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.
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.
