Spring Update
First of all: I have to mention that Frank sent me a surprise package a couple of weeks ago. He wouldn’t want to tell me what’s inside. And since I am a very nosey girl I could hardly wait to receive it. But oh yeah, the package was a real surprise. It contained a lot of CDs and two GORGEOUS DOLLS!!! Oooh! I fell in love with them the moment I saw them. They are just so cool! The company which produces them is called Bleeding Edge Goths (what a great name!) You can check out their website:
www.begoths.com
Laura wrote about them on our glittergrrrls.com site. If you want to get more info on them you should check out Laura’s review.
The two that I received are called (copied&pasted of their website) :
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Full name: Ophelia Pain
Favorite color: black
Pets: None. All my pets were taken away from me
Likes: Slam dancing into strangers at the mall, the ice cream man’s musical truck, electrical storms, One Flew Over the KooKoo’s Nest, Polaroid photography, lava lamps and the ER Trauma show on cable that shows all the gory bloody stuff.
Dislikes: Medication of any kind, doctors that try and make me take vacations, special diets, Valarian Roots teas, padding, and limitations of any kind.
AND:
Trinity
Full name: Trinity Tortura
Favorite color: Black Patent Leather
Pets: Fighting Fish- Henry Chinaski
Likes: Reading, writing, aspiring to be a coroner, painting and medieval torture devices.
Dislikes: White chocolate, the dentist, and midgets.
Optically I’d say that Trinity and me share the same taste in clothing and stuff. Hehe. And now I am going to REVEAL A SECRET:
Bleeding Edge Goths is making 100 gift bags for our Coolgrrrls.com CD Release Party which is April 22nd in Hollywood. GO THERE!!!! EVERYONE!!! I want to see the place packed with lots of cool people! Yeah! And thanks to Sascha Bertoncin over at Triggerfish.de for great review of our new compilation CD.
The bands that are playing are:
9:30 Switchblade http://www.switchbladekitten.co.uk
10:30 Randies http://www.therandies.com
11:30 BBP http://www.blarebitchproject.com
12:30 Substitutes http://www.thesubstitutes.com
Ok, and the second thing I want to mention: Coolgrrrls.com got featured in Germany’s biggest Skateboard-Mailordercatalogue+Magazine. The infamous Titus-Mag-A-Log (Spring 2004 issue). So to all the people in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (and everyone else who is lucky enough to get the mag): GRAB A COPY! Hell yeah! Thanks a lot to Doerte at Titus who wrote the article! You rock!
Check out http://www.titus.de
Now, I think I should start my update. There were just so many good bands on tour that it’ll get hard to cover them all. But I’ll try.
First stop: The Swedish Rock’n’Roll Invasion
Feb.14 “Demons”, Scandia Bar, Hamburg
http://www.rockagainstmusic.com
http://www.gearheadmagazine.com
Gearhead’s infamous “Demons” left their “Stockholm Slump” to play a show in Hamburg on Valentine’s Day. Of course, we had to go there! Everyone who read my last update knows why. They are just so rock’n’roll! Unfortunately the promoter forgot to do any advertising so there were hardly any people at the Scandia (BTW Scandia is probably the only punk club + SAUNA!). A real pity! That band deserves a real big audience. Whatever. Mathias, Micke, Muffins & Stefan rocked the shit out of their instruments as if they performed in front of a thousand people. The setlist was pretty much the same as in Muenster. And they did not play “Busted”. It was requested again. But all of their songs rock and I was satisfied when they played my favourites “Devil in Me” and “Sparkle”. So please, please, please grab their new CD which is called “DEMONOLOGY — If you can’t join us… Beat us!”. It’s out now on Gearhead Records www.gearheadmagazine.com It contains a lot of “Demons” songs that got released on several compilations and singles before the band was signed to Gearhead. It’s pretty much the ultimate “Demons” collection plus 3 cover songs. I really like their version of Misfits’ “She” and the infamous “Busted” is on that record as well (however, it’s a different recording of “Busted”, not the same one as on the “Riot Salvation” album). The songs sound like “Demons” songs should sound. High energy rock’n’roll. So, no big surprises here. But even if you don’t know the “Demons”… you can never go wrong with Gearhead if you like punkrock in a rock’n’roll way. It also contains a very nice booklet in which Mathias fills us in on the bandhistory so far. It’s really interesting and entertaining. Mathias is not only good at writing lyrics but also a great storyteller. It really is the ultimate “Demons” fanpackage.
Feb. 16 Dropkick Murphys + Frenzal Rhomb + Roger Miret & The Disasters Live Music Hall Cologne
http://www.dropkickmurphys.com
At the beginning I wrote: first stop the Swedish Invasion and you may wonder what could connect the Murphys to Sweden. Well, basically nothing. Except for the fact that Karlskrona’s finest The Bones spent a week in good old Germany to shoot a video for their single “Do You Wanna” that is out now! And the handsome foursome + their slave Cunningham decided to join Sandra and me as we went to see the Murphys in Cologne. It was good to see the Bones again but unfortunately I missed most of the show. And I really like the Dropkick Murphys. I probably missed all of my favourite songs like “Walk Away” and “Fields Of Athenry”. I mentioned this great band from Boston a couple of times in former updates and I still think that they are one of the best live bands around. But I think that their live set + show was pretty much the same as in Belgium where I saw them at the Groezrock festival. So I wasn’t too disappointed for missing half of the show.
