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Category: Shows

… 2023 in numbers
On the mu-sick-al side 2023 was back to normal, the live circuit does work again, though clubs still suffer – namely from the cost side (be it staff cost, tour cost or heating/electricity/rent).

And how many shows did i get to?

# of shows # of bands averange bands per show
Hafenklang 16 35 2
Monkeys 8 18 2
Knust 3 8 3
MS Hedi 2 2 1
Indra 2 4 2
Marias Ballroom 1 3 3
Logo 1 2 2
Komet 1 2 2
34 74 2

34 Shows with 74 Bands, so on average 2 Bands per night and 3 shows a month. And the places i prefer are clearly visible, eh? Biggest holiday driven misses where the Sounds Of Subterrania 25th anniversary end of May at the Hafenklang and sure – as almost every year – the Get Lost Fest 2023 with great bands like Split System. Both collided with time out at our 2nd home up north.

And the best set?

The French contingent definitely made the shortlist: Be it Claimed Choice in an almost empty Monkeys, be it Cran again at the Monkeys, be it Oi! Boys upstairs at the Hafenklang or 1984 supporting the Rejects at the Monkeys. Throw Home Front into it too, they are sort of French being from Canaduh.

The biggest surprises?

Kahuna Surfers from sunny Sweden, playing Hamburg back-to-back in miserable weather. Dead Years and their support stint for Red Dons. And sure Shitshow and their support for Civic. All Hafenklang (with the exception of the boat ride on the MS Hedi with the Kahuna Surfers). And, late in the year, the surprise return of the Rubbermaids at the Knust.

So – Show of the year? The following shows for me where near perfect, for a variety of reasons:

Finally i got to see the Travoltas at the Monkey, i was yearning for that one for years. Youth Of Altona and D.I. at the Hafenklang kept me glued in the club with me friends until the wee of the night. The Razors warming up for Rebellion at the Knust was paired with the best, tightest, longest, funniest etc set Wonk Unit ever delivered in Hamburg:
```
This was the best ever show you gave the Hamburg lot! It felt like a double album, gatefold cover damn fucking Punk Rock Opera without any break.
```
Sailing the mighty river Elbe on the tiny vessel M/S Hedi and experiencing … almost a Buttocks return thanks to Bad Job Boys. And sure Hola Ghost from sunny Denmark setting the Knust on fire.

Loads of words. Whats does it condense to? Best set/surprise: Home Front. Best show: Youth Of Altona and D.I.

On the book front i managed to slightly up the reading:

# of books # of pages #of days
Crime 52 19.053 323
Music 4 1.827 14
History 1 463 9
SciFi 0 0 0
57 21.343

That is more books (and pages) read than in 2022, the average page count per day in 2023 is up towards 89 pages.

Yet again the list is topped by the Crime series of the Polar Verlag (10 books), followed by the stuff that Thomas Wörtche orchestrates for Suhrkamp (6 books) and beyond that a wide spread.

Book of the year 2023? Easy, that was James Kestrel – Fünf Winter (Suhrkamp, 2023) and a book that painfully reminded me how much i miss the Hard Case Crime Series of Rotbuch these days. Runner up just by a short margin was the Jack Laidlaw Trilogy by William McIlvanney (that i finally got in and read in sequence, actually not new books published in 2023).

Also these books provided definite reading and brain cinema pleasure: J. Todd Scott – Weisse Sonne (Polar Verlag, 2023), Walter Mosley – Blood Groove (Ars Vivendi, 2022), S.A. Cosby – My Darkest Prayer (Ars Vivendi, 2023) and William Boyle – Shoot The Moonlight Out (Polar Verlag, 2023). Highly recommended if your are into my genre.

And on the side of buying vinyl and listening pleasure? Discogs tells me i added 69 records in 2023, so let’s go by that list:

Top 5, in no particular order:

1991 (Man … or Astro-Man?): Surf is my other love, next to Hardcore & Punk Rock. And MoAM are one of the coolest shits around. And it is quite hopeless to get all of their stuff (and variants). Discogs lists 66 releases and tells me i have 38 of them, not too bad.

