History
The band was founded by a group of German metal musicians with the goal to 'musically outshine' all then-current, independent releases. The line-up and the history of the group was to be "the best kept secret in the world". The project participants decide to keep everything about the band a secret, assuming German musicians would not be accepted internationally. The initial name "Zardoz" was rejected, followed by the acceptance of the name "Mekong Delta", named after a riverbed in Vietnam. The entire project was started by Ralf Hubert, sound-engineer for Warlock, Steeler and Living Death, and owner of the record label Aaarrg Music.
The first demos are recorded with the following line-up:
- Jochen Schröder (ex-Rage) – guitar
- Peavy Wagner (Rage) – bass
- Jörg Michael (ex-Rage and Paganini) – drums
- Wolfgang Borgmann – vocals
Jochen Schröder did not fit in and was soon replaced by Living Death guitarists Reiner Kelch and Frank Fricke. When Wagner later left the project, Hubert overtook the bass guitar duties. Since the band was deliberately shrouded in mystery, all participants assumed artist names and the line-up of the debut album looked like this:
- Björn Eklund (real name Ralf Hubert) on bass and acoustic guitar
- Gordon Perkins (real name Jörg Michael) on drums and percussion
- Rolf Stein (real name Frank Fricke) on guitar and backing vocals
- Vincent St. Johns (real name Reiner Kelch) on guitar and backing vocals
- Keil (real name Wolfgang Borgmann) on vocals
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