Tritonus -

Tritonus was a German symphonic-rock band that released the 1975/76 BASF albums Tritonus and Between the Universes, bookended by two standalone singles on Paradis and Acanta.

Members: Peter K. Seiler (keyboards), Ronald Brand (bass, vocals, 1972-77), Rolf-Dieter Schnapka (bass, vocals, 1977-78), Charlie Jöst (drums, percussion, 1972-76), Bruno Perosa (drums, 1973), Bernhard Schuh (drums, percussion, 1976-78)

Background

Tritonus formed in 1972 in Mannheim when keyboardist Peter K. Seiler and bassist-singer Ronald John David Brand recruited drummer Charlie Jöst.

Seiler was born in Mannheim in 1953 and grew up with piano and organ music from his father. He began classical piano lessons at age seven and later developed an interest in organists Jimmy Smith, Brian Auger, and Keith Emerson. Seiler played semi-professionally in two groups, including the Mannheim school band Mohn und Gedächtnis, which paired progressive rock with surrealist German texts. Brand came from Weinheim as a music student roughly two years older than Seiler, with an American father. Jöst came from Heddesheim.

Seiler met Brand at the Mannheim jazz club Genesis in 1972, where they discussed classical harmony and plans for a three-piece group. Each musician proposed a drummer for an audition, with Brand acquaintance Jöst completing the trio. The musicians took the name Tritonus from the tritone interval and built an early repertoire from original compositions and an adaptation of music by Jean Sibelius. Seiler equipped the group with a Mini Moog synthesizer alongside his organ and piano setup.

A radio disc jockey proposed a Moog-based treatment of an American song for the group’s first single. Tritonus abandoned the cover project when an initial studio attempt failed to match the proposed arrangement and financed original material at Teije van Geest’s eight-track studio in Heidelberg-Wieblingen. The trio recorded “The Way of Spending Time” in October 1972 and “Kite” in November. Seiler and Brand produced the sessions and issued both tracks in 1973 through their Paradis Records imprint. Limited distribution left concert sales as the main outlet for the pressing. Mannheim classical label RBM Records reissued the single in 1974 with “Kite” promoted to the A-side.

German radio stations gave the single regular airplay. Tritonus appeared on the SWF television program Talentschuppen and performed at the SFBeat-Workshop at the International Radio Exhibition in Berlin that September. The trio won a Dortmund Actien Brewery competition from a field of roughly 200 entrants in the same month. Polydor opened negotiations with Tritonus, but Seiler and Brand proposed a recording with full orchestral accompaniment and the projected cost ended the talks.

In 1974, Tritonus toured West Germany and Luxembourg. Seiler and Brand then took a small bank loan to finance an album at Studio Bauer in Ludwigsburg, where the group used sixteen-track recording facilities for a four-day production schedule. The musicians rehearsed the arrangements and overdubs in advance to contain studio costs. Seiler and Brand completed the master at their own expense and presented the finished tape to record companies. BASF accepted the master under a tape-transfer contract for the debut album Tritonus.

Discography: