Press Kit
MICHAEL WAGENER (producer)
"What a great book, written with the heart and soul of a real Rock musician. I was transported back in time and relived every single page. Thank you Jörg."
EDGAR PATRIK (ex-Bonfire)
"Fire And Fame is one hell of a ride. I didn't want it to end!!!"
OLLY HAHN (SPV)
"Fire And Fame is an interesting journey through the glorious '80s. I had no idea Bonfire was so successful. Informative and entertaining."
CRISTINA BISHOP (Scarlet Sins)
"I swear Joerg was sitting in front of me, drinking a beer and telling me the story; it was so good I forgot I was reading!"
DOMINIK HUELSHORST (ex-Bonfire)
"Fire and Fame is authentic and extremly entertaining. Very, very cool!"
DAVID PERRI (BW&BK)
"The highest compliment you can pay a book, in my estimation, is that you don't want it to end. Ergo, while reading ex-Bonfire bassist Joerg Deisinger's memoirs about his band's ‘80s hair metal escapades, I frequently wished the fun, smile-inducing tale wouldn't come to a conclusion. Deisinger and co-author Carl Begai are natural storytellers, relaying events in Deisinger's life and Bonfire's career with ease, clarity and a sense of familiarity, resulting in an addictive read that will no doubt please fans looking for a glimpse of a successful band's off-stage life. Fire And Fame is like good conversation with an old friend, and what's best about it all is that you end up sympathising with, and rooting for, the likeable German guys in Bonfire, which is in stark contrast to the trashy, antics-filled tabloids written by other looks-that-kill bands. The authors trace Deisinger's life from his parents meeting in Nuremberg, Germany all the way to his post-music days in Thailand, and through it all you encounter the kid who made good on his rock star dream, as Bonfire eventually opened in Europe for the likes of Judas Priest and ZZ Top, recorded in L.A. with famed producer Michael Wagener and secured a Gold record in Germany. Again, Fire And Fame's charm lies in its easy-going recounting the goods times style and vibe, which translates into a highly recommended read even if, like me, you're not exactly familiar with Bonfire. Begai and Deisinger are making new Bonfire fans 20 years after the fact!"
8.5 / 10
CHRISTOF LEIM (Sinner / The New Black / Metal Hammer Germany)
"Joerg Deisinger may have left the world of Rock'n'Roll by now, and you may have forgotten how many waves Bonfire were making in the '80s - but that doesn't change the cool story there is to tell, a story of a Bavarian band hitting the big time, told through the slightly ironic and always passionate writing style of Carl Begai. And it's actually quite gripping and gives a lot of insights into 'Rock' back then, which is the part I liked most. If you want to know what's next in a book, that's never a bad sign while reading, right?"
MARK GROMEN (Metal Maniacs / BW&BK)
"Germany-based BW&BK scribe Begai tries his hand at the bio-epic, as told him by Bonfire's bassist. As much Deisinger's autobiography as a music tome, the easygoing style makes for enjoyable reading, even though I'm ignorant to the band's history. Shows the (oft cruel) workings of the music biz, provides an outsider's perspective of the US mid-'80s hair band scene, as well as how a modestly successful international act can get ground up touring the States. Bonfire sold 3/4 of a million albums in Germany during a four year period, with only Warlock and Helloween selling more, amongst Teutonic newcomers. While they supported ZZ Top and Priest throughout Europe, on successive albums, and even had Krokus open for them, Bonfire found out what too many before and after have discovered: label bullshit, and the fact that videos and tour dates don't always translate. The bassist recalls much fondly, but also lets some bumps show, even expressing regret about personnel dismissals. Would have been nice to have a few more nostalgic live photos and maybe album/singles artwork (especially when discussing same), but then again, how many non-fans like myself are reading Fire And Fame? They probably have the images emblazoned on their retinas. Any band, regardless of domestic success, would do well to read (heed?) Deisinger's words.
7.5 / 10
GLORIA BALDONI (truemetal.it)
Fire and Fame is just the kind of book you can't put down: it's so ironic and fascinating that I've spent a whole night reading it. A must-have!
