The band - Members and history
Eric
When we started to put our program - and the songs it should contain - together, I felt kind of unsure and rattled:
On the one hand I knew about the importance of these songs to so many people and secondly because I think these
compositions are demanding an all-out dedication from the performer.
In my young days I was lucky to be able to hear B.B. King and Buddy Guy. Johnny Winter hit me like a brick,
Jimmy Hendrix shocked me, Eric Clapton bedazzled me and Rory Gallagher left and still leaves me breathless.
These are all famous names, but there are so many other brilliant guitarists like Robert Johnson or Bonnie Riatt.
Despite incredible poverty and discrimination their liberal thinking and their uninhibited groove, also shaped
and still influences this music.
Early 2007 Hans and I jammed together in a rehearsal room. He has a great attitude towards music in general
and especially to the one of the above mentioned. From his football days he knew a bassist, Klaus, who was
perhaps willing to join us. We met, rehearsed, talked and concluded that we all three meet new challenges
with an open and creative mind and enjoy the same kind of music.
When I see and hear how our songmaterial developes I am proud to be a part of the team. And sometimes I have
the feeling Robert Johnson likes it too.
Mail to Eric
Hans
My musical interest in rock-music was triggered in the beginning of the 1980s after 3 years of frustrating
classical piano-lessons. At that time the great era of blues was already history. So I first came into contact
with the bombast-rock of bands like Rush, Saga, Marillion and Asia before I got to know there antetypes: Bands
like Uriah Heep, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Santana, Cream, Jethro Tull, the early Genesis etc.
Rhythm and Groove have always fascinated me. Somehow I felt it in my marrow: I have to start beating the drums.
Only listening is not sufficient any more. That was the key-experience in regards to my passion as a drummer.
This passion grabbed me already in my young days (yes I always adored Neil Part the legendary Rush drummer and
Ian Paice the Deep Purple institution) but only with 36 I climbed the drum-stool (better then than never –
thanks to Mägges).
Since then I sit behind my drum-kit every day, with few exceptions and meanwhile I and my family have made our
peace with my addiction. To have the opportunity to play with musicians like Eric and Claus was an absolute
piece of luck to me. That pertains the human side as well as the soul of our music. Here I feel good
(like a pig in the muck) all around. With each rehearsal or gig a dream comes true.
Mail to Hans
Jürgen
This band means a musical renaissance to me. Already during my young days Eric and I played a great deal
of these songs together and so this kind of music wakes great memories and passion.
Since I was a child I wanted to be a musician, but only an offer from a musical association made it
possible to own an instrument of my own. It was a tuba and I have been faithful to it ever since.
But in my soul the Blues, the Blues-Rock and the Rock’n-Roll always lived. I adored bands like The Beatles,
The Rolling Stones and The Who. These bands lived their music and could not be pressed in a common scheme.
And exactly this spirit you can find in Howlin’ King Snake. Alive, full of energy, lots of fervour and
improvisation.
Each time, live on stage, a musical volcano erupts. I certainly know that we are swimming against the
mainstream, but that is the core of Howlin’ King Snake. We want to preserve the originality and freshness
of the Blues and Rock’n-Roll. This tenor we want to transport to our audience.
With Eric and Hans I share this spiritual kinship…
Mail to Jürgen
Band History
"The Blues is life blown up like a balloon. Let yourself go and become part of it." –
With this philosophy, a band was formed in December 2006 with guitarist Eric Kern,
vocalist Angela Kern and drummer Hans-Günther Heck and later, bassist Klaus Waigand.
The band’s name "Howlin' King Snake" comes from John Lee Hooker’s song "Crawlin' King
Snake" and the Afro-American blues-musician Howlin' Wolf. The name and the members
stand for the grassroots of bluesmusic. In addition to feature-length gigs with Blues-
and Soul-classics of the fifties and sixties, their first album "On the Bridge to the
Blues" began production in April 2008 and was released the same year as a world-wide
download. After Angela left in September the band has increasingly returned to its
musical roots and to the formative titles of their youth.
Numerous performances followed in the winter of 2008 and spring of 2009 in which „HKS“
energized its audiences with its obvious joy in performing and freedom to improvise.
In June 2009 they started recording their album "The Blues Around Here". All titles
were recorded and sung live between performances, as it was common practice 40 years ago.
Final production of the album started in August and in September 2009 it was released.
Influenced by Blues-Giants like B.B. King, Johnny Winter and Rory Gallagher the product
gives the listeners a sense of déjà vu with the Blues-World of the sixties and the flavour
of the rhythm of that time. Beside road-songs describing the tour-life of the band’s
members and the attitude of young people in the seventies the songs in "The Blues Around
Here" also tell of human differences, of poverty, loneliness and the sometimes inevitable
escape from reality.
With their own personable manner, their love for music and their closeness to their audiences
”HKS” has helped to keep the feeling and soul of blues alive, even in today’s mainstream era.
Their motto is: "Hey, you all better Rock'n' Roll!".
