Underground German kosmic rock band GAM recorded their sole record, Eisziet, in 1978 and then shelved it after the master tape disappeared. Comprised of echo-guitar pioneer Günter Schickert, guitarist Axel Struck, and drummer Michael Leske, GAM’s record sat undiscovered and thought lost until The Crack in the Cosmic Egg authors Alan and Steven Freeman tracked down Günter, found out that he had a copy of the recording, and released it on CD on their label, Cosmic Egg, in 2004.
Championed by Julian Cope, GAM wove echoed guitars and tripped-out vocals together over a tight rhythmic groove that still sounds current thirty odd years after their recording date.
Günter, a veteran of the Berlin experimental and free jazz music scene, was a frequent visitor to the legendary German club/art space, Zodiac Free Arts Lab (founded by Conrad Schnitzler and Hans-Joachim Roedelius), where he encountered fellow German music pioneers and witnessed seminal live performances by now-lauded German bands. In 1974, prior to GAM, Günter self-released his first solo record, Samtvogel, which the Brain label reissued in 1975. Following work with Klaus Schulze, Günter recorded a second solo record, Uberfallig, on Sky Records in 1979.
Eiszeit will appeal to fans of early Ash Ra Tempel, Cosmic Jokers, and Achim Reichel and the Machines.