Cunning Dorx
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The Cunning Dorx are an Eastern Austrian Alternative Rock band.
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Formation
The band was founded by Christof Ulreich, Beno Unger and Patrick Peklar, then schoolmates in Unterschützen / Burgenland in April 1994. Alfons Bauernfeind joined a few weeks later. In May the four of them came to an agreement about the band name "Cunning Dorx", and the first rehearsals took place soon afterwards. The initial repertoire contained covers of Nirvana, R.E.M., and Soundgarden songs, and some of their own songs written by Beno Unger.
The career of the band members started with a contest and several performances within their circle of friends, where their first devoted fans came from. Their first public concert took place in the country disco, Train; the gig was a success. This experience motivated the Cunning Dorx into writing and presenting their own musical pieces, instead of playing cover versions of well-known songs. Leading in this connection were once again Beno Unger and Alfons Bauernfeind. A studio session followed, the result of which was the sound carrier "That's for Pedestrians". Some gigs on a larger scale, a charity concert among them, enlarged their fan base considerably.
By the time of their first album release, Beno Unger was officially not part of the band anymore, although he continued to record and perform with them later on. The remaining lineup included Christof Ulreich (vocals), Alfons Bauernfeind (guitar), Patrick Peklar (drums) and Albert Bock (bass).
Style
The Cunning Dorx play what they call "Post-post-modern Electrical Rock". This odd genre is due in part to the varied backgrounds of the band members, who had previous played in Alternative Rock, Hardcore Punk, Blues, Jazz and even Celtic folk bands. This means that there is an abundance of influences on their style, from Reggae to Alternative Rock, and from Rap to Jazz. A fact which actually helped them to maintain a broad musical perspective and provide the basis for creating their own characteristic style. The style of the Cunning Dorx has always been out of the ordinary so that the musicians were forced to make up neologisms like "Eclectic Iconoclasm" or "Post-Modern Alternative" themselves to give the musically minded at least a vision of their technique of mixing every thinkable genre, as exemplified in the song "Yuka-Hey", where Rap melts into 1970s Rock and Reggae.
Most of their lyrics appear to be in English but they don't really mean anything. Alfons, their most productive songwriter, has always seen the human voice as just another instrument. This would make them an instrumental band. According to this view, it does not matter what they are singing as long as the melody fits. That is why in most of their songs, there are no lyrics to speak of.
Works
At the end of June 1995, a demo tape was created, including four songs which were also sung at concerts with other bands, such as Rank, Kurort, Back to the Saltmine, Racial Abuse, and Distorted Picture. The then-emerging lack of motivation held back any progress of the young band and consequently diminished their audience. Moreover, rumours that the band was going to break up persisted until their first album Flauschangriff was published in 2001. The Cunning Dorx started a new beginning and their 'revival' turned out well, mainly through the engagement of several new artists and involvement in new projects, doing a great deal for the realisation of their musical aims. The band has obviously improved since regular rehearsals are part of their routine. With an organised management, (Kamikatze records), Cunning Dorx has become a more professional youth band out of a not so serious school band experiment.
External link
- Official site (http://www.cunningdorx.com)