Running Wild

Running Wild
Running Wild
Background information
Origin	Hamburg, Germany
Genre(s)	Heavy metal, power metal, speed metal
Years active	1976—2009
Label(s)	Gun
Website	Official website
Members
Rolf Kasparek Peter Jordan Jan S. Eckert Matthias Liebetruth
Former members
See: Former members

Running Wild are a German heavy metal band, formed in 1976 in Hamburg. They were part of the German heavy/speed/power metal scene to emerge in the early to mid 1980s, along with bands such as Helloween, Rage, Accept, Sinner, and Grave Digger. The band has carved its niche in the metal world as the first "pirate metal" band, a theme which took off with the release of Under Jolly Roger in 1987 (thus abandoning the Satanic imagery of their earlier work). In the texts of the band's biographies and album liner notes, some of the words found are some kind of piratical jargon, with some songs even being untranslatable.^{[citation needed]} The band has adopted its freebooter gimmick out of mainman's Rolf Kasparek's commitment to ideals of anarchism and libertarian socialism.

On April 17th, 2009 Rolf announced that Running Wild had split-up. Their last show will be at Wacken Open Air, July 30th, 2009. It will be recorded for CD/DVD release.

Members

Current members

• Rolf Kasparek - Vocals, guitars
• Peter Jordan - Guitar
• Jan S. Eckert - Bass
• Matthias Liebetruth - Drums

Former members

Guitar

• Uwe Bendig (1976-84)
• Gerald Warnecke (1984-85)
• Majk Moti (1985-90)
• Axel Kohlmorgen (X-Wild) (1990-93)
• Thilo Hermann (Grave Digger, ex-Holy Moses, ex-Faithful Breath, ex-Risk) (1994-01)
• Bernd Aufermann (Angel Dust) (2002-04)

Bass

• Jörg Schwarz (1976)
• Carsten David (1976-79)
• Matthias Kaufmann (1980-83)
• Stephan Boris (1984-87)
• Jens Becker (Grave Digger, X-Wild) (1987-92)
• Thomas Smuszynski (ex-U.D.O., ex-Darxon) (1992-02)
• Peter Pichl - Bass (2002-2009)

Drums

• Michael Hoffmann (1976-82)
• Wolfgang Hagemann (1982-87)
• Stefan Schwarzmann (Accept, ex-Helloween, Paradox, ex-X-Wild, ex-U.D.O., ex-Voice) (1987-88, 1992-93)
• Ian Finlay (ex-Justice, ex-Demon Pact) (1988-90)
• Jörg Michael (Stratovarius, ex-Saxon, Unleashed Power, ex-Axel Rudi Pell, ex-Avenger, ex-Rage, ex-Grave Digger, ex-Mekong Delta, ex-Tom Angelripper, ex-Headhunter) (1990, 1994-98)
• Rudiger Dreffein (1990-92)
• Christos Efthimiadis (1998-00)
• Angelo Sasso (2000-02)

Discography

Studio albums

• Gates to Purgatory (1984)
• Branded and Exiled (1985)
• Under Jolly Roger (1987)
• Port Royal (1988)
• Death or Glory (1989)
• Blazon Stone (1991)
• Pile of Skulls (1992)
• Black Hand Inn (1994)
• Masquerade (1995)
• The Rivalry (1998)
• Victory (2000)
• The Brotherhood (2002)
• Rogues en Vogue (2005)

Live albums

• Ready for Boarding (1988)
• Live (2002)

Compilation albums

• The First Years of Piracy (1991)
• The Story of Jolly Roger (1998)
• 20 Years in History (2003)
• Best of Adrian (2006)

Singles and EPs

• "Victim of States Power" (1984)
• "Bad to the Bone" (1989)
• "Wild Animal" (1990)
• "Little Big Horn" (1991)
• "Lead or Gold" (1992)
• "The Privateer" (1994)

Split releases

• Death Metal (1984)

Tribute albums

• The Revivalry - A Tribute to Running Wild (2005)
• Rough Diamonds - A Tribute to Running Wild (2005) (available as a free download on the official website)
• ReUnation - A Tribute to Running Wild (2009) - announced

External links

• Official website
• Running Wild at MySpace
• Unofficial website in spanish