Effective period / Period of releases: 1965 - 2020

Members: Rolf Antener, Peter Rietmann, Robert Wittner, Pit Schäfer

Beat Band from Basel, Switzerland
The legendary Dynamites from Basel were formed in 1958 by Robert "Röbi" Wittner. They first went under the name of LITTLE ROBIN BAND (adopted from the Bobby Day song Rockin Robin), before it was changed to THE RED DYNAMITES (after the Cliff Richard song Dynamite) and then finally shortened to the much more dynamic, and explosive sounding name of THE DYNAMITES in 1964.

Their first real lineup was consisting of Robert Wittner (lead vocals), Willy Lanz (bass), Fritz Arpagaus (drums), Sandro Bellafati (rhythm guitar) and Rolf Antener (lead guitar). On the 5. of January 1963, during a break of a Red Dynamites show at the Safran in Basel, one of the people from the audience came backstage, to ask The Red Dynamites leader Robert Wittner if he could join the band for a session. It was Robert "Robi" Sulzer and he had no band experience yet, but was a big fan of Jerry Lee Lewis and Fats Domino and he had learned to play the piano at school. Sulzer became their piano/organ player and second lead vocalist.

Some of their highlights include shows with Cliff Richard & The Shadows, The Moody Blues (at an open-air festival in Paris 1/1966), Tony Sheridan (with The Dynamites as backing band), Bill Ramsey (with The Dynamites as for his backing band - at one very rare concert in Chur, Switzerland), Stan Urban (as backing band), to play at the famous Film Ball in Munich, and the winning of the international beat band battle at the legendary Golf Drouot in Paris, that has brought them the contract for the French EP release.

They are famous for their well documented singles on Columbia and Philips. Hard to find as they are, the rarest of their vinyl is the debut EP on the tiny Sesam label from 64. It shows a group in development with one foot still on the Shadows-platform and the other already on the R&B-train.