I totally missed out on Frenzal Rhomb from Australia. I know that they are featured on one of the first punk samplers I ever possessed which is called “Survival Of The Fattest” so just for nostalgic reasons I would have really loved to see them in flesh and blood at least one time in my life but I just couldn’t resist the temptation to hang out with my fav Swedes.
Agnostic Front’s main man Roger Miret was the opening act of the night and the Disasters are really good. Most bands on Hellcat are and Roger is always very good live. It doesn’t really matter which band he’s involved with at the moment because they all have a sort of Agnostic Front touch and Roger’s voice is just very distinctive so I knew the show was going to be good. And it was. But even if he wrote a thousand new songs, he will probably never produce an anthem again like “Gotta Go”. I think he knows that. So at the end of their set the Disasters played “Gotta Go” and the Live Music Hall turned into one big circle pit!
Feb. 17 The Bones + The Revolvers: PLY — Bowling, Dortmund
The next day People Like You boss André had set up some sort of a promo-bowling-event. I was told that some press people were invited to join the Bones on one of their bowling matches so they could report on it. The Bones got a new excellent CD out which is called “Straight Flush Ghetto” and I thought the bowling thing would be part of their promotion activities. But nah, it was not. I thought I would just go there, hang out a little, talk about the new record and go home. But, of course, reality was a little different. Jessica and me had to take part in the bowling match, and I really do suck at bowling…. once again I proofed that I am not exactly what you might call a bowling ace… but whatever. It was fun, either way. We split up into two teams. The Bones against the rest. I was a little alarmed when they said this was going to be a strip bowling game since I know I just SUCK at bowling but fortunately some members of the Revolvers showed up. We won. I even did a strike. Unfortunately there are no pics of the bowling party available since Sandra was at another show that day and I didn’t have the time to shoot any pics. I have to mention that Boner is an excellent bowler and Jessica as well. Respect. And thanks to André for inviting us.
Feb. 18 The Bones — Videoshoot “Do you wanna” Luna Bar Muenster
The next day we went to the Luna Bar in Muenster to spy on the guys shooting their video for their single “Do You Wanna” The song has a very catchy hook and it’s really good. You realize if a song is good or not if you have to listen to it for like 50 times in a row. I guess we must have listened to it at least that often since they had to repeat it over and over again during the shooting.
Ok, here’s the story to the video: The Bones play in a shady club. Everything’s in black and white. It’s supposed to look as if they played a show in the 1950ies. You can see a guy in a cool 50ies outfit dancing in front of them during their show (watch out for guest appearances of Sandra, Jessica and me. We and 4 more people were the whole audience). He’s getting drunk, he’s partying , in the end he and the Bones get kicked out of the club. That’s the whole story. Sounds not very complicated but it took forever. A video shooting loses all it’s glamour when you are involved in it in some way or another. It’s a lot of waiting and repeating certain sequences over and over again. But it was a lot of fun because, let me quote Boner here: “I feel so stupid! We are no actors!” So it was more or less like a rockshow (that consisted of only one song) and an arranged party with tons of fake sweat and real alcohol (they really emptied all the bottles that you can see in the video). I hope it will be available on the internet so I can post the link and you can check it out.
Feb. 18 The Distillers + Eagles Of Death Metal, Zeche Carl, Essen
After the shot we went to Essen to see the Distillers once again. We go there a little too late so we missed Eagles Of Death Metal. That’s Josh Hommes’ (Ex-QOTSA) new project. I have never been a QOTSA fan but I would have really liked to see Josh’s new project. Someone told me it was some sort of 70ies stoner rock and not too good but I don’t want to judge the band here as I haven’t seen them live yet. I think it’s kinda funny to take your boyfriend’s band on tour with you as a support act. Like, honey, you can be my opening act but don’t forget, I’m the rockstar here. Haha.
The Distillers were up next and for all you fashion victims: she wore a red QOTSA shirt. I think the way the Distillers get hyped over here is crazy. I watched them at exactly the same location a year ago when they were supporting DOA on their euro tour and we were hardly a hundred people in the audience back in the day. This time the place was sold out and it must have been 500 (probably more) people in the audience. It was so packed that I didn’t even manage it to get inside the hall. I watched the show from outside the doors. I don’t really get the hype around that band. I mean, their first two records were amazing, all rrraw, rrriot and punk in a fist in the face way. Their newest record “Coral Fang” sounds a little too Nirvana for me. I don’t know. I know Brody HATES being compared to Courtney Love but if you listen to Love’s new record “America’s Sweetheart” and “Coral Fang” well, the similarity is just too obvious. But whatever. Brody still is one of the real punk queens on this planet and I will always envy her for her voice. And I don’t give a fuck why or how she left Tim Armstrong (Rancid, Hellcat) and why she is together with Josh Homme now. That’s what all the media hype is about I guess. But I don’t think that any outsider has the right to blame her for leaving Tim and for getting divorced. Because we just don’t know what has really happened! And it’s only Brody’s business! It makes me sick that Brody gets more media coverage on her affairs than on her music. I wonder if that was the case if she was a GUY, seriously. So let’s talk about some music then. I already told you that I am not too excited about the new record since their sound has lost a lot of it’s punky edge and of course, they played a lot of new songs live. But they also played a lot of their old songs like “LA Girl” and “Sick Of It All” . They even played “Gypsy Rose” which is one of my favourites. But the band always looks kinda bored out and distanced on stage so I have to give them a minus point here. They just didn’t get me in a party mood. But all in all a good, solid show.
