The Starfighters

Beat group founded in 1961 active in the 1960's from Essen Germany. The band members through the years: Michael Conrad - Tea box bass, Manfred Menne - Washboard & Drums Manfred Menz - Guitar Klaus Schmidt Lutz 'Jimmy' Stoeckius - Banjo & Rhythm Guitar - Vocals Uwe Thoden - Acoustic Guitar. Gerd Dorbandt - Bass Guitar Wolfgang Schubert - Bass Guitar August Scharf - Piano Jürgen Goitowski - Solo Guitar The band from Essen was already reaching for the ceiling in 1960, because in addition to a skiffle repertoire, they also had a little jazz ready to be booked into the relevant jazz clubs. This had a positive effect on their income. The Starfighters Skiffle Group was in competition with the Export Bakers and Railways Skiffle Group (who became national skiffle champions in 1961) in the Ruhr region. Lutz Stoekius: “We quickly got ourselves a drum kit, because our role models were Lonnie Donegan and The Vipers Skiffle Group anyway, and they had a drum kit. Here in the Pott we got the reputation of no longer being a real skiffle group. But our washboard player thought it was too stupid to scrub around on that thing, so he got himself a drum kit. Then we could also play dance music and we got more events to play at.” The Starfighters Skiffle Group's set list read like a Dadaist poem: Lost John, My Old Man's A Dustman, Stagger-Lee, Battle Of New Orleans, Basin Street Blues, Das Wolgalied, Am Sonntag will mein Süßer mit mir Segeln gehen, Auf der schwäb'schen Eisenbahne and Schlaf, Kindlein, schlaf. A rather strange mixture, it must be admitted, but typical of the time, when just about every taste had to be catered for. Lutz Stoeckius: “What should you start with, apart from skiffle? In the beginning I only knew two fingerings on the guitar, or three, but you could already play skiffle with that! Like the Beatles, with six or seven harmonies, that only came later.” The Starfighters 1961 consisted of Michael Conrad, tea chest bass, Manfred Menne, washboard, drums, Manfred Menz, guitar, Klaus Schmidt, Lutz 'Jimmy' Stoeckius, banjo, and Uwe Thoden, acoustic guitar. Gerd Dorbandt, bass, and Hans-Martin Clauss had already left the band by this time. The band quickly gained a reputation as a good choice for dance events, as it was variable in sound, choice of song material and line-up. When it made sense, they also played in threes: Lutz Stoeckius, guitar, Manfred Menne, drums, Gerd Dorbandt, bass. As a soloist with his banjo, Lutz Stoeckius was the winner at a twist festival in 1963 in the Niederrhein-Halle. Wolfgang Schubert, bass, and August Scharf, piano, joined the Starfighters that year. As usual, the band line-up was streamlined due to the beat, from six to five, from five to four: Wolfgang Schubert, bass, Manfred Menne, drums, Lutz Stoeckius, vocals, rhythm guitar, Jürgen Goitowski, solo guitar. These four will be performing at the Star Club. But they won't tell us which one. My guess is Bochum. Hans Beukenburg made it possible for the Starfighters to release a record on his Format label, which soon gave them a further boost. This led to their only television appearance - on NDR's 'Aktuelle Schaubude'. Lutz Stoeckius: “They called us, come here, you'll get 1000 marks. We played 'Ich will Dich vergessen' to promote the single.” On the single sleeve, the fifth man is only abbreviated to MM. “Yes, Manfred Menz was still there, but he didn't make it.” The personal highlight of the Starfighters' career was their performance at the Lichtburg in Essen, when they played at the premiere of the Beatles film 'Yeah Yeah Yeah' (A Hard Day's Night). Afterwards, they dragged the Beatles home - unfortunately not the real ones, but at least the life-size cardboard cut-outs that had been set up in the foyer. At home, they pasted their own portraits over the heads, so they had a great backdrop for their performances. The Starfighters as a double lotto. The Starfighters' repertoire during the Beatle era was not necessarily influenced by the Beatles. Lutz Stoeckius: “Of course we played the usual Beatles, Stones and Casey Jones songs, but also a lot of Johnny And The Hurricanes, Tielman Brothers, Benny Quick, rock ‘n’ roll stuff.” In real life, the Starfighters fell from the sky like chestnut leaves in the fall. In the summer of 1966, 60 of the F104G aircraft purchased by Defense Minister Franz-Josef Strauß had already kissed the ground somewhere, and the fictitious Starfighters had a problem. Lutz Stoeckius: “The press didn't want to write about us anymore - because of the name, they didn't want to arouse any negative associations. We should rename ourselves, then we would get great coverage again. I don't remember whether the name was a direct disadvantage. We were just called that. We also wanted to do a charity event back then to play for the women, the bereaved families of the crash victims.” But they didn't do that after all - probably to their advantage. Agency: STAMM & BELZ CONCERTS future-agency@gmx.de & info@stamm-belz.de https://stamm-belz.de/ FON: 0201.85 59 77-0