"There are situations in life when you should drop your original plan and follow your gut instinct instead..."
- OSSY PFEIFFER -
...which is precisely what Ossy Pfeiffer has done: instead of releasing his new material on a solo album – as had been his initial intention – he involved friends and renowned colleagues in the production, allowing a real band to emerge from this fruitful collaboration. The name of this new band is “Ignore The Sign”. Members are vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Ossy Pfeiffer, guitarist/vocalist Anca Graterol (Rosy Vista), guitarist Björn Diewald, bass player Lars Lehmann, renowned as a studio musician with British rock legend UFO and member of ex-Scorpions guitarist Uli Jon Roth’s band, as well as percussionist Momme Boe and drummer Kristof Hinz, who has just finished the drum takes for the new Eloy album. The arrival of Ignore The Sign’s debut album has been announced for April 2017, the first download single ´A Line To Cross` was already released at the end of January 2017. A second single track ´Sweet Lady` is scheduled for release next February.
“This group isn’t about egos, the focus is on real team work,” says Pfeiffer, adding: “Ignore The Sign consists of accomplished musicians, that’s why there’s no room for self-adulation. The tried and tested motto ‘It’s all about the song’ applies to everybody involved.” Their self-titled debut album oozes this dictum from every single note. Ignore The Sign have recorded twelve versatile tracks at Anca Graterols Frida Park Studios under the direction of producer Pfeiffer, all of them carefully chosen from a much larger number of promising ideas. Says Pfeiffer: “Since all band members were involved in the songwriting process and every one of them has brought in their very own personal fortes and preferences, we were able to draw on plentiful resources and select the strongest numbers in consultation with our record company.”
Ignore The Sign has unmistakably benefitted from its members’ wide range of different influences. A self-professed Beatles fan, Ossy Pfeiffer (“following Johann Sebastian Bach, The Beatles are the origin of music to me”) is responsible for the material’s great melodiousness and catchiness. Steve Mann brought along a tougher, almost metal-oriented guitar attitude, Anca Graterol having added colour and spiritedness to the arrangements. The multi-faceted style and unerring feel for bouncing funk grooves of bassist (and lead vocalist on the song ´God`) Lars Lehmann brings to mind the early Whitesnake musician Neil Murray, while the rhythm section surrounding Kristof Hinz and Momme Boe contributed the songs’ dynamics and occasional polyrhythm.
A number of tracks are prime examples of the new band’s succinct style, ´A Line To Cross` featuring all the elements that Ignore The Sign stand for, from classic rock through pop music references to a progressive approach with a complexity reminiscent of Toto. In addition, there’s the ambitioned lyric with a distinct line that speaks for itself: “When my tomorrow seems to be your yesterday.” Obviously, it’s all about pushing the envelope and setting out for new horizons without taking things too far.
´Saviors Of Rock`, on the other hand, is bombastic hard rock and – together with the sophisticated rhythm of ´Can´t Find The Door` (featuring lead vocals courtesy of Anca Graterol) – a number that listeners can rock their socks off to. The double bass-driven metal track ´Days Of Thunder` is of a tougher persuasion, Pfeiffer adding with a smirk: “There’s not much you can do against an irresistible number like that, it simply happens.” The anthemnic ´Behind The Wall` was penned by Steve Mann and his 15-year-old son Jason, who contributed a surprisingly mature lyric.
You can feel that this band brings a breath of fresh air to the scene, consisting of a wide range of different talents and blending extensive musical experience into a homogenous musical whole. Ignore The Sign points the way with its uncompromising commitment to traditional classic rock music that couldn’t be more timeless. In April 2017 at the latest, when Ignore The Sign’s debut arrives at the stores, this musical genre will be represented by a full dozen additional significant tracks.