Speed Limit (band)

History

Speed Limit began in 1984 when two bands—one already called Speed Limit and another from Salzburg named Ampere—joined forces. Guitarist Chris Angerer and bassist Chris Pawlak became the steady core, while everyone else came and went. Joe Eder added his guitar in 1989 and never left. Their first album, Unchained, came out in 1986 after years of local gigs. The Prophecy EP got them noticed, and the single Lady became a worldwide hit, helped by its music video. They played shows across Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, and Hungary. In 1989, a panel from the Austrian magazine Rennbahn Express—which included Gene Simmons and Bruce Dickinson—voted them Best Austrian Metal Act. After that, they stuck mostly to Austria and southern Germany, but their second album Perfect Inspiration didn’t match the earlier buzz. Lineup changes became constant from 1992 onward, and as heavy metal’s popularity dipped in the 1990s, the remaining members decided to call it quits in 1994. In 2008, the 1989 lineup (minus drummer Andy Rethmeier) got back together to open for Nazareth in Salzburg that April. They kept touring, supporting Uriah Heep and Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, played the Austria Rock Festival in Klagenfurt, and headlined their own shows in southern Germany and Austria. Pure Steel Records signed them, and their comeback album Moneyshot hit shelves in 2010, spending 12 weeks on the charts. The next year saw re-releases of their first album and EP. Singer Steven Hogger left without warning in 2012. His replacement Ritchie Krennmaier stayed until 2014, leaving at the same time as drummer Wolf Krug. Finding new members took a while, so Anywhere We Dare didn’t come out until 2017—the band called it their heaviest record. That same year, their new vocalist quit, and the group carried on as a quartet with drummer Hannes Vordermayer handling the singing.