Christoph von Rohr (born 24 October 1951) is a Swiss musician and record producer, best known as a founding member of the hard rock band Krokus.
History Childhood, youth and first experiences as a musician (1951–1975)
Chris von Rohr, along with his half-brother Stephan von Rohr, comes from a middle-class family in Solothurn, where he spent most of his childhood.Chris von Rohr: Hunde wollt ihr ewig rocken: Mein Trip durch den Rockdschungel, 1991, S. 34, 40. His first musical experience Chris von Rohr gained at his parents piano.Chris von Rohr: Hunde wollt ihr ewig rocken: Mein Trip durch den Rockdschungel, 1991, S. 47–48. During his school years in mostly local schools (apart from a brief interlude at a boarding school Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz – where he was able to play drums for the very first time), von Rohr's father gave him his first drum set as a gift.Chris von Rohr: Hunde wollt ihr ewig rocken: Mein Trip durch den Rockdschungel, 1991, S. 50, 53–54, 55. In 1967, he formed his first band called The Scouts.Chris von Rohr: Hunde wollt ihr ewig rocken: Mein Trip durch den Rockdschungel, 1991, S. 56. The band changed names multiple times, from Tears Of Love to In and finally Indian Summer. With this formation the young drummer also completed his first public appearance at a student ball in the Hotel Krone in Solothurn.Chris von Rohr: Hunde wollt ihr ewig rocken: Mein Trip durch den Rockdschungel, 1991, S. 70, 74. After a two-year stint at the public business school in Neuchâtel von Rohr founded more bands: first, the Plastic Joints and thereafter Inside.Chris von Rohr: Hunde wollt ihr ewig rocken: Mein Trip durch den Rockdschungel, 1991, S. 74, 80–81, 83. Meanwhile, the musician von Rohr kept himself financially afloat as a cook in the Solothurn Restaurant & Hotel Kreuz – the first Genossenschaftsbeiz of Switzerland.Chris von Rohr: Hunde wollt ihr ewig rocken: Mein Trip durch den Rockdschungel, 1991, S. 80. After a for von Rohr in terms of musical style all in all very unpleasant but at least financially lucrative short stint with a dance band called On the Road, he and their keyboarder Michi Szabo formed the two- man band Night Train.Chris von Rohr: Hunde wollt ihr ewig rocken: Mein Trip durch den Rockdschungel, 1991, S. 92, 100. However, all these attempts to make it in the professional music business failed and so von Rohr worked again as a cook at the Restaurant Kreuz, followed by a semester at the Jazz School in Bern.Chris von Rohr: Hunde wollt ihr ewig rocken: Mein Trip durch den Rockdschungel, 1991, S. 105.
Rise and international breakthrough with Krokus (1975–1983) After finishing studies at the Jazz School, von Rohr returned to Solothurn to form another band in November 1975: Krokus.Chris von Rohr: Hunde wollt ihr ewig rocken: Mein Trip durch den Rockdschungel, 1991, S. 111. Their first public gig was opening for Nella Martinetti at the Saalbau of the Swiss town of Gerlafingen. Together with lead guitarist Tommy Kiefer, with whom drummer von Rohr alternated lead vocals, rhythm guitarist Hansi Droz and bassist Remo Spadino finally the very progressive debut album Krokus. was recorded and released in 1976, produced by Peter J. Mac Taggart. With the rights to the band name Krokus secured and his bandmates unceremoniously released, he formed a new alliance with band members of the local band Montezuma, changing the line-up of Krokus completely: Von Rohr himself took over lead vocals, Fernando von Arb played guitar, on bass Jürg Naegeli and Freddy Steady on the drums. Shortly thereafter, guitarist Tommy Kiefer was brought back to the line-up and the band was complete once again.Chris von Rohr: Hunde wollt ihr ewig rocken: Mein Trip durch den Rockdschungel, 1991, S. 125. With this line-up the band recorded once more at the Sinus Studio in Bern, produced again by Peter J. Mac Taggart and released in 1977 their second studio album To You All, which was released in 1977 and revealing for the first time a hard rock sound.Chris von Rohr: Hunde wollt ihr ewig rocken: Mein Trip durch den Rockdschungel, 1991, S. 129, 131.
With the same line-up, still with von Rohr as front man, Krokus recorded their third, totally hard rock album Pain Killer, which was also released as Pay It in Metal. This album was recorded within six days in Manor Studios in Oxford in 1978, and produced by von Rohr and von Arb. Although von Rohr received from Switzerland's Pop Magazine (the equivalent of Rolling Stone magazine in the USA) the "Golden Hammer Award" as No. 1 vocalist and Krokus No. 1 rock band of the year in their home country of Switzerland, the band's future musical direction changed once more when all band members witnessed a concert by AC/DC at the Volkshaus in Zürich. Consequently, von Rohr had a vision and he voluntarily surrendered his vocal duties first to Henry Fries, who had to bow out because of prior contractual obligations, and finally – after persistent recruiting attempts by von Rohr himself – found in Marc Storace the singer with the powerful vocal range he envisioned. Von Rohr switched to bass and Jürg Naegeli was in charge of the band's keyboards and sound. The last missing piece of the puzzle fell in place with this new line-up for the perfect Krokus sound. Soon thereafter, the band recorded their fourth studio album Metal Rendez-Vous at Platinum One Studio in Zurich, produced by Martin Pearson, von Rohr and von Arb. This album proved to be the band's international breakthrough. Triple-platinum in Switzerland and first concert tours in Great Britain and the United States followed, including the "percussion battle" between von Rohr and drummer Freddy Steady.
