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Category: Shows

  • … their biggest show yet: Will The Haermorrhoids finally make it big??!

    … their biggest show yet: Will The Haermorrhoids finally make it big??!

    Thanks to Frosch for reporting, i was absent on family care duties!

    Got our tickets for this show at Hamburg’s long running Fabrik not because of Headliner The Chats, who I never rated that high, but for the support act, fellow Australians and beloved The Prize from Melbourne, probably the best Power Pop band going right now.

    Very nice surprise came a couple of weeks ago when a 2nd support act, local heroes The Haermorrhoids, was confirmed.

    Made the investment of roundabout € 40,- a little more reasonable I guess…

    This is how we were greeted at the Fabrik on a cold and rainy November night, just what the world needs right now. Some backbone in a world gone mad, right at the edge of fascism and nuclear war…

    ( (c) Frosch, 2024))

    We arrived at the Fabrik really early as The Haermorrhoids were going to kick the evening off at 8pm already. Meeting the guys just before the gig they told us that they were only given 10 minutes to sound check, so they were pretty unsure how it would sound on stage.

    By far their biggest gig yet as the Fabrik holds 1.200 people and they had sold 900 tickets in advance.

    This is how The Haermorrhoids kicked off:

    Talking later they said that they didn’t warm up at all, but you surely couldn’t feel that. Kicking into full gear and full of confidence with the title track of their latest album “At The Earth Core” they took the Fabrik by storm and got the crowd moving right away.

    No break, just like their heroes Ramones, Queers, Screeching Weasel, you name them all, Alleister Crowley next. And Sk8. Old favourites.

    I decided early on to record the whole show for them.

    Not being a musician – they are very picky when it comes to all these technical details… – I thought the sound was really good, guess it proofs if you watch the clips.

    And it was going to be a very short set, I counted 22.5 minutes.

    What I really like was the mix of old and new hits, just before the clip above we got the old crowd please “Overdose” and my personal favourite just recently, “Degenerator”, is kicking off these 2 songs.

    Just watch the young crowd getting into the band, pogoing along.

    For the last 2 songs we got the title track of great album No.1, “Apparatus Of The Ultimate Power”. I rate this one just as high as the best Teenage Bottlerocket album.

    Finally another Punk band from Hamburg with international class, and I guess we can all agree on that 😉. “Lost In Space” concluding this set, another example of the perfect dual vocals from Greg and Yannick.

    That’s what’s keeping this band really interesting, Lennart and Martin doing a great job on the strings too. Let’s all hope that they get what they deserve and make it really big in this fucked up world!

    After a short break The Prize took the stage. Love this band and their perfect blend of Power Pop. Honestly think nobody does it better than them at this moment.

    And they wear their influences on their sleeves, one of the 3  (!) guitarists sporting a Joe Walsh shirt. Very old school indeed, including drummer Nadine Muller, daughter of Cosmic Psychos drummer Dean Muller, wearing the matching 70’s stage outfit.

    And it’s her voice and great drumming that really drives this band, best heard on the instant classic “Wrong Side Of Town”, see the clip for it below:

    Shame that Nadine was set up right in the back, a hidden gem. That’s drummers usual fate after all, but when we did see The Prize before her drum set was placed right in the middle between the 4 boys in the band.

    Generally the gig felt a bit more lackluster than before, so we’re looking forward to the release of their 1st album hopefully spring next year and another tour to follow later in 2025, as male lead vocalist and guitar player Carey Paterson confirmed later.

    This is him performing the 1st song released off the new record, “Had It Made”, at the end of their set.

    Last but not least The Chats.

    Thanks to them The Haermorrhoids got their support slot for tonight, as they were supporting The Unknowns at the Komet a month before.

    Not completely sure about the drummer but I suppose The Chats are totally identical to The Unknowns, who in the end also play Garage Punk, just like The Chats, but with more emphasis on the end 70’s punk side.

    I immediately ordered their record and liked their gig in the small Komet basement, which attracted quite a few Chats fans, but never really got into the Chats recorded output.

    It’s still great that they attract a really young crowd, which feels much more vital than our usual old school punk sets, with a 60+ crowd.

    And they proved to be a really good live act, which is what’s causing all the fuzz about them I suppose. Being Australian and snotty helps as well. Up to 25 Mio. YouTube clicks, just crazy!

    I’ll never get one of their records I suppose, to me they just sound like any other garage punk band that can play the Get Lost Fest or Komet Club, not bad at all, but nothing special either.

    That being said, their song “6L GTR” is REALLY GOOD!

