Volker Hinkel

Fools Garden (until 2003 known as Fool's Garden) is a German band formed in 1991 in the city of Pforzheim. The founders of the group and the only permanent members are vocalist Peter Freudenthaler and guitarist Volker Hinkel. In 1993, bassist Thomas Mangold, keyboardist Roland Röhl and drummer Ralf Wochele were invited to join Fool's Garden for recording of the first studio album '' Once in a Blue Moon''.

The band became famous worldwide in 1995 owing to the release of their second studio album '' Dish of the Day'' and, in particular, the song " Lemon Tree", which entered numerous music charts around the world and topped five of them. However, Fool's Garden was never able to repeat the success of their only hit. A series of failures to replicate the commercial success of ''Dish of the Day'' in 1997, 2000 and 2003 resulted in tension and disagreement amongst the band's members, and dramatically discredited its reputation in the eyes of record label executives. Consequently, Mangold, Röhl, and Wochele left Fool's Garden in 2003, but a year later new musicians joined the band. To signify the change, it was decided to remove the apostrophe from the band's name on their next album, ''Ready for the Real Life''. Due to the problems caused by the lack of a label ready to work with Fools Garden, the members of the band founded their own company Lemonade Music in 2004.

Fools Garden's musical style has been characterized as pop rock, soft rock, Britpop and some other genres. Critics have noted the influence of such artists as The Beatles, Sting, and The Who. The group may be classified as a one-hit wonder.

Since its formation in 1991, the band has released 9 studio albums, received 12 music awards, and played over a thousand live performances. The bands's total sales have exceeded 6 million copies. Up to the present, Fools Garden continues concert activity and gives performances all over the world. The band performs both in complete line-up and as a duo (Hinkel/Freudenthaler) or a trio (Hinkel/Freudenthaler/Holz).

Background

In 1987, Volker Hinkel and Claus-Dieter Wissler founded the music project called Magazine. Together they recorded two songs: "W. A. R." (this song was dedicated to the Gulf War) and "A Time of Life". Later in 1991, Hinkel entered the University of Stuttgart, where he became acquainted with Peter Freudenthaler, who studied multimedia technology. Prior to starting his studies at the university, Peter Freudenthaler had already participated in several musical groups and worked as a piano tuner. Having learned that Freudenthaler also composed music, Hinkel asked him for recordings of his songs ("Sandy" and "Tell Me Who I Am"), and later invited him to Magazine. Hinkel reworked Freudenthaler's arrangement of "Lena", which was the first work of the Hinkel/Freudenthaler duo.

Despite being Germans, the musicians made the decision to write songs in English, as they felt that English was more suitable to their music and the performers who inspired them sang in English as well.

Together they rearranged their compositions and recorded them on a compact cassette. Via Steffen Koch (who became the band's producer for the next few years), this cassette got to Gunter Koch. He listened to Magazine's songs, appreciated them and agreed to collaborate with the band on following recordings. Being inspired by the performance of Oasis, Blur and The Beatles, the musicians chose to play Britpop, despite the fact that it was extremely difficult to achieve any commercial success playing such music, since dance music and techno were especially popular in Germany in those years.

After a while, Hinkel and Freudenthaler discovered a newspaper advertisement, in which it was proposed to record an album for 130 DM. This is how ''Magazine'' was recorded. In addition to the songs recorded on the promo cassette, the album included two songs written by Hinkel with Claus Wissler, as well as a cover version of the song "I Am the Walrus" by The Beatles. This limited edition album was the precursor for the promo album '' Fool's Garden - Man in a Cage'' (simply abbreviated as ''Fool's Garden'') released in 1991. They also decided to include a cover version of the song "Cry Baby Cry", which was sung by Volker Hinkel, as well as the songs "Scared" and "No Flowers By Request", which Hinkel recorded with Claus Wissler. In order to perform the recorded material live, it was decided to invite bassist Thomas Mangold, keyboardist Roland Röhl and drummer Ralf Wochele, and rename the band to Fool's Garden. According to Peter Freudenthaler, the name "Fool's Garden" was the most consistent with the band's philosophy and suited the description of its members.

The newly formed band played their first gig in 1991 — Fool's Garden performed as the opening act for Sidney Youngblood in Böblingen.

History

Early career and first successes (1991–1994)

The eponymous promo-album, which was dedicated to John Winston Lennon, got no recognition. There were only five copies ever produced. The band's first singles "Careless Games / Tell Me Who I Am" and "Once in a Blue Moon / Spirit '91" were released in 1992. Due to the lack of the opportunity to rehearse and record songs in a professional studio, the members of the young band were forced to meet several times a week in the living room of Volker Hinkel's parental home. In the same year, Fool's Garden first appeared on radio, television (TV channels SWR 3 in Stuttgart and Tele 5 in Munich) and began performing their first concerts in Pforzheim, which made them famous in their region.

In 1993, the band decided to re-record the songs from the promo CD and release the first full-length studio album '' Once in a Blue Moon''. It was originally released by the group independently on the Town Music label with a circulation of one thousand copies. The CDs were sold mainly at concerts, sent to local radio and TV stations, and were also given away for free. To promote the new material, Fool's Garden immediately embarked on an extended concert tour throughout Baden-Württemberg and adjoining Bavaria. As Peter Freudenthaler recalled, at that time the band mainly performed in small municipal halls in front of a small audience. According to him, only 20 people came to the first Fool's Garden concert in Munich. It is also worth noting that on ''Fool's Garden'' and ''Once in a Blue Moon'', the lead vocals were equally divided between Peter Freudenthaler and Volker Hinkel.

