For the few lucky bands who live to see a career blossom out of their passion, even fewer manage to avoid the hopeless creative stagnation that happens when hobby turns into ”work”. We all know that as soon as rock n’ roll starts to resemble going to the office, there are no winners – everybody’s screwed. German psych rock trio KADAVAR, arguably the hardest working band in European rock,can already look back at a seven year long career.After being formed in the German capital city back in 2010, the word of KADAVAR playing in a different league from their retro rock-labelled peers quickly spread worldwide, resulting not only in audiences growing past the 1000 mark on their many tours, but also in chart positions for their third album ‘Berlin’ – entering at 18 in Germany and 21 in the US Heatseekers charts. Highly regarded as one of the most explosive live experiences on the contemporary rock scene, their secret seems to be boiled down and brewed from three ingredients: an accessible yet personalized brand of classic rock; a no-frills approach to everything they do (”minimal arrangement, maximum effect”); and that undeniable German tenacity, yet again.

Both Lupus (vocals/guitar) and Tiger (drums) studied sound engineering after high school, and met in the beer-drenched Berlin underground at night time, as you do. Inspiration struck when the new wave of retro rock flooded the scene in the mid-00’s, and together they built KADAVAR on the foundation of a vintage sound with classic song structure – a conscious step away from the increasingly heavier stoner bands of the time (the name itself was inspired by the American underground heroes DANAVA). “If someone does a seven minute jam on one riff and sells it as something cool I think he is just too stupid to write a good song!” Lupus says. “We wanted to sound more like a heavy garage band. We still do, maybe now more than ever.”

Personality-wise, they couldn’t be more different. Lupus is social and opinionated. An emotional straight-shooter, or ”East German” – as he himself sums it up. Where he wears his heart on his sleeve, Tiger on the other hand keeps his neatly tucked inside, only to be exposed to the outside world on stage. Where Lupus speaks, Tiger thinks.

In between them two balances Simon ‘Dragon’ Bouteloup, the bassist who replaced the original member Phillip ‘Mammut’ Lippitz. There is nothing German about this Parisian bohemian. Simon spent his late teenage years drifting around Europe intuitively – just like his style of playing – later ending up with the infamous French psychonauts in AQUA NEBULA OSCILLATOR. He moved to Berlin in 2012 to play with THE OATH, and joined KADAVAR two years later.

In the beginning of 2017 the band built a brand new recording studio from scratch and recorded 4th album ‘Rough Times’. Louder Than War magazine dubbed it “probably their most-ambitious and loud album to date” while Planet Rock Magazine fawned over it’s “down-tuned Sabbathian blues with acid-marinated Krautrock”.Live the band remain a true force of nature and thundering blues powerhouse. Since their first appearance in Copenhagen in 2013, Denmark’s capital and it’s audiences have always entranced the band and resulted in powerful performances. Their set at Pumpehuset in November 2017 left the cheering audience spellbound and deaf..As Metal Hammer quite rightly pinpoint, Kadavar are ”the aural equivalent of being stomped into sludge”. Careful where you step.