the early days at our record company EMI into the years 2019. The recordings lasted month to make them compatible to today”, singer Bernhard Weiss explains. “Also Vinyl and a limited Goldbox is planned”.
In 1988, after the submission of one single demo, the band AXXIS was signed to the major company EMI Electrola. Their debut “Kingdom Of The Night”, released in 1989 in Europe, Canada, Japan, Australia and the USA, immediately sold more than 100,000 copies, and to this day found almost a quarter of a million buyers.
“Axxis II” was similarly successful in 1990, and a year later the band followed up with their live high energy show recordings “Access All Areas”. The ambitious “The Big Thrill” album also became a big seller in 1993 with the single “Stay Don’t Leave Me”.
This album marked an important breakthrough in the quintet’s career. Produced by Joey Balin (Warlock, Soulsister, etc.) and recorded in Philadelphia, it was the band’s first international production.
In recent years, AXXIS have clocked up several thousand air miles. They became more worldly! The album “Matters Of Survival” was recorded in 1995 in Los Angeles with Keith Olsen (Fleetwood Mac, Whitesnake, Foreigner, Scorpions, etc.), as a producer.
Last but not least, AXXIS still explicitly see themselves as a live band. At the ideal gig, as Bernhard Weiss once put it, his own hands would have to glow. “It’s just the best way to play your music,” Weiss said, “just because you’re directly in front of your fans.” The performances in front of 30,000 at “Rock am Ring” and “Wacken” 2008 was of course, one of the personal highlights for AXXIS! So were the performances at the “70,000 Tons Of Metal” cruise in the Caribbean (2017) or at the gigantic “Masters Of Rock” festival in the Czech Republic.
Reorienting oneself over and over again is a principle that the Hard Rock troop from the Ruhr area has internalized since their early days. Whether on the already mentioned works or on the albums and EPs “Voodoo Vibes” ( ’97), “Back To The Kingdom” ( ’00), “Collection Of Power” ( ’00), “Eyes Of Darkness” ( ’01), “Time Machine” ( ’04), “Paradise In Flames” ( ’06), the special compilation “Ballads & Acoustic Specials” ( , “Doom Of Destiny” ( 07) , “Utopia” ( 09) of the live DVD and live CD “20 Years Of AXXIS” ( 11) or the cover album “reDISCOver(ed)” ( 12): AXXIS have always taken great pride in avoiding repeating themselves, Kingdom of the night II Black & White (2014), DVD 25 years of Rock & Power, Retrolution (17), Monster Hero (18) and Blu-Ray Bang your Head (19): AXXIS have always taken great pride in avoiding repeating themselves.
Of course, AXXIS also have their fundamental solid musical basis. Firmly rooted in traditional heavy rock of the seventies and eighties, they have found their own style over the past three decades, which can be best described as immensely catchy melodies a la “Living In A World”. The anthem of their debut is still regarded as the highlight of every gig and a prime example of the typical AXXIS song. Bernhard’s distinctive vocal style is also another absolute trademark characteristic that makes AXXIS unmistakable. But, the superstructure of this formula is always different. The stability is due to the fact that they are sympathetic guys.
Tracklist:
CD 1
01 Living in a world
02 Kingdom of the night
03 Never say never
04 Fire and ice
05 Young souls
06 Love is like an ocean
07 The moon
08 Tears of the trees
09 Kings made of steel
10 Save me
11 Touch the rainbow
CD 2
01 Ships are sailing
02 Little look back
03 Face to Face
04 Stay don’t leave me
05 Little war
06 Brother moon
07 Waterdrop
08 Ecstasy
09 C’est la vie
10 Just a story
11 Helena
12 The show is over
Line-Up:
– Bernhard Weiß (vocals)
– Harry Oellers (keyboards)
– Matthias Degener (guitar)
– Rob Schomaker (bass)
– Dirk Brand (drums)