Checkpoint Charlie -

Checkpoint Charlie was a German Krautrock band that made a 1970 experimental/spoken-word album on CPM. After an eight-year absence, they made four albums through 1982 on Schneebal.

Members: Uwe von Trotha (vocals), Michael Ehlers (guitar), Joachim Krebssalat [Joachim Krebs] (keyboards, 1968-78), Jürgen Bräutigam (bass, vocals), Lothar Stahl (drums, percussion), Harald Lindner (vocals, bass), Werner Heß (drums, bass), Bernd Schneider (drums), Wilfried Sahm (guitar), Malte Bremer (guitar), Lutz Oldemeier (drums), Werner Walten (guitar)

Background

Checkpoint Charlie formed in 1967 in Karlsruhe when actor and vocalist Uwe von Trotha teamed with singer and bassist Harald Linder, drummer Werner Heß, and guitarist Gian Mayer.

Von Trotha studied theater in Heidelberg and recited poetry with jazz musicians in local clubs. Linder played cover songs at U.S. military clubs and led The Workers, a group drawn from trade union youth. The two met at Karlsruhe’s Kammertheater in 1966, at a performance of Peter Handke’s Publikumsbeschimpfung. They rehearsed settings of François Villon and Bertolt Brecht in the cellar of the Linder family home. Three Workers members left as the group changed direction.

In 1968, they welcomed keyboardist Joachim “Krebssalat” Krebs (b. 1952, Karlsruhe), who took piano lessons and experimented with tape collages as a teenager. Checkpoint Charlie played student events and youth centers with German-language songs and spoken passages. At a 1969 architecture students’ ball at Karlsruhe’s Technical University, audience members threw tires and broke windows amid the performance. The group also appeared at the Burg Waldeck counterculture festival that year.

Manfred Sexauer, whom von Trotha knew from the theater, arranged a recording session at Saarländischer Rundfunk. At a University of Erlangen concert with Missus Beastly and Amon Düül II, CPM proprietor Günther Tannhäuser recorded Checkpoint Charlie’s set on a four-track Uher machine for the group’s first LP.

Checkpoint Charlie: 1971–77

Checkpoint Charlie split in 1971 when Krebs and Heß formed the short-lived duo Charlie Kaputt. In 1972, they resurrected Checkpoint Charlie with Linder, von Trotha, and drummer Bernd Schneider.

The Verband der Kriegsdienstverweigerer (VK) enlisted Checkpoint Charlie for the antimilitarist revue Notwehr. The association promised a rehearsal camp at Burg Waldeck and equipment for a national tour. However, the VK withdrew the promised equipment and tour funding four weeks into the band’s rehearsals at Burg Waldeck. Checkpoint Charlie continued with older equipment and a worn vehicle. The group played more than 100 West German cities, including a December 19, 1972, concert at the Karlsruhe Jugendheim. The musicians suspended regular activity in 1973 amid tour debts.

Von Trotha kept the rehearsal room and spent several months in a Fassbinder play at a Heidelberg theater. He and Heß later enlisted the Karlsruhe band Fuckingham Palace for three booked concerts. Von Trotha and other members settled at the Familie Hesselbach commune in Bisterschied. Linder joined the Kommunistischer Arbeiterbund Deutschlands and took a job at the Pfaff sewing machine factory. He and fellow workers published Der Rote Pfaffianer, a factory newspaper. Heß left Checkpoint Charlie in 1976 for another leftist group.

Checkpoint Charlie regrouped by 1977 around von Trotha and Krebs, with singer-bassist Jürgen Bräutigam, drummer Lothar Stahl, and guitarist Wilfried Sahm. The quintet presented the rock revue Blutsturz and played the July Umsonst & Draußen festival in Vlotho. Checkpoint Charlie appeared on the festival’s double live LP with “Ausschnitt aus der Geschichte von Herrn Müller.” The group contributed “Smogalarm” to the 1977 April ist Schneeball sampler ahead of Frühling der Krüppel.

Discography:

Grüß Gott mit hellem Klang (1970)
Frühling der Krüppel (1978)
Die Durchsichtige (1979)
Krawall im Schweinestall (1981)
Feuer und Flamme (1982)

Sources

“Provokation in Wort und Musik,” 2013. Interviews with Linder and von Trotha cover their meeting, The Workers, the cellar rehearsals, early personnel, and the Saarländischer Rundfunk session (Ox Fanzine).
“Checkpoint Charlie,” 2023. Von Trotha describes his Heidelberg poetry performances and the Erlangen concert recording with Tannhäuser (TRUST).
“Checkpoint Charlie.” The library’s Joachim Krebs collection identifies the original lineup and dates Krebs’s entry to 1968 (Badische Landesbibliothek).
“Joachim Krebs.” The broadcaster’s biographical record gives his early piano and tape activity (SWR).
“Uwe von Trotha.” His publisher confirms his theater training and the 1967 formation date (Ventil Verlag).
KIT 1825 bis 2025: Die ersten 200 Jahre. The university history describes the 1969 architecture students’ ball (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology).
“Checkpoint Charlie.” The retrospective places the group at Burg Waldeck in September 1969. Its founding lineup conflicts with the Karlsruhe library record, so I used the library’s personnel chronology (Bear Family Records).
Checkpoint Charlie — Detailed chronology of the 1971 split, Charlie Kaputt, the Notwehr tour, Blutsturz, and Vlotho; includes the figure of more than 100 tour cities (Bear Family Records).
Checkpoint Charlie (#221, 2023) — Von Trotha’s first-person account of the Burg Waldeck rehearsals, withdrawn support, tour debts, intermittent concerts, Heß’s departure, and later lineup (TRUST Fanzine).
Interview: Checkpoint Charlie — Linder’s account of his Pfaff job and Der Rote Pfaffianer; also describes the move to the rural commune (Ox Fanzine).
Checkpoint Charlie — State library collection with a 1971 band photograph, Notwehr tour material, and the returning lineup (Badische Landesbibliothek).
Archiv Kulturgüter 2018 — Library record of an original handbill for the December 19, 1972, Notwehr performance at the Karlsruhe Jugendheim (Badische Landesbibliothek)
Vlotho ’77 – Umsonst und draußen — Broadcaster’s archive dates the festival to July 1–3, 1977 (WDR)
Umsonst & Draussen – Vlotho 1977 and April ist Schneeball (1977) — Reproduced track lists identify the two Checkpoint Charlie contributions (Zero G Sound: Vlotho; Zero G Sound: April). The Vlotho track also appears in a later Sireena reissue listing.