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Category: Shows

  • … hand-in-glove, on all fronts: Razors & Knock Off!

    … hand-in-glove, on all fronts: Razors & Knock Off!

    It has been a while. As much as i can recall i did not see the mighty Razors live in 2024 and Knock Off last time graced Hamburg as far back as 2019, when Razors invited them over for the annual year end proceedings.

    Came Covid, came other stuff … it took indeed 6 years for them to be paired again.

    And whilst a good a number of folks flew over to Glasgow to see the Ex-Pistols and a couple of other bands (some in better shape, some in not so interesting shape) about 100 folks made it to the Monkeys.

    Razors kicked it off at 21:30 and at the start … had a couple of sound issues on the guitar side. After some checks and some adjustments from the mixing desk the guitar finally came alive in the wall of sound way desired.

    And from there the Razors took off with quite some speed. And broad smiles.

    Razors (Monkeys, Hamburg, 20.06.2025)
    (c) gehkacken.de 2025

    It was a home game, it was a supportive lot and overall everybody felt like being in a good mood.

    What was wrong? Absolutely nothing!

    That is from their 2008 Dirty Thirty effort and boy, it is already another 18 years further down the road.

    Still, it sounds like a fresh song: Umpf, great guitar work, hammering interludes and sing-a-long chorus.

    Razors (Monkeys, Hamburg, 20.06.2025)
    (c) gehkacken.de 2025

    They played an hour and a bit, had fun on stage, Klaus had fun handing out Pogoverbot and Sven was thirsty for some Holsten.

    And at the end, as ever, they took the lot for a ride with Because You’re Young / Walk On. And everybody, including the small Danish contingent, chimed in.

    Razors (Monkeys, Hamburg, 20.06.2025)
    (c) gehkacken.de 2025

    Perfect set and showcasing that the Razors are still relevant today, owning a niche (in that little niche we all love so much) and being able to take the audience along.

    Almost running late Knock Off took the stage and to my surprise there was a new bass player. I knew that they somewhat parted with their recent one, had to pull out of some gigs and got Lozz out of the mothballs for their UK gigs.

    But here i saw a younger face that i could not immediately connect but was reminded that he used to play with The Agitators. As far as i understood Knock Off did not want to pull out of this short run in Europe (Antwerp, Hamburg, Essen) and thus looked for help.

    Jelle stepped up, rehearsed at home and joined them in Antwerp (near his home). And came across hand-in-glove.

    How did it sound? It sounded like this:

    This is what they are, this is what they do: Hard hitting, words with a meaning and great choruses.

    On top their recent, self released, album has a just puurfect name (and textbook definition):

    lowerarchy (noun)
    [lo-err-ark-ee]

    1. A series of people or things considered as representing progressively lower levels of a series or whole

    2. The ones that don’t fit in, are frowned upon and cast aside.

    That is great tongue-in-cheek to frame the position, i guess it is pretty obvious where Knock Off see themselves.

    Knock Off (Monkeys, Hamburg, 20.06.2025)
    (c) gehkacken.de 2025

    And all was delivered with a smile and, as said, surprisingly tight for a band that has a bass player standing in on day two (and already has the audacity to demand “less guitar” on stage).

    Goed gedaan Jelle, goed gedaan!

    They played old songs, new songs and within that also my lovelisted song, most likely the best song in Punk Rock to remind people to look after themselves:

    And it ain’t a love song!

    Knock Off got the lot well going, entertained and into it. They skipped the walk-off-come-back for efficiency and played also for about an hour and finished off to a lot of applause.

    A pity that the wander across to Hamburg so rarely, in my head they seem to get as much sympathy and love as … let’s say Gimp Fist.

    Great evening, albeit too small turnout, and after the show i had a realization of sorts: Whilst Razors and Knock Off are coming from different directions, sporting different sounds a show with them playing back-to-back is like a hand-in-glove feel.

    Both work together for the audience like a charm, like they where made for playing together. And i sense that there is also mutual appreciation.

    Razors & Knock Off (Monkeys, Hamburg, 20.06.2025 (c) Knock Off)

    I stayed way much longer than planed with some final pint(s), chats and then the long way home. And grateful for having seen two great bands.

