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Tag: Hafenklang

… and the winner is: Postpunk!
Just back from a lovely battery recharging in sunny Denmark the city greeted us with 30+ degrees … melting point temperature. Still silly me got nothing better to do then drop down to the Hafenklang for a quick slab of H/C (with Night Fever from K-Town headlining).

Local start was with Briefbombe from Kaltenkircher Platz, this is how they kicked off:

I thoroughly like uniform stage attire, as such their postal delivery uniform outfit (matching the postal delivery themed songs) indeed is a bonus. On top choosing to perform Postpunk, Posthardcore and Postviolence as a motto themed band is like the icing on the cake.

Delivery was flawless, with a smile and with every song getting a fitting intro that was … themed too. And with the power to force a smile. Great stuff, check out their output by all means (and i am more than happy to own the EP already).
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Briefbombe (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 07.09.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)
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They had the laughs, though the singer – roaming the floor – was not fully audible (a problem that would continue throughout the night). They got plenty of cheers, up to and including from the family (i guess mum and dad where present as far as i could make out).

Great start, delivered tongue-in-cheek.

Next XIAO from sunny Stɔ̂kː(h)ɔlm. And they started to set up big, the guitar with two amps playing through two speakers and with a simple understatement on the backdrop: Sweden’s Hardcore Band.

That backdrop statement and the amount of time it took to setup gave me some doubt though (as no band ever will be as great as The Vicious). But hey, they would tune the evening up to some Powerviolenceshit so go!
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XIAO (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 07.09.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)
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Hard, Fast, Loud (and overshadowing the vocals yet again) and with plenty of breaks, beat downs and what have you. Quite complicated stuff on the musical side and indeed you must be well rehearsed to deliver that.

Meaning though went awol, as most of the singing was not really audible.

As with many bands from that sub-genre it went fast, my wild guess is that it took not more than 20 minutes. The though by now almost packed Goldener Salon liked it, a couple of folks even performed the stereotypical power violence … dancing.

For me it was more like an acceptable interlude, whenever they kept pace i liked it, whenever they threw in plenty of breaks, stops and whathaveyou it was less my thingy. Go and check them out, as you sure thing can not trust my silly mu-sick-al tastes.

Finally Night Fever from K-Town and they would turn proceedings into much more of a solid slab of guitar sound. Like in a freight train coming at ya with 130 mph. Though loaded not only with leather and studs but also with some hair and some heavy metallic elements.

It was sometimes on the right side of my boundaries, sometimes though it crossed over and had too much solo, too high pitched voice and an overall metal feel.

On the positive though was that that freight train just would not stop and was completely well rehearsed. Just with a quick look the bass player commanded “Next” or “keep going” and the wall of sound never broke.
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Night Fever (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 07.09.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)
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When it came to my favorite topic of stage attire they somehow got it almost right, drums and strings all black, singer in blue jeans, “No Trend” shirt in white and … black leather gloves with studs. Sight. Poor mans metal dreams? Never mind, he made up with loads of energy and jumping around.

Whilst the mu-sick was not 100% up my alley they are a formidable and energetic live band and with that sound they will please a wide range of audience.

Three bands, three hours and some nice shirts. Was it a must have show? I guess not, there are much more convincing packages still to come.

… young men are send to deliver, to feed the dogs of postal service!

But it was live, supporting live music in a real club and it was DIY in the widest sense. So in the end, even when i did not like all the mu-sick, it was worth it.

And the city was still fucking hot when i left the Hafenklang. Arrggh!
2023/09/08
… blatant localism: Bad Job Boys and Slanders!
Me mate Frosch claims that this summer is the best ever summer for live mu-sick and in full consequence he has been following eg. Civic and Rancid throughout Europe, been to Punk Rock Raduno in Bergamo and Rebellion in Blackpool. This week he went to see Devo (Tuesday, Berlin), Beltones (Wednesday, Berlin), Anti Heroes (Thursday, Monkeys), The Prize (Friday, Astra Stube) … only to finally go blatantly local with us on this Saturday.

The Bad Job Boys set this up, mustered fellow locals Slanders to the rooster and got folks upstairs into the Hafenklang.

And they choose to take the stage first:

Bad Job Boys – Setlist (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 19.08.2023 (c) gehkacken.de)

They have tidied up the set list, re-arranged the sequence and added brand new songs – a proper approach to win over the local audience.