This basically was their return 7″, it came out in 2021 but i only ever got it in 2023. It’s from Chunklet Industries and hopefully marks the return of MoAM (and hopefully to Europe too). Check out 1991, a beauty of a song that has all the ingredients i yearn for.

Taken by Force (Civic): A killer LP from down under, no more no less. On heavy rotation in the household. Carrying most likely the most played song on my stereo with Born In The Heat. This is how modern Punk Rock should sound, eh?

And a band that makes me mate Frosch travelling Europe … that one must be a good one!

S/T (Complete Loss): Now this is funny – they convinced me with their set at MOi!n It’s Hamburg 2022 and had the record fresh of the press. Still i did not buy it on the spot but only in 2023. And it is a mighty slab, more H/C than Oi! if you ask me and right up the alley so many bands from the US are now looking to master.

Complete Loss out of Dülmen have done so, a while ago! Best song: Needle Park!

At The Earth’s Core (The Haermorrhoids): Home town heroes that should hit it big. Instead they still dwell in tiny cellars. This is the most grown up, out of country record from Hamburg by far and by many many years.

If this would be on Fat Wreck it would sell … a lot more. They will do an Easter Tour in 2024, do not miss them. Try Captain Isolation for a start!

Games Of Power (Home Front): There once was a time where music was not sliced’n’diced into zillions of cupboards. Home Front nicely remind of it to the extend that is may be blatant obvious. Sure do i have Joy Division, New Order and other more electronic stuff in my collection – all next to Punk, New Wave and Neue Musik. All seemed possible at the end of the 70s and beginning of the 80s.
```
This time around they have manifested a collection of Post Punk anthems that act as a sonic looking-glass reflecting all of the textures of this genre. Case in point, not too many bands nowadays remember when Post Punk 12 inches were the go-to dance music for the 80s club kids in the UK. Straight up, their title track “Games of Power” shows us all that Dance Music comes in many forms, and that’s why this is one of my favorite songs of the year.
(CVLT Nation)

Home Front have managed to fix truth to the beautiful and borderline mythical thread-needle moment in which punk, new wave, pop, indie and rock and roll all descend upon a single source. We may have only dreamed that Tears for Fears might have been going to see GBH at the weekend or that Annie Lennox spent her evening sewing Crass patches to her Wrangler Blue Bell jacket, but Home Front have rang the dinner triangle for us all to feast.
(J. Falco)
```
I guess both Graeme of No Problem fame and La Vida Es un Mus (one of the most relevant, most innovative labels these days) simply sensed a void and perfectly filled it. Games Of Power has a wide range, check End Transmission or Nation out! And the best`? Live it worked even better, so much better. Stunning!

You can get your La Vida Es Un Mus or Home Front stuff at Sounds Of Subterrania, our trusted local dealer.

Whilst 2022 resulted in 3 (three!) Playlists i kept my promise and created only one, getting the numbering to match the year finally. So here are 214 songs, many new. Some old. But all hit material. Now. Or then. And most never made it big. Damn.

Songs From The Holy War Archive Volume 23
2024/01/03
Family. Here to stay.
It ain’t all honky-dory all the time, for myself i was confined away from shows for some weeks due to an operation on the leg but that ain’t nuthin compared to the fate that the Molotow awaits.

It’s now 10 years that they had to evacuate their old place below the so called Esso-Building (as the owner let it rot to the point that tenants, business and the name-giving petrol station had to be evicted as an emergency) and now they single-handedly got their lease for their current place terminated by mid-2024.

It will be torn down and another new Hotel will rise.

It actually does not matter at all that club itself ain’t a favorite of mine, the simple fact that yet again all of the praise of the cultural work of places like the Molotow (coming through once the City can suck up Press and Mu-sick Industry praise for something like the Reeperbahn Festival) is void and nothing if it comes to hard business that makes the City tick.

