“It has to hurt.” – nights of partying and more …

“It has to hurt.” – nights of partying and more

“It has to hurt. We stay in motion.”
Bernadette La Hengst

The week from 18th to 24th was seriously action-packed. On Monday the best punk orchestra of the world had another wild and dancy appearance at the K4: The World/Inferno Friendship Society. I can’t remember how often I’ve seen them by now but they always brought on a hell of a show. I miss the fire-eating that made everything a bit more dramatic, especially as with people like them you knever knew if the place would burn down or not. But still – which other band makes people stay at a venue till 3 in the morning on a Monday night? I picked them up that night and was seriously hungover when I made them breakfast in the morning. I drove back with them to the venue cause they had left their stuff their and received yet another ticket on my car. I hate it. I can’t see how the city wants a place like the K4 to work but doesn’t give us any free parking space. We have no ‘official’ place for the band vans, not even for the brewery or soundguys to unload stuff. It’s a miracle that everytime it works out somehow.
Anyway, the band drove off to spend an afternoon with the Robocops at some swimming pond, I drove off to Mannheim for a dj gig. The drive added to my wrecked condition and I was awfully tired when I arrived. The venue was the Nationaltheater, were they had a huge foyer space, a glass building. Thanks to Caro again for organising it all to run so smoothly. And for the rum. First MONOCHROME played and it wasn’t my kind of thing. I had seen them ages ago with HOT WATER MUSIC and liked them back then but it’s a totally different band now. I had missed them when they played on TRAINSPOTTING festival but had already heard they changed. The huge sterile stage of course and the MIA (the german MIA) moves of the new female singer added to the impression but they really sound like one of those average emo rock/pop bands from Germany that crave for a INTRO title story.

Apropos TRAINSPOTTING FESTIVAL: They have a nice line up again this year. I think not all bands are 100% confirmed but it looks like this:

Friday, 7.9.07
life at these speeds
just went black
zann
polite sleeper
danse macabre
omega massif
geezers

Saturday, 8.9.07
brutal knights
meneguar
celeste
attack of the mad axeman
chainbreaker
gun mob
mt. logan
deto-nation
planks

It sure is one of the best hardcore/punk/grind festivals around. Great atmosphere, no bollo-macho shit, lots of people from everywhere but small enough to keep it communicative. I’m reaaally looking forward to it.

Back to Mannheim: After MONOCHROME I started playing some tunes but soon saw there wouldn’t be that many people. I was glad when somebody started dancing and kept them dancing till, I think, 3 o’clock or something. I love djing. That’s what that week really showed me as I had three dj nights in one week and didn’t get tired of it at all. That “lost in music” feeling when you swim in a constant brainstorming mode what to play next and how good it feels if the tunes you like work for the people on the dancefloor is priceless. I hope this Friday at NUROTIC SOUNDSYSTEM with MAGA BO at the K4 (and ssssssh – it’s Tobi’s birthday!) and Saturday at the DESI: (there I’ll be the aftershow dj for the first ‘Not Just Boys’ Fun’ hardcore show: COMMANDER CONTROL and MY FIRST FAILURE, to hardcore bands with female singers will play.
The Mannheim night ended drunk and happy and with some friendly chatting that makes me come back with more time at hand, and I stayed at a cool hotel room. Truly cool: It was so good to sleep in a low-temperature room as my attic flat always heats up to really uncomfortable temperatures in summer.

Friday, 22nd of June, I drove to Leipzig for the AMPLIFY! night. On the road I listened to TED LEO on repeat and fell especially in love with “La Costa Brava” cause it recalls wonderful moments on tour in Spain with my old band, and cause lines that go something like “forget the fright and remember for what you want to brave” are so good. Simple and good. And the three vocal lines at the end of the song are plain beautiful.

Of course I got lost as soon as I drove into Leipzig and got redirected through the city (my mobile bill will suck this month…) and of course I was too late for the discussion on women in hiphop but just in time to get to know my wonderful hosts (thanks for everything!) Uli and Astrid before BIG ZIS started playing. I’m usually no friend of non-english/non-french dialect hiphop but this swiss lady had such a great flow and has those tiny high-pitched sounds in her rapping that I also like about Lady Sov and I instantly loved it.

After that BERNADETTE LA HENGST played and sadly it was the first time that I didn’t enjoy the whole length of her set. She seemed to play rather long and had a guy whose name I forgot up on stage with her for a couple of songs. Wasn’t my kind of humor, pseudo-absurd lyrics with a critical undertone embedded in music that sounded a bit too Schlager and the show felt a bit staged. I still love her voice though and it’s awesome how she fills a whole stage on her own with her energy. She also made one of my all time favourite cover versions: a gender-twisting “A Boy Named Sue” cover.

After that it was RYHTHM KING & HER FRIENDS‘ turn. I hadn’t seen them in years and was really curious about how they would have changed. They have livedrums now, have more of a band show going on and that fits them well.

As you see there were video screenings too and I really liked the two short film sequences: one with a simple loop of a woman uncomfortably stretching the straps of her bra. I wondered if all women in the audience were feeling like me when it was on: I felt my bra. I mean: Usually you’re so used to it that you forget about it but being made aware of it it sure felt a bit burdensome and I didn’t put it on on the next day. Oh my, does this sound like late Seventies ‘burn your bra’ hippie crap..? Might sound dated but it still feels fresh.

What was a bit too much was the repeated screening of the word “freedom”. It’s too big a word. It’s too overused a word. Musically they are far more energetic than when I last saw them but I have to say: Apart from two or three catchy songs it doesn’t really do enough for me to rid them off the LE TIGRE rip off prejudice.

Oops – time to leave. More later.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *