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It's the sort of story that scriptwriters would get laughed out of conference rooms for entering. The sort of story that illustrates perfect synchronicity between hunger, passion and time. The sort of story that only happens every 30-odd years. And the sort of story that would approximately 500 pages to do it true justice. In September 1998, MetalSaschA was going through the local newspaper when he saw an add in the music section. Beerfinder General, Ironpony and Dr. Steefist had posted the advertisement because they were desperately trying to find a frontman for their yet unnamed Metallica tribute band. For the first meeting of the band, the other three guys had come up with a code that MetalSaschA needed to be able to enter their practice room. Following their advice, MetalSaschA went down to some shady basement in a Cologne industrial neighborhood, only to tear open the door and yell “Heavy Metal is the fucking law!!!”. One could stop here and say that the rest is history. But there is more to say about this fascinating band that, unlike other Metallica tribute bands, has been hitting the road for ten years now. At the time Cunning Stunts were founded, there was only one other Metallica tribute band in Germany. Since then, many bands have been appeared on the market and then disappeared in the shortest amounts of time. However, in 2001, it looked like Cunning Stunts was going to be one of these disappearing bands. When Ironpony Leimsen had to move to Munich, the band decided to end their career as a Metallica tribute band. But it took less than half a year for the guys to realize that they could not live without each other. In late 2001, they decided to go on tour again. In 2002, the band toured most of Germany and many Austrian cities as well during their Eye of the Beerholder Tour 2002. After the tour, all members of the band devoted their effort to their side projects. MetalSaschA played with Metamorphosis and helped out our friends from Nutellica for some shows, Beerfinder worked in the studio, Ironpony Leimsen concentrated on the Munich scene. In early 2003, Dr. Steelfist announced that he could no longer play in the band due to back problems. He was replaced by Philburton immediately. In late 2003, the band hit the road to play their For Whom the Bell Tours Tour 2003/2004. The tour extended well into 2004 and the band played gigs all over Germany. In the meantime, Beerfinder was about to become a daddy of twins. For an essential amount of the 2004 gigs, drummer Dooominik filled in for him. The For Whom the Bell Tours Tour was the longest and most extensive tour the band had ever played in their career, playing almost every single gig they were offered in every corner of Germany you can imagine. After a year abroad in Rochester, NY - yes, that’s where Metallica recorded and mixed Kill’ Em All - MetalSaschA returned to Germany in the midth of 2005, eager to start gigging again ASAP. At this time, Ironpony Leimsen had started touring as support of Whitesnake with his band The Traceelords. Philburton had just entered the studio with Egonauten. Ironpony was replaced by long-time Stunts fan Kirrk Schmitzett. Cliff Kaufman, he himself also being a long-time Stunts fan, replaced Philburton.
In early 2006, the band started playing gigs for the first part of their Cover Up Your Ass Tour. Concentrating on gigs with larger crowds, the band played for audiences of more than 2500 people and proved that years in the business and continous touring had led to a perfection of their cover skills. Conincidentally and inwillingly, the new line-up had also turned into a Metallica look-alike. Unlike other Metallica tribute bands who try to copy their heroes 1 to 1 - Cunning Stunts’ approach to being a tribute band had always been different as the members attempted to keep their personalities and personal appearances and work even harder to make it sound right. Nevertheless, the look-alike new line-up marks a new level in the band’s history. In late 2006, Beerfinder General had to leave the band for professional reasons and was replaced by Steve Larsberg, who had been playing in bands with Cliff Kaufman for years. The band continued playing gigs, the tour now conveniently entitled Cover Up Your Ass Tour Pt. II.
In 2007, it one more time looked like the band had come to an end. MetalSaschA announced that he would move to San Francisco, CA for personal and professional reasons. The mighty Stunts were in shock but played a bunch of good-bye shows all over Germany and their first acoustic show ever. With MetalSaschA being the last founding member of the original Stunts line-up, it really seemed like the time of Cunning Stunts was over. But being who we are, we could not live without the band. Thus, the current Cunning Stunts line-up has recently decided to play shows with MetalSaschA whenever he gets the chance to come to Germany. And rest assured that - as always - Cunning Stunts will give 1000% to make their fans happy: kick ass heavy metal music, a state of the art mosh pit and beer drinking madness guaranteed. Bring your sister and your sister’s friend. We’re hungry. |
