Sometimes you wonder why a record remained unknown and only attracted attention regionally. With Poker you don‘t know where to start with all the arguments that should have made them conquer the rock world. Let‘s start with the musicians who founded this band in 1980. The name Kin Ping Meh appears twice, making Krautrock fans sit up and take notice. Guitarist Gagey Mrozeck and singer Michael Pozz belonged to this legendary band, while Peter Oehler (guitar) and Jürgen Astor (drums) came from the Geff Harrison Band. Not only related to the Mannheim area, Poker was an all-star group, especially since the names „Nine Days Wonder“ and „Twenty Sixty Six And Then“ have to be mentioned as well, so that the list of ex-bands is halfway complete. The energetic hard rock was put on LP in 1981 with an internationally competitive production. „Red Neck Roller“ is the name of the „red thing“, which was artistically exciting in terms of the visual concept, but also seems to be of little significance. Even the vinyl itself was red. Neither the cover nor the inside contained a band photo. Another problem was the label SL-Records (Gama), which was still quite new in the business and had by far not such a distribution potential like a major company. Today the experts agree: If „Red Neck Roller“ had been released by one of the big companies, it would have „really hit the spot“! The previously unreleased demo from 1983, which can be found as a bonus on the CD version of this re-release (the LP contains one track of the demo), supports this assumption. Assumption? Let‘s rather call it fact. So „Red Neck Roller“ became the first and only album of the band. And this album is now released in new splendor for the first time as a reissue (CD, LP) in cooperation with the band (Peter Oehler) and Break Out Classics (Mike Möller) via Golden Core, remastered by Neudi. Some of the band members made a career after Poker was history! Gagey Mrozeck joined Herbert Grönemeyer and wrote for him e.g. the hit „Alkohol“. After his time with Edo Zanki and Poker he was an important part for Grönemeyer from 1982 to 1990. Michael Pozz and Jürgen Astor remained true to rock music! Both joined the British group Tokyo Blade and had their own band called Dead Ballerinas. Astor also drummed with Stahl, while Peter Oehler changed genres and played with Costa Cordalis for many years. Being aware of all those names, it‘s okay to be a little awestruck. Listening to „Red Neck Roller“, this concentrated competence stands out! It is rounded off by the banal fact that the music of Poker simply rocks! The CD and LP include liner notes, as well as some rare photos and memorablia.