    #handinglove

  • … convinced in 30 minutes: Lost Legion know the trick!

    … convinced in 30 minutes: Lost Legion know the trick!

    Monday night at the Hafenklang – a band, a DJ and table-tennis. And for me and a small number of mates it was a great opportunity to see Lost Legion all the way from the South Side of Chicago.

    They have done something to that little Oi! niche that maybe only ever the French have done recently: They created something unique, something of their own.

    Lost Legion came over for a brief sprint across Germany and neighboring cities. Given the bands initial existence was a mere recording project and their first ever live gig was only in 2023 it was no surprise that they enlisted a local guitar for 2nd guitar – the spot was filled by Valentin (Brutal Bravo, Collaps and many more bands).

    Lost Legion – Setlist (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 16.06.2025 (c) gehkacken.de)

    Given that they only had like 10 songs rehearsed together and ready, in the end they even tried – forced by the lot – a new one apparently just written on the way from Hanover to Hamburg.

    How did it sound? It sounded reasonable well:

    And great visual, i love when a band dresses for the occasion. Here it was sunglasses. And sure Ian on vocals sports the neatest business casual persona. Perfect!

    From song to song they grooved even better, up to and including some veritable dance hits with a heavy dance rhythm undercurrent.

    Pity only that only two handful of people made it, hence no circle pit.

    Lost Legion (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 16.06.2025)
    (c) gehkacken.de 2025

    That Lost Legion are nowhere near the normal breed of Oi! was somewhat clear at the outset. Ian also runs Foreign Legion Records and has released stuff from Fuerza Bruta, Ultra Razzia, Syndrome 81, Urban Savage, Snake Handler, Rogue Trooper and Brick Assassin next to own stuff.

    His distance to that normal breed of say humpta-Oi! he voice quite neat in an interview:

    I think a lot of Oi! bands claim to be talking about reality, but they all get their model of reality from Hoxton Tom or Mickey Fitz. We got our model of reality from Robert Anton Wilson and Genesis P-Orridge.

    Whilst their appearance was brief, most if not all of the audience smiled big time and had a very happy look on their face.

    They played their songs, they played an extra and the lot still wanted more.

    And got it – here is their final song:

    With that, they exceeded expectations also on the timing: They graced the stage for more than 30 minutes!

    As ever when a band convinces me live i score vinyl and with Lost Legion i went ALL IN.

    “Bridging Electricity” was one of my favorite songs of 2022 and i finally could score the 10″ (anyway the coolest format in the world).

    You can get these beauties from eg. locally Sounds Of Subterrania or direct from Mendeku Diskak. But they run in small quantities!

    Pity though that the turnout was so small, how great would it have been if they had shared the stage with Rancoeur two weeks back. But even the best booker (and trust me, both shows ran through the hands of the best booker this side of the sun) could not do that trick.

    Great evening and i was able to see a band that most likely i will not see again. But hopefully will get even more output to listen to.

    PS: Rancoeur T-Shirt count of the night was three. Even more an argument to get the DeLorean fixed and get us and Lost Legion back to the Hafenklang on 30.05.2025.

  • … pickin’ the best: Bass 1, Guitar 2, Drums 3 – perfect spread at the Hafenklang!

    … pickin’ the best: Bass 1, Guitar 2, Drums 3 – perfect spread at the Hafenklang!

    That was most likely the longest drive i ever did to see a show at the Hafenklang. I spend the morning still up north at our 2nd home in Nørrejyske Ø but then me love and me decided to return early due to heavy winds and rain.

    … up north, Jammerbugten ( (c) gehkacken.de 2025)

    And that little early would open up an opportunity for my humble self to catch Rancoeur, on of the best bands of that French thingy that pairs Oi! with Wave. And, thrown in, i would also get S.u.g.a.r. from sunny Berlin and Blowers from even sunnier Melbourne.

    I almost made it on time though the early start at 20:00 was a wee bit too early. And once i climbed the stairs up to the Goldener Salon i already heard Rancoeur, for me the headliner, already playing. Damn!