Mar. 7 Anti-Flag + Darkest Hour + Pipedown Backstage Munich
I think I can put my major impression of the show in one word: RIOT! At first I thought that the line up was really strange since all bands differ a lot from each other musically but it worked out fine since all of them share (almost) the same political view on things, all of them are angry and all of them want to change something. Just their ways of approaching their common goals are a little different. And the second thing I should mention: Since Anti-Flag’s singer is allergic to smoke, smoking was strictly forbidden during the show. And, ah, what a relief for my lungs (since I’m a non-smoker)! Here in Europe people smoke EVERYWHERE…. but whatever.
So let’s start with Pipedown. That’s a pretty new band from Grassvalley, CA. They are signed to AF-records and got a CD out called “Enemies Of Progress”. Optically and musically they remind me a lot on AFI but I could also hear their punk roots like Black Flag (and maybe even some oldschool like Biohazard?! I don’t know why they remind me on them, though..). Pipedown is hardcore punk but still in a melodic way. Not as brutal as Born From Pain, though. I liked them a lot. They are young, they are angry and they got something to say. They rocked Munich with a vengeance. I hope they’ll be touring Europe again soon. A really good live band. Actually their live sound gripped me more than their studio versions of the songs. But that was probably due to their singer’s wild performance. You should see them live yourselves so you know what I’m talking about.
Next up were Darkest Hour. I was a little biased when I read their name on the line-up cause I knew this was going to be brutal metal-core and their records are really tough and not easy to listen to. Very demanding. But actually I was VERY surprised in a positive way. They are just sooooo good live! Seriously! Boah! Their sound blew me away and I even got in a dancing mood. Very very energetic metal-core but with enough catchy metal riffs to knock you out of your socks! Probably the biggest surprise of the night (for me). I could tell that a lot of metal kids were in the audience that probably just bought a ticket for the show to see Darkest Hour. Now I know why. To put it in the words of Atreyu: “You can never go wrong with metal.” They are WAY better live than on record. Their singer is nuts. Seriously. He got all crazy on stage. Not as crazy as those Converge guys but crazy enough to scare some younger kids in the first row. Hehe. Oh yeah, Darkest Hour, I think I’m your newest fan.
The audience was all heated up already (due to 2 superb support acts) when Anti-Flag entered the stage. They just released that great record “The Terror State” on FatWreck and that must have pushed their popularity beyond the limits here in Europe. If you check out any euro fanzine you can be sure to find “The Terror State” in its top 5 records of the year. So a lot of really young kids were in the audience and the show was sold out! Oh yeah! Sold out shows are usually a pretty good sign. And Anti-Flag lived up to the expectations. But that’s easy since they just have so many good songs (maybe I’d better say anthems). You have to like them and you have to sing along. They are probably the only band I know that puts serious and frightening political issues in really catchy tunes combined with very intelligent lyrics. Let me quote their singer Justin Sane here: “Politics can be fun!” And I think everyone in the audience agreed to that. Everyone was having a grrreat time and a good party! And I saw probably the biggest circle pit ever…. They played their all time classics like “Fuck Police Brutality” and “Die For The Government” but also a lot of their new stuff like “Turncoat”. Bassplayer and vocalist #2 jumped around like crazy on stage and in between songs Justin got the crowd going every time he announced one of his political statements. But that’s fairly easy since Germans seem to hate George W. Bush with a passion. It’s been a very entertaining show and I can only recommend to you to get their new record cause it’s one of the most important punk records of our generation. And I don’t say that cause I like them, I say it cause I mean it. Everyone! Listen to Anti-Flag! Word!
Before the show I had the chance to talk to Justin and I was really impressed. It’s probably one of the best interviews I did so far (this one and the Tony Hawk one for Boardstein). He is a nice, hyperactive and smart guy who has a lot to say:
Can you introduce yourself?
Sure, I’m Justin Sane. I sing and I play guitar for Anti-Flag.
How old are you?
19.
You’re 19…
Yeah.
You’re seriously 19 years old?
No, we’ve all been 19 for a couple of years now.
What was your motivation to start a band? Was it because you wanted to make music or was it because you wanted to send a message to the people?
As a kid I was always involved in music. I grew up in a large family and my parents were Irish. We all played an instrument and we all played Irish music together. So I’ve always been playing music. But my family was also an activist family, so my parents were always involved in activism. They were involved in the civil rights movement, in the feminist movement and the anti-nuclear movement. The movement to kick the British out of Northern Ireland. So, I’ve always been involved in activism since I was a kid. I wanted to play music but I think that punk rock made more sense because I’ve always been involved in activism since I was very young and punkrock seemed to fit that mode.
Do you think that there’s more political influence in punk music since Bush is president of the US? Do you think that’s good or that’s bad?
I think it’s definitely good. I think there’s definitely more influence because people who never had any interest in politics or people who knew about politics but were not getting involved, I mean engaged in politics, well, they are now becoming involved and getting engaged. For instance Fat Mike started this whole punk voter movement which we are very very involved with- and I think it’s going to be a tremendous success that might encourage hundreds or thousands of people to vote who would not have voted because they don’t believe in the system and they think it doesn’t help at all. In the past if you had asked me about bands who don’t play political music and how I feel about them being involved in punkrock I would have probably said that I think that’s fine because I thought that people should write about what they are about the most. That’s what I do as well. However, right now I think it’s such a dire time in our country’s history and even in the world’s history because Bush is so out of control, that artists who DO understand what’s going on but just do nothing about it… at this point I’m just fucking sick of those guys. And I really really wish that they’d take a more active role.