Immediately after the touring ended, the band went into Roundhouse Studios in London to work on their fifth studio album, which was again produced by von Rohr and von Arb, to be finally released in 1981 as Hardware. As with its predecessor, the album turned out to be a total success and earned gold status in Switzerland. As a result of continuing drug problems and unreliability of lead guitarist Kiefer, the first cracks in the band's structure became obvious and could not be ignored any longer. Although the band continued to rise in popularity. After the release of the album, the band and Kiefer went separate ways.Chris von Rohr: Hunde wollt ihr ewig rocken: Mein Trip durch den Rockdschungel, 1991, S. 192–193. Mandy Meyer replaced Kiefer for the tours throughout Europe and the USA. However, Krokus and Meyer went their separate ways immediately after completion of the tour. Without further ado rhythm guitarist Mark Kohler joined the band. This line-up eventually recorded at the Battery Studios in London – produced by Tony Platt, von Rohr and von Arb – their sixth studio album One Vice at a Time. Released in 1982, it not only validated the status of Krokus but raised it one notch higher. The album reached gold status not only in Switzerland but for the first time in the band's history earned gold status in the U.S. and Canada. On top of that Krokus set another record as the first and so far only Swiss band ever to sell out the Hallenstadion in Zurich. More extensive tours through North America and Europe followed the album release. In between all of Krokus' touring commitments, von Rohr managed to find time to produce Night Fighting, Steve Whitney Band's second studio album, this time as the sole producer in charge.
Meanwhile, Krokus lineup changes continued: Drummer Steady was dismissed and replaced by Steve Pace. What followed, however, was nothing less than the culmination and highlight of the band's career : the seventh studio album Headhunter, recorded by Tom Allom at Bee Jay Studio in Orlando, Florida, and released in 1983. This album earned for the first time and, unmatched until now, platinum status in the U.S. and Canada, and also gold in Switzerland. As a result of this album's success, the band was invited to join the second-largest U.S. tour of the year as "special guests": The Pyromania tour of British rock band Def Leppard, who became popular in the U.S. at that time, and Gary Moore as opening act. During this time, von Rohr and his bandmates were also appointed honorary citizens of the U.S. state of Tennessee. Even though, or perhaps because of the wave of success the band enjoyed at this time, within the next few months two serious negative experiences changed the course of events once more: First, Krokus was kicked off the Pyromania tour because of several missteps by singer Marc Storace and band manager Butch Stone – the band eventually finished their North American tour as supporting act of Judas Priest – and on the other hand another wave of line-up changes. First rhythm guitarist Mark Kohler was dismissed and replaced by Patrick Mason, and finally von Rohr, the last remaining founding member of the band, was ousted because he openly talked to Switzerland's daily newspaper Blick about his experience on the road and the tour excesses that followed as well as his rebellion against the business antics of their U.S. manager Stone.Chris von Rohr: Hunde wollt ihr ewig rocken: Mein Trip durch den Rockdschungel, 1991, S. 368, 379–380, 392, 398.
Forced reorientations: activities as music producer, author and solo artist (1983–1987) Dismissed by Krokus at once, Chris von Rohr found himself on his own overnight. During this period, the ousted bass player and founder of the band took on diverse projects: firstly, he produced in 1985 the first and only self-titled studio album of the Swiss band Headhunter. In addition to his first official job as a producer, von Rohr also started to write his first book, which was published in 1991 and entitled Hunde wollt ihr ewig rocken (Dogs, do you want to rock forever). The book described the insane events around and within Krokus and helped him to process that entire experience mentally, thus finding closure.Chris von Rohr: Hunde wollt ihr ewig rocken: Mein Trip durch den Rockdschungel, 1991, S. 405. In addition, von Rohr released his first and so far only solo album Hammer and Tongue in 1987.
Brief return to Krokus (1987–1989) Shortly after releasing his solo album, von Rohr returned to Krokus in 1987. Plain and simply stated, it turned out to be the best solution for all parties involved. Together again at last, von Rohr and his old bandmates Marc Storace, Fernando von Arb, Mark Kohler and Dani Crivelli, who played drums on his solo album, recorded at Jürg Naegeli's Pink recording studio in Zuchwil their tenth studio album. Produced by von Rohr and von Arb, Krokus released Heart Attack in 1988. The album charted 5th place in the Swiss albums chart, a first for von Rohr and Krokus. It was the return to Hard Rock, which had catapulted the band in the early 1980s into the worldwide spotlight and away from the shallow pop-metal orientation the band presented itself on the previous album, Change of Address. However, after touring throughout Europe and the United States, all parties realized shortly thereafter that the thrill was gone, mainly it seemed to be impossible to restore the feeling and groove of the past. Mounting management problems and both Marc Storace and Fernando von Arb throwing in the towel due to symptoms of extreme fatigue and exhaustion, marked the first official break-up in the band's history.
Various activities as a musician, journalist and radio host (1989–1991)