Foundation and early successes
Die Zöllner were founded as a duo by Dirk Zöllner and André Gensicke in November 1987 and quickly made their first major appearance at the legendary “Rocksommer 88”. There they played at the “Beat Apartheid” festival, supporting James Brown. This event led them to expand their band into a big band. Two days after the fall of the Berlin Wall, they appeared on stage at the “Concert for Germany”, together with greats such as Udo Lindenberg and Joe Cocker.
First albums and musical development
Shortly before German reunification, the debut album “Die Zöllner” was released by Amiga in 1990. This was followed two years later by “Café Größenwahn” (1992), an all-German version of the album. This was followed by the albums “Goldene Zeiten” (1993) – produced by Edo Zanki – and the works “Bumm Bumm” (1996) and “Good Bye, Cherié” (1997), which were released by BMG Ariola.
Separation and comeback
After over 1,000 concerts, differences arose between Zöllner and Gensicke, which ultimately led to a separation. However, on Dirk Zöllner’s 40th birthday in 2002, the two musicians reunited and performed a brilliant concert on the open-air stage in Berlin-Weißensee. The best-of compilation “Auf der Reise” (2002) was released to mark the occasion.
New musical input and big band revival
In the following years, the duo performed under the name “Die Zöllner im Duo Infernale” and released two live albums as well as the album “7Sünden” (2007). Their tours through Israel and the Heine project “Club der toten Dichter” brought new musical input, so that DIE ZÖLLNER once again performed as a big band. The ZÖLLNER HORNS (Fratsch, Skip and Mr. Meier) continued to be an integral part of the band.
Recent publications and “Portugal”
Dirk Zöllner published his autobiography “Die fernen Inseln des Glücks” and released the album “Uferlos” in 2012. Further albums such as “In Ewigkeit” (2015) and “Dirk & Das Glück” (2017) followed. In 2019, the “Zack!Zack!Zessions” concert album was released, and in 2023 the band presented their new album “Portugal”. This project was co-created by the “new” Dresden rhythm section and the legendary ZÖLLNER HORNS.
Pandemic and creative break
From 2020 to 2022, during the pandemic, Zöllner and his team bridged the gap with living room concerts, which were published on YouTube under the title “Rockdowns”. At the same time, Zöllner’s son Egon Werler won the talent show “The Voice Kids”. In the fall of 2023, the duo Infernale Zöllner & Gensicke finally released a new album that took fans on a musical journey to “Portugal”.