Do you want to motivate people to vote for John Kerry??
I don’t think John Kerry would be any better. I think he would be maybe a grain of sand better and that’s about it but I think we need to take a first step. And the first step is: we have to kick Bush out of office. John Kerry is the only one who has any chance of doing that. In the last election I voted for Ralph Nadar of the Green Party. I would probably never vote for a democrat but at this point as this is such a dire time I feel I must vote for Kerry. After all, Bush has run the military budget higher than any president in history, the deficit in the United States is higher than any time in history, women’s rights have been taken away for the first time since abortion became legal in the United States,…. you know, Bush is a man who believed that God told him to invade Afghanistan!!! He said that. He is out of control.
Yeah, but do you really think he believes in it?
Well, it doesn’t matter if he believes in it or not. I think that he’s a religious fundamentalist and an extremist just the same as the people he calls the enemies or the “evil doers”, and that scares the hell out of me. His administration, they don’t think of the consequences of their actions which we’re seeing now in Iraq. I think that Bush could really bring the world into some incredible chaos. He has the biggest nuclear arsenal in the world at his fingertips, so he scares the hell out of me to be honest with you. I think we need to vote him out of office. But just like I said. At the last election I voted for Ralph Nadar of the Green Party in hopes to really establish the Green Party. I never thought Ralph Nadar could win but I hoped that we could establish the Green Party. Unfortunately too many people got scared that Bush would win so instead of voting for Ralph Nadar of the Green Party they voted for Al Gore, and Gore lost anyway. Well, Gore really won but that’s another story.
Do you think you have a responsibility as an artist? Even here in Europe? Coz we have no direct influence on politics in the US?
What was incredible about the protest leading up to the Iraq invasion is that America became internationally very isolated. In turn that certainly helps people who are involved into the anti-war movement at home to put pressure on our local representatives and they can put pressure on our national representatives so it makes a tremendous differences. If no one in the world cared about what’s going on we wouldn’t have the strong voice that we do. Obviously our voice doesn’t matter much to the Bush administration because they did not listen to the people. However, there were certain things they wanted to do in Iraq I think they would have been much more brutal about but could not since there was such an outcry by the world community against the invasion of Iraq. I also think for us personally, we feel that we have to go to Europe and other parts of the world to show the people that not all Americans are war mongers because we’re not! There are good people in America- just like any other country- we have the good and the bad. So on a personal level we wanted to come here to tell the people of Europe: Don’t hate us!
Well, I think here in Germany you shouldn’t have a problem. You know, we have a past… so don’t hate us for being German. Are you afraid of being locked away because of the second patriot act?
I am! I am certainly very concerned about that! But I also think that’s why people have to speak up. Because if we’re afraid and we don’t speak up then that is when people will start to get locked away because no one says anything to stop it. With the patriot act the FBI or our secret police they can come into your home without any warning from the government without any papers from the courts. They can question you and hold you. All they have to say is that you’ve been suspected of being terrorist- it’s ridiculous! “You got black hair! I think you’re terrorist! Come to the station with us! It’s pretty much that simple. There are activist groups which have been labeled to be terrorist groups.
You are a political band but in a fun way.
I agree on that. Well, I think that politics don’t have to be “un-fun”. Politics can be fun! There are issues which are very serious, but at the same time I have seen people who are taking things so seriously and are so furious that they just burn themselves out. You have to be very careful about how you involve yourself in things. For us doing music and doing a punkrock show at the end of the day… for us as being activists that is just how to have some fun. And everybody needs to have some fun in their life. For us, we are very serious about the issues that we sing about but then we get on stage and we can jump around and enjoy ourselves. It’s sort of a pay-off AND a release.
What’s on your current playlist?
Actually, I’ve been listening to Liz Phair on this tour. I’ve been listening to a lot of Hot Water Music, I like Saves The Day… What are your plans for the near future? Oh we have a lot of plans. We gonna come back to Europe for the Deconstruction Tour. Then we have a month and a half off. It’s the first break we’ve taken in so long. And I can’t wait. I’m just so burned out.
You’re on tour a lot.
We are on tour a lot. Then we’ll do a tour in the States which I think will be 2 months long. Then we’ll maybe come back here and tour Australia and Japan. So, we’re busy. It’s a lot of fun because I meet cool people and I can talk about interesting things. On the other hand I kinda start to miss my own bed and miss home. I’m looking forward to spending some quality time with my two cats, Sweet and Thing. Together they’re Sweet-Thing! (Thanks to “The Ladies Man” starring Tim Meadows)
A friend of mine has two dogs. They are called Black and Jack. Together they are Blackjack.
When I was a kid there was an episode of Bugs Bunny and he has a nephew. In the States there was this famous singing cowboy his name was Hop-Along Cassidy. So there’s a episode of Bugs Bunny where Bug Bunny’s nephew is named Cassidy. And in the episode Bugs Bunny says: “Hop along, Cassidy!” I thought that was hilarious! I loved it so much!!!
Mum, I want a rabbit, I want a rabbit! Why? I want to name him Cassidy! Why? So I can say, “Hop along Cassidy!!!” It’s not about animals. I don’t even care about them. I just want to say, “Hop along Cassidy.”
