Perfect Fellows: 25 years of “Perfect Fellows”

Created: 02/10/2022, 09:00

By: Birgit Lang

Today the Perfect Fellows perform as a trio.

(From left) Peter Neumeier, Alex Urban and Markus Prediger can be seen regularly at the Adlberger Nacht, like here in 2018, or in the Boveda.

© Birgit Lang

The Taufkirchen band "Perfect Fellows" has been rocking for 25 years.

The beginnings were in the old Jugi.

The friends rehearsed there and played acclaimed concerts.

Taufkirchen

– Well, the Stones have been playing together for 60 years, but they are a lot older than the “Perfect Fellows”.

The three from Taufkirchen are already 25 years old as a band this year.

The actual roots even go back to 1995.

Back then, three 17-year-olds spontaneously founded the band “Damokles”.

The first rehearsals of Markus Prediger, Alex Urban and Tom Rable took place in the basement of the Rables.

"We thought it was totally cool, the thought of being on stage and rocking was crucial for us," says Urban.

However, they were not immediately aware that this would initially involve a lot of work.

Tom owned a guitar, Alex had a piano, and Markus used his first apprenticeship salary to buy his bass.

“In the beginning, of course, the band was totally a Jugi thing.

That's where we had our first performance," says middle school teacher Urban.

"Man, was I nervous about that.

There is even an old video there.” Musically it was “well”, but “in terms of mood it was awesome.

The old Jugi was packed.

I still remember that today as if it were yesterday.”

At the very first performance in Munich, in 2002 at the Emergenza band competition, their fans even organized a bus.

“There must have been 60 people traveling with us.

A fan is said to have even made a stage dive.

But I can't remember if he was definitely caught by the audience."

The Jugi in Taufkirchen used to be the center of the band's activities.

Here they rehearsed and performed.

2002 in the cast (from left) Alex Urban, Peter Neumeier, Manfred Mildenberger and Markus Prediger.

© Birgit Lang

For a long time, the band played almost exclusively their own songs.

"Everyone wrote lyrics and developed melody lines." For some time now, almost all melodies and lyrics have come from Urban, and his friends then implement the ideas on their instruments.

The rock element has diminished over time, also due to the line-up, but the Fellows - English for companion or member - never deny their rock roots.

This can also be heard on their album "Amped", recorded in 2018, with nine original compositions in English, Bavarian and High German, they manage the balancing act between hard rock and acoustic music.

The album is available on every download portal.

The name "Perfect Fellows", initially "AMP - All My Perfect Fellows", came into play around 2004.

Musically, the guys had moved relatively far away from the old sound, so that they also wanted a new start.

The name was a play on the members' initials.

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The idea for the acoustic band came about in 2008. Drummer Florian Hausen had left, so Urban bought a cajon.

And the three quickly agreed in which direction the whole thing could go: more cover songs and performances in bars and pubs.

It really started with gigs again in 2011 at the Boveda in Taufkirchen, where the Perfect Fellows have been performing their traditional pre-Christmas concert ever since.

This year, if all goes well, on December 16th.

“Since then we have had great performances in a wide variety of locations.

We're always there for the Sinnflut or the Night of the Blue Wonders," says Neumeier.

In the many years there were also embarrassing situations at performances.

When Urban picked up the electric guitar in the Schwindkirchen disco ages ago and hadn't set his new tuner to the normal tuning: He consistently played the entire song a semitone higher, which sounded pretty weird.

"I still sometimes get that spread on my bread."

The biggest gig was at the "Aqua Turbo Contest" 2006 in Ingolstadt in front of several hundred people.

Because the boys didn't imagine any chances of winning the largest band competition in Central Bavaria, they didn't want to wait for the decision.

As they walked out, they heard the winner being announced: “We!

Since then we have had a great trophy and as a reward we were allowed to play at the Open-Flair in Ingolstadt," said Urban.

Her smallest gig was in 2006 in Berchtesgaden.

“We played alongside local heroes Mr Hyde.

Four spectators were present: the members of Mr. Hyde.

They, in turn, only had four viewers afterwards: us,” Neumeier recalls.

The three can also come up with a very tight gig.

For years they have been playing once a year in the Jägerstüberl in Rosenheim.

"A pub as narrow as a hose, but a great location, on around two square meters in the audience.

We love this performance,” says Prediger.

They were really scared when Neumeier received a few violent electric shocks from a defective amplifier on stage during a performance in a youth center in the Freising district.

"That was our worst performance," recalls the 42-year-old, who now works as channel sales director at Eset.

But there were always highlights.

When they were the band of the week at Antenne Bayern “Soundgarage” in 2005 and their song “What it's like” ran for weeks.

Or in the same year when Neumeier and Urban were Maria Mena's live guitarists at the Mc Chart show in Munich.

For the 43-year-old educator, a benefit concert that they organized in 2018 in the Bürgersaal for the Tafel and the Taufkirchener Förderverein is also unforgettable.

How do you manage to play together for so long?

"Markus, Peter and I are best friends, we are simply on a very similar wavelength.

Musically, too, there are many common role models,” says Urban.

Precision mechanic master Prediger adds: "We form a unit as a band and don't bend, not even with the now numerous cover songs."

The musicians have always made time for their hobby during training, studies and work and it should remain so, even if it is no longer possible to the extent it was 25 years ago.

Contact: www.perfectfellows.de