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  • … a trail of scorched earth? No, CMI simply ticked off all of my favorite places!

    … a trail of scorched earth? No, CMI simply ticked off all of my favorite places!

    CMI have been criss-crossing central Europe for a month now and already played in support for Slapshot at the Knust (a show i choose to let go, for various reasons). They had a couple of days free prior to a little festival and a final show, i believe that one was moved to Düsseldorf.

    Sam offered a matching evening at the Indra and CMI took it, within that managing to grace Hamburg 4 times between October 23 and July 25 at 4 different places:

    First Monkeys (surprising everyone), then Hafenklang (bringing the danger back into Punk), followed by the Knust (conquering a larger stage) and finally now at the Indra.

    For a peaceful and quiet Thursday evening.

    And peaceful it was, ask Oliver fucking Kahn:

    Bäm! All the ingredients i was looking for, hard, heavy and offensive. And whilst the twin guitar, bass and drums almost remained fixed and in the backdrop it was Adam who roamed back and forth and engaged (as opposed to confronted) the lot.

    CMI (Indra, Hamburg, 10.07.2025)
    (c) gehkacken.de 2025

    From the start they had people dancing and it was without the big male macho style (though lacking the female contingent) – just absorbing the energy down from the stage and transforming it.

    A mate noted: “I love when they play love songs“. And right he was!

    The delivery and the sound was near perfect and their almost unique style has sharped over the last two years. And for whats it worth, they are a peoples band, interacting with the lot, loving to the feedback and act as one.

    CMI (Indra, Hamburg, 10.07.2025)
    (c) gehkacken.de 2025

    Bonus: Adam offered non-nonsense advisory between the songs and definitely was not talking cloudy bullshit but with street credibility.

    At the end Adam was all sweaty (as much as the lot) and lifted his lovely Blueberry shirt and they finished the set off with this banger:

    Summing it up i guess for me this was the tightest (and longest) CMI set i saw in Hamburg so far. A wee bit of salt in it was that only ~120 folks attended and thus it was not a full house.

    Somewhat understandable, as they just had a much bigger audience at the Knust weeks before. But audience reception was positive, the pit was present and pit movements where violently peaceful.

    At the merch there was no sign of fresh vinyl, if you are still lacking CMI records remember that you can score some from our local trusted dealer Sounds Of Subterrania!

    On top of that we got to learn that the drummer on this tour also plays in Skinhead and that they aim to come to Europe next year – that’ll be a class one.

    Check Skinhead out yerself – i am desperately waiting for that LP to physically appear:

    Beautiful guitar and same onslaught like CMI. And same great style of non-nonsense lyrics.

    Perfect evening, perfect show in a cozy setting. Surrounded by friendly folks. This can be repeated anytime soon, though i would believe i got to wait for next summer.

    I’ll be waiting in awe now to learn what location in Hamburg CMI will grace next year.

    Most likely i’ll be there. Will you? Will a local band be brave enough to play support?

    Will the burn bridges with another club?

    Spread yer bets!

  • Bücher, schnell gelesen: 1.777

    Bücher, schnell gelesen: 1.777

    J. Robert Lennon – Hard Girls (Suhrkamp, 2025)

    Gelesen: 20.06. – 03.07..2025 (netto 407 Seiten)

    Aus dem amerikanischen Englisch von Stefan Lux.

    Ach schade – das Buch verspricht viel, hält in Teilen auch viel aber irgendwie ist das Ende … lausig. Für mich zumindest fällt der Spannungsbogen zum Ende hin ab.

    Der Einstieg ist spannend: Jane hat alles was sie immer wollte. Haus. Kind. Mann. Aber es gibt auch ihre Vergangenheit, sorgsam weggeschlossen.

    Erratischer Vater. Abwesende Mutter. Verschollene Zwillingsschwester. Und ein paar Jahre im Knast.

    Und diese Geheimnisse brechen (natürlich) durch. Und aus der lieben, braven Jane wird …

    … wieder ein Road Movie Girl. Das hat die vor 19 Jahren mit ihrer Schwester schonmal gemacht. Geflüchtet in die Weite der US of A nachdem beide einen Theaterlehrer, der sie missbrauchen wollte, erschlagen haben.

    Das ganze wird erzählt in Rückblenden und passenden “Fast Forwards” zu heute. Und aus der Fluchtgeschichte der Kinder wird eine CIA Geschichte ihrer Eltern.

    Könnte klappen, wenn das ganze ins etwas schräge abgleiten würden. Tut es aber nicht, es wird ehr so eine Mutter/Tochter coming-of-age Geschichte.

    Verschenkter Einstieg, es hätte hard-boiled und crazy weitergehen können.

    Das Ende ist echt langweilig und dient wohl als Cliffhanger. Ich kann nicht versprechen das ich den nächsten Teil nochmal probiere.