That was pretty much it! The rabbit was pretty boring in the end. But it was great to say, Hop along Cassidy, hop along!” Everyone who met my rabbit heard that story and though that it was so funny. I was very proud! Keep in mind I was a little kid! I’d also love to have a dog but we’re on tour too much. Cats are fine. My friends can take care of my cats when I’m gone.
Does your family support you? Coz you’re so much on tour?
Our families are great. Actually my parents have been sooo supportive. I grew up very poor. We were 9 kids- so you’re just bound to be poor. When the band was starting my parents gave us money which I don’t really think they had to give us to help us get a van and different things. It was very touching that they believed in us that much that they were going to support us that much. We always practiced at their house and that sort of thing. Our drummer’s parents used to be very unsupportive. That was kinda funny in a way. I think now they have accepted that this is what he’s gonna do. They got over it.
How have you met Pat?
Pat and I played soccer together in a pee-wee soccer when we were little kids. Ok, I think that was pretty much it.
Anything you want to add?
Anything I want to add… well, we’re on tour with Pipedown and Pipedown are an awesome band. Darkest Hour are wonderful as well. Pipedown are on our label AF records. That’s a band I’ve always been a huge fan of.. Overall Europe has been awesome to us. So thank you Europe and peace the fuck out! And you can catch us at www.anti-flag.com So thank you, thank you very much and thank you to COOLGRRRLS!!
Thanks a lot to WIEBKE and SANDRA for setting up the interview! And thanks a lot to Anti-Flag for their hospitality!
Mar. 13 Tonne Festival, Alte Sporthalle, Wangen
http://www.christiansenonline.com
Wangen is a small town in the middle of nowhere in a part of Germany called the Allgaeu. I still can’t believe that a small town like that is able to set up such a great festival! Even the cows on the farms were shaking their tails to the beats. Here’s the Line-Up:
Anti-Flag, Hot Water Music, Darkest Hour, Semana Santa, Entity, Pipedown, Christiansen.
The doors opened at 7pm and Christiansen entered the stage at 7.30. I thought this was a little stoopid since a lot of kids were still outside waiting to get in (the security was a little stressed out, I guess, and there were some problems with the tickets so people were waiting in line for a pretty long time until they were finally allowed to enter the hall). I thought that it was really strange that Christiansen performed as an opening act. I mean, they just got this really great record out “Stylish Nihilists” and they get hyped in the media in Germany a lot. But whatever. I enjoyed their performance either way. Their sound was not as emo as I expected it to be. In fact it was somewhere between indie-rock and post-hc. Very cool. Hot Water Music’s Chuck Ragan entered the stage on their last song and played Brandon Allen Bondehagan’s guitar so he could concentrate more on his intense singing. Christiansen are really cool and very “in” at the moment.
Pipedown were up next. Their show was pretty much like the one in Munich (just with less people in the audience due to the problems mentioned above) and since I don’t want to repeat myself, I’ll skip them here a little.
Next up were two local bands Entity and Semana Santa. Entity played solid punkrock and they certainly had their fanclub with them. Hehe. But that was pretty good cause eventually the audience was warming up. Semana Santa played tough metalcore and the audience got all heated up now. People were stagediving and pogodancing. Fun, fun, fun. I’m sorry that my report on those local bands gets so short but I have never heard of them before…
Ok, and again Darkest Hour entered the stage. And again, I explored a new love for metal inside of me. Seriously. Once again, an awesome and energetic performance. I think Anti-Flag’s #2 felt the same since he took an overdimensional-paper-pop-up-ad of the Incredible Hulk and jumped with it off the stage into the audience. That guy is really crazy! Darkest Hour rewarded it by playing a really great cover of “Fuck Police Brutality”! Maybe they should think about a split single with Anti-Flag and put it on record. I would buy it!
The crowd was in a party mood by now. I was in a party mood by now. And then Hot Water Music showed up. Oh yeah! That band is just so great. But I’m sure you all know that. I have reported on that band from Gainesville a couple of times in my former updates and I still like them a lot. Unfortunately I missed a part of the show but I witnessed # 2 (that guy just has too much energy!) singing Sandra’s favourite song on stage. Very cool! They played a lot of old stuff. My favourite record is probably “Caution” but my all-time favourite is definitely their split single with Alkaline Trio! ALK3 are awesome (they cover “Rooftop”) and HWM did super covers of “Bleeder” and “Radio” ! I can highly recommend that split! But enough unpaid advertisement now!
Anti-Flag were headlining the festival and played another great show. A LOT of kids were stagediving. Kids flying here, there, everywhere. Out of control! Anti-Flag’s setlist was pretty much the same as in Munich. And the atmosphere was breathtaking. Hard to describe… maybe some sort of feeling… unity. That’s probably the word I was looking for. “If the kids are united they can never be divided” To see thousands of kids singing along, dancing and raising their hands that’s just an incredible feeling of unity. Like we all share that great evening and we probably all share the same believes. That’s really breathtaking but also highly scary. So much energy and kids gone wild can actually scare you, but whatever. During Anti-Flag’s performance all the bands and everyone backstage got on stage (but in the back) and we partied our asses of! It was just so fun! I have to mention that some members of Pipedown&Darkest Hour should think about a second career as dancers (Jack, Jason, you now who you are!). Haha. And also FatWreck’s finest Wiebke was a HELL LOT OF FUN to hang out with! I had met her before in Munich and she’s way cool! We should make her CG du jour one day!
