Mandy Meyer

Armand "Mandy" Meyer (born 29 August 1960) is a Swiss guitarist best known for being a member of the hard rock band Gotthard, the progressive rock band Asia, and the heavy metal band Krokus. He has also worked with Cobra, Stealin' Horses, Katmandu and Unisonic.

Early years

Meyer was born on 29 August 1960 in the town of Balcarres, Saskatchewan, Canada. The son of a Swiss dairy farmer and a Canadian mother, Meyer spent his first three years in Canada. After his parents were divorced his father took him back to Switzerland where he grew up in the house of his grandparents in Küssnacht am Rigi.

Meyer started to play his first instrument, the marching drums, at the age of 9 becoming a member of the local marching drum club for the next seven years. At age 12, he began to study classical guitar and at the age of 15 formed his first local band Quarry performing at parties and local clubs. By 1978, Meyer was the lead vocalist and guitarist for Swiss group BM-Smith who issued the "Chaincy Fever" b/w "Silver City" 7" single that same year and made an appearance on Swiss national TV in 1980 performing the punk rock laced "Do You Wanna Dance", now fronted by female vocalist Vera Kaa.

International career

In 1980, Meyer was approached by Chris von Rohr, founding member and bass player of Krokus, about joining the band following the departure of Tommy Kiefer. He accepted the offer and toured Europe and the United States for the next two years in support of Krokus's Hardware album. he was back with Krokus in 2005, replacing founding member Fernando von Arb on lead guitar, and played on the band's 2006 release, Hellraiser. However, Meyer was out of the line-up again when Krokus' Headhunter era line-up reunited in the spring of 2008.

Current projects

Meyer is a member of Unisonic, formed in 2009 by Pink Cream 69 members, Dennis Ward and Kosta Zafiriou, and former Helloween vocalist Michael Kiske. In 2011, Kiske's old Helloween mate, Kai Hansen (Gamma Ray), was added to the line-up. The group has released 2 EP's and 2 full-length albums so far.

In 2011, Meyer teamed up with German vocalist Hagen Grohe, who had featured on Joe Perry's 2009 solo album, Have Guitar, Will Travel, under the name Katmandü, with former Krokus drummer Patrick Aeby, bassist François Mohr, and keyboardist Alan Guy rounding out the line-up. On 4 August 2011 they performed at the Rock Oz'Arènes festival in Avenches, Switzerland playing Katmandü material and other songs from the Meyer catalogue previously recorded by Cobra, Van Zant, House of Lords, and Gotthard as well as a cover of Krokus' "Fire".

In 2012, Meyer rejoined Krokus as their official sixth member, with the band now featuring a three-guitar line-up which made its studio debut on 2013's Dirty Dynamite.

In March 2020, Meyer announced the formation of a new band named Gotus – half Gotthard, half Krokus in name – featuring one-time Krokus rhythm section, Tony Castell and Patrick Aeby, keyboardist Alain Guy, and Croatian guest vocalist Dino Jelusick. In September 2020, the group released a video for the song "Souls Alive", originally recorded by Meyer with Unisonic on their eponymous 2012 debut album. Gotus made their live debut on the Swiss Rock Cruise one month later, with the setlist consisting of songs co-written by Meyer throughout his career.

Cobra one-off reunion

On 25 October 2015, the three surviving members of Cobra, Mandy Meyer, Tommy Keiser and Jeff Klaven, reunited for the first time in over 30 years to help pay tribute to their former lead vocalist, the late Jimi Jamison, as part of the star-studded "Jam for Jimi Jamison" at the Hard Rock Cafe in Memphis, TN. They were joined by Jamison's son-in-law, Todd Poole (ex-Roxy Blue, Saliva), Jeffery Wade Caughron and Kory Myers for the occasion, performing songs off the First Strike album as well as a cover of Krokus' "Screaming in the Night".

Discography

Cobra First Strike (1983)

Asia Astra (1985) Then and Now (1990)

Stealin Horses Stealin Horses (1988)

Ashton Modern Pilgrims (1988)

Katmandu Katmandu (1991)

Gotthard D frosted (Live album) (1997) Open (1999) Homerun (2001) Human Zoo (2003)

Krokus Hellraiser (2006) Dirty Dynamite (2013) Long Stick Goes Boom: Live from da House of Rust (2014) Big Rocks (2017)

Unisonic Ignition (2012, EP) Unisonic (2012) For the Kingdom (2014, EP) Light of Dawn (2014) Live in Wacken (2017)