CARSTEN KLICK (ex-Skew Siskin / ex-Kingdom Come)
"I remember back in the late '80s when I was a young boy listening to all my hairspray heroes on the radio, especially Bonfire's chartbreaker 'You Make Me Feel'. When I saw the fantastic Peter's Pop Show performance of 'Sweet Obsession' on German TV it blew me completely away. A few seconds later I was sitting behind my first trashy drumkit in my humble rehearsal room imagining what it would be like to be Bonfire's drummer. Twenty years later I've discovered the truth behind the success of the band and gotten a look behind the curtain in Fire And Fame."
MIF (Slash Puppet)
"An enjoyable read about a true rock 'n' roll experience that kept me enthralled, entertained and reminiscing every step of the way down my own memory lane."
Book Excerpt #2
CHILD'S PLAY (‘Sword And Stone')
Four days before the beginning of the final recordings back in May, management had organized a two hour writing session with workaholic and hit songwriter Desmond Child. The result was ‘The Price Of Loving You', featuring an infectious chorus and catchy melody that stood out amongst the other songs for the new album. Since then Desmond had been busy working with Alice Cooper on his new album, Trash, and we hadn't heard or seen him since then. In July, however, shortly after the split with Hans, Desmond called us at Amigo Studios out of the blue and asked us if we'd be interested in appearing on the soundtrack for Wes Craven's new film, Shocker, which was due to be out at the end of the year. He had a song ready to go and decided we would be perfect for the job. The soundtrack would also feature Megadeth, Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop, Dangerous Toys and Saraya. It didn't take us long to reach a decision.
Two days later we were in the kitchen of Record Plant Studios with Desmond listening to the demo version of the song ‘Sword And Stone', recorded on tape in Kiss frontman Paul Stanley's living room. The song had been written by Desmond, Paul Stanley and Kiss guitarist Bruce Kulick. Paul Dean, guitarist for Canadian rock act Loverboy, had already released the song as the lead-off track on his solo 1988 album, Hardcore, but Mr. Child wasn't satisfied with his version of it. So, he was up for working with us and producing a new and better version of the song. Each of us would be paid $1,500 as studio musicians, we were given the guarantee that the song would be featured during the end credits of the film, and to top it off the track it would be released as a single and a video would be filmed.
The recording of the basic tracks was done by Sir Arthur Payson, hammered out in only a few hours live off the floor; Angel and me in one room, Edgar in another. It was a hell of a lot of fun, and for the record Edgar racked up his 14 th first take. Claus, on the other hand, didn't have a good time at all. It might have had something to do with the fact that Desmond was right beside him for the duration of the vocal recordings – and we're talking in-your-face right beside him – coaching Claus every step of the way. Desmond wanted absolute perfection and we weren't in a position to argue with him.
I remember watching them from the control room, Desmond waving his arms as he pushed and pushed and pushed Claus to get things the way he wanted them. By the time the song was in the can Claus was at his wits' end and probably would have killed someone if he hadn't been so drained. The result, however, was astounding, and Claus had never sounded so good as far as I was concerned. He had given everything he had and it paid off.
At the end of 1989 we shot a video for ‘Sword And Stone' in Germany with a U.S. film crew headed up by Penelope Spheeris, who had risen to fame with her Decline Of Western Civilization documentaries and would go on to do Wayne's World with Mike Myers. The shoot took place at an 11 th century monastery in Wurzburg, with the performance footage later integrated with scenes from Shocker. It was easily the best video clip Bonfire had ever done and, wouldn't you know it, it received considerable airplay on MTV in the U.S. Unfortunately, the movie wasn't the success everyone had expected it to be. Director Wes Craven had tried to cash in on his success with his Nightmare On Elm Street horror film icon Freddy Kruger by creating a mass murderer named Pinker, but Shocker failed to capture the imagination the way Freddy had. In the end, the Shocker soundtrack was more successful than the movie, largely due to Megadeth's cover of the Alice Cooper classic, ‘No More Mr. Nice Guy'. Craven would go on to create his Scream trilogy, those films becoming international blockbusters.
I attended the premier of Shocker in Munich, sitting through the end credits to see if Bonfire was in fact featured as promised. I wasn't disappointed, and it was a great feeling hearing ‘Sword And Stone' blasting through the theater at full volume. A couple rows in front of me sat four teenage girls, visibly excited about something. I didn't think anything of it, but as the credits of all musical artists involved in the film scrolled up one of the girls jumped out of her chair and screeched triumphantly at her friends:
“See? I told you it's Bon Jovi!”
