Bonfire (originally Cacumen) is a German heavy metal band, founded in Ingolstadt, Germany in 1972. Bonfire started 1986 from Cacumen where the members just changed the name into Bonfire because of the advice of the Record Company and the Management. The original founders Hans Ziller and Claus Lessmann are still with the Band Bonfire and are the only ones who have the rights on the name Bonfire.

In 1972, in the Bavarian town of Ingolstadt the teenaged guitarist Hans Ziller, put together a rock band called Cacumen with his guitarist brother Karl and gathered a bunch of friends to complete the band. The name of the group was taken from a school test Hans had done and it translates from Latin as "the top of a mountain". For the next six years, the band played in small local venues, but formed a fan base in their hometown. In 1978, the group consisted of Hans and Karl on guitars, Horst Maier on guitar (in 1983, Maier's last name would become Maier-Thorn), Hans Hauptmann on bass and Hans Forstner on drums. When the band started searching for a replacement singer, Claus Lessmann, a fellow student of Hans', was hired.

Lessmann previously had performed in the bands Ginger and Sunset and was known for his harmonic vocals and he fit in perfectly with Cacumen. With this line-up, the band had a chance to start branching out to venues outside Ingolstadt. The band recorded a single in 1979 called "Riding Away", which featured the song "Wintertale" on the flip side. The group used this opportunity to begin touring in clubs, schools and even in parking lots. The fan base grew and Cacumen was finally signed to an independent label.

Bonfire

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