TANKARD

Tankard, currently formed by Andreas "Gerre" Geremia (vocals), Andy Gutjahr (guitar), Frank Thorwarth (bass), and Gerd Lücking (drums), has a truly unique style. They play insane thrash metal with punk influences, fueled by unrestrained drinking and a peculiar way of blending metal, humor, and sharp social criticism into an explosive ball of entertainment. For 40 years, this self-proclaimed “beer metal” band from Frankfurt, Germany, has been celebrating beer and a carefree lifestyle with its powerful gospel. Their success story is so unlikely that it even led to a fossil of an extinct starfish species being officially named after them: Ophiura tankardi.
The group was formed in 1982, born out of the halls of Goethe-Gymnasium, a high school in Frankfurt. A few years earlier, students were divided by musical tastes — on one side, Smokie fans; on the other, ABBA fans. Childhood friends Andreas “Gerre” Geremia and Frank Thorwarth would later coin the motto “From Frankfurt to Frisco we destroy every disco,” making it clear where they stood. The band name went through a few iterations — Avenger and Vortex — before they stumbled upon Tankard in an amusing way. “We opened the dictionary and saw that tankard had a history connected to beer and referred to a mug made of various materials. We liked the term and adopted it,” Gerre explains. In 1985, with their second demo tape, the band landed a deal with Noise Records. “When we started out, dozens of metal subgenres were emerging. We wanted to make fun of that and create our own new style. So, we released our second demo titled Alcoholic Metal, and from that moment on, we were labeled as a fun, humorous band,” the frontman recalls.
Their first two albums — Zombie Attack (1986) and Chemical Invasion (1987) — were released on vinyl in Brazil, marking the beginning of the band’s strong connection with Brazilian thrash metal fans. Even their love for football strengthens that bond: Tankard has deep ties with the Eintracht Frankfurt football club, as their song “Schwarz Weiß wie Schnee” plays through the speakers at the Deutsche Bank Park stadium every time the team takes the field. “The fans sing it in unison, even if not all of them are metalheads. I think we get along really well with them. Football and metal always work — it’s a great combination,” says Gerre.
Even after more than 40 years of raising hell, destroying livers, and expanding beer bellies in the name of heavy metal, Tankard’s beer-fueled train shows no signs of stopping. Right on time for their 40th anniversary celebrations, the band released Pawlow’s Dawgs (2022), their 18th studio album and the follow-up to One Foot in the Grave (2017). If the U.S. has its Big Four, then Germany surely does too: Destruction, Sodom, Kreator, and, of course, Tankard.