#themountainking

'The earliest mentions that we know of said band of musicians goes back about 800 years:

In the year 1230, when the body of Walther von der Vogelweide was found, the constable wrote to the arch bishop of the German city of Würzburg a small letter with the words "it is done" written on it with invisible ink. With that letter he tried to cover up that they really didn't have a clue who did it. But since they wanted to get rid of von der Vogelweide anyway, this turned out to be a really smart move.

Nonetheless and without being known for an eye for details the police didn't see that next to the dead body a mysterious carving in a wall said "dûn bregu", which roughly translated to "Mountain King", followed by a carved cross of Saint Peter.

It was said to be the first recorded band rivalry in history and the most important recorded police fail since the vizier of Khnumhotep left his tomb keys inside, before he closed the stone door after a routine check. They stayed there for nearly 1600 years along with the keys to the toilet.

However, the history of The Mountain King could be traced back to the Vogelweide-Incident, so far historians and anthropologists agree. It was said that Walther tried to rip off the band after several gigs in Vienna and Bavaria, which led them to a band feud that eventually climaxed 10 years after Emperor Friedrich II. supported Walther's "career" as the self-proclaimed "King dude of minnesang".

Unfortunately 1348 was the first cessation of The Mountain King, when the plague hit Europe like a drunk husband after a little "stop" at the "grocery store" on the way home from work. All records went missing in the turmoil and the descendants of the band are still recovering lost song parts and melodies today.

In the late 16th century, The Mountain King presented their new set of songs at the dance fair and a wedding in Paris. After three hours of exhausting citole shredding the band decided to take a longer break and getting new drinks while talking and strolling along the Seine. It was a warm late august night and they got carried away about the songs they wanted to play after the break. By the time they got back, they heard no noises from the feast, which was odd since there should be several hundred people having a good time. As they entered, everyone was dead and the instruments were gone. They could not believe it: Gone!

Without money, music and unsigned they went north to find their luck.

The next recorded mentioning is around 1750, as a funeral band called "Ye mourntain kinge" , when they were actually working and playing at a georgian graveyard. The records are not complete after a flood destroyed the cemetery and washed the Chapel's library out and away. Since it is now clearly known how a band could last through centuries by passing on their gear, knowledge and name to the next generations, not necessarily their children, the question remains, how there can be known so little about the work.

The answer is fire. Literally and figuratively. When historian Wallace F. Williams examined the coincidences surrounding the bands loss of records and memory, he found something in the latest happening: In the ashes of the roof of Notre Dame, a church in Paris, a worker found a script that someone wanted to burn, but did not succeed entirely.

"It was signed by some group, that called themselves the "Vogelweiderians", sworn to avenge their master Walther's death in the 14th century. Several dates and cities were noted, where they obviously tried to remove the lecagy of The Mountain King from the face of the earth." Williams said. "We recovered mentions of plane crashes, cannibalism and a sabotaged levee, that led to a flood, destroying a Victorian village and its churchyard including the library, where the musicians rehearsed and slept. These all seemed coincidental at first. But when you step away for a better look at the whole picture, there is a pattern, not visible to the eye, but the the hair on your arm and your guts."

Still today, The Mountain King is rare to the public eye. Concerts only for minutiously picked occasions and just a few interviews with contradicting statements about the origins of the band.