Within that, they even unintentionally cut short my favorite song:

Fun moment around the 1:00m mark when Frank and Stephane realize that Bodo got carried away and ended up playing his bridge way too early … but as they are fully in sync they master that challenge with ease (and speeding up a 02:30 song to 1:46 – awesome times).

Their set definitely benefited from the new mix of songs and that some of the new songs have more umpf, more drive. Already that evening the ode towards the cooking abilities of Christiane & Luke named “Luke kocht” was an immediate sing-a-long hit.
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Bad Job Boys (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 19.08.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)
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Here is another great sing-a-long:

From where i sit a great set, only hampered by insufficient lights. During the set Bodo even complained that on his side of the stage it was way too dark and whilst he can play “blind” a little bit of light would help (that help never came though).
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Bad Job Boys (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 19.08.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)
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On the positive side his massive guitar play was having – at least for my ears – a near perfect sound. Where some found it a wee bit too loud i found it exactly perfect with a wall of sound like experience.

Perfect set, well delivered and taking a willing audience along. Good stuff.

Next Slanders, the other band of Greg from the Haermorrhoids. Almost same territory but slightly different in setup and sound.

This is how they kicked off:

Closing my eyes and having Gregs very unique voice in my head i would almost guess Haermorrhoids but in real it ain’t. Very different songs (though from the same broad genre) and definitely very different twin guitar work.
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Slanders (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 19.08.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)
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And whilst stage attire was not aligned at all the stance was: Feet planted wide, neck of the guitar to the left and gentle lowering towards the back. And matching sound to that A stance they delivered for sure, less #ramonescore – more #poppunk.

When the drummer did setup the drums it felt from in front of the stage like ages, me and some mates where already joking (slightly annoyed) that we most like get an amateur setup paired with an amateur delivery. Boy, we were so wrong!

The drumming was outstanding and pounded the Slanders through this set list:

Slanders – Setlist (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 19.08.2023)

Good set, with loads of applause from the i guess half filled room. The singing though by Greg forever triggers Haermorrhoids with me. I guess i will need to see them Slanders more often to wash that away. And yes, i will!

Now Go! and check them out:
<a href="https://slanders.bandcamp.com/album/solution-for-suckers">Solution for Suckers by Slanders</a>
And because it was a pleasant evening with perfect companionship i kept chatting after the show to ~~Tom~~, ~~Dick~~ and ~~Harry~~ … no, actually to many of the lovely friends around up to and including receipt of personal love message for this blog…

… only to realize that i was almost the last man standing and the bands had perfectly cleaned out the stage of the Goldener Salon at the Hafenklang. A definite first, did not expect that to happen.

And me mate Frosch? He was right almost 100% – the missing % is the Descendents cancellation (and i somehow luckily could not make up my mind in time to get a ticket for Melkweg in Amsterdamned).

I guess Frosch had nowhere to go on Sunday other than out into the sunny weather but i am damn sure he is already getting ready for the Get Lost Fest (that i have to let go for 2 weeks of battery re-charging and reading in Denmark).

You should get ready for that too – the fantastic Split Systems will play twice – on the MS Hedi and at the Hafenklang!
2023/08/21
… Sloppy Seconds, fallen outta time but not into la-la land!
It has been a while (if my memory serves me well somewhere in the 90s down in the cellar of the old Molotow) and i guess it was only ever down to Rebellion that they put some date in continental Europe left/right of Blackpool. Welcome back, Sloppy Seconds!

Where Sloppy Seconds where a “show”, some of the Rebellion pilgrims where a “no show”, getting stuck on the way home (with some free accommodation in AMS thanks to eg. KLM). With some familiar faces missing in the audience i guess the Hafenklang downstairs was half full (which is not bad for a Monday after Rebellion and after a Turbojugend-Nonsense weekend).

Very early The Hawaiians from sunny Westerkappeln kick off the evening, too early for me as i was outside chatting to a surprise tourist from St. Ingbert of all places.

The Hawaiians somehow where a fit and then not. Why?

Well, Sloppy Seconds mark themselves as Junk Rock but i think they would rather qualify under #ramonescore. And that puts them into Edone territory. And that is where The Hawaiians would have fitted best.

