IMPACT are a young, five piece Hard Rock Band from Germany founded in February of 2020 by Morris Ramon and Danny on Guitars, Ian Hendrik on Drums and Dan Ringer on Bass. With new energy and their own songs inspired by bands like Metallica and Whitesnake they bring back the sound from the 80s – thundering drums, in-your face guitars and screaming vocals. After the founding in February 2020 the band put out their first single called ‘We Want Out’ in August of 2020. The song was written by guitarist Danny and Drummer Ian Hendrik who also took in the place of lead singer for that particular release as the band was still looking for a lead singer back then. The according music video gained international success and critically reviews the decisions made by the government regarding the Covid-19 pandemic.
Due to the Covid-19 restrictions the band only managed to play one live show in summer of 2020. Fronting the band at this very show was guest singer Joe Hanson who had been in the local rock scene for quite some years. As the concert with Joe Hanson was just a one of at this point the band started to actively look for a lead singer.
The band sorted that position with Markus Winkler in September 2020 and started writing songs for their first album. The head role in the process of writing was taken by guitarist Morris Ramon and Drummer and producer Ian Hendrik who knew each other from a previous band project. They equally contributed to writing the music, however Ian Hendrik took the main part in writing lyrics. Danny and Dan Ringer also put their own unique style to the songs which makes up the instrumental section of Impact. Over time it became clear that Markus had a great voice but wasn’t the sort of Heavy Metal Singer the band was looking for.
Although the band was now without a singer they started to record the first studio album in January of 2021 at Savage Sound in Bavaria, Germany. About six weeks into the recording process and most of the basic tracks done the band figured why not ask their good friend Joe Hanson to exclusively sing on the album. As it has always been a dream for Joe Hanson to sometime record an album featuring himself on vocals he quickly decided to take the job.
After all the drums were hammered in, Dan Ringer finished to shake the ground with his thundering bass, Danny nailed all the Rhythm Guitar parts, Morris Ramon made poetry out of every note in his solos and Joe Hanson had his last scream the album was mixed by Ian Hendrik who happens to be a Music Production student in London. After all the recordings sounded the way the band imagined them, they had a very last listen before sending them off the mastering. In that very listening session Joe Hanson asked the band if the offer to join the band as a full member still existed. From that point on the band had finally sorted their full lineup. The tracks were then sent of the Metropolis Studios in London where they have been mastered by none other than legendary mastering engineer Andy ‘Hippy’ Baldwin who already put his magic touch on bands like The Who, Oasis and Faith no More.
When the band got back the final masters they were all simply blown away by the sheer power. They started promoting the album which was going to be released on the 9th of July 2021 and was going to be called “Initial Impact.” On June 25th, in advance to the album, the band released the single FASTER’N’HIGHER which gave the world of rock and metal the first glimpse of what can now be heard on “Initial Impact.” The song was immediately featured in a British newcomer radio show by Martin Jones the week after. The according music video quickly gained over 2000 views in just under three weeks. With the backup of that ongoing success the band finally released their first full studio album on Friday the 9th of July 2021 at 6pm CET. A release party was held at the bands local pub called ‘Kings Road Pub’ and they were all simply blown away by the amount of people that turned up. The band managed to pay of all the CDs they ordered in one single day. Since the album was released the band kept promoting their debut long player and managed to get over 5000 streams in just over 10 days, from 1500 listeners in over 50 countries on Spotify alone.
One week later on Friday, July the 16th the band released their second music video supporting the album for the song Voices of the Night. The song features UK rock veteran Dale Radcliffe from the power formation COP UK on lead vocals. He immediately joined the project after Ian Hendrik asked him back in May 2021 as he had met him in a beer garden in Germany a few years back where he mistakenly thought Dale was also a fan attending the concert in town.
With the massive support from fans all around the world the band went straight back to writing new material and is currently working on the next single which they plan to release in October of 2021.
Band Line-Up:
Ian Hendrik: Drums, Vocals, Keys
Morris Ramon: Lead Guitar, Vocals
Joe Hanson: Lead Vocals
Danny: Rhythm Guitar
Dan Ringer: Bass Guitar
Read our review here.
