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BOBfest 2025: Six bands, six anecdotes you've never heard before

Hi and welcome to Lila's review!

Mönchengladbach is counting down the days: on July 25, BOBfest celebrates its premiere with six acts sharing the stage for one day. The line-up: Alice Cooper, H-Blockx, Danko Jones, Ugly Kid Joe, The New Roses and Thundermother. We've already told you everything you need to know about the festival site, the supporting program and the artists in the last few issues. Today it's all about the stuff that festival conversations are made of: unusual facts that you can throw in while waiting at the beer stand or between two songs in the pit.

When Salvador Dalí portrays Alice Cooper

Alice Cooper is a living rock legend. Songs such as "School's Out" and "Poison" are classics - his theatrical stage persona has long been cult. Less well known, however, is his connection to the Spanish surrealist Salvador Dalí.

Dalí was fascinated by the musician's extravagant appearance and created a work entitled "First Cylindric Chromo-Hologram Portrait of Alice Cooper's Brain" in 1973. Part of it: a brain made of chocolate, set with real diamonds. Two shrill worlds that overlapped for a moment.

H-Blockx and the bet with the label

H-Blockx have been one of the big names in German rock since the nineties. But in 2007, their sixth album was on the brink of failure - fully produced, but not released by the record company without a clear hit.

The band took action themselves: They covered a large part of the costs on the condition that the label was no longer allowed to interfere in the production. At the same time, a bet was made: if the video for the single "Countdown To Insanity" achieved more than 100,000 views, ran in heavy rotation on MTV or cracked the top 10, the label would cover the costs. The video was filmed at the Red Bull Air Race in Istanbul and played spontaneously, including from the roof of their VW bus. The result: bet won, 18 days before the album release.

Spoken Word with Danko Jones

Danko Jones stands for straightforward rock with attitude, but also for a talent that you wouldn't immediately expect: spoken word. The art form, which oscillates between poetry and performance, obviously suits the Canadian just as much as the guitar solo. He even completed one of his spoken word performances at the Wacken Open Air - unusual for a hard rocker, but all the more interesting for that very reason.

Ugly Kid Joe - A joke that stuck

Sometimes band names come about spontaneously - and then stay forever. Ugly Kid Joe originally called themselves that on a whim when they played a show with the glam band "Pretty Boy Floyd". The name was an ironic counter-reaction to their polished style, intended as a gag for one evening. But it stuck. Today, Ugly Kid Joe has long been a brand in its own right, born from a side-swipe and grown into a cult.

The New Roses: Premiere on the high seas

It was a double milestone for The New Roses: they were the first German rock band to perform at Kiss Kruise, a music festival at sea initiated by KISS itself. It was also their first gig in the USA in front of around 3,000 people. Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley were impressed and later brought the band to Germany as support for their "End Of The Road World Tour".

Thundermother: A new beginning rocks Wacken

In 2017, Thundermother were facing the end or a new beginning. After a complete line-up change, only founder Filippa Nässil remained. Instead of giving up, she put together a new band line-up. The new start paid off: With new power and a clear direction, the band landed a gig at the Wacken Open Air. A rare new start under the same name, with a new sound and the same determination.

Whether absurd friendships with surrealists, winning bets against their own label or name jokes that became a brand - each of these bands brings not only music, but also stories that offer exactly what rock is all about: attitude, character and the willingness to swim against the tide.

BOBfest 2025 unites precisely this attitude on one stage. And perhaps it is precisely this mix of anecdotes, attitude and authenticity that makes the day more than just another festival. Some facts are forgotten, others are passed on. These belong to the second kind.

Image source: Radio BOB!

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