Gunnar Graps

Gunnar Graps

Gunnar Graps-Grafs (27 November 1951 Tartu, Estonia - 17 May 2004 Tallinn, Estonia) was a popular Estonian musician and one of the pioneers of hard rock in Estonia and Soviet Union. He has sold hundreds of thousands of records all over the world and in 2004 Graps was given a lifetime award at Estonian Music Awards. He has been compared to Mick Jagger and Alice Cooper, both who were his own personal idols, and is often called Raudmees (Iron man).

Biography

Start of music career, 1960s

Graps was turned to music by his father at the age of six when he started to learn cello. In 1964, being 14, he joined his first band Satelliidid as a guitarist. In spring of 1967 Graps joined Mikronid, where he played drums for the next six years. In 1970-1972 he was in the army and during that period he performed with Ivo Linna. He spent another year behind the drums in Mikronid after his return from military service. In spring 1968 Jüri Lina recorded about ten Mikrokonid songs which also included Graps' creation for his show "Pobifo Revüü".

Golden-Age of his music, 1970s

After leaving the group "Mikronid" Graps created Ornament in 1973, which was one of the pioneers of hard rock in Estonia and the Soviet Union (Estonia was occupied by the USSR at the time). Ornament's music was influenced by Led Zeppelin and psychedelic rock. In 1976 Graps put together a new outfit called Magnetic Band which was Jazz-rock oriented, with reggae and funk-soul influences.

In 1977 Graps graduated from Tallinn music school, from the percussion instruments departament. Soon after that he reformed his group and they started leaning towards hard rock. Soon Magnetic Band became one of the most popular heavy-music bands in Soviet Union. They won the first prize in the first official rock-festival of Soviet Union which took place in Tbilisi thanks to their hit "Lady Blues" and became the stars of "Yerevan-81" international pop-rock-festival. "Garbed in fire engine-red pants and white shirt decorated with a splashy 7-Up emblem, Graps sang: "Since we have nowhere else to make love/we do it out in the open/And sometimes the rain washes away the makeup/from her face—and mine", wrote "Time" magazine in 1981.

At the top, 1980s

See also: Gunnar Graps Group

In the eighties his popularity peaked. "Magnetic Band" constantly toured the Soviet Union. In 1982, Washington Post dedicated a whole page to Gunnar Graps and the Magnetic Band. It was no surprise that in 1983 "Magnetic Band" got banned by the Soviet authorities, which led to creation of GGG (Gunnar Graps Group). The change also marked a shift for straight-forward hard rock and heavy metal, styles which Magnetic Band was already flirting with (Note: all the musical groups in Soviet Union had to be evaluated before they were allowed to perform or exist further).

New winds were blowing in Soviet Union as Mikhail Gorbachev took the seat of the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and GGG saw less resistance from authorities. In 1988 they released their only LP entitled "Põlemine" (Burning). The vinyl was issued by Melodjia, a soviet record company - the only one in whole USSR and the distribution of the record was quite high. At that time, GGG comprised of Gunnar Graps (drums, percussion, vocals, keyboards), Juri Stihhanov (lead guitar), Andres Aak (now known as Angela Aak, rhythm guitar), Jüri Roosa (bass guitar) and Tiit Altosaar (drums on some songs, as Graps tended to perform most drumming (along with singing) himself). They performed in Estonia and Soviet Union and were very popular until their fade at the end of decade. Their most popular songs were "Põlemine" (Burning), "Valgus" (Light), the ballad "Mosaiik" (Mosaic), "Raudmees" (Iron man) - a song which gave Graps his nickname. Ironically the song wasn't written by Graps.

As the grip on Baltic states was becoming more and more loose, Singing Revolution begun. In 1987 a choir, comprised of well-known estonian singers Gunnar Graps among them, recorded Alo Mattiisen's song "Ei ole üksi ükski maa", a patriotic song about Estonia.

In 1989 Gunnar Graps moved to the USA with the hope of reaching new heights in his musical career but, alas, failed to succeed and instead was forced to work as a repairman to get by.

Start of decline, 1990s

After Estonia regained its independence in 1991 Graps returned to his homeland. In the summer of 1993 he was caught trying to cross the Swedish border with anabolic steroids and was imprisoned. He did not complain about his imprisonment; in fact, he praised the jail as being better than restaurants in Estonia. After his release, Graps came back to Estonia. Financial problems arose once more and he was forced to work at local radio stations and night-clubs as a DJ, playing music he hated. In 1995 Graps released "Tühjad pihud" (Empty Hands) and reformed GGG the next year, performing circa once a month. Graps was becoming more and more depressed.