    And this is how it went off live, only the last 40 seconds, sorry, missed the best crowd support part, but just to give a little impression.

    After about half of their set I went from the front to the back of the room, as the songs all sounded a bit samey.

    But hey, a good live gig nevertheless and a fun evening with 2 great support acts!

    (Report, Pics and Videos by Frosch – hence color and not B/W. Fanx!)

  • … enjoyin’ the contrast: Blind Delon vs. Pointed Sticks!

    … enjoyin’ the contrast: Blind Delon vs. Pointed Sticks!

    When it comes to books, then i tend to trust authors but also publishing houses, editors and translators. When it comes to music it is the same: There are bands i trust but also venues, bookers and tour organizers get a similar credit from me.

    And because of that trust, i get to see pairings like on this cold Friday evening.

    Who else than Fab, booker at the Hafenklang, would entertain the idea of pairing a a young French cold-wave, electro and/or synth-punk band with an old (all the way from 1978) and in some circles legendary punk and/or power pop band from Canada`?

    As wide as that mixture was also the audience, clearly split in half (and a mere 50 odd people upstairs at the Hafenklang).

    First Blind Delon from Toulouse, France. A home & solo project that turned into something bigger and live shows.

    They set the scene like this:

    In their black granite spaceship, the cabin crew moves in slow motion, freed from weightlessness. Sinking into the dark depths of the universe, the members of the Techno Finale 666 mission are watching with fear and resignation our galaxy moving away until it becomes a tiny point of light. 

    In the large empty halls of the machine, the synthetic and freezing hymns of Blind Delon resonate.

    And then they surprised me big once they entered the stage: What initially felt like them tuning the effect boards and instruments turned actually into the first song, much like an intro, that in the end sounded like a soundtrack to said space movie.

    Wow, two guys with a Mac, massive effect boards and plexiglass guitar & bass throwing out soundscapes that with closed eyes almost felt like coming from an orchestra.

    Blind Delon (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 07.11.2024 (c) gehkacken.de 2024)

    From there they took it into a territory that i normally do not savvy too much, someone more in the know mentioned Cassandra Complex as a reference but only the love of my life knows that kind of mu-sick.

    Within that, they also had short and fast bangers like this:

    Checking them out in the internet (damn internet, never forgets) this seems to be typical for the more recent output that is seeing the band moving in a new direction, approaching post-metal from their post punk roots.

    On the other hand they also have these lengthy and dark soundscapes too:

    All of that with “only” two guys manipulating strings? No, far from – though i am not a musician i sense that the two massive effect boards they sported help with that. The sheer look of those again is very … SciFi!

    Effect Boards of Blind Delon (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 07.11.2024 (c) gehkacken.de 2024)

    Now try their stuff over at Bandcamp to find out if it fits you:

    As said, half of the audience liked it, moving silently and slowly to the sound, some actually admitted they hated it. I did dig it, despite that it ain’t my style but i had to recognize that they did their stuff very well.

    And thus they surprised me, big time.

    Pointed Sticks, haling from Vancouver, BC, outta Canaduh (and a mere 7.706 KM away from Hamburg) took the stage next and kicked off like this:

    For those grown up on 1999s Pop Punk covers of “Out Of Luck” that must have been way too Pop, way too much harmony. But that is what they always have been, a real cool power pop band originating from the Punk and New Wave scene in Vancouver.

    Pointed Sticks (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 07.11.2024 (c) gehkacken.de 2024)

    And they still feature every one of it’s original members, well aged and still in-tune to provide a more than decent entertainment: Multi-vocal harmonies, nice guitar overcast, keyboard to provide some extra width in sound and a solid back line of drum and bass to keep it going forward.

    Pointed Sticks (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 07.11.2024 (c) gehkacken.de 2024)

    This time round the other half of the audience got to move, a wee bit more extrovert. And for a finishing touch they closed their set with … Out Of Luck, as wanted by the lot:

    As much as in 2019 at the Molotow the Pointed Sticks delivered a completely unpretentious power pop set, for some maybe too much grounded in simple rock – but that is what they have been doing all of their life.

    As i had great companionship with Luke of Spitfire Stevens fame i stayed on for another sip, some free floating associative thinking and discussion about corpses in flight cases and consequential cold cases.

    And, whilst strolling uphill & home, i was thinking about how successful Fab paired two bands with a style wide apart – without that, i would not have experienced something completely new.

    And that is why i trust his choices!

    Much appreciated, sure as much as both bands appearing on our shores in the first place. Without touring, there would not be fun.

