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  • … show of the year material? No Problem for Home Front!

    … show of the year material? No Problem for Home Front!

    The mu-sick-al year 2023 somehow pushes the envelope (as the marketenders like to brag) and seems to culminate towards year end. Within those many shows to come was this one, mainly of utmost interest because it would expose a band with a selectively different sound to an often single minded audience.

    Advance tickets for the show went to so well (~150 sold ahead of the show) that the Hafenklang decided to move it downstairs, into the big room. At the end around 200 folks took the opportunity to see Home Front, door tickets on the rainy and cold Thursday turned out less than hoped for.

    Support was local Post Punk band Fun Total. A band i never picked up prior and by the looks on stage all members rather unfamiliar to me. And to be frank, i feared the worst. But once they started it sounded much more acceptable. Actually making sense, somewhat.

    Fun Total (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 09.11.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)

    A rather bare bone sound with a hammering bass (and a cool Bass in Gold, that already won him the “Strings Of The Day” award), a guitar that flip/flops between distorted/not distorted and almost invisible (as in perfect fitting) drumming. On top a singer that talks in German rather than sings, much in Jens Rachut vein (and he may forgive me to get such a notion).

    Songs where more on the complex side and thus tended to be longer but taking all in they worked quite well. I guess i will check them out again, they soon have a record out and a release party in January 2024 at the Komet – if this is 100% up your ears then by all means join them.

    Else check them out for yerself:

    Quick changeover and on went Home Front – and kicked off like this:

    Despite the more melow and maybe even spherical music Graeme jumps around like he is fronting No Problem (and he even sported his standard Gorilla Angreb shirt). Which is a great sign, as it means he is 100% into it. During No Problems initial hey-days he gave a side comment in an interview:

    I think the only way you stay around is if you make natural changes, you don’t force anything. I’m not going to try and tell some kid what I think is cool. I hope he’s telling me. I hope he’s doing something that’s just going to blow my mind.

    And with Home Front he indeed does – he blows my mind! I believe the whole idea came around during Covid and then quickly was made real. The first 12″ EP in 2021 and now in 2023 followed by a near perfect album:

    That beauty is such a genius strike, such a great non-conformity step in a scene that is rather conform to the max. I did read striking reviews that set the scene very well:

    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 got the record earlier the year and liked it but never managed to listen to it in entirety, only by pieces. Because there was something absent, but i could not pin-point exactly what. 

    Home Front (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 09.11.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)

    During the show it made “click”: As a live band the whole delivery was much more lively, much more outgoing. So much more connecting to the listener. And that was not only through Graemes outgoing and active fronting, no – it was the rest of the band too.

    I was not the only one with that itch and the click, me mate Frosch had the same feeling:

    I have to confess that I’m a great fan of No Problem, Home Front singer Graeme MacKinnon’s hardcore punk band. They released 3 albums and several 7’s between 2010 and 2018 and I’ve seen them 4 times in Hamburg, including a legendary boat trip, where things got so wild and crazy that the captain threatened to stop the boat ride if things won’t calm down… 

Even though I wasn’t fully convinced of Home Front’s recorded output, I was really looking forward to their show at Hafenklang, expecting Graeme to put on an energetic stage act. 

And that’s just what he did, he really rocked the place along with his pretty young band mates. Home Front’s songs, sounding a little too sterile on record for my taste, really came to life when performed on stage and I would really look forward to a live record if they were going to release one. 

Watching a video of their Paris show a couple of days earlier you could see the whole crowd moving and stage diving, something that didn’t happen in Hamburg to Graeme’s regret, but then Paris might be the biggest Joy Division worshipping city in the world. 

Still one of the best shows in Hamburg this year, and asking Graeme No Problem is still going as a band, more great news on a memorable night!

    His account is spot on, that energy flow you can see here too:

    Whilst Graeme was roaming the front and using his vocal abilities across the full spectrum there was the stunning bass (#haveyoueverfalleninlovewiththebassplayer) on the right driving it forward, a pair straight out of Manchester mid-80’s (and fed on Factory Records records) on Guitar and Synth on the left plus a hammering drummer.

    And all the ingredients where almost perfectly mixed down by the Hafenklang sound man, it is not very often that all feels perfectly fitting together. The longer it went, the more people in the audience smiled. In the stereotypical cool and held back attitude of the North there was only little dancing, i bet you on their return and on a bigger stage with more space in front they will command a full dancing dance floor rather.

    Home Front (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 09.11.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)

    They played for about 45 minutes and from where i sit they took the lot by storm. Every single person i spoke to after the show was full of appreciation, full of praise. And frank, i’d love to see them grow big, i’d love to see them being given the money to produce ever better quality output and take that on tour that gives them 500 a night rather than 200.

    Why?