A perfect night out! I miss you all already!
Mar. 26 Gluecifer + Ahab + Cashless, Silo 1 Toeging
And again we found our way to another really small town in Bavaria to watch a really great band live. How come that so many good shows are set up somewhere in the middle of nowhere?! I mean, I got a car. No problem. I just think it’s a real pity for a lot of younger and/or poorer kids who don’t have the possibility to go there. Whatever. So Sandra and me drove through quiet Bavaria to stop in Toeging for an evening with the Kings Of Rock (Gluecifer, of course!). Two local bands supported them. Cashless are really really young (I think the average age is 18) and I think that their heroes are the Heartaches, US Bombs and Social Distortion. The similarities were obvious. But still, a nice, entertaining show.
Ahab were a little older and sounded more like Puffball or Motörhead. Very cool! I think we can expect a lot from that band in the future! High speed rock’n’roll! Does Ahab ring a bell? Captain Ahab is that crazy guy in Moby Dick. As I am still studying German and English literature at university this is a pretty sweet reference to a really good story.
Gluecifer proofed once more why they are called the Kings Of Rock, cause they rock, rock, rock! Biff is probably one of the most entertaining frontmen in rock biz and he got the crowd all heated up. The stage was tiny and the band had to watch out all the time since the kids used everything on stage as a jump ramp for some stagediving. Raldo used that really cool Plexiglas+glitter Ampeg on stage. It looks hot! They played lots of old stuff like “Rockthrone” but I really like the new record “Automatic Thrill” a lot so I was glad that they played lots of new stuff. “Automatic Thrill” is from the first to the last track one kick-ass-record! I didn’t like Gluecifer that much before cause I thought they could rock more but since they put out their new record I changed my mind. They have their place in my personal rock’n’roll hall of fame now. Haha.
After the show I had the chance to sit down with Biff (vocals) and womanizer Captain Poon (guitar) for an interview about “Liverpustey” and cross-country-skiing. Unfortunately I am not allowed to post it here on CGs since it will be released in the next issue of Pleasure Magazine. I’m really sorry. But for those of you who get the chance to get the next issue I can promise you it’s a real fun interview. I hope Pleasure will allow me to post it here on CGs ,as well, after they used it.
Thanks a lot to THOMAS for setting up the interview and to HANSI for organizing the show.
Mar. 27 Monster Magnet + Gluecifer, Elserhalle Munich
The next day Sandra and me had the chance to see Gluecifer again but this time as support act for Monster Magnet. It’s quite interesting to see a band in a really small club in front of maybe 200 people and the next day in a huge hall in front of 2000 people (sold out show). Of course, they rocked as well but it’s just totally different. Their setlist was different as well. They played almost only new stuff cause their time was limited to ..uhm.. 45min, I guess. Raldo did not use his Plexiglas guitar. All in all they looked more professional and they had more possibilites to show their entertainment skills as people were not jumping off the stage and Biff could do more talking.
Monster Magnet were the real headliners. Munich seems to love Monster Magnet. Dave Wyndorf is pretty small in real life. But nevertheless he scares me a little… MM’s show was just like the title of their new record “Monolithic Baby!”. They played all the stuff I expected them to do like “Supersonic” and lots of new stuff. It was a real rock show with white lights, smoke and wind machines. Wyndorf knows how to entertain the crowd so it was a cool show…. except for the ending… MM played a 25min version of a song at the end of the show… 25min. One song. I don’t know why they did that?? I don’t think anyone in the audience appreciated it… but whatever… no one will ever understand Wyndorf’s crazy ideas I guess. But that’s why he’s famous. Because he’s different.
If you think the show was loaded with rock-clichés, the after show party was even more. Not that I don’t like rock-clichés. Hey, don’t forget, after all I am really into any kind of rock and most of my favourite bands do music in a rock’n’roll way. But that was a little like in Spinal Tap. I’m not sure if I am allowed to report on it here. But so what?! I’d do it anyway… The merch-guys gave so called pussy-passes to good looking girls in the audience so they got “invited” to join MM on their after show party backstage. I mean, come on. That’s just soooooo cliché! Sandra and me also went backstage to hang out with the Gluecifer guys and what can I say… there were hundreds of girls. Actually we could hardly see any bandmembers at all…. and then a waiter came backstage with two bottles of champagne and so on and on and on name a rock-cliché, we saw it that night. Sandra and me sat on a couch watching the scenery and shaking our heads. We felt like in a movie and left pretty early, as I already said, that Wyndorf scares me! But whatever, it was a cool rock-show with a lot of rock and a hell lot of show in it!
Thanks again to THOMAS and GLUECIFER for their hospitality! You rule!
Mar. 30 Good Riddance + None More Black , Backstage, Munich
http://www.nonemoreblackonline.com
Once again FatWreck send some cool bands to Munich and I had the chance to sit down with Paul (Ex-KillYourIdols) to talk about his new project None More Black. I was really excited what they would sound like since Ex-Kid Dynamite’s Jason is responsible for most of the songs. And Kid Dynamite were such a great band! But whatever… let’s read what Paul had to say:
Interview None More Black
Can you introduce yourself?
Hi, I’m Paul.
Who else is in the band?
