Zomby Woof -

Zomby Woof was a German symphonic-rock band behind the 1977 album Riding on a Tear.

Members: Ulrich Herter (vocals, guitar, synthesizer), Heinrich Winter (vocals, guitar, clavinet, 1973-79), Matthias Zumbroich (piano, organ, synthesizer, Mellotron, saxophone), Udo Kreuß (bass), Berthold Mayer [Bea Maier] (drums, percussion, 1976-79), Matthias Seelmann-Eggebert (Hammond organ, 1973-76), Thomas Moritz (drums, 1973-76), Achim Czech (drums, 1979-80), Harald Horvath (vocals, 1979-80), David Hanselmann (vocals, 1979-80)

Background

The band formed without a name in 1971 when Reutlingen guitarists Heinrich Winter and Udo Kreuss joined bassist Frank Keinath and drummer Thomas Moritz. After Keinath’s departure, guitarist Ulrich Herter joined while Kreuss moved to bass. Their sound embraced symphonic rock with the addition of keyboardists Matthias Seelman-Eggebert (Hammond organ) and Matthias Zumbroich, who cut two classical EPs with relative Eberhard Maria Zumbroich. In 1973, they took the name Zomby Woof from a track on the current Frank Zappa album, Overnight Sensation.

They played the 1974 Hayinger Festival alongside Kraan, Embryo, and Birth Control, and made their first TV appearance that same year. In 1976, drummer Bea Maier replaced Moritz and Eggebert left the band. Through early 1977, they pitched their demos to multiple labels and landed a deal with Jupiter Records.

Riding on a Tear

Zomby Woof released their singular album, Riding on a Tear, in December 1977 on Jupiter Records.

Riding on a Tear opens with a brief solo piano prelude that swells into arpeggiated tension before giving way to “Suicide,” where tumbling acoustic strums, syncopated electric bass, and phased organ textures drive sudden accelerations between vocal sections. The title track juxtaposes light vocal phrasing with short instrumental pivots, including a midsection shift into racing Moog runs and sharp metric changes under layered rhythm guitar.

“Requiem (Part I)” spins in clavinet-driven cross-rhythms and rolling drum fills, veering into looser phrasing in “Part II” with saxophone overlays and background choral pads. “Dora’s Drive” unfolds in sectional bursts—tight funk passages give way to electric soloing over clavinet and bass unisons, then shift back into chant-like refrains and accent-heavy transitions.

“Mary Walking Through the Woods” opens with exposed acoustic lines and piano chords before introducing long-form vocal melodies over slow, suspended harmonic progressions, which continue through the instrumental “Walking Through the Woods,” where sustained synth tones stretch across alternating piano and Mellotron passages. The album closes with a seven-second flourish.

Throughout, arrangements hinge on keyboard layers, syncopated interplay, and sectional development shaped by voice, rhythm, and analog timbre. Guitarists Heinrich Winter and Ulrich Herter trade clipped figures and extended lines against the multi-keyboard arsenal of Mathias Zumbroich, who plays grand piano, Hammond, Mellotron, Minimoog, Solina String Ensemble, and occasional saxophone. Herter doubles on the Clavinet D6.

A1. “Introduction” (2:25) – Zumbroich
A2. “Suicide” (6:19) – Winter
A3. “Riding on a Tear” (5:12) – Zumbroich, Herter
A4. “Requiem (Part I)” (4:05) – Zumbroich
A5. “Requiem (Part II)” (3:15) – Zumbroich

B1. “Dora’s Drive” (8:42) – Winter, Herter
B2. “Mary Walking Through the Woods” (5:52) – Winter, Herter
B3. “Walking Through the Woods” (5:25) – Herter
B4. “Finale” (0:07) – Herter

Sessions occurred at Olympia Music Studios in Munich with producer Steve Kazan and engineer Bruno Gebhard, a subsequent Dee D. Jackson soundman. Olympia supplied the Mellotron used for Riding on a Tear, which spawned one single: and edit of “Dora’s Drive” (3:55) backed with “Mary Walking Through the Woods” (4:30).

Postlude

Zomby Woof shifted 5,000 copies of their debut. Plans for a follow-up on Jupiter collapsed after their A&R contact departed, prompting drummer Berthold Maier and guitarist Heinrich Winter to form Alarm. A new lineup recorded No Hero in 1979 with guest vocalist David Hanselmann (ex-Message, Triumvirat), but without label support, the band dissolved after a final hometown show on July 8, 1980 in Reutlingen. Herter produced the 1982 album Spielzeug by Abakus (no relation to Kraut legends Abacus).

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