Book Excerpt #1
DELIVERING THE GOODS
Bored, bored, bored. Sitting on one of Edgar’s flight cases I scanned the empty hall of the Powerhouse in Birmingham, bored out of my mind. It was around 6:30pm and Bonfire’s soundcheck should have been well underway by this time, but today was different. Glen Tipton was standing in side stage cranking out guitar riffs, but the other Priest members had yet to put in an appearance. Edgar, who had been standing behind me for the past five minutes, was equally bored judging by the fact he’d decided to use his drumsticks on my back and practice his rimshots and fills.
“Definitely some kind of technical difficulty,” Edgar decided, glancing at his watch. “Doors open in 30 minutes. So, fuck it, we only get a line check. I’m going to catering, wanna come along? Let’s see what Nick has for us.”
Nick Rea, the brother of English popstar Chris Rea, was the head of catering for the tour, and along with his trusted assistants Jane Worman and Linda White it was his responsibility to feed forty of us on a daily basis. He was a great guy with a lust for life, and always good for a laugh. At the beginning of the tour in Copenhagen, for example, he proudly served up some of his marmite toast and couldn’t understand why we hated the stuff.
“You spoiled Germans have no idea about excellent food. So, tomorrow I’ll get you something special, a little more traditional for the German tongue. I promise.”
When Claus and I showed up the next day for breakfast, Nick greeted us with a warm smile and offered us the menu for the day:
Breakfast: Ham & eggs with extra marmite on toast
Lunch: Pork with mashed potatoes, beans and marmite
or
Spaghetti Marmitese
Dessert: Marmite chocolate pudding
Dinner: Vegetarian lasagne with cheese and marmite filling
Dessert: Marmite fruit salad
“What’s wrong fellas?” he asked with a smile. “Having a hard time deciding what you want?”
1 – 0 for Nick. The bastard.
After we’d finished eating, Edgar and I made our way back to hall to see if the Priest guys were on stage yet. I’d heard the drums over the P.A. while we were in catering, so if we were lucky Bonfire would be able to have a short soundcheck before the doors opened.
The stage was lit up, Rob Halford was sitting on the drum riser, in deep conversation with Glenn Tipton, K.K. Downing and one of their stage techs. Things didn’t look like they were progressing any faster than before so I made myself comfortable on my flight case in preparation for a long wait. K.K. changed that all a minute later when he came off stage and made his way over to me.
“Excuse me, Joerg, are you familiar with any of our songs?” he asked.
I was taken completely off guard by the question but didn’t hesitate in answering. “Yeah, sure, ‘Green Manalishi’...”
Okay, it wasn’t one of their songs but it might as well have been. Years earlier I had played the living hell out of Unleashed In The East in my room and had learned to play the song note for note. ‘Green Manalishi’ had always been one of my favourites.
K.K. nodded. “Okay then, come up on stage with us. Ian couldn’t make it in time for soundcheck.”
Excuse me?!
Remember DeNiro’s legendary scene in Taxi Driver where he’s staring in the mirror talking to his reflection? “Are you talkin’ to me? Is that me you’re talkin’ to?” That’s exactly how I felt at that moment.
A minute later I was on the Powerhouse stage with K.K. and the other members of Judas Priest. It was an unbelievable feeling. There I was, 22 years old, on stage with my heroes, in the birthplace of heavy metal.
I must be fucking dreaming.
But it wasn’t a dream. With Ian Hill’s bass strapped on and the other Priest members watching me it was clear that it was real. It was an experience that wouldn’t last more than a brief moment, but I would enjoy every second of it.
K.K. came over to me and offered a warning. “I think it might be better if you come over to my side of the stage. Glenn is pretty damn loud; he’ll blow you away.”
I shook my head. “No thanks, that’s fine with me. Don’t worry.”
Turning up Ian Hill’s bass, I made eye contact with drummer Dave Holland and we counted the song in; drum roll and wham! ‘Green Manalishi’ featuring Judas Priest’s new, very temporary bassist Joerg Deisinger.