Right now… we had a lot of line-up changes. In the past it was Jason, me, Jason’s brother played guitar, we got a kid playing drums but we ended up losing our drummer. Then we had another drummer. …well, it’s been pretty much me and Jason with a revolving line-up for the last year. Now we got something solid. We got our friend Colin who is outside and Dave who’s in Good Riddance. He’s playing drums. Him and Jay were in Kid Dynamite together. I used to be in Kill Your Idols. And this band sounds nothing like either band. Jason’s voice is pretty distinct. This voice is like, I can hear that shit anywhere and go like: it’s Jason! That’s the only similarity to Kid Dynamite. Musically it’s different. It sounds a lot poppier for lack of a better word. It’s more melodic. The new stuff sounds like a whole new band. We’re about to record another record when we’re back from this tour.
How did you get in touch with Jason?
I met him when we were touring together. Kill Your Idols and Kid Dynamite. His girlfriend at that time let me hear some of the demos he did for the first record. And I liked it. So I sent him an email. Dude, send me some demos. I really like your stuff. At this time we had already almost stopped touring with Kill Your Idols. We were here for like 12 days and then we flew in for another festival but nothing full time. So this just turned into: Hey, if you need a new bassplayer just let me know. And he was like, yeah, when I put something together I’ll let you know. So I sent him an email: are you serious? And he was, so that was it. I joined the band. I was really lucky. We weren’t super great friends. We knew each other, but we never, like, spent much time together. It’s a lot of fun.
Is Fatwreck the ultimate recordlabel for you to sign with?
They are awesome. I was never a big fan of the bands that were on Fat. I grew up in New York so I am more into that New York stuff. I like Poison Idea, Face To Face, Screeching Weasel, Propaghandi, I like stuff like that. But I don’t really like the newer ones like Lagwaggon so.. I think I’m talking shit.
In the last couple of years they signed a lot of different bands like Dillinger Four which I like a lot. Sick Of It All, Avail and Against Me that are fucking awesome. So I think that’s pretty cool that they got a new diverse thing going on. Like I said at first I didn’t expect much. I was like, cool, Fat. We got a bunch of offers from other labels. We were like, hey we got a record we recorded this week. It wasn’t that easy. And Fat were the first group of people who were like, ok, we’ll call you back on Monday. Monday came, they called, they were just upfront with everything. They wanted to sign us so that was it. And I think it’s the best thing we could have done. I can’t think of one bad thing except for this guy (Chuck of Good Riddance enters the room). So yeah, Fat’s awesome.
Are you involved with this punkvoter?
Not really. I don’t have a computer. Actually I got one a week ago. But I can check my emails and that’s pretty much it. I’m not a big friend of computers. But I think that the punkvoter is pretty awesome. I don’t know much about it. But a lot of kids that go to punk shows, like we just were on the Fat tour in the States with Anti-Flag, Against Me and Rise Against. A lot of kids went to our shows that were like 12, 13 years old. It’s cool to have a band that says fuck Bush, Fuck war and stuff like that on stage but if you’re that young I think it’s just more of an image that you’re looking at. They don’t care about the lyrics that much cause punk is pretty in right now. I think it’s cool if someone gets a flyer or a buys a record on which is a link to a punkvoter so they can find out more about it. But some kids are just like, ok, these guys got mohawks and they look cool. So they buy a shirt that says fuck Bush. But I think it’s cool. It’s about time someone does something more to educate people on a higher level. As I said on this tour a saw a lot of kiddies with Dead Kennedies shirts and Misfits shirts it’s really like a jog mentality, it’s like a concept.
So you’re on tour with Good Riddance and they support PETA a lot. Do you? Are you vegan?
I’m vegetarian. But I think it’s an awesome organization. PETA came out to the Anti-Flag tour. They came with two people and a table. They followed the whole tour and they had flyers and posters with them and stuff.
What’s on your personal playlist at the moment?
It’s a pretty wide variety. The new Cannibal Corpse record, those guys are amazing. I mean, it’s brutal death metal but that shit is great. That record is probably one of the most technical records I have ever heard. There’s a band from Sweden called Skid System, I probably pronounce it wrong, but it’s the singer of At The Gates. And it’s just really fast punk. The new Metallica I really like a lot. St. Anger. It’s really controversial, a lot of people hate it. I think it’s pretty good. Although it’s pretty tongue in cheek, it’s not very technical. They don’t really show what they can do as musicians. But there’s a lot of heart behind it which I think is pretty cool. Deathcab For Cutie I like, too.
What are your plans for the near future?
When we’ll get home we’ll start working on another record. It’ll probably be Jason, me, Colin and Dave. Actually I don’t know about Dave. I want him to play with us. But he’s got so much stuff going on. But I think he’ll play on the record. I personally really hope that he joins the band cause he’s awesome. It’s good to be in a band with 4 friends. I think that’s sort of what we needed.
Is this you first tour in Europe?
With None More Black yes. But I was on tour in Europe with Kill Your Idols before. I’ve been over here like 6 or 7 times.
Do you like touring in Europe?
I love it. I think it’s great. You can do a tour in the States and another tour a year later and half of those kids have gone or moved on to other shit. Here it’s totally different. People are more into music here. You can see 40 year old guys at our shows and you know that they’ll be there the next time we come back here. You get treated better. All this food and everything. Colin is here for the first time. He is amazed. In the States you play in a club and have to buy your own water. Which I don’t mind cause it’s not someone else’s responsibility to get me my shit but it’s cool if people create a comfortable establishment for a band that comes here. It’s cool.