    Soundtrack dazu: C.I.A. – Runaway, was sonst?

    PS: Bonuspunkte gibt es aber für das Cover – unverändert. Merci!

    J. Robert Lennon – Hard Girls
    (Mullholland Books, 2024)
  • … fucking loud, fucking wild, fucking hot: School Drugs & The Drowns and a sweaty lot!

    … fucking loud, fucking wild, fucking hot: School Drugs & The Drowns and a sweaty lot!

    The Sunday at the Hafenklang with Good Riddance was pleasant and warm, that hydrogenic ball out there though decided to heat things up for The Drowns: It was a very sunny and very hot day, well over 30 degrees. Walking along the banks of the mighty river Elbe towards the Hafenklang was – where it lacked tree cover – a damn hot exercise.

    Arriving early it was time to get rid of water and get some fresh one, booze was not the right choice for the day. And somewhat – given the weather – i was happy to see the show was moved from upstairs (that is damn hot due to the windows) to downstairs in the the larger space (that is a tad bit colder and gives more space to breathe).

    But weather was not the reason, it was presales going well (and remember kids, Clubs and Bands these days need presales!) and a decent turnout was expected.

    School Drugs (indeed a cool band name) kicked it off and i was keen to see them, i did read some good references but shied away from checking their mu-sick-al output to have an unbiased live experience.

    They turned out a five piece, with 5 different stage personas. Most notably the singer, who went wild roaming from the start.

    School Drugs (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 01.07.2025)
    (c) gehkacken.de 2025

    And from the start it was clear that the well filled Hafenklang was facing a more than decent set. They where tight, excellent on their instruments, together and still delivered an energetic show (without being bogus showmen).

    How did it sound and look like? Like this:

    A very 80s and a very East Coast approach that worked more than well for me (and also for many around me). They also threw in enough variations (including an instrumental) to keep the audience on their toes.

    Here is the same song from the record – class one!

    Perfect and some of the guitar work in my simple mu-sick-al head triggers Clowns, not the worst reference for me.

    School Drugs (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 01.07.2025)
    (c) gehkacken.de 2025

    Great hard & fast set and already getting some of the crowd going. They actually bragged from the stage to get married in order to get a Green Card for Germany, they seemed to dig it here (understandably). Lovely!

    They also had some merch, in hindsight i regret to not have scored these 4 beauties.

    Cool Idea: Spreading the Funeral Arrangement LP over 4 perfectly styled 7″.

    I gave them a decent listen via Bandcamp and they are a great quartet. Perfect from sound to visual, wow. Now my greedy record collector scum self needs to go hunting.

    Great start and by the time The Drowns came on condensing water/sweat came already dripping from the ceiling.

    And this is how The Drowns took ownership of the stage:

    They followed right where their friends School Dogs left it, hard & fast but less hardcore – more rock (as in Punk Rock).

    I missed them every time they graced Hamburg before though many of me mates put more than good words forward (only one outsider claimed “too much of a rock show for me”).

    Whilst i can hear the claim towards “rock” i could not make out the “show” element. They are humble, outspoken and real. And emit a shitload of positive energy down from the stage.

    The Drowns (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 01.07.2025)
    (c) gehkacken.de 2025

    Their main asset next to drive & speed is their multi vocal singing, this both adds to the choruses but also the needed variations for the songs.

    The Drowns (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 01.07.2025)
    (c) gehkacken.de 2025

    And, as a bonus, they can even tone and slow it down a bit and still deliver a punchy message.

    What also caught my ear and eye was the fact that they where fucking loud (even with ear protection) and that somewhat the audience did shrink, i guess either people gasping for air or just being forced out by volume.

    Those who stayed in front of the stage though slowly lost the nordic reseved style and to the end turned into a surprisingly big and dancing pit.

    The Drowns (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 01.07.2025)
    (c) gehkacken.de 2025

    They finished it off with some extras and for the start had the perfect sing-a-long from that little green island:

    Ever since 1980, when SLF played for my 16th birthday at the Markthalle, i can sing-a-long to that one:

    And they say they’re a part of you
    And that’s not true, you know
    They say they’ve got control of you
    And that’s a lie, you know
    They say you will never be free
    Free
    Free

    Splendid!

    Here is what the set plan looked like:

    The Drowns – Setlist (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 01.07.2025 (c) gehkacken.de)

    They played about an hour and where totally done after it (though they had the hindsight of arriving to Hamburg and the start of the tour a day early to be able to shed off the jetlag easier) – as much as the audience was.

    Sauna feeling included for free!

    For me it was two bands i have not seen prior and both where great in their own way. Bonus: Both together worked well. Strange though that somewhat less people stayed for The Drowns…no clue why.

    Luckily there is cooling down ahead, on stage hopefully it remains loud and wild!