The legendary cult band with Thomas „Monster“ Schoppe

Klaus Renft Combo

Continuously existent from 1967 to 1975, the Leipzig Klaus Renft Combo (from 1974: RENFT) was one of the first "Beat Bands" whose singers sang in German, and became one of the most well-known and well-loved rock groups of the GDR. Always wild and unpredictable, RENFT turned into a legend after they were banned in 1975.

There's no doubt, RENFT is east-German cultural heritage and lives on in the memory of many. Everyone in the eastern part of Germany knows the band. Their songs are standard in any record collection, beacons of hope even today for their now somewhat older fans, stylistically independent of fashion and trends, their songs bear witness to unyieldingness, evocative of the courage to stand up for one's beliefs.

Even in the early 1970's the band RENFT achieved cult status and became the symbol for opposition and revolt against a state-ordered cultural doctrine. Under this compulsion a band emerged, simply called RENFT, between 1971-1975. Their songs, multi-faceted and ranging from folk and blues to ballads to rock stormed the hit parades. No other band held so many top places between 1971 (the first #1 was "Wer die Rose ehrt") to 1975 in the East-German hit parades. RENFT became a symbol of hope for the generation coming of age, creating a bridge for their integration into a society defined by the socialistic daily grind. Always wild and unpredictable, RENFT turned into a legend after they were banned in 1975.

Now that six of the band members have died and two cannot perform live due to health reasons, lead singer Thomas "Monster" Schoppe is the last surviving member of the band which was so formative for the development of GDR rock music.

He is more aware than ever of the significance of the RENFT songs as cultural heritage. Two further key players from the very early days of the GDR rock music scene are at his side: the well-loved guitarist Gisbert „Pitti“ Piatkowski, since early 2020 the ex-Puhdys- bassist Peter Rasym, as well as, since late 2021, the well-known drummer Olli Becker.

In order to give the text and content of the songs more expressive power, but also in consideration of the atmospheric requirements of theatre and small stages, the band is deliberately choosing a more acoustic presentation for most concerts and forgoing some stylistic elements oft typical for rock music.This does the ears of the musicians and the more mature fans good, while still allowing the brute force and the intensity so typical of RENFT to come through.

Of course the good old RENFT songs such as "Wer die Rose ehrt," "Zwischen Liebe und Zorn," "Apfeltraum," "Gänselieschen", "Nach der Schlacht" or "Als ich wie ein Vogel war" will all be present. No longer in the original lineup, but still with outstanding musicians.