Classic Rock
Christoph “Tiger” Bartelt, drummer and co-founder of Kadavar, is leaving the Berlin band after sixteen years. He announced it himself on social media: he’ll leave at the end of 2026, after one last tour with Christoph “Lupus” Lindemann, Simon Bouteloup and Jascha Kreft.
“Let’s not bullshit anyone: when two founding members build a band and one leaves, it’s not because everything is perfect,” he writes. “Lupus and I steered this ship together. Never without conflict, never without outcome. The friction between us sparked fire and created gold dust over eight records and a thousand shows. But after sixteen years of giving everything, my gut tells me it’s time to move on.”
Kadavar formed in 2010 with Bartelt, Lindemann and bassist Philipp “Mammut” Lippitz. The three who carry on have thanked him on social media for giving the band its unique sound and for bringing the Beatles into stoner rock. The band’s latest album is “I Just Want To Be A Sound”, from 2025.
The farewell tour, with Scott Hepple & The Sun Band opening, starts on 27 November at the Garage in Saarbrücken and runs to twenty-one dates across Germany, Switzerland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Austria. The last is on 20 December at SO36 in Berlin. There are no Spanish dates.
Bartelt hasn’t said what he’ll do next. The band haven’t said who will replace him.
Text by Enric Vilaplana