Thumper (not the California band of the same name) was a band based in Nürnberg, Germany, from 1985 until 1987. Considering that our goal was to be worse than Flipper on a bad night, it is very possible that Thumper ended up being the worst band that ever existed. The funny thing is, it is not like we were not musicians. In fact, Ralf, our drummer, is one of the best musicians I have ever met. I guess it was the fact that Blake was in the Army stationed in Stuttgart, a few hours drive away, so we could only practice on the weekends. That, mixed in with a love for German beer, resulted in an extraordinarily undisciplined band that really didn't give a fuck about what anyone thought us.

Some of the bands that influenced us a lot at the time were Zyniker and Der Durstige Mann, both of whom were not much better than we were. We had the honour playing opening band at one of the very rare Der Durstige Mann concerts, from which the photo above was taken (thanks Oscar!). A video of this show also exists.

Something seemed to be lacking though (talent?), so after about a year of practicing and playing a few shows, Thumper split up for a half year. What we had been looking for we found in the form of a GI friend of ours, Frank Copeland, later to become notoriously well known around southern Germany as the lead singer of the world's first and only all-GI punk band, None Of Your Business. Frank joined a reformed Thumper and added a much needed live aspect to the band. But this four-piece incarnation of Thumper was to be short lived, as Blake was stationed back to the United States about six months later. This version of Thumper played two shows.

Today, Frank Copeland is out of the Army and married, living with his wife in Kentucky. Ralf Lexis and I formed Something To Burn after Thumper. Both of us are also very active in the various activities of Doc Wör Mirran, and of course I still run MT Undertainment. Blake moved to the United States and took over the US office of eMpTy from our buddy Volker for awhile.

-Joe, October 2000

Releases:

After having practiced for a few hours, we had a half dozen or so "songs" recorded on a cheap boom-box, and presto!, our first single was born. It was quickly announced in Mykel Board's MRR column as one of his all time favorite records. He even added that the sound quality would move any sound engineer to jump out of a 6 storey window! Featuring a cover of Frank Zappa's "What's The Ugliest Part Of Your Body?"

This is a cassette only release of Thumper playing their favorite cover tunes. Includes Thumper maiming such classics as "WildThing" from the Troggs, "Yakety Yak" from the Coasters, "Sexbomb" from Flipper, "Love Rhino" from Death Tongue, "Pizza War" from Zyniker and even two versions of Elvis' "Don't Be Cruel", among a few more that you can only find out about if you buy the tape! 30 minutes in length..

This is a fun record. Thumper offers four "songs" on the left channel, including their hardcore-hit "Barbie Doll". Zyniker is on the right channel with three tracks, including their most famous hit "What Went Wrong?". In other words, to hear just one of the bands, you have to turn your "balance" knob on your stereo to one side or to the other. When you set it to the middle, you hear both bands at the same time! Talk about noise! Amazingly, not many music journalists figured it out, although it does say on the cover how it works. Just shows that no matter how low the musical threshhold is, music journalists always end up being even stupider! 500 pressed.
This CD answers that age-old question put forth to us by the Sex Pistols so many years ago, "Who Killed Bambi?" This is the long lost Thumper LP that never quite managed to come out on vinyl like it was supposed to. Features extensive liner notes and photos, as well as such Thumper classics as "Skindergarden", which actually got us threats of physical abuse from a few Nazi skinheads after the lyrics were printed in MRR, and JFAF (Jody Foster's Air Force) and even the romantic "Trümmer Haufen" with our Ralf singing. Even Eric Hysteric of Der Durstige Mann makes a guest appearance on two tracks!
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