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Artist
Bonfire
12+ albums
hard rockheavy metalhair metalrockmelodic rock
about
Bonfire is a German hard rock and heavy metal band founded in 1972 in Ingolstadt, Upper Bavaria by guitarist Hans Ziller. The band was originally formed under the name Cacumen and adopted the name Bonfire in 1986. Ziller has remained associated with the group for most of its history and owns the rights to the name Bonfire. The band originated in 1972 when teenage guitarist Hans Ziller formed Cacumen together with his brother Karl Ziller and several local musicians. The name was taken from a Latin term meaning “the top of a mountain”, which Hans Ziller had encountered in a school test. During the 1970s the group performed regularly in local venues around Ingolstadt and gradually built a regional following. By 1978 the line-up consisted of Hans Ziller and Karl Ziller on guitars, Horst Maier on guitar, Hans Hauptmann on bass, and Hans Forstner on drums. When the band began searching for a new vocalist, Claus Lessmann, a fellow student of Hans Ziller who had previously performed with the bands Ginger and Sunset, joined the group. With this line-up the band began expanding its live activities beyond its home town. In 1979 Cacumen recorded the single “Riding Away”, backed with “Wintertale”, and toured clubs, schools and other venues. The group subsequently signed with an independent label and released the album “Cacumen” in 1981, which included a new version of “Riding Away”. Around this period Karl Ziller left the band. Cacumen later worked with Hanns Schmidt-Theissen, owner of
