Wise Guys (band)
Encyclopedia
- This article is about a German a cappella band from Cologne called Wise Guys. There is also an English hip-hop band called The WiseguysThe WiseguysThe Wiseguys was a British electronica and hip hop band that was responsible for creating the song "Start the Commotion" that was in a Mitsubishi TV advertisement, as well as the films Lizzie McGuire, Zoolander and Kangaroo Jack; and "Ooh La La", which was used in Budweiser commercials...
.
The Wise Guys are a band that began in early 1990 in Cologne, Germany. They are an a cappella
A cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
group.
History of the Group
Apart from Ferenc Husta and Nils Olfert, the members all attended the Hildegard-von-Bingen-Gymnasium in CologneCologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
from 1981 to 1990. With their schoolmates Clemens Tewinkel and Christoph Tettinger, who also founded a brass band
Brass band
A brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting entirely of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands , but are usually more correctly termed military bands, concert...
with them, they formed a rock band. At a school event, the band performed a single A Cappella song.
After graduating from high school with their A-levels (Abitur) in 1990, the group have focussed on A Cappella songs. They soon named themselves the "Wise Guys". Eddi's (Edzard's) 18-month alternative service for conscientious objectors in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
left the group as a quartet. In the meantime, the other four joined the Ersten Kölner Barbershop Choir. In early 1994 the group were placed third in a Barbershop
Barbershop music
Barbershop vocal harmony, as codified during the barbershop revival era , is a style of a cappella, or unaccompanied vocal music characterized by consonant four-part chords for every melody note in a predominantly homophonic texture...
Quartet competition; however, this type of music was not representative of their later work.
When Christoph Tettinger could no longer sing for professional reasons, Ferenc Husta joined the group in April 1995 as the bass voice. Christoph Tettinger became the group manager.
After their first album "Dut-Dut-Duah!" (1994), which was mostly in English, along with two cover songs, the band concentrated on German language, rhythm-based compositions with intelligent and often funny lyrics. Since 1997 the Wise Guys have turned professional. In the same year, the band released their third album "Alles im grünen Bereich" which signalled the beginning of their work with producer Uwe Baltrusch. Their following album was with EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
. With their Live-Album (2000), the band moved to Pavement Records.
With the song and videoclip from "Jetzt ist Sommer" and the album "Ganz weit vorne", the band achieved wider recognition. Their following album reached the top of the charts on Media-Control
Media Control Charts
The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie...
-Charts; the 2006 album "Radio" opened in third place, only behind Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers is an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles in 1983. The group's musical style primarily consists of rock with an emphasis on funk, as well as elements from other genres such as punk, hip hop and psychedelic rock...
and Silbermond
Silbermond
Silbermond is a German rock band from Bautzen, Saxony. The band consists of Stefanie Kloß, Andreas Nowak, Johannes and Thomas Stolle.-Biography:...
.
Because of their mainly German songs most of their concerts are in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The exceptions are the concerts in USA, Canada, Poland, Luxemburg, and London.
The usual tours get enriched by big events like "Tanzbrunnen", "Totalnacht", and "Spezialnacht", festivals taking place in Cologne. In 2001 they got the world record at the concert on "Tanzbrunnen" (big area for concerts in Cologne) with 12,500 viewers. Their open air concerts at the "evangelischer Kirchentag" 2005, 2007 and 2009 (periodic Protestant church congress) were visited by 35,000, 70,000, and 65,000 viewers respectively.
Many high school German classes in the United States and Brazil use their music to aid classroom lessons.
Clemens left the band at the end of year 2008. The rest of the group wanted to maintain the Wise Guys and continue their work. On October 30, 2008 they presented Nils Olfert as their new band member. The first concert in the new formation took place on January 8, 2009.
Discography
Albums
- 1994 - Dut-Dut-Duah! [--] (Dut-Dut-Duah!)
- 1996 - Haarige Zeiten [--] (Difficult Times [lit. Hairy Times])
- 1997 - Alles im grünen Bereich [--] (Everything OK [lit. Everything in the Green Zone])
- 1999 - Skandal [--] (Scandal)
- 2000 - Live [93] (Live)
- 2001 - Ganz weit vorne [49] (Right in Front)
- 2003 - Klartext [10] (Straight Talk)
- 2004 - Wo der Pfeffer wächst [13] (Long Way Off [lit. Where the Pepper Grows])
- 2006 - RadioRadio (Wise Guys)Radio is the ninth album of the German a cappella group Wise Guys. It is built in the form of a radio broadcast: between each individual piece come jingles and other small tidbits, such as the news or sports. This stands as the first concept album of the Wise Guys...
[3] (Radio) - 2008 - frei! [2] (free!)
- 2010 - Klassenfahrt [--] (School Trip) (GERMedia Control ChartsThe official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie...
: #2)
Singles and EPs
(Numbers in brackets indicate highest position achieved on the German Music Hits List.)- 1996 - (Die Frau hat) Rhythmus [--] ([The Woman's Got] Rhythm)
- 1997 - Alles Banane [--] (Everything in Order [lit. It's all Bananas])
- 1999 - Nein, Nein, Nein [--] (No, No, No)
- 2000 - Die Heldensage vom heiligen Ewald [--] (The Heroic Saga of Saint Ewald)
- 2001 - Höher Schneller Weiter (Projektsingle) [--] (Higher, faster, further)
- 2001 - Jetzt ist Sommer [78] (It's Summer Now)
- 2001 - Wenn sie tanzt [--] (When She Dances)
- 2002 - Kinder [--] (Children)
- 2004 - Früher (Mini-Album) [51] (In Past Times)
- 2005 - Weltmeister (Mini-Album) [38] (World Champion)
- 2006 - Klinsi, warum hast du das getan? [published as a single track at the iTunes Music StoreITunes StoreThe iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
] (KlinsiJürgen KlinsmannJürgen Klinsmann is a German football manager and former player who is currently the coach of the United States Men's National Team. As a player, Klinsmann played for several prominent clubs in Europe and was part of the West German team that won the 1990 FIFA World Cup and the German one that...
, why did you do this?)
DVDs
- 2003 - Wise Guys - die DVD
- 2005 - Wise Guys Spezialnacht Philipshalle Düsseldorf, 6. November 2004
- 2009 - Wise Guys - Live im Capitol
External links
- Wise Guys, official Homepage
- Der Sound zum Kirchentag von den Wise Guys (German). Song-Download, Protestant Church CongressDeutscher Evangelischer KirchentagThe Deutscher Evangelischer Kirchentag is a movement of lay members of the Evangelical Church in Germany...
2009 (kirchentag.de).