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Apart from the future Mercyful Fate guitar duo of Michael Denner and Hank Shermann (calling himself Hank de Wank back then) Brats featured singer and bass player Yenz (also known as Yenz Leonhardt or Yenz Cheyenne; born Jens Arnsted). Yenz later went on to form Geisha and Y (together with King Diamond bassist Hal Patino).
As he explains, the Brats were his first serious band: āIn August 1980 I was 19. I was standing on StrĆøget, the main shopping street in Copenhagen. The street was packed in front of the Bristol Music Centre in Copenhagen, where we were scheduled to play an in-store gig. This was the holy place where I since childhood had purchased my vinyl collection, and now it felt like the whole city was here to celebrate our new album. Old school punks and metal heads of the surging New Wave Of British Heavy Metal had a brief moment of unity over the release party for our new Ā»1980 BratsĀ« album. The newspapers and magazines were out in full force.ā
Just like Yenz remembers, with songs such as āPunk Fashionā, āHeavy Rockerā and āZombie Peopleā Ā»1980 BratsĀ« was a totally unique album mixing punk, hard rock and proto-metal. It was far ahead of its time!
Soon after the release of Ā»1980 BratsĀ« the original band did fall apart, giving birth to Mercyful Fate (of course the actual reality was a bit more complex). Back then, for Yenz at first it felt ālike reaching for the universeā: āI remember thinking: How the hell did we get here that fast? We want to thank everybody who was part of this crazy ride back then, and everybody who's been appreciating this album ever since.ā
As he explains, the Brats were his first serious band: āIn August 1980 I was 19. I was standing on StrĆøget, the main shopping street in Copenhagen. The street was packed in front of the Bristol Music Centre in Copenhagen, where we were scheduled to play an in-store gig. This was the holy place where I since childhood had purchased my vinyl collection, and now it felt like the whole city was here to celebrate our new album. Old school punks and metal heads of the surging New Wave Of British Heavy Metal had a brief moment of unity over the release party for our new Ā»1980 BratsĀ« album. The newspapers and magazines were out in full force.ā
Just like Yenz remembers, with songs such as āPunk Fashionā, āHeavy Rockerā and āZombie Peopleā Ā»1980 BratsĀ« was a totally unique album mixing punk, hard rock and proto-metal. It was far ahead of its time!
Soon after the release of Ā»1980 BratsĀ« the original band did fall apart, giving birth to Mercyful Fate (of course the actual reality was a bit more complex). Back then, for Yenz at first it felt ālike reaching for the universeā: āI remember thinking: How the hell did we get here that fast? We want to thank everybody who was part of this crazy ride back then, and everybody who's been appreciating this album ever since.ā