History & Biography The heavy metal veterans were founded in Budapest, Hungary in 1980. Gábor Kukovecz, Endre Paksi and Tibor Varga were jamming before being drafted into the army. Once free from the military they decided to jam harder and began playing with drummers and a singer called Kalapacs who had approached them. This man also brought Nemeth with him! The band wanted to put on a show and adapted a theatrical image. The group had fun at shows and opened for Prognozis, whose guitarist Voros was guitarist Gabor’s instructor. Voros had suggested they adopt the Kommandó monicker, but the band was not enthused. Endre left in 1985 not getting along with his cohort Gabor and founded Ossian. The band was not favoured by Hungary’s fascist authorities and they were often hounded. The band remembers they used to put up show concerts around town without club names or addresses only to fill those in just before the shows. Nonetheless, the band made it to a television show in 1984, which made them even bigger than they were. The band opened for Motörhead and Metallica separately, as Western bands were being allowed into the country, obtained a deal and issued its debut in 1986. The band did well in Hungary, and even toured outside its own country, but reportedly guitarist Nagyfi, Gabor and Kalapács were in musical and personal disagreement and things fell apart in 1990. Nagyfi and Kalapács formed Omen. As is usual, a reformation of sorts with an original member happened in 1995. The boys were back on stage. Also as is usual a farewell concert was organized, but the band marched on. The band even ventured into the English language lyrics territory in 2001. Momentum of 2002 featured re-recorded ballads of the band. The Oblatio album from 2006 featured re-recorded acoustic tracks. A 2020 live DVD commemorated the bands 35th year of active duty and was called 35. Jubileumi Koncert. Pandemic or not Hungarian concerts continued in 2021. The Darkness, Pokolgep, Wolfmother and Glenn Hughes, among others, were performing for four nights under the banner of Harley-Davidson in Budapest, Hungary in June. It celebrated the 120th Anniversary of the American company. 40th anniversary concerts and a few more were underway in Hungary in 2023.
Pokolgép translated literally means ‘Hellish Machine,’ and refers to a homemade incendiary device.
Gabor’s band was known as Gep during Pokolgep’s absence. The members in Gep became the reformed Pokolgep mostly.
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