The BossHoss

This article is about a German rock band. For the motorcycle company, see Boss Hoss Cycles.

The BossHoss is a German band from Berlin, founded in 2004. They originally started with country and western style cover versions of famous pop, rock and hip hop songs, for example "Hot in Herre" by Nelly, "Toxic" by Britney Spears and "Hey Ya!" by Outkast. They incorporate stereotypical American cowboy behavior into their act; they wear Stetson hats, tank tops and large sunglasses, and display whiskey bottles.^{[citation needed]} The band refers to their music style as "Country Trash Punk Rock."^[1]

The BossHoss
The Boss Hoss at Rock im Park 2016
Background information
Origin	Berlin, Germany
Genres	Country rock, pop, rock
Years active	2004–present
Members	Alec "Boss Burns" Völkel Sascha "Hoss Power" Vollmer Malcom "Hank Williamson" Arison Ansgar "Sir Frank Doe" Freyberg André "Guss Brooks" Neumann Tobias "Ernesto Escobar de Tijuana" Fischer
Past members	Michael Frick Mathias "Hank Doodle" Fauvet Dean "Russ T. Nail" Micetech

Band history

The Boss Hoss in concert in Germany on 16 June 2007

The band was formed in 2004 in Berlin by Alec "Boss" Völkel, Sascha "Hoss" Vollmer and Michael Frick,^[2][3] and named after the song "The Real BossHoss" by The Sonics. They were featured in the trendsetting music show Tracks (on French/German TV channel ARTE) and played live during the Kiel Week. In late 2004, they signed a record deal with Universal Music Domestic Division.

In 2005, they released their debut album Internashville Urban Hymns and signed a promotional contract with ice cream producer Langnese, for which they covered "Like Ice in the Sunshine", the theme song from a Langnese's TV spot. The band played about 180 concerts that year. In 2005, they adapted "Ca plane pour moi" from Belgian artist Plastic Bertrand.

In 2006, BossHoss provided the soundtrack for the football film FC Venus [de].^[4] Release of the first single "I Say a Little Prayer" on April 28 and the second album "Rodeo Radio" on May 19. Half of that second album were their own songs, the other half cover versions. After they had released the second album, their first album rose into the charts again, sold 100,000 copies by the end of May 2006, and became a gold record in Germany.

Band members

Part of the band in concert in Germany, 2016

• Boss Burns (Alec Völkel) - vocals, washboard
• Hoss Power (Sascha Vollmer) - acoustic and electric guitars, vocals
• Sir Frank Doe (Ansgar Freyberg) - drums
• Hank Williamson (Malcolm Arison) - mandoline, washboard, stylophone, harp
• Guss Brooks (André Neumann) - acoustic and electric basses
• Russ T. Rocket (Stefan Buehler) - electric guitar
• Ernesto Escobar de Tijuana (Tobias Fischer) - percussion, keytar, melodica

Past members

• Michael Frick - double bass
• Russ (Boris Kontorkowski) - electric guitar
• Russ T. Nail (Dean Micetech) - electric guitar
• Hank Doodle (Mathias Fauvet) - mandolin, washboard, harp

Discography

Studio albums

Year	Title	Peak positions[5]			Release date and sales
		GER	AUT	SWI
2005	Internashville Urban Hymns	11 (29 We.)	—	—	Released: 6 June 2005 Sales: 300,000+
2006	Rodeo Radio	6 (32 We.)	40 (5 We.)	83 (2 We.)	Released: 2 June 2006 Sales: 200,000+
2007	Stallion Battalion	8 (43 We.)	56 (5 We.)	—	Released: 9. November 2007 Sales: 100,000+
2009	Do or Die	4 (16 We.)	38 (6 We.)	32 (10 We.)	Released: 3 July 2009 Sales: 100,000+
2010	Low Voltage	7 (5 We.)	49 (1 We.)	64 (1 We.)	Released: 30 April 2010
2011	Liberty of Action	4 (72 We.)	3 (59 We.)	26 (31 We.)	Released: 9 December 2011 Sales: 220,000+
2013	Flames of Fame	2 (26 We.)	5 (13 We.)	8 (17 We.)	Released: 11 October 2013 Sales: 15,000+
2015	Dos Bros	1 (67 We.)	1 (33 We.)[6]	14 (34 We.)	Released: 25 September 2015 Sales: 207,500+
2018	Black Is Beautiful	1 (13 We.)	8 (5 We.)	14 (4 We.)	Released: 26 October 2018
2023	Electric Horsemen	7 (4 We.)	26 (1 We.)	17 (2 We.)	Released: 5 May 2023

Others

• Stallion Battalion live from Cologne (Released March 7, 2008) (Double-CD plus DVD)

Singles

Year	Title	Peak positions[5]			Release dates
		GER	AUT	SWI
2005	Hey Ya! Internashville Urban Hymns	41	—	—	Released: 9 May 2005
	Hot in Herre / Like Ice in the Sunshine Internashville Urban Hymns	83	—	—	Released: 25 July 2005
2006	I Say a Little Prayer Rodeo Radio / Low Voltage	66	—	—	Released: 12 May 2006
	Ring Ring Ring Rodeo Radio	99	—	—	Released: 1 September 2006
	Rodeo Radio Rodeo Radio / Low Voltage	93	—	—	Released: 29 December 2006
2007	Everything Counts / Truck ’n’ Roll Rules Stallion Battalion	67	—	—	Released: 15 June 2007
2009	Last Day (Do or Die)	78	—	—	Released: 19 June 2009
2011	Heroes/Helden Die Highlights	28	50	—	Released: 24 November 2011 (with Nena, Xavier Naidoo and Rea Garvey)
	Don't Gimme That Liberty of Action	8	1	49	Released: 25 November 2011 Sales: + 315,000
	L.O.V.E. Liberty of Action	74	—	—	Released: 20 December 2011 (feat. Nena)
2011	My Country Rammstein	—	—	—	Released: 11 November 2011
2012	Live It Up Liberty of Action	98	52	—	Released: 8 August 2012
2013	Do It Flames of Fame	31	40	36	Released: 16 September 2013
2015	Dos Bros Dos Bros	33	72	—	Released: 21 August 2015
	Jolene Dos Bros	35	25	29	Released: 25 December 2015 (feat. The Common Linnets)
2019	Little Help	32	34	41	Released: 3 May 2019 (featuring Mimi & Josy)
2021	Burning Love	—	—	—	Released: 2 January 2021 (feat. OnklP)

Notes

• "Hey Ya!" is a cover of OutKast
• "Hot in Herre / Like Ice in the Sunshine" is a double A side single with covers of Nelly and the Langnese theme
• "Heroes/helden" is a remake of David Bowie's "Heroes"
• Christmas-CD contains a cover of "Last Christmas" by Wham! and "Riding Home for Christmas"
• "I Say a Little Prayer" is a Bacharach-David composition; side B is "You'll Never Walk Alone", a Rodgers-Hammerstein composition
• "Ring, Ring, Ring" is a cover of De La Soul

DVDs

• Internashville Urban Hymns, die DVDs (2005; available only in Germany)

See also

The 2930s