Agitation Free

Agitation Free was formed in Berlin, Germany, in 1967 by Lutz 'Lüül' Ulbrich, Michael 'Fame' Günther, Lutz 'Ludwig' Kramer and Christoph Franke. Initially, the group "The Agitation" was formed at the end of 1966 by the merger of members of the Berlin rock bands "The Centries" (Lutz Ulbrich, Christoph Franke) and "The Ugly Things" (Lutz Kramer, Michael Günther). The group had to change the name because there was already another band with the same name. Based on a poster for a promo gig with free admission, "Agitation Free" was chosen.
Famous for their multimedia light shows, they became the house band for the infamous Zodiac club in Berlin. In 1968, they were joined by vocalist John L., who was fired within in the year, possibly for his naked stage antics. In 1970, Ludwig Kramer left and was replaced by Ax Genrich. Likewise, Christoph Franke left this year to join Tangerine Dream (who, like Ash Ra Tempel, shared practice space with Agitation Free). To replace these losses, the group recruited Jörg Schwenke and Gerd Klemke. Klemke was not to last long though, and the group finally stabilised in 1971 as a quintet with the addition of Michael Hoenig and Burghard Rausch. In 1972, the group toured Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Greece, during this time they made a recording which appeared on their first LP Malesch (released June 1972). In March 1973, Schwenke left the group and was replaced by Stefan Diez. At the same time, a second drummer, Dietmar Burmeister joined the group. This line up was featured on the posthumous release Last, and without Diaz the group recorded their 2nd LP in Munich in July 1973. Shortly after this Diez quit and was replaced by [a=Gustl Lutjens]. The group made their final studio recordings in 1974 and then disbanded after a goodbye concert in Berlin in November 1974. (Material from 1974 would later appear on the Last LP, on the Fragments album and on The Other Sides Of CD.) However, the band would return with original members, releasing a comeback album in 1999 with River Of Return, and in recent years the band has played live concerts, e.g. in Tokyo in 2007 or in Berlin in 2013.