My Solid Ground
My Solid Ground

One of Kraut Rock’s most obscure, yet seminal, early groups, My Solid Ground’s entire history is inextricably linked with the life and musical development of singer, guitarist, and chief songwriter Bernhard Rendel, who founded the project in 1968 when he was just 14 years old! Encouraged and supported by his doting parents, who not only offered up their home as rehearsal space, but also financed equipment and booked his gigs, Rendel and an ever-shifting cast of bandmates gradually composed and refined the My Solid Ground repertoire; simultaneously building a grassroots following via shows performed in and around their native Frankfurt.

Come 1970, My Solid Ground’s lineup had coalesced into Rendel, keyboardist Ingo Werner, bassist Kalrheinz Dorfler and drummer Andreas Wurching, and the quartet entered Frankfurt’s Morfelden Studio that October to record a track, “Flash,” which wound up taking second place in an amateur competition hosted by local Sudwestfunk (SWF) Radio. Had their story ended right there, My Solid Ground’s celebrated standing in the annals of Kraut Rock may already have been guaranteed, since the peerless “Flash” magically traversed the realms of trippy acid rock, classical music, rough-hewn hard rock, and atmospheric ambient sounds – plus a comparably wide range of emotions – during its mind-bending the 24-minutes. Instead, the band immediately set to work on an eponymous debut album consisting almost exclusively of powerful, compact, psych and hard...

One of Kraut Rock’s most obscure, yet seminal, early groups, My Solid Ground’s entire history is inextricably linked with the life and musical development of singer, guitarist, and chief songwriter Bernhard Rendel, who founded the project in 1968 when he was just 14 years old! Encouraged and supported by his doting parents, who not only offered up their home as rehearsal space, but also financed equipment and booked his gigs, Rendel and an ever-shifting cast of bandmates gradually composed and refined the My Solid Ground repertoire; simultaneously building a grassroots following via shows performed in and around their native Frankfurt.

Come 1970, My Solid Ground’s lineup had coalesced into Rendel, keyboardist Ingo Werner, bassist Kalrheinz Dorfler and drummer Andreas Wurching, and the quartet entered Frankfurt’s Morfelden Studio that October to record a track, “Flash,” which wound up taking second place in an amateur competition hosted by local Sudwestfunk (SWF) Radio. Had their story ended right there, My Solid Ground’s celebrated standing in the annals of Kraut Rock may already have been guaranteed, since the peerless “Flash” magically traversed the realms of trippy acid rock, classical music, rough-hewn hard rock, and atmospheric ambient sounds – plus a comparably wide range of emotions – during its mind-bending the 24-minutes. Instead, the band immediately set to work on an eponymous debut album consisting almost exclusively of powerful, compact, psych and hard rock numbers (the one exception, cryptically titled “Dirty Yellow Mist,” features an extended improvisation upon Link Wray’s classic “Rumble” riff), and released by the domestic Bacillus label later in 1971.

In the meantime, My Solid Ground had already recorded another batch of new songs for a June broadcast by their loyal supporters at SWF Radio (and available here from Anthology Recordings), but escalating internal friction meant that only Rendel remained by the start of 1972. The final death knell came two years and several short-lived new lineups later, when a disillusioned Rendel surprisingly dissolved My Solid Ground in order to pursue his College education (he was all of 22-years-old, after all), eventually becoming a music lecturer at Muinz University, while occasionally dabbling in projects as producer and composer. But, thankfully, My Solid Ground’s legacy survived time and trends in the hands and hearts of music historians and avid collectors; making it possible for their oeuvre to be revived for the digital space at last by Anthology Recordings. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia

Bernhard Rendel:

My Solid Ground was based from me in 1968 in Rüsselsheim, Germany. The simple word “The” in front of that band name seemed too boring and so I replaced it through the word “My”, which meant much more substantial to me.
Finally I named my first band which I founded with at 13 years “The Ego” and from this it became My Solid Ground. I Feel we not all somehow, somewhere like egomaniacs? ;-)

At the beginning of MSG we were only set with guitar and drums. In the following time we proofed many guitarplayer and much more bassmen to complete and improve the band. Then the first usefully casting of the band came together, completed with singer who made the bandwork much more easier. After some gigs we seperated anew from the bassplayer and the singer. At this time we played with a new man at the bass, the classical three-man-casting: guitar, bass and drums.

All songs we knew we catapulted hard and very loud to our audience. We loved that and our fans loved that, too. Beside many of our own music parts we played on stage principal compositions of Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. Also possible were the spacesounds which we could already realize of that time equipment. And believe me we used them plentifully.

After the next casting we appointed beside a new bassplayer and drummer, a keyboarder. In addition to rock productions we intensified at this time sound experiments in our repertoire, concentrated within a great lightshow and movie sections during the gigs.

The members of that casting played up the My Solid Ground album in 1971.

The production came off two parts. First of all we played in February the basics. In April we played up vocals, partly new guitar solos and the mixing of the album. At the title “Dirty yellow mist” we recorded at that time many different vocals and guitar solos. Also existed more piano and keyboard voices as you can hear later on the album. Beside this psychedellic song most of the other titles sounded more and more into rockmusic with concentrated guitarsounds. In “The Executioner” the organ gave an interessting touch.

The mixing of the styles were always a reason for many discussions. This was the result of too much changing the bandmenbers. Than we started for making this album we played our gigs not always with the same four-man-casting plus keyboard. We played often without keyboard, which meant every gig was a challenge and changed the character of our gigs very hardly but for sure it became more interesting aspects. One of the gigs among other things was recorded by German TV.

After that album I played more bass instead guitar. Once again I played with a new keyboarder and drummer in that three-man-casting which touched more and more in a classical direction. Additionally I played often in that time with Jazz-sessions and made important experiences and shared many impressions in that scene. With a new high-class casting I continued My Solid Ground in Frankfurt till I studied in 1974 / 75 ( - 1979) classical music. After my study time I spent and worked many years in the classical section and successfully wrote my own compositions.
But the project My Solid Ground with that was not finished. It slept only a while but my rocking aspects has discovered it again.

Bernhard Rendel, 2006