Grauzone (German for "grey area", ) was a band from

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

, Switzerland, that was active and disbanded in the early 1980s. The band is most famous for their 1981 hit "

Eisbär "Eisbär" (German for "polar bear"; ) is a 1980 song by the Swiss Neue Deutsche Welle band Grauzone. A cult hit, it first appeared on the 1980 compilation album ''Swiss Wave – The Album''. The shorter single version was later collected on the ...

" ("Polar Bear"). The single charted at number 12 in Germany and number 6 in Austria. In addition to "Eisbär", they had some success with the singles "Film 2" and "Wütendes Glas".

History

Foundation

At the end of 1979, Marco Repetto (drums) and GT (bass) left the

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

band Glueams to form a new band called Grauzone with Martin Eicher (guitar, vocals, synthesizer). Martin had already supported Glueams on their single '"Mental". Grauzone's first concert was in March 1980 at club Spex in Bern. Martin's brother

Stephan Eicher Stephan Eicher (born 17 August 1960) is a Swiss singer. He sings in a variety of languages, including French, German, English, Italian, Swiss German and Romansh, sometimes using different languages in the same song. Eicher's success started ...

(guitar, synthesizer), Max Kleiner and Claudine Chirac (saxophone) supplemented the group temporarily in live appearances and recordings. The band found some commercial success to their resentment, their first single Eisbär charting well in Germany and Austria. After ten concerts, four singles and an album the group split up at the end of 1982.

After Grauzone

GT and Marco Repetto formed a new band Missing Link, later Eigernordwand, with the former Glueams guitarist Martin Pavlinec and the drummer Dominique Uldry. GT supplemented the

futurism Futurism ( ) was an Art movement, artistic and social movement that originated in Italy, and to a lesser extent in other countries, in the early 20th century. It emphasized dynamism, speed, technology, youth, violence, and objects such as the ...

oriented performance group "Red Catholic Orthodox Jewish Chorus" around performance artist Edy Marconi, in which occasionally Marco Repetto also played. Later the group changed their name to I Suonatori.

started a successful solo career. In 1988, Martin Eicher published his solo-EP ''Spellbound Lovers''. In 1989, Marco Repetto started a new career as a

Techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time ( ) and often ...

and

Ambient Ambient or ambiance or ambience may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Ambiancé'', an unreleased experimental film * ''Ambient'' (novel), a novel by Jack Womack Music and sound * Ambience (sound recording), also known as atmospheres or backgr ...

DJ, musician and producer (a.o.

mittageisen "Mittageisen" is a song by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees. It originally appeared on the band's 1978 debut album ''The Scream'' as "Metal Postcard (Mittageisen)"; the track was re-recorded in 1979, this time with the lyrics sung i ...

v2).

Discography

Studio albums

*1981 – ''Grauzone'' (D No. 37)

Compilation albums

*1998 – ''Die Sunrise Tapes'' *2010 – ''Grauzone 1980–1982'' (double album – remastered)

Singles

*1981 – "

/Ich lieb sie" (D No. 12, A No. 6) *1981 – "Moskau/Ein Tanz mit dem Tod/Ich lieb sie" *1982 – "Träume mit mir/Wütendes Glas" *1983 – "Moskau/Film 2"

References

External links

Official band-website at the indie-label mital-U
* {{Authority control Swiss new wave musical groups Neue Deutsche Welle groups Swiss post-punk music groups German-language musical groups from Switzerland Musical groups established in 1980 Musical groups disestablished in 1982