Chapter four: Tort Harry

Translation

  • Image 1: We need some name, we already been Imago, then Exekutor, and it’s all just crap!
  • Image 3: If death metal, dude, then Tortharry!
  • Editorial note: “Ja wohl! Tort Harry!” refers to the band name being on several occasions misspelled in Germany as Tort Harry instead of Tortharry. Divided like that, Tort Harry means “Cake Harry” in German; indeed fitting for a death metal band.

And now for the narration.

 

Chapter four - HOW THE NAME CAME AROUND AND TORTHARRY BEGAN WRITING THEIR DEATH METAL HISTORY

With the enlistment successfully survived, Martin and Králík are setting up families and the band returns to the garage to rehearse and make the first demo recordings, which were captured using a double reel stereo magnetophone (Martin made the first copies of the demo on his dual cassette recorder, called “the twin”, practically destroying it after an approximately 300th copy). The only thing still not established is a proper band name. Imago is long dead, and there is already another band called Exekutor, meaning that it has to be something original.

During one of the many festivities in Velká Dřevíč, we find our guys burning the midnight oil in search of name, coming up with already desperate suggestions such as TORTURA and with other similar oddities. Who would have thought that this word will become the cornerstone for the final name. The band is so drunk, so unable to articulate that at long last someone utters the ultimate garble of something like T-o-r-t-a-r-y.

“Hey dudes, that does not sound bad, but it has to be more classy. Since we are going extreme, playing death metal, we need equally bad-ass name. We shall be called T O R T H A R R Y.”

It turned out to be a bit risky name from the start, especially in the neighboring Germany and Austria, where it got inevitably misspelled as Tort Harry. So welcome to the West, Cake Harry. This unforeseen moniker was really pissing the guys off. Nonetheless their German friends nicknamed them thus on several occasions and gloriously printed it on show posters.

The year is 1991.