Dick York & Vom Ritchie (Toten Hosen drummer) present their debut album CRYSSIS "Simple Men" (Drumming Monkey Records) live on stage.
As a special guest: The new Düsseldorf punk rock heroes JOLLY ROGER and the fruity fresh BANANA PILOTS from Unterrath Rock City.
If you need a few more details, here you go:
Dick York, who has been playing guitar and writing songs since early youth, met Vom Ritchie in 1981 in Basildon, Essex (England). At that time, both were already playing in regionally known bands. York was with the legendary “Sta Prest,” one of the original mod revival bands, while Ritchie was drumming for “The Miracle Babies.”
Together, they founded their first joint band “Cry Dyann,” which quickly gained attention as a hot newcomer with catchy pop punk songs like “Could it be,” “So Clean,” “She Loves,” and “Plundersquad.” Unfortunately, the management proved to be less professional, resulting in the songs never reaching the public, and the band was dissolved in 1983. While Dick York initially frustrated hung up his musical career, Vom Ritchie pushed through and soon conquered the international charts with “Doctor And The Medics.” Ritchie has been living in Düsseldorf for many years and is the drummer for “Toten Hosen,” as well as the British punk legend “The Boys” and numerous side projects like “The Spittin‘ Vicars,” “Corner Boys,” etc.
The songs from “Cry Dyann” survived the test of time as demo tapes and stayed in Ritchie’s mind all these years, so he tracked down Dick York last year and reformed the band under the new name “CRYSSIS.” Vom Ritchie said: “We met, laughed about the old times, wrote a few new songs, and invited Thomas Schneider (“The Spittin‘ Vicars,” “Beatlesons,” etc.) & Trip Tom (“Kind Im Magen”) to join as guitarist and bassist.”
Together, they express their love for loud guitars, paired with catchy melodies, on the freshly recorded album “Simple Men.” Vom Ritchie: “We recorded "Simple Men," a mix of old and new songs, and were so happy with how it sounded that we decided to play a few live shows to promote it and have fun. We played at the sold-out JAB in Düsseldorf during the Joe Strummer Tribute Night in January 2011. The great response encouraged us to keep going.”
This year, Cryssis will warm up for further activities on July 8 in Kempten, on July 9 in Bad Tölz, and the official release party in Düsseldorf at the Haus der Jugend is planned for September 17, 2011, one day after the official release of “Simple Men” on Drumming Monkey Records.
