“Well done, WellBad!” – DIE WELT
“A PHENOMENON” – CLASSIC ROCKS
“BEAUTIFULLY DIRTY” – ECLIPSED
Awarded by the German Record Critics' Prize 2017

This voice sounds like a hundred lives. Daniel Welbat sings like he’s been hanging out in the darkest of dive bars for years. Gripping his pen, he nervously jots his lyrics down on yellowed bar receipts, eyes wandering across the crowded joint. He is on the hunt for stories, for dreams.

“The little things, told in a big way…” That is his goal!

Daniel Welbat‘s new album HEARTBEAST is an homage to his deep love for movies. Born into a family of artists and filmmakers, Welbat spent the better part of his youth on film sets. “That was a big influence. This electrifying dance on that fine line between truth and art. I wanted to dedicate an album to that part of my world – which is why HEARTBEAST is the soundtrack to a movie that has never been made.“

The HEARTBEAST plot makes for a stirring live performance as the audience takes in the tales of one E.L. Kruger. E.L.’s wild ride into the abyss of his being lasts twelve songs.
This is roots rock falling in love with hip hop. Jazzy scintillations kept in check by the Blues. Glorious melodies and catchy hooks pull you in and won’t let go. And through it all, this marvelous band with their gripping groove manages to present the sophisticated arrangements in an accessible way.

The overture: “Young.” Stomping, pulsating, edgy – a dance on the volcano.

As the 29 year-old song writer declares in a garbled voice - “Ain’t too done to die young!“

The second song tells the true story of Joseph Merrick, the so-called “Elephant Man.” The singing is rap-like, the bass saxophone is wailing, and Daniel Welbat takes his audience ever deeper into his personal life movie.

In the up-tempo song “Robbery,” the listener suddenly witnesses a bank robbery. But the song is not so much about stealing a bunch of money as about the brutal end of a tragic love affair.

“Heal a Wound” is a journey along the dream-like songlines of the Blues, right through the darkest realms of the soul. The conciliatory end however offers a bit of hope – albeit in a rather morbid fashion: “Be grateful! You still got a body left to ruin!“

“Skeleton“ is a mystical, healing piece inviting us to dance all our worries, all our pain away.

From “The Void,” a primal shout-out to the long lost and forgotten, the movie takes us to the pumping electric guitar sounds of “The Overfeeding,” the hysterical, desperate beat of “Off-Tuned Body” to the ice-cold reckoning with an ex-lover in “Limited Tears.” But while there’s life, there’s hope, and so in “Bad Day for the Blues,” a quirky duet featuring two searching souls, the lovers manage to reunite.

“Let it Sin“ opens yet another trap door in the Wellbadian world of stories - and by now no one can tell where reality stops and fiction sets in anymore.

But it really doesn’t matter much, because we’ve already reached the last and most intimate song on the album: “Spit It Out.” One last gasp, one final blissful sigh, an epic love song about love itself. And then the movie’s over. The End.

HEARTBEAST is WellBad’s fourth album, produced once again by Stephan Gade, whose collaboration list includes renowned German music artists Udo Lindenberg and Ina Müller.

WellBad created a stir in Hamburg when they came out with their debut album “Beautiful Disaster” in 2011, followed by “Judgement Days“ (2015) and “The Rotten” (2017).
In 2015, WellBad won the Best Band Award at the German Blues Challenge.

The German Record Critics' Award (“Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik”) designated “The Rotten” as its Quarterly Critics' Choice in 2017.

WellBad appears on German prime-time television (ZDF, ARD, RTL, NDR) and tours as opening act for Robert Cray, Oli Brown and Tito & Tarantula.
In 2018 they wowed the audience at Hamburg’s famous Elbphilharmonie concert hall.

WellBad performs at international festivals, including Memphis, Tennessee (USA), Torrita di Siena, Italy, and at the Canadian Music Week in Toronto.

The new WellBad album also features a “Canada connection”: Upon seeing Samantha Martin perform live in Hamburg, Daniel Welbat met the up-and-coming Canadian Blues star backstage. The two musicians get to talking, and the next day they are singing together at the studio, recording “Bad Days for the Blues” for HEARTBEAST.

After their release concert this June, WellBad will be kicking off their HEARTBEAST tour. The five musicians always put their heart and soul into these live gigs. “We bring 120 per cent passion to the stage – we just love it,” the band says in excited anticipation of their tour through Germany. WellBad shows feel like a trip through heaven and hell, with no emotion left unexplored, deeply touching their audiences. Daniel Welbat lives his songs on stage, taking the crowds with him on an intoxicating hunt for stories and dreams, for light and love.