C'est le groupe d'origine des musiciens de Mercyful Fate. Sur cette reformation il reste juste Michael Denner, accompagné de Yenz Leonhardt (ensuite dans Lacrimosa, Iron Savior et Stormwarrior).
Michael Denner's pre-MERCYFUL FATE band BRATS reformed for the first time in nearly four and a half decades to perform at the Metal Magic festival in Fredericia, Denmark on Friday, July 11. Joining Denner on stage for the concert were fellow original members Yenz Cheyenne on bass and vocals and Lars Monroe on drums.
A few hours before the BRATS show, Denner's longtime MERCYFUL FATE bandmate Hank Shermann took to his social media to write: "After nearly 45 years, BRATS returns to the stage tonight at the Metal Magic festival . Playing most songs from the '1980' album with original members Yenz, Lars Monroe and Michael Denner.
"BRATS was my first band formed in spring of 1978. Yenz and Lars joined early 1979, Michael autumn 1979 and King Diamond November 1980. Quite some history.. GO GUYS, hit it hard."
Apart from the future MERCYFUL FATE guitar duo of Denner and Shermann (who called himself Hank De Wank at the time),BRATS featured singer and bass player Yenz (also known as Yenz Leonhardt or Yenz Cheyenne; born Jens Arnsted). Yenz later went on to form GEISHA and Y (together with KING DIAMOND bassist Hal Patino).
When the "1980" album was reissued in 2022, Yenz said that the BRATS were his first serious band.
"In August 1980 I was 19," he explained. "I was standing on Strøget, the main shopping street in Copenhagen. The street was packed in front of the Bristol Music Centre in Copenhagen, where we were scheduled to play an in-store gig. This was the holy place where I since childhood had purchased my vinyl collection, and now it felt like the whole city was here to celebrate our new album. Old-school punks and metalheads of the surging New Wave Of British Heavy Metal had a brief moment of unity over the release party for our new '1980' BRATS album. The newspapers and magazines were out in full force."
Soon after the release of "1980", the original BRATS band fell apart, giving birth to MERCYFUL FATE. Back then, for Yenz at first, it felt "like reaching for the universe." He said: "I remember thinking: How the hell did we get here that fast?
"We want to thank everybody who was part of this crazy ride back then, and everybody who's been appreciating this album ever since," he added.