Catching Voodoo Circle at Their Promo Show in Munich (2009)

Arhiv Arhiv Last updated 11 June 2026

Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik

Venue: Garage DeLuxe / Munich / Germany
Show date: 14.03.2009
Attendance: 50
Ticket price: 8,00€

Voodoo Circle is a band that grew out of a studio project, which put out its self-titled studio debut last year. The mastermind behind both the project and the album is Silent Force guitarist Alex Beyrodt. The guy is known for his all-round musical know-how and virtuosity, and Voodoo Circle is the outlet for his hard rock side. The mark Richie Blackmore left on the whole generation of guitarists who came after him is anything but negligible. He touched Beyrodt deeply too, and Voodoo Circle make no secret of it in their approach, which often happily draws inspiration from classic Rainbow. In the same breath, that of course brings up the talk of a “German Rising Force”, since Beyrodt, not just in his soloing style but in the whole getup, with a cream-colored Stratocaster in his hands, likes to slip into a bit of the “Yngwie-esque” now and then.

To be the godfather of that kind of musical “indulgence”, you need a great crew behind you, one that offers a safe haven for the guitar escapades. So under the Voodoo Circle banner Beyrodt brought in his longtime friend from his Sinner days, Mat Sinner, who picked up the bass, the versatile drummer Mel Gaynor, who cut his teeth with names like Tina Turner, Elton John and Simple Minds, and the “seasoned” keyboardist Jimmy Kresic, who is currently working on a joint project with former Toto guitarist Steve Lukather and Dream Theater keyboardist Jordan Rudess. As for the power, explosiveness and authority you need to keep the big egos of this kind of “show what you can do” lineup from clashing too much, that was effectively covered in Voodoo Circle by the excellent Pink Cream 69 singer David Readman.

Garage DeLuxe is a music club where Saturdays are reserved for rock shows. For this one, which fell to Voodoo Circle, the room was warmed up by promising young Germans Kama Sutra 69. In 45 minutes they got a great sound going in the club, delivered a polished, cohesive and tight set that showed the guys have already collected a decent pile of experience, are thoroughly at home on stage and aren’t afraid of anybody. There were 30 people sitting in the club, showing no particular signs of wildness. On a Saturday like this they could have fit in nicely. Kama Sutra 69 used the chance 100%. All four members complemented each other perfectly. They served up a heavily grooving sound with a hugely dynamic, in places funky rhythm line, over which a roaring, avalanche-like guitar growled, with modern, dissonantly smeared distortion that filled out the sound nicely. On top of all that, a convincing vocal carried the band’s message, with a well-developed, fully immersed stage presence during a performance that drew its stage moves and sighs from everything between grunge disillusionment and rockabilly swagger. Kama Sutra 69 are a band who clearly know what they want and carry enviable potential.

Voodoo Circle showed up just half an hour before their set. They drove straight from Cologne. Naturally they only had the bare essentials with them. That is, guitars. They played through the club’s PA, used the club’s drums, and even the keyboards were already waiting for them at the venue.

The seasoned musicians delivered a set of just one hour. I expected them to play the whole “Vodoo Circle” album, which sadly didn’t happen. They mixed a few covers into the material from the debut, which served as entertainment for the folks and of course gave the performers one more reason to loosen up on stage. By the way, the “Voodoo Circle” album is one of the more interesting new releases to come out in 2008 in German hard rock of the classic persuasion. Of course Beyrodt soon made it clear he’s the band’s driving engine, since his solos were usually the most interesting moments of the show in the original songs. Still, the gentlemen spiced up the repertoire with a tried-and-tested adrenaline hit, Krawitz’s Are You Gonna Go My Way, which, to be honest, didn’t quite fit into the classically symphonic-arranged package of original songs on the “Voodoo Circle” debut. Unlike that song, Mistreated and Little Wing were handled more deftly, of course with no comparison to the originals, third-league stuff, but fully in line with the experience and routine of the long mileage of the Voodoo Circle crew, and performed perfectly decently. You could feel the guys haven’t played much in this lineup. A couple of times David wobbled on vocals when he tried to push a song forward with the vocal, and barely held himself back at the last moment when Gaynor decided to “break up” the song with a short drum break at a transition. But with confidence and plenty of experience they brushed off the “challenge” as a joke.

Voodoo Circle were pretty cramped on stage. The drum kit in particular was far too small for Gaynor. The muscular drummer hit with huge power, and it happened that he knocked over cymbal stands, which were set back up next to the drums by whoever was handiest at that moment: keyboardist Jimmy Kresic. The moment of the gig’s biggest fire-breathing was offered by the energetic, faster song Spewing Lies, whose wittier basic guitar phrase, through a groove of juicy riffing, took the lead in the set. The band’s otherwise fairly monotonous playing was aired out more concretely by David Readman, who at half power proved what a top-class vocalist he is, and showed his big strengths right at the end of the show, when he spiced up the exit of Hendrix’s Little Wing with an excellent solo spot of his own improvisational feel.

You could feel the band could stretch out even more and deliver even more energy and explosiveness on stage if they’d been given a bigger stage and a longer set. But that wasn’t really the plan. It was obviously just a one-week promo tour limited to Germany, and the modest scope of the expedition was also reflected in the ticket price (8,00€). According to Beyrodt, Voodoo Circle are supposed to stay together as a band, so we can hope for new studio releases from this lineup, and, as a result, maybe the next tour will already put the band in bigger halls with longer sets. On the other hand, the moment offered by the intimate space of Garage DeLuxe, where you could chat for real with all the members of this high-pedigree band, was an unforgettable experience for fans of this music.

photos: Aleš Podbrežnik