    Because they come from the wide empty of the Canadian plains and their dance music fucking deserves it. And it is a much better time travel than the one that happened in parallel at the Knust, where 999 played (and lured some familiar faces that i would have expected over at the Hafenklang).

    As ever i scored vinyl when the band was able to persuade me live, not knowing how much they had on hand i simply grabbed all that was missing in my collection already prior to the show starting.

    When i put the beauties into my Nasser Hund tote bag Graeme noted the Chain Whip LP i had in there (for swapping against the new Clowns LP later in the night) and inquired extensively how the show went on Monday. Canadians, always looking out for friends from home.

    Get your own copies from Sounds Of Subterrania, the trusted La Vida Es Un Mus dealer in Hamburg!

    I took a couple of drinks with me mates, had some fun chats with the bass player about her beautiful equipment bag made from red leather (a bowling ball bag as i now learned, it got her the “Best Gear of the Night” award single-handedly) and then it was time for uphill & home – happy as a fuck.

    It wasn’t straight to bed though, a moment of holding back and memorizing names was due at the stumbling blocks in my street. Julius & Betty Levy lived here and where deported in 1941, to be murdered in Riga later. Gertrud Hirsch was deported 1942 and murdered at Theresienstadt 1943.

    no forgiveness, no forgetting! It startet 09.11.1938 and it won’t happen again in my street!

    And whilst i had that little itch already after the show it now comes back even stronger: The Home Front set indeed currently is in the Top 5 for 2023 and thus Show Of The Year Material. Not only for me, i hear!

    PS: And the wide plains of Alberta? Shall be kept rats free!

  • Bücher, schnell gelesen: 1.666

    Bücher, schnell gelesen: 1.666

    Robert Reuland – Brooklyn Supreme (Polar Verlag, 2023)

    Gelesen: 20.10. – 08.11.2023 (netto 487 Seiten).

    Aus dem Amerikanischen von Andrea Stumpf.

    Ein ziemlicher Brocken und für mich nicht wirklich flüssig zu lesen, obwohl es eigentlich ein spannendes Buch ist. Mit einer ganz neuen Perspektive.

    Robert Reuland ist Jurist. Er hat in der Wirtschaft gearbeitet bevor er zur Bezirksstaatsanwaltschaft Brooklyn gewechselt ist. Nach 5 Jahren dort ließ er sich als Anwalt in NYC nieder und verteidigt Personen, die aufgrund von polizeilichem und staatsanwaltschaftlichem Fehlverhalten zu Unrecht verurteilt wurden.

    Sein Blick auf die Polizei, die Staatsanwaltschaft und die Richter ist also geprägt. Und offensichtlich hat eine ganz persönliche Konsequenz gezogen: Vertrauen muss wieder hergestellt werden. Denn ohne Vertrauen in Polizei und Justiz geht das Gemeinwesen den Bach runter.

    Reuland zeichnet mit vielen Details ein Panorama das offensichtlich von seiner Arbeit als Staatsanwalt und Strafverteidiger geprägt ist. Und dieses Panorama trieft vor Zynismus: „Wahrheit spielt im Brooklyn Supreme Court keine Rolle, nicht am Ende. Das Einzige, was zählt, ist die Lüge, mit der sie dich erwischen.“ Und um diese Lüge zu bekommen wird manipuliert. Und zwar alle gegen alle.

    Im Buch geht es um Will Way, einen Gewerkschaftsvertreter der lokalen Polizeigewerkschaft mit dem launigen Namen Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association. Er soll einer noch sehr frischen Polizistin beistehen, die einen farbigen Jugendlichen erschossen hat (nachdem dieser ein Geschäft überfallen hat). Sie war vorher Marine (also bei den Streitkräften). Der Junge war bewaffnet, zumindest wurde eine Waffe bei ihm gefunden.

    Schnell wird klar das da was nicht stimmt, ihr Partner war nicht bei ihr und das mit der Waffe …. mmmhhh, stimmt wohl auch nicht. In der Öffentlichkeit gibt es einen Riesenaufschrei, die Politik mischt sich ein und Will ist jetzt noch mehr angestachelt die Polizistin in diesem Wahnsinn von “Keine Gewalt gegen Schwarze – Weg mit der Polizei” zu beschützen.

    Reuland greift immer wieder zu kleinen Kniffen in dem er Sachen verschweigt und dann später in der Handlung klarstellt. Den Alltagsrassismus des Lesers erwischt er früh: Nach den ersten Demos und Protesten wg. “Gewalt gegen Schwarze” erfahren wir beiläufig das die Polizistin farbig ist. Eine Schwarze. Niemand hat danach gefragt.

    Will Way erkennt schnell das alle, die mit dem Fall zu tun haben, entweder versuchen ihre eigene Suppe zu kochen oder aber einen Schuldigen zu finden. Und er erkennt auch, das er als nächster hingehängt wird.