Another deal with another property developer. Fuck it.

The Molotow asked for solidarity and that is what they got – approximately 3.000 people took the Reeperbahn and made a stance.
```
Molotow Must Stay! (Reeperbahn, Hamburg, 30.12.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023
```
Team Scheisse was supposed to play but generator problems hampered the start but then they set sail, up the Reeperbahn and down the Ost-West-Strasse to finish in front of another Hotel of that chain.

What really sucks is that the fate of the Molotow (being bend over and raped three times directly or indirectly by property owners) is the custom fate of the smaller & underground clubs. The City of Hamburg is only ever paying lip service when it comes to support towards more underground and/or independent culture and for sure all is void when it comes to making money from or supporting money being made from property deals.

Regardless if the investor meets his promises (like the one that was supposed to re-build the former Esso-Building complex).

A really sad start into a long evening with good music, family and friends but it was also good to see so many faces i know from shows (on and off stage) taking the street – it means a heck within the given limits and it generated at least a peak of noise in the local press.

Will it help? I doubt. Damn.

Still, as long as we can, we gotta take our side of the story into the world – and the annual We’ll Burn The Baum Down (now as edition 16.0) is exactly part of the storyline: Next to Staatsoper, Elbphilharmonie and Ohnsorg Theater there are tight and striving communities and they stick together, against all odds. But it is getting harder.

This year the Razors went all local, providing stage time for their Rebellion companions Harbour Rebels and … big surprise … providing a comeback opportunity: The Rubbermaids came back out of (almost) nowhere.

The Harbour Rebels had the hardship of starting early (as in 20:00) but the Knust was already well filled (as many where taking the street for the Molotow and just strolled over from there).

As much as when they supported the Razors for the Rebellion warm-up earlier in the year they are a mixed bag for me. They got the right messages, they even get some dance-a-long Ska-stuff in their set but somewhere in the back of my single-minded mu-sick-al brain always opens the cupboard “Deutsch-Rock“.
```
Harbour Rebels (Knust, Hamburg, 30.12.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023
```
And as ever my deduction of received mu-sick might not be all right, so check them out for yourself. They do their thing, with dedication, and such do deserve the spot up there. And deserved the share of applause and support they got.

Next from the ashes of the Rubbermaids … the Rubbermaids. And this is how they kicked off:

They had a more of less secret gig in March 2023 at the Indra for a Birthday Bash and now, with apparently only a few rehearsals, took the big stage of the Knust. I guess that this surprise return also up’ed the numbers of tickets sold, they did draw plenty of additional people.

And from the start they where back together as if they never disbanded in 1994. I saw them a couple of times in the late 80s and the beginning of the 90s and always thought they would make it big, but somehow they never got off the independent label circuit and signed by the industry. They biggest shows where support slots in Hamburg and Bremen for the Toten Hosen on their 1992 Learning English Tour.
```
Rubbermaids (Knust, Hamburg, 30.12.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023
```
They sure looked different than back then, where they took the look of the time all in: Hair (extra hair), non-punk conformity clothing, ribbed and thorn jeans and sneakers. Very 90s. Very American.

And being able to pen matching hits like this one (and the video definitely sports the look of those days):

And how did it look and sound today? It sure looked different but sounded still great. And their main asset – lightweight songs with drive paired with multi-vocal harmonies still comes through almost puuurrrfect on That Rings A Bell:

I was not the only one more than positively surprised. And taken back in time by say 30 years. Wow. As much as myself plenty of folks of the now packed main room of the Knust had either their jaws dropped or moving in sing-a-long.

They did not do a lot of chatting, rather kept the flow and nodding toward many old fellows in the audience. And receiving loads of applause.
```
Rubbermaids (Knust, Hamburg, 30.12.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023
```
Near perfect set, only few misses in chords or rhythm. Perfect drumming, perfect bass and fast forward dual guitar play. And their biggest asset in perfection: Near perfect vocals and multi-vocal harmonies. From where i sit one of the biggest mu-sick-al surprises in 2023, i honestly did not expect this.