Glenn Tipton’s guitar sound hit me from behind like an avalanche, so loud that for a moment I thought I might actually be blown off stage. I can’t imagine how Ian Hill, who normally stands where I had been standing on that fateful day, has endured that all these years. He must be deaf. K.K. saw my shocked expression and laughed, motioning me to center stage where the sound was a bit more bearable. I moved closer to Rob Halford, where his crystal clear vocals and raging guitars pounded back at us through the monitors. It was an indescribable feeling to stand on that stage with the Metal Gods around me, but I absorbed the moment like a sponge.
Then it was over, seemingly as quickly as it had begun. Three minutes that I’ll remember for the rest of my life.
“Good job, man,” Halford called as he left the stage.
K.K. came over and shook my hand. “I’m honoured,” he told me, or at least that’s what I think he said. My ears were buzzing as if I had a beehive stuffed inside my skull.
As I left the stage I met up with Ian Hill, who was standing side stage with his wife and had watched my performance.
“Thanks for helping out,” he said.
“Thanks for being late,” I replied. “You made my day.”
Five minutes later the Powerhouse doors were opened and Birmingham’s legion of metal fans streamed in towards the stage. Bonfire wouldn’t be getting a soundcheck this evening, but I didn’t care. I was off in space on planet Priest.
Interview Joerg Deisinger
Q: The catalyst for Fire And Fame was you having cheated death when the tsunami hit Southeast Asia in December 2004…
Joerg: “Writing my story was a personal thing. I've done so many things in my life, and as we mentioned in the book, sometimes I complain about things or worry about this and that, but I've had a good life. I'm independent, I'm an artist, I can do what I want, and then the tsunami happened when I was in Thailand and I thought to myself, ‘Hey, why do I complain so much?' Life can be over in the blink of an eye, so you really should learn to enjoy it. I had decided to stop making music before that happened – you never know, maybe I'll do a CD again in a couple years – but after the tsunami I thought that writing a book would be a good way to close that chapter of my life. Fifteen years of music, lots of experiences, a Gold album, and touring around the world. The touring was the most important part of that for me because I like meeting new people and discovering new cultures. And because that's the bread and butter for an artist; having that attention and that applause that comes with touring. I put that aside, and I have a career now as a photographer. The book, that's like the end of an era and the beginning of a new chapter in my life.”
Q: Most people write their memoirs when they're in their 60s or 70s. You're only in your 40s, so some people are no doubt wondering what the rush is.
Joerg: “A guy I know in Berlin said to me ‘Oh, you wrote a book? Is that the end of your life already? Don't you have any other plans?' Of course I do, and maybe I'll write a book about something else. As I said, I did this for me.”
Q: Even though Bonfire was popular in Europe during your time with them, you guys were never the huge breathrough multi-million dollar stars. As a result a lot of people probably won't give a shit about the Bonfire connection.
Joerg: “That's good, because you can still read the story and it's still exciting. The Bonfire part of it isn't so important, the young kid in the story with big dreams of touring around the world is. Those dreams become reality, and that's the thing. It could be Bonfire, Jon Bon Jovi, anybody.”
Q: That said, Fire And Fame could be considered a cliché story.
Joerg: “People love clichés . Can you imagine if there weren't anymore clichés? People want to dream, and if people ask me why I did this book it's because I was a dreamer and I'm still a dreamer. If you don't dream anymore, you're dead. Fire And Fame is about a dream; it doesn't matter if it's about music or art or anything else. This book will appeal to anyone who's had a dream of doing something.
Q: How do the founding members of Bonfire feel about the book? Are they even aware of it?
Joerg: “They know about it and they're fine with it. I've sent them parts of the book to read as we were working on it, and sometimes they had a slightly different opinion of how things went down, but maybe they can give their side of the story if they ever decide to write a book (laughs). This story is just how I saw things. It's my point of view and that's all.”
Q: How did it feel when you finally had the finished book in your hands?
Joerg: “I was like a kid at Christmas. It was a great feeling. There was so much work, so much time, so much sweat, so much coffee money put into this. I think my writing is okay, but I'm not a professional writer, and it's so hard when you have a blank piece of paper in front of you waiting for you to create something. You have to think about what you're writing and how to make it work. Before I started I did two or three months of research, putting bits and pieces together at random and trying to make a timeline out of it so everything would make sense. But, I never saw it as work. The reason I did it is because I had to do it. If there's some money that comes of it, great.”
