PHARAO
BAD BOYS FROM EAST

Pharao was one of the most prolific metal bands of the late German Democratic Republic. Everything began in 1984. Vocalist Jacky Lee Mann, Michael Jurischk (guitar) and Franky Miller (drums) were playing in their own band Countdown. In early 1985, Andy Schwendemann (guitar) and Christian Dallmann (bass) joined them from Regenbogen. When Schwendemann left towards the end of the year, Pharao was born.

In 1989, the Berlin Wall came down and Pharao got the chance to record their first album »Bad Boys From East« for a small record company in Stuttgart. The line-up was Jacky Lee Mann (vocals), Franky Miller (drums), Blacky Smith (guitar) and Thor (bass). „It was all very chaotic,“ explains Jacky Lee Mann today. „The whole album was actually only a pre-production, recorded in two days. The record company released it on CD without ever asking us.“

However, the ten songs stood the test of time. “The title track ‘Bad Boys From East’ was one of the first songs we wrote for Pharao in 1985,” says Jacky. “And I also like ‘Pain And Pleasure’.” The most complex number on »Bad Boys From East« is called „The Book Of Ibon“, it’s more than ten minutes long and shows influences of King Diamond. The vocalist, who cites Rob Halford and Bruce Dickinson as his main inspirations to become a singer, wrote it after having watched a horror movie: “I already had the different parts in my head and in the end the entire song developed during a single session in the rehearsal room. I loved King Diamond at the time.”

Back in the day, the record company did not do any promotion for »Bad Boys From East« whatsoever, so media feedback was almost non-existent. Besides the CD pressing, there was a very limited number of vinyl copies fetching exorbitant prices nowadays.