Will they do this again or more regular? No clue, as they all have family, work and other musical adventures. In different places.

It did set the bar high for the Razors though, trust me! And the Razors kicked of like this:

Bang! As in a literal and visual Bang!

And from there they took the lot through an extended set – old old stuff and new old stuff. Favorites and outtakes. Covers and originals.
```
Razors (Knust, Hamburg, 30.12.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023
```
And sure thing within that the one cover (from a long forgotten Scottish Power-Pop band) that i now regard as their signature song:
```
Oh oh oh oh the shape of things to come
Oh oh oh oh the shape of things to come
```
The well oiled machine almost never stopped to take a breath: Christiane on the wild side, Stoffel shredding it (in a great shirt, Bärchen was in attendance of the show actually) and Sven hammering it home.
```
Razors (Knust, Hamburg, 30.12.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023
```
And Klaus, towering the center of the stage, smiling, singing and encouraging the lot to sing-a-long.
```
Razors (Knust, Hamburg, 30.12.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023
```
Little did i know when i thought for myself that the Razors would have a hard time after the energetic show of the Rubbermaids, i was proven so wrong.

The Razors simply took the lot by storm and the lot (sans one intoxicated individual that got a helping hand leaving the room) returned the favor.

Prior to the encore they even took the opportunity to side with the lot.
```
Razors - Hanx!(Knust, Hamburg, 30.12.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023
```
It was almost midnight when the encore culminated into the all family hands on deck sing-a-long mix of “Because You’re Young” and “YNWA” and the whole place sung the last song together with Klaus.
```
Razors & Family (Knust, Hamburg, 30.12.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023
```
The perfect finish to 2023, a year that as said was not all honky-dory but as most of the years the traditional Razors show was an uplifting one. Plenty of people to bump into, to speak with or to just say Hi to. And great mu-sick.

And as every year it draw people from Hamburg and far. My friend Nico from Rotterdamn did return after being my guest last year and walking him home to his hotel after the show i realized that he is now ready to sign up for the Razors Fan-Club (he liked the sing-a-long attitude of the set).

Due to the post-Op situation of my leg i did not stay for the dancing procedures in the pub of the Knust but rather went home – all sober – early with my guest. Big thanks to the Razors and the Knust for making this possible, year on year. We love you!

PS: As an extra, as Sven is most of the time hidden behind the drums and those who can roam around the stage without the baggage of a drum set (and thanks to the virtue of long cables) – here is the god of drums:

Sven “Gott” Gotfredsen (Knust, Hamburg, 30.12.2023 (c) gehkacken.de)

As as form of appreciation here three downloads you can print on high gloss photographic paper if you dare (or in any other form). For me they sum-up the evening and have a lot of individual details (go searching!) that make me simply … smile! Go klick on ’em!

Rubbermaids

Razors

Razors Family
2024/01/02
… a loud guitar and a perfect support: Civic & Shitshow!
A shitload of folks was eager for this show, Civic to finally return to Hamburg (though they would have ample reasons to continue to bypass Hamburg). A couple of folks went abroad to see them, be it in Gronnigen or following them in the UK. It was to be an early show on a cold and miserable Sunday, i took more time than normally in me warm home prior to strolling down to the Hafenklang. Mainly as i had little interest in the support to be.

But i missed something, somehow Shitshow short notice landed the support slot and when i arrived at the half filled Hafenklang they just entered the stage … out of blue i was luckily spot on with the time.

