Emerging from Germany's Neue Deutsche Welle punk revival, the Hamburg-based group Revolverheld—whose name translates as "gunslinger"—launched their run by supporting established domestic acts such as Donots and Silbermond, only to carve out independent commercial traction through the chart successes of "Halt Dich an Mir Fest" and "Lass uns Gehen." Between 2005 and 2013 the outfit earned gold certification for two albums and platinum for one, then stepped away from the studio for four years prior to unveiling their fifth full-length, Zimmer mit Blick, in 2018.
The five musicians first assembled in Hamburg during summer 2003 under the initial moniker Manga, with Johannes Strate handling lead vocals, Kristoffer Hünecke and Niels Grötsch on guitars, Florian Speer on bass, and Jakob Sinn behind the drums. They briefly switched to Tsunamikiller in 2004 but dropped the name after a devastating tsunami struck Thailand at the close of that year. Rechristened Revolverheld, the quintet continued opening for larger draws until securing a deal with Sony BMG in early 2005 and delivering their self-titled debut LP that autumn. The follow-up single "Die Welt Steht Still" reached the Top 20, while the third release, "Freunde Bleiben," was chosen to represent Germany at Eurovision.
Their sophomore effort, Chaostheorie, arrived in 2006 and yielded the singles "Ich Werd die Weld Verandern," "Du Explodierst," and "Unzertrennlich." Third album In Farbe followed in 2010, featuring a duet with Die Happy singer Marta Jandova on "Halt Dich an Mir Fest." Bassist Florian Speer departed in 2012 and was replaced by Chris Rodriguez, whose first recordings with the band appeared on the 2013 set Immer in Bewegung. In April 2015 Revolverheld staged an MTV Unplugged concert spanning their catalog at Friedrich-Ebert-Halle in Hamburg, joined onstage by Annett Louisan, Rea Garvey, and Das Bo; the resulting MTV Unplugged in Drei Akten appeared later that year. Zimmer mit Blick, issued in 2018, entered the German albums chart at number two.