  • … perfect wall of sound vs. enchanted power pop: Küken & The Marked Men!

    … perfect wall of sound vs. enchanted power pop: Küken & The Marked Men!

    That was a wee bit of a surprise: The Marked Men would grace Hamburg again, 10 years after their triumphant Get!Lost!Fest! #2 set. And they got paired with a perfect counterpart:

    Where the Marked Men give the lot catchy power pop, fast and simple rhythm, driving drumbeats and chorus driven song structures Hamburg’s very own Küken are a guarantee for …

    … fast, forceful and simple wall of sound proto punk with perfect twin vocals.

    I was hoping for a packed show, in reality the turnout for this early Sunday show (doors at 19:00, start short after 20:00) was slow to arrive and best “well filled“. Which, under the current struggles of Clubs to fill shows, was ok i guess.

    Küken took some extra time to get on stage and kicked into the set with one of my favorites, that is “RnR Band” for a start:

    Bang, there almost ain’t no better start into a tight and fast set.

    And that is their custom anyway, not a lot of chitchat but pushing out songs one after the other. Given that all songs are well below the 02:00 mark the focus anyway is on the continuous barrage of chords and the driving drums.

    Küken (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 03.11.2024 (c) gehkacken.de 2024)

    That paired with the same voice twice dual singing is simply a perfect niche in this vast genre. Call it Punk, call it Garage, call it Proto Punk … or simply stick Rock’n’Roll to it.

    Here is the finishing touch, more on that RnR side of things:

    It was not a surprise that Küken came across absolutely tight and near perfect, as this show was the topping of a short run from Leipzig via Berlin back to Hamburg.

    Oh my, for my ears this was a perfect set!

    Get your dose of Küken below and make sure you order all of their records. Even Jeff Burke scored Kücken III after the show at the merch table!

    Next The Marked Men and in classic unpretentious style they took next to nothing to set themselves up and kicked off with one of their classic hymns:

    Thanks indeed for giving us again the chance to spend “A little time” with you guys and sing-a-long to this beauty of a pop (like in popular) song:

    Just give a little bit of time
    'Cause you know that you can never live before you die
    Get out of the way
    You know a little spilled blood will make a nice distraction

    Can’t cap your lid, but booze that mind
    I don’t care you know it’s not a loss if it’s not our dime
    It’s just a little hit
    You gotta grow up with the X on

    [Bridge]

    It’s just a little bit of time outside
    With the ones who care on our side
    Just a little bit of time outside
    Just a world of
    You’ll get your life to say
    Just a little bit
    Just a little of it

    (c) 2006 The Marked Men / SESAC

    The Internet (damn Internet, never forgets) has the simple truth on this one:

    It’s a perfect song: the way everyone comes in a split second before the vocals hit, the way everything drops away for the guitar lead and the bass drum, the way it breaks after the chorus where the guitars start dueling each other with clean chords being picked at note by note.

    Alex Barett for Razorcake (2012)

    The only item that felt a bit off was somewhat the sound: In front of the stage it sounded less powerful than i would have expected, though overall at the end it felt ok.

    My wild guess: The perfect and loud wall of sound by Küken set a precedence that anyway The Marked Men with their style would never reach.

    The Marked Men (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 03.11.2024 (c) gehkacken.de 2024)

    What the lot got was skillful guitar work, melodies and multi-vocal singing, slower songs and faster ones – a happy mix from the overall Marked Men Œuvre.

    Listening to all 4 long players prior to the show for something like a warm-up i was stunned (though i should have known better) how consistent they sound. Some may say “everything sounds the same” but i rather call it a consistent sound across a rather short period (2003 to 2008).

    Here is another one, showcasing the solid rhythm section, the twin guitar work and vocal harmonies – a perfect chemistry:

    On top i was also happy to see that in front of the stage yet again a large (and largely younger) female contingent was both enjoying it and happily dancing along. It was a great reminder on what type of mu-sick is being played: (Power) Pop Music like in Popular Music.

    Somewhat many folks where happy that the early show ended – unsurprisingly – early on a dark November Sunday evening, i continued to hang around, chatting with friends and having a post show beer (or two).

    And ended up saying two times “good bye” to my favorite (and overworked) booker – thanks yet again Fab for running this shit against all odds.

    And as unpretentious as both bands delivered and enabled a great evening i realized that this show actually qualified for my shortlist of Show Of The Year.

    Rightfully!

    Fun thing: Franz from Otis Tours bumped into plenty Punk Rock Raduno regulars from Hamburg with a broad smile…