Shitshow caught my attention with their first EP last year, as this sported a veritable hit:
<a href="https://shitshow-punk.bandcamp.com/album/shitshow">shitshow by SHITSHOW</a>
Great snotty lyrics and a near perfect chorus, delivered with a straight punch into the groin…
```
There’s a smile on her face
Her brother can´t recognize it

And the sun in this place
He can’t see it
He’s caught in a lie

Time is money
Money’s time
They believe, believe in this crime

Baby, baby
It’s stealing your time
Pay attention, just be mine

Ring, ring, ring
Driving against trees

Bling, bling, bling
What the hell is so funny bout gifs?

And the weather doesn’t matter,
Your best friend
Is just a machine yeah!
```
As such i was positively surprised and i guess cautiously optimistic. And indeed they delivered a near perfect support stint on the big stage of the Hafenklang.

What did i get? Marta with her out-of-genre Bass, always smiling. Kirschan on Guitar, shredding ahead like no tomorrow. Julia, singing with the right balance between aggressiveness and the full vocal spectrum (howling low, yelling high – but always loud). And Vic on Drums, one of the most forceful drummers in Hamburg i guess.
```
Shitshow (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 26.11.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023
```
And all their songs are crisp, fast forward and with umpf. Plenty of umpf actually. Here is “CopPorn” from their new EP, out just now.

A perfect sum of their abilities and these do include that – even when crisp – the songs have structure, build up and repeats. Go listen to the recorded version, go!
<a href="https://shitshow-punk.bandcamp.com/album/-">-+#?!$ by SHITSHOW</a>
And this one has even has more weird lyrics, down to almost being a poem:
```
I take a knife, you bring a gun
I’ll kill them all, I do it all for good
Don´t need no make-up
Can do without
I am your nightmare
I´m coming from behind
Cause you

You took my life and I’ll leave it all behind
I´d rather be afraid
I´ll leave it all behind
I didn´t love to
I will make it!

You shot the sheriff, I took his gun
We do it all for good
And I´ve seen freedom for all mankind
Can see it with my eyes
```
I was convinced within a few songs and somehow was angry to myself that i did not try to make an earlier effort to see them (but rather got them now as a by-product). The audience was also happy, plenty of applause and smiles around me.
```
Shitshow (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 26.11.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023
```
My wild guess is that they played all they had but as said, that constituted a near perfect set with almost perfect sound. Look out for them, it is worth it.

Shitshow – Setlist (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 26.11.2023 (c) gehkacken.de)

The only complaint i heard was a faint one, a mate took a small offense in the – as he phased it – metal like frontwomanship of Julia. I guess it was his envy towards her headbanginghairthrowing, something his rather bald (and hatted) head won’t allow.

I ignored the complaint, as i was long set to buy their new EP (as they convinced me live).

Next Civic, after a short changeover on stage. They took the stage completely unpretentious and set the lot the following goals:

Civic – Setlist (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 26.11.2023 (c) gehkacken.de)

That was a lot and within the first block it already gave us their new single Hourglass. Me mate Frosch, a Civic devotee, took a recording:

It nicely sums up the set in totality: Somewhere between what a Music Paper summed up as “an unholy Lo-Fi-Mashup out of Garage Rock, Punk and 1990s Noise-Rock” and simply noise. Loud noise. And, standing on the left of the stage in front of Lewis, a fucking loud guitar i’d say. Overly loud.

Yannick, who drums for The Haermorrhoids and does sound at the Komet, complained already after the first song to Lewis that his guitar was too fucking loud. Jim took a slight offense in that complaint and asked the audience if there where more opinions for them on stage.

There where none.
```
Civic (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 26.11.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023
```
For the complaint itself it was justified, the last time a guitar bulldozed the rest of the mu-sick-al delivery that much was when Dave Chandler took his amp to 12. And that felt physically equally painful. But putting aside the level of amplification it was just master class manipulation of the guitar, the pedal board with effects and specifically the wahwah pedal by Lewis.

Horrific loud guitar soundscapes anyone?