Q: Three years is a long time to spend on a single project…
Joerg: “When I first asked Carl to be a part of this I figured it would take us about six months to get it finished, but we're both busy so there were a lot of breaks. Things never go as planned, so after a while I decided I was tired of putting myself and us on a deadline. I hate deadlines, especially as an artist, because as an artist you want the thing to be as close to your vision as possible. I finally said ‘It's done when it's done, as long as it's good.'”
Q: There's a German version of Fire And Fame due at the end of the year. How is that coming along?
Joerg: “I'm doing the German translation with my friend Stephan Treu, which I'm very happy about because we're very similar and we both have a very high expectation with the wording we use when we translate the text. There are other books out there that have been translated from English to German, line for line, sentence for sentence, and they sound like shit. You can't do that. What we're doing is, Stephan starts with the basic translation, then we get together and using the original rough draft I wrote in German we pull things apart, add stuff, take things out, and the results are great.”
Q: Are you completely satsified with the end result?
Joerg: “Of course I'm happy with it, but Carl and I don't have enough distance from it yet to say ‘Yeah, it's really good.' Maybe I'll read it again in a year-and-a-half and make a judgement. It's the same as making a new album; you're really happy with it, thinking it's the best album you ever did, but because you grow as a person you might have a different opinion two years later. There are always things that you feel you could have done differently when you make an album, and it'll be the same with our book. That's not a bad thing, it's just natural development as a person.”
Interview Carl Begai
Q: How did you end up working with Joerg on Fire And Fame?
Carl: “Joerg and I were friends long before the book was even an idea. I met him about a year after I moved to Germany in October 1995 and we hit it off since we were both involved in the music business and had similar tastes in movies. We lived around the corner from one another, and we’d get together every so often to talk about the biz or disturb his neighbours watching Mob movies on his Hi-Fi ultra stereo surround sound. When he got back from Thailand at the beginning of 2005 he told me about the tsunami and outlined his basic plan for the book. I agreed to help based on our friendship.”
Q: How difficult was it translating the material?
Carl: “Well, it wasn’t easy, it was time consuming, and it was definitely a learning experience. The fact is my so-called “skills” in German are limited, but thankfully I understand about 90% of what I hear and read. Joerg and I would get together over coffee and he’d dictate a different section to me each time, which I’d record and transcribe as I would an interview for BW&BK. It was a lot harder, of course, because I had to try and get Joerg’s thoughts, feelings down in English without straying for his original idea. This was one of the reasons we did it via dictation rather than me translating written text…. aside from the fact I couldn’t read his handwriting (laughs). My translations had as much to do with Joerg’s body language and inflections and nuances of his voice as the text. I also added my own spin on things when it was needed, like filling in some added facts or whatever. That’s why the story sounds the way it does. I think if I’d only translated the written text there would have been a hole in the way the story was told. It would have much less of an impact.”
Q: Three years is a long time to spend on writing about someone else’s life…
Carl: “It wasn’t three years straight. All tolled it was probably more like a year-and-a-half’s worth of writing and re-writing, because we had breaks in between where Joerg would head back to Thailand for a few months and I’d go back to Toronto. Plus we had our day-to-day lives to worry about. So this was put together amongst all that. The rest of the time was spent editing the thing, which was an adventure in itself.”
Q: Why?
Carl: “I’m not going to get into it. Let’s just say that the person who volunteered to edit the book had her own agenda, which was screwing us up royally, so we were forced to take the book back. Unfortunately, in my experience it’s not very smart to try and edit your own material because after reading and re-reading and re-reading it you’re blind to the mistakes that other people might pick up on immediately. But, this is what happens when you’re working independently and there’s no real budget. You make do with what you have, and with that in mind I think we’ve kicked some ass with this. It also helped that we had Thomas Riess on our side, who was instrumental in how the book is structured.”
Q: So you’re completely satisfied with the end result?
Carl: “Overall, yes, but there are things in my writing that I would definitely change if I could go back, just as there are things in the story that I know Joerg would change, remove or add, which is actually what he’ll do with the German version. Not that book needs an overhaul. Far from it. There are several parts in the book that I’m quite proud of because they sound and flows really well, which was the whole point of my being involved. On the whole I’m proud of my work and I’m glad I did it because it’s been quite motivational for my next project. Which is, not surprisingly, a book.”