Rather than playing on a rainy, stormy and dark Monday inside the Hafenklang with their sun glasses on they should play the sunny outdoors of Punk Rock Raduno in Bergamo.
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The Hawaiians (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 07.08.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)
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Stage attire (perfect unified stage attire, always a bonus), stand-up drums and light-weight Pop Punk of the more enjoyable sort. Nice but somehow thrown under the bus on this occasion. The Edone Pilgrims in the audience (i could make out like 6) though where happy and i was too – at the end they got some friendly applause for their short set. Go and check them out yerself!

Sidekick from LA in the US of A followed suit with a less comprehensive stage attire compared to The Hawaiians. But as a travelling band on a shoestring budget you may not waste too much effort and keep it to street attire.
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Sidekick (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 07.08.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)
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For me they where like a mixed bag: On the positive side they had quite good multi-vocal singing and some of their songs did hit the late 1990s/early 2000s CA Pop/Skate Punk vibes. On the other hand the set somehow lacked inspiration and not all songs really had it.

It wasn’t too long so it wasn’t that painful for my single-minded mu-sick-al ears but if a set of 10 songs includes 3 covers, mmmhhhh – not that great. But they seemed to enjoy on stage and they did not have hick-ups, telling me that they mastered instruments and portfolio. As ever, form your own view!

Finally it was time for Sloppy Seconds, by now more or less eagerly awaited. And here is how they kicked off and how B.A. took the stage:

Rarely a band is able to field such a fitting, such a convincing and such a fan favored kick off song upon entry on a German stage. And because that is a fan sing-a-long almost anywhere, here we go:
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Well I thought
That I meant something to you
But now I see that it's untrue

I guess you must have slept
With every guy you ever met
But I'm gonna get you back
If its the last thing I ever do

The stains on your mattress cannot hide
The fruits of your labor stuffed inside
But, while your in la-la land
Whispering the name of another man
I'm gonna turn my back
And leave your cheating ass behind

I'm gonna run away with your money
And buy a ticket to Germany
I'm gonna sleep with every single slut on the Reeperbahn
And I'll be surfing down the River Rhine (Whoo--oo--ooo)
And you'll be standing in the Welfare line
You're money and you're honey
Are long gone!

It's nothing personal
You saw to that
You're just a person
Who does her best work on her back

But if you're 'wakend
By an obscene call
I sprayed your number on the Berlin wall
I've seen the soldiers as they pass it all around

Imagine all the dick that you once missed
Because you couldn't find the Communists
East or West
Your still the best deal in town

Go!

I'm gonna run away with your money
And buy a ticket to Germany
I'm gonna sleep with every single slut on the Reeperbahn
And I'll be surfing down the River Rhine (Whoo--oo--ooo)
And you'll be standing in the Welfare line
You're money and you're honey
Are long gone!

You're money and you're honey
Are long gone!

You're money and you're honey
Are long gone!
```
Perfect start and it only got better. Against the solid backline of drum & bass you had the guitar as a bouncing ball and B.A.s very typical thin and rather high pitched voice. And from the large rooster of songs (actually, for their length of existence their complete output is rather small) they had a great selection for the lot. And the lot was there, up front and fully into it. It felt like they never had been away…

What made them somewhat fallen outta time was that they still give a damn fuck about political correctness and continue to perform songs like “I Don’t Want to be a Homosexual“. I am damn sure that at some locations nowadays they would be expelled without even trying to reconcile the lyrics.
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Sloppy Seconds (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 07.08.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)
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I liked it, me mates liked it and specifically i liked the stage attire of B.A.: That “front row chain” (as this is the only other place i have seen such jewelry) worn across both the Descendents shirt and the big belly – nice! I asked a mate who sings in a band too to try that one out, it sure will give him more stage presence!

Nice show for a piss poor Monday and nice surprise that a long time pen pal, record producer/dealer and punk memorabilia collector all the way from St. Ingbert came down to the Hafenklang on his tourist errand through Hamburg.

… a surprise tourist and a happy bunny! ( (c) gehkacken.de 2023)

I only wonder if his daughter liked any of the mu-sick – did she? Nevermind, she was born after Sloppy Seconds disbanded initially and to her they may have sounded like from another planet. For me it was neither La-la-land nor “another girl, another planet” it was simply #thereaintnuthinbetterthanlivemusic!

Continued recovery wishes go out to the face still missing, though the hospital he has been transferred to now almost has a view towards the Hafenklang.

Big hugs big man, these evenings are your evenings!
2023/08/09