Resting on the rock solid backbone of Eli on Drums and Roland on Bass his guitar is the main sound element, specifically live. Frontline delivery by Jim adds the right level of kick, punch and aggression, so that the full mix is almost an art out of noise.
```
Civic (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 26.11.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023
```
To me Civic are one of the few bands where my normal mantra “see live and only when convinced live buy a record” most likely would not work out for me, as this live delivery 1:1 to record would not suit my listening experience at home or on the move.

But luckily their recorded output is a wee bit more behaved, a wee bit better produced and the recording allows Lewis to record multiple guitar overdubs to make the songs … more polished? More well behaved?

I’d say … more perfect. Like my lovelist sing-a-long (that got slaughtered live too):
```
<a href="https://civicivic.bandcamp.com/album/taken-by-force">Taken By Force by Civic</a>
```
But hey, that is the joy of live mu-sick. Though i would have loved a wee bit more craftsmanship on the sound. But maybe my position in front of the stage, surrounded by mates (some with odd footie choices, give and take), was just the wrong one.

Another mate who stood back and near the mixing desk reported a good sound. Maybe the 100something folks in winter attire in front of him worked as a perfect sound barrier …

And how did Frosch like it? Very much … here is his account:
```
I definitely have to agree with Dirk as regards to Civic’s live performance compared to their recorded output. They surely kick ass on stage, and when I did recommend the band to friends and they did like what they heard, I was always in danger of getting told off, because playing live Civic always deliver a far more heavy, dirty, psyched out fuzz sound.

“Fuzz is a special type of distortion where harmonic overtones dominate the overall sound” the internet says, and maybe I’m completely wrong, being purely a fan not playing the instrument myself, but that might describe it very well. 

Yeah, it’s a type of distortion but not for the sake of it or noise, but rather carrying the songs, giving them that special extra, like all the predecessors playing Australian Punk such as Celibate Rifles, Radio Birdman, Cosmic Psychos, just to name a few, did. 

And even if Yannick would have tuned Lewis guitar down a little he was still well impressed by Civic’s professional performance just as most of our friends attending the gig. 

Plus Civic did start their set with “Selling. Sucking. Blackmail. Bribes”, their most fuzzed out, in your face, almost hardcore punk song, the brutal sounding “7” released by Total Punk in the US. 

Just confirms what Wikipedia states: The band's concept was to "do good rock and roll and not to stuff about with it". 

Their set at Hafenklang was even a little shorter than usual, but we did get an encore, unfortunately not the possibly too obvious, but nevertheless fantastic “Hollywood Nights In Hamburg” from their Future Forecast album. 

As Civic are working on their new album, and their latest song “Hourglass” promises a lot, I hope we’re in for another Civic tour and Hamburg visit in 2024!   
```
Or, simple, it was a great show on a dark Sunday as both bands kicked ass. And as such i had to take vinly home, both in #recordcollectorsarepretentiousareseholes #coloredvinyl (and both #limitededition).

That is Shitshow’s 2023 EP, klick and order it!

Shitshow – -+#?!$ EP (Eierloch Rec, 2023)

And this is the latest from Civic, a collection of their EPs and other old stuff. And as i never bothered to run after their EP’s a nice completion for me. Go and order (by klicking it).

Civic – New Vietnam And Singles (ATO Records, 2023)

And whilst it was an all around nice one, there was something missing. Me mate Frosch (a Civic devotee, did i mention it?) went all the way to try to persuade an Australian with an interest in mu-sick to come down and see fellow Australians (and handing him a CD that Civic gave to him in the UK, to add to that persuasion).

Bonus: Me Mate Frosch did try to persuade Socceroo Captian Jackson Irvine with a Civic CD …

Unfortunately Jackson did not make it (or maybe in disguise, no clue) but plenty of me mates made it (sans those down with Covid (get better mate!) or in NL (enjoying a short break after attending Revolution Calling)) and thus i felt simply home at the Hafenklang.

And Jackson? He will have all forgiveness of the world on Friday, right after the final whistle.

Top of the League, as much as both bands.
2023/11/27