Klaus Renft Combo - Zukunft [1971 Progressive Rock GDR Germany ]

Get this brand-new episode of TDATS at: https://aftersabbath.blogspot.com/2023/06/tdats-149-ddr-gdr-rock-part-2.html
Here’s another maximum groove piece of jazz prog. The Klaus Renft Combo was founded in 1958 by Klaus Jentzsch in Leipzig. Jentzsch's stage name "Renft" was his mother's maiden name. For a short time in 1962 the Klaus-Renft combo changed their name to The Butlers because they were banned from performing. From 1966 the band was forced to go under the name Ulf Willi Quintett because the name "Klaus Renft" was no longer allowed to appear due to another ban on performing. The ban on the Klaus-Renft Combo was lifted in 1967.

From 1969 there was constant lineup changes and the first original songs were written, which were also recorded on the radio. Kurt Demmler and the singer-songwriter Gerulf Pannach contributed the lyrics. The legendary cast of Renft (Jentzsch / Caesar / Kuno / Monster / Pjotr / Hohl) was set in 1972. Even before the first record was available, Renft already had a cult following. In 1973 the first LP with the title "Klaus-Renft-Combo" was released. The second LP, released a year later, was released under the abbreviated band name "Renft". After 1974, Renft's relationship with the state authorities deteriorated again. Renft was finally banned in 1975 after the songs "Die Rockballade vom Klein Otto" and "Glaubensfragen" were played in the band's live program. The first song dealt with the subject of people's flight from the republic, the second dealt with the "hot potato" of military service. Between 1975 and the fall of communism, the band no longer existed due to the final ban on September 22nd, 1975.

In 1976, Christian Kunert and Gerulf Pannach were arrested on Berlin's Alexanderplatz and taken to the Stasi prison in Berlin-Hohenschönhausen. The accusation was, among other things, "anti-state agitation". Kunert and Pannach were threatened with up to ten years in prison. In the summer of 1977, after nine months in captivity, Christian Kunert was forced to agree to his deportation to West Germany, as did Pannach a short time later. A few days later both were deported to West Germany. Klaus Renft had emigrated west earlier, where Thomas "Monster" Schoppe eventually ended up. While the former musicians Jochen Hohl and "Cäsar" Peter Gläser continued to make music with Karussell (see v146, the band considered to be the successor to Renft), Pannach and Kunert continued to work in the West as a duo under the name "Pannach & Kunert" (which they had already done in the GDR after Renft was banned). Christian Kunert also founded the Kuno Bänd and was also otherwise musically active.

On October 9, 2007, the street in front of the "Anker" in Leipzig was renamed Renftstraße in memory of the band founder Klaus Renft. With "Abschied und weitergeh'" they released a new studio album in 2008, on which the tragic events of the last few years were also addressed to some extent. In the years that followed, the band played consistently with Delle Kriese on drums, Marcus Schloussen on bass, Pitti Piatkowski on guitar and "Monster" on mic and guitar. A CD with recordings by Renft in this line-up was released in the summer of 2010, the live album "Renft Goes On - Live 2010", which includes a live recordings from 2009. In 2010 Renft was also part of the line-up of the successful project "Ostrock in Klassic". A show was released on DVD. Another personnel change inevitably took place in autumn 2019. After more than 20 years as the band's bassist, Marcus Schloussen died on December 1, 2019 from pneumonia he had suffered as a result of heart surgery. Later, former Stern-Combo, Datzu and Puhdys (appearing twice in TDATS) bassist Peter Rasym took care of bass. In January 2020, Delle Kriese surprisingly left Renft for personal reasons. The full band history can be read at https://www.deutsche-mugge.de/portraits/1985-renft.html