The band was formed (originally as Fagin's Epitaph) in late 1969 in Dortmund, and released in the autumn of 1971. After numerous gigs throughout Germany including a 1972 live appearance in the TV show
Beat Club, the band recorded (in Audio Tonstudio,
Berlin) showcased by the two 1973 singles, "Autumn '71" and "We Love You Alice". Still, the sales were disappointing and Polydor dropped the band. album,
Outside the Law. The band (now with Norbert Lehmann, ex-Karthago, on drums) was ready to embark upon a US tour when Billingsgate went broke. Having lost all their money, Epitaph disbanded in January 1975, so as to avoid sharing their record company's debts. In 1976 they re-surfaced in Germany (with the line-up of Cliff Jackson, Bernd Kolbe, Klaus Walz and Jim McGillivray) and recorded a gig in
Cologne for the musical TV show
Rockpalast. Shortly before the recording, in January 1977, McGillivray left the band (he joined
Eloy in 1980) and was replaced by Fritz Randow (ex-Eloy). Later that year Walz and Kolbe departed, while guitarist Heinz Glass, bass guitarist Harvey Janssen and Michael Karch on keyboards, came in. This new line-up then joined the Hungarian
progressive rock band
Omega on the latter's 36-date European tour, which culminated in three major concerts in
Budapest, before the audiences of over 30,000. Epitaph's fourth album
Return to Reality was released by Brain Records in April 1979. A boogie rock record, marked by
heavy metal influences, it was described as "mediocre" and was poorly received.
See You in Alaska followed, again for the Brain label and stylistically in the same vein. Later that year Epitaph toured Germany with
Uli Roth and
Accept. After Karch's departure the band continued without keyboards. In 1981
Live came out, recorded in
Wertheim,
Dallau and Triburg, in the course of the
See You in Alaska tour. Later that year Waltz and Kolbe returned, and Norbert Lehmann replaced Fritz Randow. This new line-up recorded
Danger Man for the small Rockport record label. "Better than the Brain albums," it was still "unable to recapture the spirit of the past times," according to the reviewer Alex Gitlin. In 1982 Epitaph appeared at the Pfingst Festival in
Würzburg and
Munich, on the bill that featured
ZZ Top,
Saxon,
Joan Jett and The Blackhearts,
Extrabreit,
Saga and
Spliff. In 1983 they disbanded, but briefly returned in 1986 to support
Grobschnitt at their 15th anniversary concert at the Stadthalle Hagen. This resulted in the birth of the band Kingdom (led by Kolbe and Jackson) which then changed its name to
Domain, and released three studio albums. Randow joined
Victory, then
Sinner and later Saxon.
Post-reunion In 1999, guitarist Heinz Glass invited members of Epitaph to take part in a concert in
Kaiserslautern venue Kammgarn, celebrating the 25th anniversary of his professional career. This led (apparently at the instigation of
Rudolf Schenker) to Epitaph's reunion concert in January 2000 at the Lindenbrauerei in
Unna. Featuring Cliff Jackson, Heinz Glass, Bernd Kolbe and Achim Wielert in the line-up, it was documented on DVD as
Live at the Brewery and later released on CD as
Resurrection, by Hurricane Records. In 2007 the band (Jackson, Kolbe, Heinz Glass and Achim Poret) released their seventh studio album
Remember the Daze to be followed by
Dancing with Ghost (2009), both on in-akustik label. == Discography==