Also this year the good people that orchestrate the Punk Rock Hamburg community put a small DIY event foward, making it Hamburg Punk Rock Days 2021. Spread across the Molotow, the Dschungel, the Hafenklang and the Knust it was to ensure that the locations where not forgotten.
For many it was the local replacement for the Blackpool Pilgrimage that was due over this weekend but like many other events got canceled.
Planning was not easy, rules unclear and eg. a boat trip on the MS Hedi was not possible. Instead it started on Wednesday at the Molotow with Cavity Search and Wreckage Dance, a date i had to miss due other commitments. I also did not find the time (and frank energy) to have a beer at the Dschungel on Thursday but i had my tickets fixed for Friday and Saturday at the Knust.
Came Friday and in my part of town, just about when i was to travel to the Knust, torrential rain came down, thunderstorm and … flooding. I was just about to skip the trip when a friend already at the Knust messaged me “it’s all sunny here, we are waiting for you”. So a wee bit late i set sail.
I thus arrived only when Küken had already claimed the stage. They jumped in for another band from out of town who could not make it (and in my mu-sick-al chart would not have featured anyway). And they delivered a perfect broadside!
Küken (Knust, Hamburg, 06.08.2021 (c) gehkacken.de 2021)
Some people claim “their songs all sound the same” but that is a naughty complaint. They have found their own niche and they fill it almost perfectly. They actually play very modern Rock’n’Roll if you ask, if only more bands would dare to do the same and not be copycats.
At the Knust they came tight, together and as one wall of sound … listen for yourself:
I am still hooked on them, their driving and fast paced guitar sound with the unique twin voices is really something i dig. Luckily i was not the only one and a number of the Blackpool Pilgrims in the audience took positive note too, up to and including fetching a record.
If you want to do the same, hop over to https://kueken.bandcamp.com/
Next on the best Ramonescore band in Germany (according to Luke) and with them a swift change of sound. Less “wall of sound”, more variation in speed and a different style of dual vocals.
I am definitely looking forward to this 4-piece hitting the studio to record the follow up to their epic 2019 LP Apparatus Of The Ultimate Power, if they again get to capture their energy it will be another class record.
The Haermorrhoids (Knust, Hamburg, 06.08.2021 (c) gehkacken.de 2021)
What did strike some (and me too) was the fact that whilst the outdoor seating at the Knust works quite fine the setup itself (2×4 people facing each other on beer benches) lures too many people into talking whilst the bands play. Somehow this leads to some “distance” and is quite unfair the band playing.
Maybe that is also the reason my recording device lost attentiveness exactly after 01:00 into this beautiful ode:
In the end more than one of the Blackpool Pilgrims took a rather surprised note of them (finally!) and after the set they were able to sell some of their records in double quantities. Well deserved, though i still would want them to both do something on stage attire and with stage movements – for my liking it is all bit static.
And the folks attending? They were happy, they were chatty, they were smiling and the enjoyed time out with friends with good music. And that is what this small DIY thingy is about – from the community for the community.
Happy People at Hamburg Punk Rock Days 2021 (Knust, Hamburg, 06.08.2021) (c) gehkacken.de 2021
But somehow this was a fucked up weekend for me, as i missed 3/4th of the proceedings due to too many circumstances. But for the times we currently face this was well done, so capital Credit and Thanks to Punk Rock Hamburg (Arne, Perry), Knust, Molotow, Dschungel and Hafenklang.
Let’s get vaccinated, the sooner everything falls back into place for those who love and yearn for live mu-sick.
