Exceptional musicians were drawn to Carinthia

Coming from Timisoara, Krauser, who was once called Deutsch-Timischberg, said he comes from Timisoara: “It has accompanied my soul to this day, Frieddorf. I move as a free spirit, a seeker and always in search of it.” He played the violin at the age of five, But since he heard Jimi Hendrix at the age of twelve, his love has been the electric guitar. That’s when he knew this free spirit had caught him, and that’s when he wanted to rock, play the blues and make noise.

A painful escape from Romania

At the age of fifteen, he ended up with the Romanian cult troupe “Phoenix”: “The band is still there, like the Stones or the Beatles, and it’s been around since the sixties. At one point I was allowed to start as a violinist, but the violin didn’t interest me. I was In a classic high school, so I had to.”

The artist gained his first experiences with “Phoenix”, but in 1977 he escaped from Romania. He almost suffocated while running because he was screwed into Marshall’s chest. In 1977, when he was 19, he was in the West in Germany. Although “Phoenix” was a popular band in Romania, it was unsuccessful in Germany. Erlind Krauser lived with his bandmates near Osnabrück, in the village of Brahms, on a bungalow: “We could not pay the rent and were evicted, it was a desolate time when we were hungry at times. Bad time.”

The first album was made

Phoenix disbanded and played guitarist with the bands Madhouse and Lake. After that he wanted to make music for films and commercials, so the first album “Ambrosia” appeared: “Produced by David Parker, who later had great success with Taco in the US, Puttin on the Ritz.” Suddenly I became a guitarist in the Hamburg theater , I play for Milva and Taco. At the same time I’ve made movie music for commercials and industrial movies. He also made music for TV movies and sensitive human stories. “I see it as a portrait painting with musical potential.”

An unforgettable meeting with James Last

Krauser played in the James Last Orchestra for 23 years. The guitarist has released nine single albums, but he remembers fondly the first time he met James Last in 1992. “We had a strange encounter. I knew who James Last was, but not now. I had released an album in 1992 called Flight of the phoenix And an audio clip of it was very successful in the U.S. At the time it was directed to cloud 7.

“Another James asked me, ‘Do you want to play for us and I asked, Who else is there beside you? It sounded funny, but I said I only play for people whose music I think is great, so why don’t you play something. Maybe no one ever said that to him.’” The last time he considered it against him for 20 years, he found it rude, Krauser says. “But I didn’t want to be rude, I was.”

“The Untamed Group of Musicians”

Krauser became a soloist with James Last, but the first round was sobering: “There were 40 people on stage and the temperature depends on the alcohol level. Every gin and tonic makes the song ten beats faster. It was an unruly group of musicians unleashing each other.” Krauser wanted to resign, but James Last convinced him to stay. In 2008, Krauser developed his own style of playing electric guitar, the tapping technique.

“It’s perfect for making human voices cross. My guitars seem to be sung.” The deciding factor was Christina Aguilera’s ‘Hurt’, which he was supposed to play solo with James Last. In order to imitate her sound, he needed 30 years of electric guitar experience to further develop the tapping.

When James Last died in 2015, Krauser had to reorient himself. A businessman from Graz encouraged him to make an album of his best singles on guitar, and the eighth album “Last Discoveries” was born: “Then I sat down and said I was going to make a CD on my own, without sponsors. This is my best and my favorite album “Without Limits” released in 2021. I’m also publishing it myself, I’ve built a label for it.”

Hours of Tapping Technique Practice

Every morning, the guitarist practices the demanding clicking technique: “It takes hours of practice every day, otherwise I can’t keep it. It’s the highest level playing electric guitar.” He is very grateful that he developed this technique and wishes for the future to open people’s hearts and souls to music. The exceptional musician and Carinthian fan has been living in his adopted home for several months now.