History & Biography Kingdom Come is the band of Hamburg, Germany-born man Lenny Wolf, a former bouncer, who formed the band fresh off a stint with Stone Fury. The band was often compared to Led Zeppelin. Wolf consistently maintained a lack of knowledge for Led Zeppelin and would assert he is not even familiar with the rock greats.
The group was formed in 1987. The band’s initial line-up featured guitarists Danny Stag and Rick Steier, bassist Johnny B. Frank and future Scorpions member James Kottak on drums. The band’s sebut was recorded by Bob Rock in Canada and issued in 1988 and was an immediate success in America were it even charted thanks to rock radio. The band opened for the North American Monsters Of Rock tour in 1988 and supported Dokken, Scorpions, Metallica and Van Halen. A tour with Magnum followed in Europe. The band was asked to open for Scorpions, but was soon kicked off. Rumour has it that Lenny and company were using the entire stage and going over their allotted time. The band was A&R’d by famous US guru John Kalodner. The band issued its In Your Face album a year later and saw even more success despite the consistent Led Zeppelin comparisons. Joing the criticism of the band were personalities like Ozzy Osbourne and Gary Moore who recorded a song called Led Clones! With the tide for hard rock turning in America the line-up soon disbanded and Wolf retreated to Germany. Bad Image was released via a new contract, this time with Warner Music. Line-up changes were a constant with Kingdom Come as Lenny worked on the band on and off. The band ended up on German independent label Viceroy and toured Germany. Live & Unplugged was taped in Switzerland. The group would go into hiatus due to a lack of interest and support outside Germany, but would reappear (naturally with a new line-up) in 2000. Independent was so named because of the manner in which it was recorded and produced. The band was even billed as returning to tour America, although the shows were cancelled in advanced as the group had supposedly failed to obtain working visas. Ain’t Crying For The Moon featured a new version of the single Get It On and brought world-side touring for the band. Kingdom Come would announce a tour with Dokken for the autumn of 2007 in Europe. The band fired rhythm guitarist Yenz Leonhardt citing the man’s lack of time and engagement with other projects just prior to the tour. The band released an album called Magnified in February, 2009 through Planet Music. The band was main man and singer Lenny Wolf, guitarist Eric Foerster, bassist Frank Binke and drummer Hendrik Thiesbrummel. Kingdom Come would issue Rendered Waters in March, 2011 through SPV.
Ousted and former Scorpions drummer James Kottak reported in late 2017 that he and singer Lenny Wolf were considering reforming Kingdom Come. Kingdom Come announced it would tour the USA in September and October 2018 to mark the thirtieth anniversary of its debut album. Strangely, singer Keith St. John of Lynch Mob was fronting the band and Lenny Wolf would be absent! This line-up and incarnation of Kingdom Come was criticized by attendees of Sweden Rock Festival as being subpar and sloppy in 2022 with drummer James Kottak especially being cited for a lack of playing ability. Tierra Segrada Rockfest at Tech Port Arena in Texas, USA on September 24th 2022 featured headliners Legs Diamond, Moxy, Lita Ford, Kingdom Come, Jack Russell's Great White and Jessikill. Kingdom Come had lost drummer James Kottak likely due to his erratic performance. Sitting on the stool was Blas Elias of Slaughter fame. James Kottak, who was an alcoholic, died in Louisville, Kentucky on January 9th 2024. He was 61. Singer Keith St John left Kingdom Come following the death of drummer James Kottak. Undeterred, the rest of the members recruited singer Ezekiel "Zeke" Kaplan and drummer Matt Muckle and opted to continue.
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