Crocodile Shop

Crocodile Shop
Background information
Origin	Berlin, Germany
Genres	Electro-Industrial Dark Electro
Years active	1987 – present
Labels	Tinman Records Metropolis Records Out of Line Music
Members	Mick Hale Bob Strete R.A. Werner vMarkus Len9 John Figlar Chris Collins

Crocodile Shop (later simply Croc Shop) is an electro-industrial aggrotech EBM band formed in Berlin, Germany in 1987 by Mick Hale and R. A. Werner.

Crocodile Shop was born after Hale and Werner disintegrated their previous new wave project, "Mod Fun". They became inspired by the "darker" post-punk sounds of Joy Division, New Order, Wire, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry and The Jesus and Mary Chain. According to the band's official website, the name "Crocodile Shop" was just something the group entitled a demo tape as a reminder of its contents, and the name stuck.

Originally a three-piece band (guitar, bass and drums) with drummer John Figlar of Lord John fame, the group's first release was the 1987 EP entitled "Head" which saw limited distribution on the Minneapolis-based Susstones Records. At the time, the group had a strong indie rock sound which they later came to dislike and called "Head" their version of Ministry's "With Sympathy" which was an overall embarrassment to the band. The following full-length album "Lullaby", produced by Chameleons UK's Dave Fielding, developed their sound further towards gothic and included more dark guitar work. Eventually, the band would slowly abandon the "guitar goth" sound, first replacing their drummer with a drum machine, and finally with the addition of keyboard player V. Markus, (who was influenced by the likes of Front 242, Laibach and Nitzer Ebb), they turned to an entirely electronic-based outfit. The band followed up with their developing electronic sound by releasing two more vinyl EPs, the Red Lorry Yellow Lorry influenced "Measure By Measure" and "Technological Optimism".

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