File:GG and Magnetic Band performing in 2003.jpg

Gunnar Graps & Magentic Band at Green Christmas Festival on 27th December, 2003. Gunnar Graps is in the center

Last years

Starting the new millennium Graps was still having financial troubles and performed in a series of Hansapank's pension fund commercials. The commericals included a word play of "Tühjad pihud" (Empty Hands) record. In 2002 a 3 CD collection of Gunnar Graps' music, from all his tenures with past bands, was released as part of "Eesti kullafond" (Estionian Gold Fund) series. In 2003, Gunnar Graps performed at one of his last big concerts before death. An incarnation of Magnetic Band played in front of approx. 600 people at Green Christmas Festival in Rakvere, Estonia.

Despite his health problems Graps did not want to give up on music and in 2003 he released "Rajalt maas" (Off the Track), which had a strong blues influence. In one of his last interviews Graps promised to go on tour in Russia, because he was disappointed in the local music scene. Three months before his death he was still looking forward to continue his career and in an interview for Sakala, an Estonian newspaper, he promised to release a new album by the end of 2004 and another record in 2005. But sadly, on 17 May 2004, at the age of 52, Gunnar Graps quetly died of a heart attack at his home on Mooni street in Tallinn.

Legacy

Gunnar Graps is considered a rock idol by estonians. Another popular estonian band Metsatöll has said that Gunnar Graps means the same to Estonian metal as Black Sabbath means to the world.

Also, numerous tribute events have spawned, paying homage to the early departed musician. These events are orchestrated by Radio Mania, a local radio station, and Hard Rock Club, local events promoter and take place around Graps' birthday month and death month. A string of local bands usually perform at the event along with incarnations of GGG or Magnetic Band, with people Graps used to play with. Gunnar Graps was inducted into the Hall Of Fame of Rock Cafe, a local pub (operated by the owners of Radio Mania, also the place where the tribute events take place), on May 17th, 2005.

In December of 2005, Hard Rock Club started collecting funds to erect a memorial headstone at Graps' grave. A fund-rising concert was held on 5th March, 2006 at Rock Cafe in Tallinn. The stone was designed by Graps' son Jan Graps and placed on his grave on 17th May, 2006.

A cover band - Gunnar's Roses - was also active at some point during 2005-2006, performing at Hard Rock Laager in 2005 (a heavy metal festival created by Hard Rock Club) and at smaller pubs. The band was put together by Henri "Suss" Hinno (drummer of Manatark and Must Missa) who took the role of the drummer. Hinno is known to be a big fan of Graps' work and sang "Mosaiik" live with Gunnar's Roses.

Singing style

Gunnar Graps' singing style is somewhat familiar to style James Hetfield of Metallica used to use, which is essentialy trying to sing from the throat to produce a raspier sound. A very busy schedule contributed to developing his signature rasp. It wasn't uncommon for Graps to perform even 3 shows per day and 25 days in a month. He was still able to produce very high notes, as is evident from his songs and Jesus Christ Superstar song Gethsamene, which is included on the Gunnar Graps - Eesti kullafond 4. It is known that he "trained" his voice by yelling at the wall as hard as he could, usually before going on stage.

Partial discography

Magnetic Band

• "Magnetic band", (1978, LP) Issued by soviet record company Melodjia
• "Roosid papale" (Roses For Papa) (1981, LP) Issued by Melodija

GGG

• "Põlemine" (Burning) (1988, LP) Issued by Melodija

Solo

• "Tühjad pihud" (Empty Hands) (1995, CD) Issued by Elwood
• "Rajalt maas" (Off The Track) (2003, CD/MC) Issued by Elwood

Compilation

• "Gunnar Graps - Eesti kullafond 4" (2002, 3CD/3MC) TT Rec

Literature

• (in Russian) A. Alexeev, A. Burlaka, A. Sidorov "Who's Who in the Soviet rock", M., "Ostankino" Publishing, 1991.

Videos

• Gunnar Graps & Magnetic Band - "Selles meeletus ilmas"
• Gunnar Graps & Magnetic Band - "Hingeleegid"
• GGG - "Valgus", performed at Tartu Leviuusikapäevad in 1987
  
• Alo Matiisen - "Ei ole üksi ükski maa"