“I wouldn’t worry.” – new track and a bit of a recap

“You say you’re sorry but you know you don’t mean it.
I wouldn’t worry. I had so much fun.
Sometimes I almost feel just like a human being”
Elvis Costello

I’m sorry that I’ve been so quiet the last weeks. Musikverein stuff was pretty time-consuming and at home we started moving our flats. That’s why I also can’t serve you a new tune.

Or wait, I’ll give you at least a re-vamped thing that I only had released as part of a long mix so far. I added and changed a few bits. Not sure though if that added quality. 😉

eve massacre – happy ending or screwed? mp3

I hope it won’t get me into trouble with all the C&Ds that seem to be floating around atm. Cross your fingers.

* _ *

Last week-end was great. Sub:city on Friday was good although Zomby didn’t turn up. It’s one thing that he didn’t manage to get his ass on the plane but what’s plain disappointing is that Zomby claims it was the Sub:city guys’ fault. I’ve worked on so many bookings with Tobi and I trust him blindly that they didn’t fuck it up. Tobi has booked so many acts over the years and everyone from The Bug to Jamie Lidell was happy with everything. The good thing was that only Zomby was missing out, not only on the hand silk-screened posters the guys had made for the night and the birthday cake and the cool deco but most of all on a great party. It was really crowded with a good atmosphere all around. That’s why I ended up staying far too long. And I drank far too much vodka-redbull and made the capital mistake of not putting some water in between.

I only had three hours of sleep and woke up with the worst hangover ever. I swear. Nevertheless I got up because Blacky was so kind to pick me up on his way to the Verstärker Messe, the first edition of a regional music fair in Erlangen. Quirin had already set up our Musikverein stand. It was nicely located in midst of old and new friends: eartrumpet.net, desi, sellfish, z-bau, red can records, tilli, radio z… We even made it up to the official opening speeches and got Brezeln. Actually there was lots of food on the whole fair anyway. Best of all was the Damenklo Records who stood out with a a real moutain of sweets. Yummy. Swing the Hüftgold indeed. Other labels kept it all pretty clean and reduced to displaying their cds or vinyls, some promoters and radio station used laptops to show what they are about but that didn’t really make sense to me cause I can look at their websites at home too.

I’m afraid our booth was more about fun than about efficency. We had the grand wheel of fortune with us that Quirin had built. On top of it Blacky had set up a hazardous construction made of duct tape and boxes to display live shots of bands that played at our place. And my contribution was a music quiz in which you had to match nine 15second-music-snippets with nine pictures of bands. I had even put the names with the bands bit it was harder to solve than I had expected. Which maybe was a good thing cause the prize was shot of liquor and people who played might have lost their contenance if they all had won.

I somehow felt beneath myself. The whole day was like some film, blurred and dizzy but good. Lack of sleep does funny things to you. But I really had lots of nice chats and the day really flew past. In the evening I drove home with Quirin, had a quick dinner and although I felt like dropping into my bed instantly I pulled myself together and went to the Hanson Brothers show. I missed the Klotzs who played support. When I arrived I met Frank and Tina who were sitting outside although it was freezingly cold. They suffered from an equally cruel post-alcohol-abuse-syndrom and just murmured something about the stench inside. When I stepped into the overcrowded Zentralcafé I instantly understood what they were on about: It was the tough smell of pure testosterone. Guys, soap. Water. Antiperspirant. Is it really that hard? The audience was 97% male and the pit was rough and I was happy that I had a corner from which I could watch the band without having to suffer the beerdrenched goings-on. I’m still glad I went cause those Nomeansno brothers always manage to bring a smile to my face. The singalong Ramones-like songs were super fun, the rest was still tight and good punkrock. After the show I went home early and there are no words for how good I slept that night. Heaven. Pure heaven.

Afer a cozy breakfast with Kerstin and Tobi from eartrumpet and Bernd of Red Can Records who had stayed at my place we drove back to the Verstärker-Messe and the second day was nice too but went by a bit slower. In an interview with the Zündfunk I was asked what benefit the whole fair had for us. It’s hard to tell. I don’t think there were many people there who hadn’t known our work before so there wasn’t that much of an advertising effect. We also had known most bands and labels before so it wasn’t about finding new bands to set up shows for. Also I didn’t take part in any of the workshops so I gained no new knowledge. Still I think it was good to be part of this. Maybe it’s just the same effect that the Endzeit Festival has had for many years. Or as the Klüpfel free Tuesday shows with local bands had at the beginning. It’s exactly the mixture of a meet&greet and networking event that helps to strengthen the perception of a lot of disparate parts as one scene. Without competitory thoughts. Hopefully people get to know each other or get to know each other better and start connecting. It’s weird that networking things that you take for granted in a scene that has its roots in punk/hardcore (which is where I have my roots) are hardly existent in the music scene outside of it. I blame the old contracts and fixed deals vs trust and ‘fair trade’. All in all I’m glad Verstärker wasn’t half as business-oriented as I had feared it might turn out. I think it was a really good compromise. And mucho respect to the organisers, it all ran really smooth. Of course except for the Gott & die Welt show. And that was good. I hope that on the day they play a perfect show without breaks and silliness they will instantly split or crumble into dust. It was the perfect band to end that week-end with a big smile.