Closterkeller

Closterkeller
Closterkeller at Castle Party 2008
Background information
Origin	Warsaw, Poland
Genres	Gothic rock
Years active	1988–present
Labels	SPV Records, Polskie Radio, Izabelin Studio, Metal Mind Productions, Universal Music Poland
Website	Official Website
Members	Anja Orthodox Michał "Rollo" Rollinger Michał Jarominek Aleksander "Olek" Gruszka Adam "Najman" Najman

Closterkeller is a Polish gothic rock band from Warsaw. It was formed in 1988 by Przemysław Guryń, Jacek Skirucha, and the vocalist Anja Orthodox. Despite many changes in the band's line-up it has created a characteristic sound. Orthodox is the only member of the original line-up, performing continuously for over 25 years. The band is called one of the forerunners of gothic and atmospheric rock in Poland, they are also under the influence of music styles such as new and cold wave or even heavy metal. Many other groups like Delight, Moonlight or Artrosis said they took their inspirations from Closterkeller.

Closterkeller came to life in January o 1988, founded by Przemysław Guryn (keyboards), Jacek Skirucha (guitar), Tomasz Grochowalski (bass) and Anja Orthodox (vocals). They were soon joined by Piotr "Peterek" Bieńkowski on drums, known from bands Madame and Maanam. That is when Closterkeller won their first festival, Ochota '88 and began working on their first, strongly cold wave - and gothic rock - influenced studio album, Purple.

In 1989 Closterkeller was already gaining a lot of attention and has grown in popularity by winning the biggest Polish rock festivals: "Mokotowska Jesień", "Rock Pokoju" at Hala Gwardii in Warsaw, "Rock Pod Chełmcem", "Odjazdy" and "Jarocin" - the most prestigious Polish festival in the 80s and 90s.

Shortly after (1990) came the release of Purple, being one of the first albums in Poland sold in CD form. Big success of the band caused tension within the group which resulted in several changes in the band. Piotr "Posejdon" Pawłowski (from Mech, Virgin, DADA, Zgoda, Swat and more) became the new drummer, and Michał Rollinger (Wilki, Detonator BN, Tubylcy Betonu) replaced Przemysław Guryn as the new keyboardist.

New Closterkeller line-up began working on their next album. In spite of the need to redo the recording and make changes to arrangements, in 1992 came out Blue, band's second LP, under the label SPV Poland. However, due to the label's mistake, Blue CD came out only in English language version, with the Polish one being released exclusively on cassettes.

After the release, there were two new changes to the line-up. Krzysztof Najman (Charon, Blitzkrieg, Jezabel Jazz, Virgin, Mech) became the new bassist, and Jacek Skirucha was replaced by Paweł Pieczyński on guitar. 1993 was the birthdate of "Agnieszka" minialbum - compilation of Polish versions from Blue alongside new compositions. The music video for the title song "Agnieszka", written by Anja Orthodox, was awarded 1st place at "Festiwal Polskich Wideoklipów" in Sopot. Anja and Krzysztof Najman got married later the same year.