Alexandra

Alright Zoo Freaks, the Zoo Crew just dropped the needle on a deep cut that still hits hard all these years later. We’re spinning “Alexandra” by the Swiss rockers TEA off their 1976 album Tax Exile on Vertigo. Written by bassist Turo Paschayan and produced by Dieter Dierks, the same cat who shaped the Scorpions sound, this one rolls out with a slow, heavy beat and Marc Storace’s raw, pleading vocals that cut right through. Lyrics paint a guy standing there waiting, tears falling into an open hand, looking at a pale face and hoping for some sign she’ll come back. One write-up called it a dramatic funeral song about a lost girlfriend named Alexandra, with those gospel-tinged lifts in the choruses that build the ache. It went out as a single backed with “Winter Days,” and the band took it on the road through Switzerland, Germany, Italy, and even four shows in Malta, Storace’s home turf. Fans still talk about how it lands live, with the crowd singing along on the name like it’s their own story. The Zoo Crew loves how it sits right between the progressive edge and the hard rock punch that TEA was known for, the kind of track that sticks in your head long after the record stops.

TEA came together in 1971 out of a jam in Zurich when Turo Paschayan, drummer Roli Eggli, and guitarist Armand Volker decided the first letters of their names made a solid band handle. They started touring Switzerland, Germany, and the Netherlands as a power trio before bringing in Maltese-born Marc Storace on vocals in 1972. Keyboardist Philippe Kienholz joined the next year, and the five-piece locked in with Phonogram’s Vertigo label. All three studio albums, the self-titled debut in ’74, The Ship in ’75, and Tax Exile in ’76, came out of Dierks’ studio in Germany. They opened for Queen on that band’s first European run, shared stages with Nazareth and Status Quo, and became the first Swiss rock outfit to tour the UK, first as special guests with the Baker Gurvitz Army and later headlining over two dozen dates including the Marquee in London. Melody Maker caught them and said the buzz felt like the early Led Zeppelin days. By the mid-seventies Swiss magazine POP readers had voted them best group and best album more than once. They played something like 250 shows in seven years, half of them outside Switzerland, and wrapped the original run with Krokus supporting the final Swiss dates. The band went quiet after 1977, members scattered into producing, teaching, and other projects, then came back together in 2009 for the Reloaded retrospective and a Zurich show that proved the old fire was still there. They returned to Malta the following year, and Storace even got a handprint on the local Walk of Fame.

Marc Storace himself started young on the island of Malta. Born in Sliema in 1951 as the fifth of six kids in a musical family, he taught himself to sing and by fourteen was fronting local covers bands like Stonehenge Union and The Boys, tackling Beatles, Stones, and tougher stuff. Woodstock hit him hard, so he renamed the group Cinnamon Hades and started digging into Iron Butterfly, Hendrix, Who, Purple, Zeppelin, and Sabbath while still slipping in the Abbey Road medley. In 1970 he headed to London chasing the rock life, then landed in Switzerland where a short stint with the St. Gallen band Deaf led to the TEA audition. He hitchhiked out to their lakeside place, liked how organized they were, and stayed nearly seven years. The commune life in a farmhouse, the European road work, the big stages, and the Dierks sessions all shaped the voice that later powered Krokus to millions of albums sold. After TEA he formed Eazy Money in London, got close to deals, and then Chris von Rohr called him for a weekend jam that turned into the Krokus chapter. Through it all Storace has kept the TEA years close. In interviews he talks about the adventure of those early tours, sitting through Queen soundchecks, the crazy energy in Malta, and how the band name still brings a smile. On social posts he shares old photos and milestones, reminding folks of the swimming-pool cover shoot for the first album or the Marquee nights. The reunion shows and the This Is Rock productions keep the spirit rolling, and he still pulls “Alexandra” out when the crowd needs that emotional punch.

You can dig deeper into the man’s current work and the full story at his official site STORACE, where the bio traces the path from those TEA days straight through. Catch the latest posts and memories on the Marc Storace Facebook and follow the day-to-day on Instagram. The band’s own page at TEA on Facebook stays active with reunion shots and history that ties right back to Tax Exile and the early records. Zoo Freaks who want more of this freeform rock ride can always find the crew spinning the deep cuts over at THE ZOO. This one’s a keeper from the days when Swiss hard rock was carving its own path, and “Alexandra” still stands as one of those tracks that feels personal no matter how many times you hear it.