    I missed the first 4 songs me mates told me and was lucky that my current favorite featured in the next block … here is their own ode to Gilles Bertin (ex-Camera Silens and 28 years on the run after a bank robbery in Toulouse):

    That’s “Braquage” and it sure means Robbery in English. Great guitar, great drive – simply a great song!

    Having bought their first LP a while back i was not sure what to expect live, as the record ventures between melow & wave-like guitar work and simple hard & fast.

    Rancoeur (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 30.05.2025)
    (c) gehkacken.de 2025

    Live, on stage, the 3 lads from Nancy took it to some surprise almost full throttle on the hard & fast side and boy there was nothing wrong with it.

    All three took vocal duties and whilst it all was uptempo it was still all hand-in-glove and a great sound (just, as often, bad bad lights).

    Rancoeur (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 30.05.2025)
    (c) gehkacken.de 2025

    They not only had their ode to France finest, they also gave Fab from the Hafenklang a Camera Silens cover (as he was as often sporting a Camera Silens shirt) as the finishing touch:

    Suicide from the 1985 Camera Silens masterpiece (though cut short by me).

    I enjoyed it big time, despite missing the first block. The audience in the well filled upstairs somewhat was reserved, in hindsight i guess because by and large they where out for the Australian side of things.

    Rancoeur – Setlist (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 30.05.2025 (c) gehkacken.de)

    On top of that Rancoeur had super cheap quality shirts on sale but not yet their new vinyl, only the CD was already available. Damn, i was keen to score it!

    Here is a first glimpse:

    Next S.u.g.a.r. from Berlin and with them more hair. Much more hair. And for me they came across like if Hamburgs own Küken got transformed twice: From Hamburg to Berlin and their mu-sick-al reference from NYC 1975 to Australia 1978.

    S.u.g.a.r. (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 30.05.2025)
    (c) gehkacken.de 2025

    It was not 100% up my liking but at moments they had a real cool sleazy AC/DC sound and at other moments the excellent guitar did throw in some nice surf undercurrent. And, akin Küken, an almost wall of sound presentation.

    They had their fans, they had applause and they got a wee bit more people moving. Not bad, something new for me to dig a wee bit deeper.

    Go and check them out for yerself, they have their stuff on Alien Snatch, a label that definitely is trustworthy!

    Finally Blowers took the stage and where 3/4th was ready within few minutes the lead singer/guitar player took like 15 in-no-hurry minutes extra, up to and including trying to strum and not figuring out why no sound came from the amp.

    Sure the cable was not plugged into his guitar.

    With that start i somewhat feared the worst but was proven wrong on the first chords of the first song:

    Bang! Hard, fast and and in their own words most chaotic and unapologetically loud. And indeed they played at 12 rather than at 10 – it was a very loud set.

    Blowers (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 30.05.2025)
    (c) gehkacken.de 2025

    Their references are most likely all over the place, low-fi garage punk or, as someone on the internet (damn internet, never forgets) pointed out:

    A lo-fi buzz-cutting garage-punk racket with proto-garage sonic-noise hostility.

    Eat that, coward!

    In reality and for me they also had an undercurrent of pop, some harmonies and some interesting twangs at high speed.

    And where Rancoeur covered France finest, Blowers enlisted S.u.g.a.r. to cover Australians finest for their final song.

    Here is New Race from Radio Birdman:

    A friend of mine after the show noted how much he loves them and that he had their stuff on heavy rotation going up to the show.

    I guess i will not go that far but they are worth checking out – cheeky song titles like this one are offensive enough to be checked out:

    Much more than the other two bands their beat undercurrent got the audience moving, i saw plenty of happy faces.

    Was it worth the 550km drive south? Absolutely, also because it was a great spread of music and a relaxed evening. Big fanx to Fab for always being willing to expose such wide spreads in one show, absolutely worthwhile!

    After the show a fellow connoisseur and me even got around to package it all together:

    We choose to take the Bass from Rancoeur, the Guitar from S.u.g.a.r. and the Drummer from the Blowers.

    What would that “best of the best” deliver?

    Yearning!