Joey Albrecht

German guitarist and singer, born 1952, founder member of Karthago. "After his birth on January 15th, 1952, it took just 8 years until Joey Albrecht grabbed a string instrument for the first time. Early on, he was part of a mandolin orchestra. "Little Joey" was 10 years old when he founded his first band. "The Almights" gigged in countless clubs across the German state of Lower Saxony. Everybody was excited - with the exception of the headmaster of Joey's school. He wrote a letter to the Albrecht parents in which he demanded an end to what he called "the wrong influences" for their son. Joey never really followed that demand. At age 13 Joey recorded his first record. He hit the stages of the famous "Starclub" in Hamburg (yes, the same club The Beatles had gigged in extensively years before). When asked about his musical influences, Joey names Latin American guitarists as well as Jimi Hendrix, John Lee Hooker, John McLaughlin, Ray Charles and Chick Corea. In 1969, Joey moved to Berlin. After performing as a solo artist for a few months, he founded his life project Karthago. A busy and wild period started at this stage. As opposed to his fellow Karthago members, Joey already had a lot of experience with record releases. The guitarist, vocalist, producer and composer today: "I had to teach everyone all the time. And my approach was different. So I put everyone under pressure. Back then, I was not interested in any political issues, but rather in success." The key to success was quality, which Joey stuck to eversince After the preliminary end of Karthago in 1976, Joey invested a lot of energy into many projects. Those included "Bad Boy" as well as the "Joey Albrecht Band". In between, there were some temporary Karthago revivals with different line-ups. In addition, Joey worked as a pick-up musician. "When Ingo asked me to think about a full-blown Karthago revival a few years ago, I did not want to do it at first", Joey says. But by now, he is glad and enjoys working on the DVD, which will be released soon, as well as on the next Karthago album. "We are trying to stick to the approach we followed back then. The difference: We do not have those image neurosis problems we used to have. And there is no lack of discipline anymore." Joey is very happy about today's Karthago line-up. This of course applies also to the new band members Rolo and Chris. "Nowadays It is hard to find people like them", Joey says." BAND & MEMBERS Carthage 2004 : Rolo Rodriguez, Tommy Goldschmidt, Ingo Bischof, Chris Rodriguez and Joey Albrecht. "CARTHAGE IS BACK! The legendary Berlin band KARTHAGO around the exceptional guitarist and singer Joey Albrecht is on tour again. Ray Charles, The Beatles, Van Morrison, Santana, Stevie Wonder, Jimi Hendrix, Traffic , Yes and a lot of other musicians inspired KARTHAGO to their idiosyncratic mix of Rhythm & Blues, Funk, Latin, Hard and Southern Rock. The success that KARTHAGO was able to record within a very short time was mainly based on their energetic live performances. Joey Albrecht's virtuoso guitar playing and his charismatic blues and rock voice, Ingo Bischof's creative and innovative piano and keyboard solos and Tommy Goldschmidt's fiery Latin American percussion inspired critics and fans alike. The legendary band is rounded off today by drummer Rolo Rodriguez and his 23-year-old son Chris Rodriguez on bass. "In the 1970s, KARTHAGO with their rolling funk rock pleasantly set themselves apart from the meaning-laden synth endless web of the cosmic couriers." (Bertram Engel) For Helmut Hattler von Kraan, KARTHAGO is one of the few German bands that present their music at the highest technical level. "Every musician is in a class of their own." The name KARTHAGO quickly developed into one of the best-known rock acts on the German scene, the band filled concert halls nationwide and was also successful abroad. In France, the response was so great that the readers of the magazine 'Extra' voted Karthago's first LP record of the month and the French record company released two songs as singles. In addition to Austria and Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, France, Sweden, Denmark and Finland stations of successful performances. KARTHAGO always had immense power reserves when it came to playing live and inspiring the audience. The group proved this at the 1972 Germersheim Festival, for example, when they performed alongside Family, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Santana. The AFN broadcast a live Recording from Germersheim later throughout Europe. KARTHAGO celebrated one of their greatest successes in 1973 at Lippmann & Rau's 'German Rock Super Concert' in Frankfurt. The group did exceptionally well with both audiences and critics. The Frankfurter Rundschau, for example, expressly stated that that Cato's notorious statement was not to be agreed, according to which Carthage had to be destroyed, and instead attested to the group's versatility and strong blues feeling. KARTHAGO was always in first place in the popular reader votings (Pop Polls) of the 70s from 'POP', 'Musikexpress' and 'Sounds' in the category 'Best Band'. The same was true for Joey Albrecht (Best Singer/Guitarist), Ingo Bischof (Best Pianist/Organist) and Tommy Goldschmidt (Best Percussionist) - a benchmark for the popularity of the band and the individual musicians with the audience. "The Best German Rockband of the 70's" were later quotes from the British critics in 'Sounds London' and 'New Musical Express'. In 1975 KARTHAGO overtook the fate already shown in history. The band falls apart and only meets again in early 1976 for a final tour of Germany. “KARTHAGO stands for a good piece of German rock history and sets new standards in the scene. Joey Albrecht can certainly be counted among the best and most versatile German rock guitarists." (Musikexpress) The thoroughbred musicians later went their own way. However, the call for a resurrection of KARTHAGO has become louder and louder in recent years. Now he has been heard. In summer the band played in Berlin & Hamburg as well as at the Burgherzberg Festival for their long-awaited revival and is now on tour nationwide." 2005 year.