The roots of the German band Apocalypse, formerly known - in Germany - as Die Anderen (The Others or The Differents), lie in a talent show, the so-called "Beat-Band-Ball", that took place in Kiel's Ostseehalle in 1966. This was where Jürgen Drews (lead guitar, vocals) met the members of the winning band Chimes of Freedom Bernd Scheffler (drums, vocals), Enrico Lombardi (bass, vocals) und Gerd Müller (guitar, vocals).
In his excellent book "STARPALAST und Skinny Minny" a documentary of the 60s and 70s Beat Music scene in the Kiel area author Klaus Härtel writes of the formation of this internationally famous band from northern Germany.
Jürgen Drews was born 02.04.1948 in Schleswig. When he was 14 he became a banjo player in a jazz band called Snirpels and discovered beat music through the cover band Monkeys. After the "Beat-Band-Ball" Drews successfully asked to join Chimes of Freedom as their lead guitarist. After a while their manager decided to change the band's sound and name. A German band should have a German name - this was not typical of the times. The name Die Anderen was chosen and contact with record company Ariola's in-house producer Giorgio Moroder followed. Moroder produced 2 albums and some singles for them. The band was notable for having four excellent harmonious vocalists, a keenness to play, originality coupled with a total commitment to making money. But they still had a long way to go and there were problems with differing attitudes about the essence and purpose of their music.
However, Die Anderen got the opportunity to play on "Show Chance 67", a ZDF national television show in the section "singing groups with instrumental backing". This raised the band's profile within their record company after which the company were prepared to fulfil all the band's wishes and gave them a blank cheque. Germany's top producers and arrangers were at their disposal together with the best available session musicians and the best studio - Pye Record Studio in London. It was in the Pye studio in July 1968 they started recording four singles, three of which were written by Müller and Lombardi.
With pride the four heroes returned home to Kiel from London, Drew reminisces today, and soon realised that it would be difficult to have a career if they remained as they were - different. They were heralded by creative but broke young filmmakers. They sang in a ZDF produced TV film "Zwischen Beat und Bach" (Between Beat and Bach) and in another ZDF programme they were the choir in the Wagner Opera "Meistersinger".Their album "Kannibal Komix", released in 1968 on Ariola, was a milestone. The US film producer George Moorse, who was living in Munich at the time, got hold of a copy of the LP. Using the album as a soundtrack he produced the ghost film "Das Haus in Weiß" (The House in White).