Enlarge image
Franz Trojan (seated in front) with his band mates of the Spider Murphy Gang 1983
Photo:
Horst Ossinger / dpa
Former drummer and co-founder of the Bavarian cult band Spider Murphy Gang, Franz Trojan, died at the age of 64.
The band knew that he died on September 15 in Kamp-Lintfort, North Rhine-Westphalia, said the band's concert manager, Lothar Schlessmann.
The Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation (BR) reported about it first.
Trojan was the drummer of the Spider Murphy Gang until 1992.
Günther Sigl and Barny Murphy (civil: Gerhard Gmell) founded the Spider Murphy Gang in 1977 with Trojan and Michael Busse.
It was named after the saxophonist in Elvis Presley's "Jailhouse Rock".
As was often the case then, the group began with English texts.
Later she switched to the Bavarian dialect and started her own style.
In the 1980s, "Scandal in the restricted area" and "Schickeria" made the band known throughout Germany.
Today Sigl and Murphy from the original line-up are still there.
With "Scandal in the restricted area" they even had a number one hit.
Trojan had long lived in seclusion
Schlessmann said the band asked him to post a short mourning text online.
In the advertisement with a youth picture in black and white it says: "The Spider Murphy Gang mourns their ex-drummer Franz Trojan." Trojan has spent the last few years in Kamp-Lintfort.
"May he rest in peace!" According to Schlessmann, no one around the band had recently been in contact with Trojan, who had long since withdrawn.
"We are world-famous in Bavaria" is one of Sigl's favorite sentences - and an understatement.
The band has fans all over the German-speaking area and beyond.
Sigl once said: "Bavarian is the most popular dialect - and everyone comes here on vacation."
hba / dpa