That we are somehow en route to normal can be identified by many pointers: Bands come back on tour, also across the big pond and across borders, and the Hafenklang returning to the Monday evening fixture (“Punkerstammtisch mit Ping Pong, DJ und Schnaps“) with surprise bands.
For this Monday it was a package from the West Coast of the US of A, i bet you on a showstring DIY tour. Whilst Lysol (put forward as sloppy Garage Punk from Seattle) where totally unknown at least Electric Chair (dubbed aptly as frantic 80’s style hardcore punk punk punk from Olympia) had crossed my mu-sick-al radar (though due to the lack of live experience had not made it into me greedy #recordcollectorsarepretentiousarseholes vinyl collection).
Kick of was with Lysol, who did not say a lot for introduction but kicked off pretty harsh – no frills Garage Punk indeed.
Lysol (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 13.06.2022 (c) gehkacken.de 2022)
They did not play long, i guess less than 30 minutes, and from my single-minded mu-sick-al standpoint their main asset is their guitar, quite a nice job in combining hard riffs, grand pose and tempo. That is paired with a punching rhythm section and some mumbled singing.
It wasn’t right up my alley but it was also not bad. I guess you will need to resort to form your own view, check out their efforts now!
Without too much fuzz Electric Chair took the stage in front of now say 50 odd people. Me and me mates first noted the shirt of the drummer (Gizmos, check), then the shirt of the bass player (Regulators, check check), then his bass (bare bone one, expert check) and then the guitar player (looking like Johnny Ramone when hair down).
We missed the best part though.
The singer, a John Belushi, Darby Crash and Jerry A. Lang mashup. And he came on and did Handstand Rollovers for warm up. Me mate Riebe immediately christened him Jerry B. in order to set the tone. And we knew we where up for something special.
And so it happened.
Boy, what a power. A near perfect backline, fully synced and the engine (think a 426 Hemi with twin superchargers) at full throttle. And did i note it was all in sync? And yes, there was the singer too and he got all the best of the names dropped into the play: Smart and funny, exhaustive and taking no prisoners plus the needed amount of self-destruct.
Electric Chair (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 13.06.2022 (c) gehkacken.de 2022)
I did like it from the start and i saw a lot of smiling faces around me. The only complaint, which also came down from the stage, was the lack of dancing, the lack of pit and maybe the lack of feedback (other than applause). I guess everyone was simply blown away and thus could not to anything else than to watch in awe.
Did i mention in sync earlier? Just note the first couple of seconds on this snippet: Bass and Drums syncing via eye contact and then the drummer turns into pounding with a bright smile. That is what i mean.
By that point in time i had stopped counting handstand rollovers (Riebe claims 20+), the amount of time spend down in front of the stage or even taking time – Electric Chair engulfed me and the audience in a near perfect way.
And, besides the mu-sick-al output, there was also a lot of eye catching visuals on stage, so count showmanship on top of the ability to handle the instruments. Cudos Electric Chair, cudos.
Electric Chair (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 13.06.2022 (c) gehkacken.de 2022)
Without a doubt i knew that this performance would lead up to only one result: I got to honor my commitment to buy vinyl off a band that has just convinced me live. A quick check with me mates gave me like minded feedback, this was something to take home.
I guess they played a bit longer than Lysol and at they end they where thoroughly done, the singer just blanked out on the stage like Darby Crash on the cover of the “The Decline Of The Western Civilization” soundtrack.
No holding back, i sure took their latest EP home (which was around thanks to Hamburgs Sound Of Subterrania). Whilst at it, check out #1 and #2 too.
It is a beautiful packaged record: Great cover design with silver engraving and included a large lyric sheet on high gloss paper with some nice poster effect on the reverse side. Worth a buy, worth a buy.
Whilst DJ Fab was asking punks if they feel lucky i had a final beer with me mates, watched people playing ping-pong and selfishly applauded me for going out on a Monday evening to this fixture.
Those who missed it, missed a surprise.