The album ''Once in a Blue Moon'' turned out to be a commercial failure, resulting in Town Music label suffering heavy losses and even ending up on the verge of bankruptcy. The company's management was going to cancel the contract with the band, but after a series of negotiations, Steffen Koch managed to convince the head of Town Music to retain the partnership with Fool's Garden until the next studio album was released. Moreover, despite all the efforts of the band and its producer, large companies did not dare to work with Fool's Garden.

Fool's Garden achieved their first major success in 1994. The German branch of fashion retailer C&A used "Wild Days", the first single from the band's upcoming studio album for a TV commercial. The song "Wild Days" won a competition from over 700 applicants. Also, the single "Wild Days" became the first release of the group to enter the music charts: the song reached #59 in the German chart (where it lasted 13 weeks) and #37 in Austria. In the same year, Fool's Garden made their first guest appearances in the German interregional newspaper Sonntag aktuell. Wolle Kriwanek, the author of the article, predicted a major success for Fool's Garden after listening to their songs, which just happened a year later.

Worldwide commercial success: "Lemon Tree" and ''Dish of the Day'' (1995–1996)

In April 1995, a single with the song " Lemon Tree" was released. It became a real hit and got high positions in many European charts. The atmosphere reminiscent to the one of The Beatles' songs, retro sounding in the style of the 1960s, perfect English pronunciation and melancholic lyrics let the song to gain recognition from millions of listeners around the world. Freudenthaler composed it when he was waiting for his girlfriend at home. There were 45 cover versions of the song recorded, and it has also been translated into 40 languages. Due to the lack of support from the major record label, Fool's Garden were forced to record, release and promote new releases on the small Town Records label almost independently.

Having noticed the success of Fool's Garden, Intercord, which had previously refused to cooperate with the band, signed a contract with them in November 1995. Intercord CEO Robert Collisch believed that the biggest benefit to Fool's Garden was that they were a real band, not just a project. The album '' Dish of the Day'' was released in December 1995, containing the songs "Lemon Tree" and "Wild Days". According to Intercord's report, ''Dish of the Day'' became a bestseller in Europe with over 600,000 copies sold and over 1,100,000 copies worldwide. The album entered many charts throughout Europe. Both "Lemon Tree" and ''Dish of the Day'' sold best in Austria and Switzerland. Fool's Garden's songs were played on radio stations around the world, from San Diego to Jakarta. The song also enjoyed success in the UK, where it peaked at #61 on the UK Singles Chart, and the remix version also entered the chart, peaking at a higher #26. According to Intercord, the band had great potential to play internationally. Due to Intercord, "Lemon Tree" and ''Dish of the Day'' achieved particular success in Southeast Asia: the song received the "Song of the Year" award from Metro Broadcast Corporation Ltd. in Hong Kong, and Taiwanese singer Tarcy Su has recorded covers in Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese. The album received gold certification in Thailand, platinum certification in Singapore, Taiwan and double platinum one in Malaysia.

Between March and May 1996, Fool's Garden had played about 50 concerts with an approximate audience of 700 people at each concert. In the summer of the same year, the quintet participated in 14 open-air concerts, performing as an opening act for the German pop rock band Pur, however already in the autumn Fool's Garden began touring as headliners. Between the 14th and 16 June 1996, Fool's Garden performed as headliners at the Open Flair music festival with such famous German performers as Marla Glen, Selig and Jazzkantine, Suede, Blur and Iggy Pop at the Midtfyns Festival in Ringe, Denmark. In the same year, Intercord reissued the album '' Once in a Blue Moon'', however, despite the excitement around the band after the success of "Lemon Tree", the album neither entered the charts nor received any certification. Also in 1996, Fool's Garden's music first appeared in German cinema: the song "Wild Days" was included on the soundtracks for the film "Regular Guys" and the TV series "Freunde fürs Leben".

Worldwide tour and release of ''Go and Ask Peggy for the Principal Thing'' (1997–1999)

The success of 1995-1996 brought the band a number of awards, including ECHO, Goldene Stimmgabel, Goldene Europa, Bambi and R.SH Gold.

Following the commercial success of "Lemon Tree" and ''Dish of the Day'', the band embarked on a worldwide concert tour, playing over 100 shows around the world. The number of listeners at the concerts reached up to 80,000. Fool's Garden have played in Europe outside Germany, North America, South Africa, and Asia, where it has achieved the greatest success. Touring in Italy and Spain was also successful. According to Thomas Mangold and Roland Röhl, at that time the members of the band had an income of about 1,500 Deutsche Mark per month. This allowed them to quit their regular jobs and take up professional musical careers.

After returning from the world tour, the musicians began working on a new album.Parts of Fool's Garden interview for Reuters:
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* Owing to the fact that Fool's Garden members became professional musicians and stopped spending time on regular work, new material was prepared very quickly: the songs were composed just in two months, and the process of recording took only six months - it began in January 1997 and lasted until July. Recording and mixing took place at Maryland and Hinkelstone Studio. The third album, ''Go and Ask Peggy for the Principal Thing