This is the Life

This is the Life -- A Ruby Jubilee -- 2015 is a special year for us since it marks the 40th anniversary of our first trip to the UK. We were playing in the same band then, The Lucky Men, mainly doing covers of 60s and 70s British pop and rock acts. Setting foot on Albion’s shores got us hooked on the English language and English speaking cultures, and this love for the lingo, the culture and its people has grown ever since. In the following 30 years – musically – we went our separate ways, Hans playing with Okemah, Al and John, Desmond Doyle and Friends, while I made music with United States of Love, Wikuda and Bad Boy Dupree. Pursuing different paths gave us a chance to explore new directions and to enrich our musical repertoires. Three years ago, when Hans celebrated a special birthday, we had a great sing-along together, playing and singing the better part of the night. Indeed, we hit it off so well that we formed The Lannoys, the band name being reminiscent of how our family name was spelt when our ancestors moved to Austria. As The Lannoys, we pen and perform our own songs, and in our music we bring together different styles and influences (Rock ’n’ Roll, Folk, Blues, Rock and Pop). Indeed, we mainly write and sing in English, and releasing this album in 2015 is our way of celebrating our long-lasting and ongoing creative relationship with the English-speaking world. Moreover, we have included one song sung in German (“Gammlerblues”), which was written shortly before our trip to the United Kingdom; another ruby jubilee. Yet, the album is not a journey into our past. On the contrary, it shows how we have moved on, with most of the songs written in the past ten years and some of them only a few months old. Indeed, the theme of moving on, of looking for new horizons is a key theme throughout the album. Our thanks go to everybody who has helped us make this record, our families for their unfailing support and our fellow musicians for their inspiration. Our special thanks go to Rudi Kerschbaum (add. Keyboards), Uwe J. Schmidt (Accordion) & Michael Willmann (Percussion) – excellent musicians and dear friends - with whom we recorded “Oh Lady Oh Lady”, “New Horizon“, “Ode to the Good life”, Moving Strong, “Auntie Jean” and “Beach Bar Song”. All the other work was recorded, mixed and mastered at Intermezzo Studio by Armand “Mandy” Oberle (Guitars, Bass, Drums, Organ, Bluesharp & Keyboards). Indeed, making this album would not have been possible without him. Mandy is a true sound magician and master musician. He brought out the best in us and continued in our spirit whenever we had come to end of our tether. Hans & Werner Delanoy