QL

Formed in Biel, Switzerland, during 2001, the punk outfit QL features Pät on bass and vocals, Stämpf on guitar and vocals, Sägi on guitar, and Tosi on drums. The group established itself as a lively cover act whose first album, Heimatschutz, entered the marketplace in 2004 and reached the Swiss Top Ten immediately. Produced by Christoph Beyerlein, that Swiss German dialect set of punk-styled covers climbed to number six on the albums chart and lodged itself inside the Top Ten for six consecutive weeks. The track “Ewigi Liäbi” emerged as its standout single, while the album itself has continued to rank among the band’s most cherished releases.

Two subsequent efforts, Luscht in 2005 and Schwi!zerchracher in 2007, each attained a peak of number three on the Swiss charts. In 2008 those two albums were gathered together with a separate EP containing four distinct takes on the 2004 soccer anthem “Hopp Schwiiz,” resulting in the triple-disc anthology Eurochracher. After a period of absence, QL resurfaced in 2010 with the fourth album Humba Tätärä, a further Top Five success credited jointly to QL and Pepe Lienhard Horns. The record, built mostly from original songs, introduced the singles “Sonderzug Is Radio” and “I Liebe Di.”