    Und das wird er auch, für seine Haltung fährt er ein:

    ( (c) Polar Verlag 2023)

    Hammer. Nix für hard-boild Krimi Fans aber für alle die nochmal kräftig über ein durch- und durch kaputtes Rechtssystem abkotzen wollen.

    Soundtrack dazu: Jon Cougar Concentration Camp – Georgina, was sonst?

  • … perfect Monday, sold out: Saufknast, Chain Whip, Ping Pong!

    … perfect Monday, sold out: Saufknast, Chain Whip, Ping Pong!

    Monday upstairs at the Hafenklang is most of the time a fun experience: Either something completely unknown, with donation at the entry, followed by Table Tennis and DJ or something special, following the same logic. This Monday it was the latter, Chain Whip from Vancouver, BC, came through town and where supposed to top their energetic performance at last years Get Lost Fest.

    Support was by Saufknast, a fresh band from Hamburg/Kiel, sporting a great name (it is a play on words best translated to Drinking Prision) and a graphically not so great logo. When i arrived at the Hafenklang it was already well filled and Saufknast kicked off way ahead of 21:00, making some miss their set.

    Saufknast (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 06.11.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)

    What did i get? Strings paired with hair. A drummer sporting a Grauzone shirt (and playing way off that reference). And a female singer with a high pitched voice with too much reverb on it – from start to finish i was not even able to make out in which language she was singing.

    How did it sound? It did not sound perfect but specifically the hairy strings where able to give it quite some umpf, drive and force.

    Checking out their Œuvre (available on Tape from Flennen too) i have to admit that they actually have something. And on top the lyrics, in German (surprise), are actually very clever and surprisingly well done (and sorta out of genre).

    Check it out for yourself, it is worth it:

    I’d love to see them again, with a slightly better sound, and i yes i’d buy that EP on Vinyl – after some contemplation i found them so much better than most of me mates around me (who more or less shrugged them off immediately). They also got a fair share of applause for their short & crisp set, including from Chain Whip band members.

    Next Chain Whip and the upstairs at the Hafenklang was by now well filled though with 130 folks technically not sold out. A stark contrast to some Monday entertainment with say less than 10 people attending. I could sense quite some eagerness with people, a largely rather young audience. Already sensing ahead of the show that Chain Whip currently are hot shit i was eager myself to check if they are able to live up to that.

    Here is how they kicked off:

    Bang! 5 seconds of build up and then off we go – the perfect recipe of 80s West Coast Hardcore. Singer Josh Nickel used to play in The Jolts (a Vancouver band i would have loved to see over here) but is now set for something else:

    Whether that's good or bad, I like violence. If I don't get that from the audience of my own free will, I just have to create it within myself. I'm not out to hurt people. That's for assholes. 

But when I see a killer punk band or stand on stage myself, I want to smell sweat and see blood. I want to feel like it means something to the band to be there. Hardcore is raw energy. I want it to wrap around me when I'm at a show. 

I'm also painfully aware that I'm a 35-year-old playing music that was invented and perfected by 17-year-olds. Sometimes you have to face this fact.

    Whoahey – right on all counts (though for me and me mates age is more times two)! As one of me mates always states: “It is time to bring danger back into hardcore“. Indeed such a setting get’s the better out of a show. 

    Chain Whip (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 06.11.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)

    They are around now for about six years and got plenty of output – all into the very same direction of short, crisp and aggressive blasts in the best vein of said West Coast Hardcore as in the early 80s.

    But they can also temper themselves and stretch it out longer. And still, it is great. Listen up youth:

    They got plenty of cheers, little dancing and loads of folks pilfering the merch table. Towards the end of the set they where plagued with technical problems, the bass amp had some issues (gone from overheating?) interrupting the flow of the songs.

    For me – besides the sound not being as perfect as i would love to have it – a great set, not wasting too much time between songs and letting go a lot of energy into the direction of the audience.

    Near perfect drumming, sturdy bass and forceful guitar shredding paired with a lunatic on vocals – ain’t that the best lure and the best delivery option?

    Chain Whip (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 06.11.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)

    Perfect if you ask me. And as i am old and still get up to work the early end of the show around 22:00 was great too, some chatting, some merch and then off & uphill into me bed, full of energy.

    This time round i even got vinyl twice, an absent mate asked for “everything on vinyl” to be purchased but i spared him “everything” and just took home the latest LP.

    Chain Whip – Call Of The Knife (Drunken Sailor Records, 2023)

    Indeed that record is a worthy blast, check it our yerself:

    Another worthy Monday, crisp in mu-sick-al delivery and followed by the lot with table tennis (the band was barely off stage), for myself not. I am old, i went to bed.

    Smiling.