That was it. Thank you for your time!
It was just like Paul said. None More Black don’t sound like Kid Dynamite or Kill Your Idols at all. They are more melodic and it was cool to see them live. It’s always good to see new bands on stage. I think the audience liked them, too. But it’s always hard for a new band to get some feedback. But they seemed to enjoy the show. Especially Colin was whirling around. Check out their new record: “File Under Black” it’s out on FatWreck.
Good Riddance were up next. They have been around for such a long long long time. It’s incredible. During their setlist I realized that I could sing along to songs I had listened to when I was 14 years old (and that’s 10 years ago, man!). And they still have the energy and motivation to go out there and play for the kids. Incredible. Good Riddance are supporting PETA a lot and there is this really cool interview on the PETA2 homepage. For all GR fans I’d suggest you to check it out. The audience went wild. Pogodancing, stagediving, circle pit…. we had it all. Chuck is crazy. He grabbed the asses of guys who climbed on stage. He’s simply hilarious. The show was really good. But it didn’t differ much from shows I saw YEARS ago. Although my memory is a little blurry… but it’s good to watch bands over the years. When they play a show you just always feel a little like coming home. The cheapest time machine I know. It beamed me right back into my puberty. Hehe.
Thanks a lot to Wiebke again (have I mentioned that we should feature her somehow on CGs already? Hehe) and to Dan for being nice.
Apr. 3 The Bones + Devil in Disguise + Tribute To Nothing, Sowieso Kult Peissenberg
http://www.tributetonothing.com
And AGAIN we made our way to a really tiny village in Bavaria, maybe I should call this update: Saturday-night-out-in-the-Alps-update! But Peissenberg is really the smallest village I ever been at to see a show. I mean, there’s NOTHING in Peissenberg. It’s just soooo countryside. It’s THE Bavarian cliché with cows everywhere and old people wearing Lederhosen. When Sandra and me arrived at the so-called “club” we absolutely couldn’t imagine that ANYONE would be at the show at all. And we were right. When we got inside I almost felt ashamed for being on the guestlist cause I thought that the bands won’t make any money that night and I could have at least supported them by paying the entrance fee. But whatever. The evening got even more obscure when I realised that PETA had a table there… I mean, I like PETA, not kidding. But The Bones… you know, there’s a guy in the band called Beef Bonanza. If someone is called Beef… what could possibly be his favourite food??! But whatever, the night got even more obscure when Tribute to Nothing entered the stage. I mean, I like them a lot! Brilliant emo-post-hc from Birmingham!! They were really good. Sounded a bit like The Hope Conspiracy or AFI. Great show! But how can an band like that play together with the Bones (Swedish punk’n’roll)?! That evening was just full of surprises! I talked to Ben of TTN after the show and he explained to me that they had a day off and needed a venue so they agreed on playing in Peissenberg. They really needed the money since the engine of their rental car blew/exploded and now they have to pay 5000$!! So, if you have money to burn please donate some of it to TTN! I think, they really need it!
Devil In Disguise were up next. They are from Essen and I had witnessed them before at a show in Bochum. They sound VERY Social D but I think that’s ok, cause I like Social D a lot. Sandra said that Sami (their singer) got a voice like HWM’s Chuck and I have to agree on that.
The Bones played (just as always) a very good and entertaining show. Lots of new songs like “Not a Love Song” and the infamous “Do you wanna”. I really like their new record “Straight Flush Ghetto” Tracklist: 1. Spit It Out 2. Do You Wanna … 3. Not Another Lovesong 4. Half Of Nothing 5. Railroad Track 6. Until I Die 7. Gazoline Business 8. Dog Allmighty 9. Viva 13 10. Never 11. The Chevydevils 12. Troublebound 13. Shut Up, Get Out 14. Bottlecry Salut 15. Far Beyond Me 16. I Don`t Want It will be released on the 19th of April on PLY records again. And I can promise you this: If you thought Bigger Than Jesus was a kickass party record you will LOVE the new record. Since Andy joined the band their sound has definitely evolved and he has contributed some cool songs like “Never” (Sandra’s favourite). But of course, the Bones sticked to their own typical sound on the record but after all you may find a little surprise here or there anyway. Unfortunately they did not play “Until I Die” on stage” since it’s my favourite track of the new record. But whatever.
After the show the promoter made away with their money! Fuck! But we’ll get him! If you read this: we know who you are! We know where you live! You can run but you can’t hide! Harharhar!
But that did not spoil the mood of the bands and after the show we literally INVADED Peissenberg. I cannot go into detail here but it was probably the most entertaining night of my life! I had never thought that Peissenberg would turn into the party place to be! It was just hilarious! Sandra and me left when the police came. I really like the Bones!
And: Thanks a lot to CUNNINGHAM for putting us on the guestlist!
Yeah, that was pretty much it for my Spring Update. As you may have realized: I had a grrreat time! I met so many nice people! And I saw so many good bands! Tonight I’ll see the Beatsteaks, tomorrow Corey Parks&Duane Peters, Demented Are Go and Damnation and there is a lot more coming up in my next update. Yeah!
Stay RRRaw!
-Sabine Schenk
Ps.: I am reading this fantastic new book by Hunter S. Thompson “Kingdom Of Fear” at the moment. I can highly recommend it. It’s so good, it’s sooo funny and it’s so true!
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