Background informationOriginBerlin, GermanyGenresCountry rock, pop, rockYears active2004-presentMembersAlec “Boss Burns” Völkel Sascha “Hoss Power” Vollmer Malcom “Hank Williamson” Arison Ansgar “Sir Frank Doe” Freyberg André “Guss Brooks” Neumann Tobias “Ernesto Escobar de Tijuana” FischerPast membersMichael Frick Mathias “Hank Doodle” Fauvet Dean “Russ T. Nail” Micetech
The BossHoss is a German band from Berlin, founded in 2004. They originally started with country and western style cover versions of famous pop, rock and hip hop songs, for example “Hot in Herre” by Nelly, “Toxic” by Britney Spears and “Hey Ya!” by Outkast. They incorporate stereotypical American cowboy behavior into their act; they wear Stetson hats, tank tops and large sunglasses, and display whiskey bottles.[citation needed] The band refers to their music style as “Country Trash Punk Rock.”[1]
The band was formed in 2004 in Berlin by Alec “Boss” Völkel, Sascha “Hoss” Vollmer and Michael Frick,[2][3] and named after the song “The Real BossHoss” by The Sonics. They were featured in the trendsetting music show Tracks (on French/German TV channel ARTE) and played live during the Kiel Week. In late 2004, they signed a record deal with Universal Music Domestic Division.
In 2005, they released their debut album Internashville Urban Hymns and signed a promotional contract with ice cream producer Langnese, for which they covered “Like Ice in the Sunshine”, the theme song from a Langnese’s TV spot. The band played about 180 concerts that year. In 2005, they adapted “Ca plane pour moi” from Belgian artist Plastic Bertrand.
In 2006, BossHoss provided the soundtrack for the football film FC Venus [de].[4] Release of the first single “I Say a Little Prayer” on April 28 and the second album “Rodeo Radio” on May 19. Half of that second album were their own songs, the other half cover versions. After they had released the second album, their first album rose into the charts again, sold 100,000 copies by the end of May 2006, and became a gold record in Germany.
- Boss Burns (Alec Völkel) – vocals, washboard
- Hoss Power (Sascha Vollmer) – acoustic and electric guitars, vocals
- Sir Frank Doe (Ansgar Freyberg) – drums
- Hank Williamson (Malcolm Arison) – mandoline, washboard, stylophone, harp
- Guss Brooks (André Neumann) – acoustic and electric basses
- Russ T. Rocket (Stefan Buehler) – electric guitar
- Ernesto Escobar de Tijuana (Tobias Fischer) – percussion, keytar, melodica
- Michael Frick – double bass
- Russ (Boris Kontorkowski) – electric guitar
- Russ T. Nail (Dean Micetech) – electric guitar
- Hank Doodle (Mathias Fauvet) – mandolin, washboard, harp
Year Title Peak positions[5] Release date and sales GER AUT SWI 2005 Internashville Urban Hymns 11(29 We.) — — Released: 6 June 2005 Sales: 300,000+ 2006 Rodeo Radio 6(32 We.) 40(5 We.) 83(2 We.) Released: 2 June 2006 Sales: 200,000+ 2007 Stallion Battalion 8(43 We.) 56(5 We.) — Released: 9. November 2007 Sales: 100,000+ 2009 Do or Die 4(16 We.) 38(6 We.) 32(10 We.) Released: 3 July 2009 Sales: 100,000+ 2010 Low Voltage 7(5 We.) 49(1 We.) 64(1 We.) Released: 30 April 2010 2011 Liberty of Action 4(72 We.) 3(59 We.) 26(31 We.) Released: 9 December 2011 Sales: 220,000+ 2013 Flames of Fame 2(26 We.) 5(13 We.) 8(17 We.) Released: 11 October 2013 Sales: 15,000+ 2015 Dos Bros 1 (67 We.) 1 (33 We.)[6] 14 (34 We.) Released: 25 September 2015 Sales: 207,500+ 2018 Black Is Beautiful 1 (13 We.) 8 (5 We.) 14 (4 We.) Released: 26 October 2018 2023 Electric Horsemen 7 (4 We.) 26 (1 We.) 17 (2 We.) Released: 5 May 2023 Others
- Stallion Battalion live from Cologne (Released March 7, 2008) (Double-CD plus DVD)
Year Title Peak positions[5] Release dates GER AUT SWI 2005 Hey Ya! Internashville Urban Hymns 41 — — Released: 9 May 2005 Hot in Herre / Like Ice in the Sunshine Internashville Urban Hymns 83 — — Released: 25 July 2005 2006 I Say a Little PrayerRodeo Radio / Low Voltage 66 — — Released: 12 May 2006 Ring Ring RingRodeo Radio 99 — — Released: 1 September 2006 Rodeo RadioRodeo Radio / Low Voltage 93 — — Released: 29 December 2006 2007 Everything Counts / Truck ’n’ Roll RulesStallion Battalion 67 — — Released: 15 June 2007 2009 Last Day (Do or Die) 78 — — Released: 19 June 2009 2011 Heroes/HeldenDie Highlights 28 50 — Released: 24 November 2011 (with Nena, Xavier Naidoo and Rea Garvey) Don’t Gimme ThatLiberty of Action 8 1 49 Released: 25 November 2011 Sales: + 315,000 L.O.V.E.Liberty of Action 74 — — Released: 20 December 2011(feat. Nena) 2011 My Country Rammstein — — — Released: 11 November 2011 2012 Live It Up Liberty of Action 98 52 — Released: 8 August 2012 2013 Do It Flames of Fame 31 40 36 Released: 16 September 2013 2015 Dos Bros Dos Bros 33 72 — Released: 21 August 2015 Jolene Dos Bros 35 25 29 Released: 25 December 2015 (feat. The Common Linnets) 2019 Little Help 32 34 41 Released: 3 May 2019 (featuring Mimi & Josy) 2021 Burning Love — — — Released: 2 January 2021 (feat. OnklP)
Notes
- “Hey Ya!” is a cover of OutKast
- “Hot in Herre / Like Ice in the Sunshine” is a double A side single with covers of Nelly and the Langnese theme
- “Heroes/helden” is a remake of David Bowie’s “Heroes”
- Christmas-CD contains a cover of “Last Christmas” by Wham! and “Riding Home for Christmas”
- “I Say a Little Prayer” is a Bacharach-David composition; side B is “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, a Rodgers-Hammerstein composition
- “Ring, Ring, Ring” is a cover of De La Soul
- Internashville Urban Hymns, die DVDs (2005; available only in Germany)
The 2930s
- Biography at Motor Music
- Boss Hoss at Gracenote