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Tag: Knust

… næsten alene blandt rockere: Hola Ghosts tilbagevenden!
Whilst the Punk Rock Hamburg community is a mainstay, it is not the only genre with such a community. There is also King Rockers Hamburg serving that other genre that – in contrast to 1979 – at least has some overlap (and not just slaps).

That community had it’s gathering at the Knust and as it added Hola Ghost to the rooster it was a must for me. But i was almost alone, at the end i had a count of 4 people i knew and 4 more i knew from seeing. The rest was about 150 aging rockers, as such this community shares another thing with Punk Rock Hamburg – getting older and older, with little to none young people joining ranks and being driven by the urge of live mu-sick.

Dukes Of Tijuana kicked it off and i guess what they do is authentic Rock-a-Billy (and i have to admit that i have no clue of the cupboards in that genre). They main asset for me was definitely the Gretsch (and the guy who perfectly handled it).

Here is a prime example:

Rather mid tempo and a near perfect guitar play using both the low (twang!) and high (ping!) tones of the spectrum. Wild guess – he can also play a near perfect surf guitar.
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Dukes Of Tijuana (Knust, Hamburg, 04.11.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)
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Paired with the upright bass, light-weight drumming and vocals supported by a wee bit of reverb it made for a pleasant though for my untrained ears a sounds to much alike listening.

Here is an up-tempo one, a Tainted Love cover (genre typical i guess):

They also switched instruments, a nice Johnny Cash cover with the guitar singing and the singer mastering the upright bass. They came across quite joyful, loads of smiles on stage and tried to encourage the audience. But as often, the audience was holding back, including leaving an empty space in front of the stage.
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Dukes Of Tijuana (Knust, Hamburg, 04.11.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)
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Not bad these Dukes, the only reference i could find was sometimes into Tiger Army direction, but as said – this ain’t my genre and i have an even lesser clue than in my accustomed one. At least they got some friendly and supporting applause.

For Hola Ghost it was the 2nd time in Hamburg, returning after 4 years. Last time they graced the Monkeys, this time they took residence like this (after a lengthy instrumental intro):

Thats Chupacabra, most likely their signature song. Tempo variations, great build up of chorus and the horns from hell thrown into it in perfect support of the sound.

It is anyway one of their biggest capabilities: They are able to create soundscapes, songs where the sound is left hanging in the air without the songs ending in nowhere land. Sure that tends to drive up song length but hey, a price worth to pay.
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Hola Ghost (Knust, Hamburg, 04.11.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)
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If they cut short, then it is something special. Like this old Misfits stomper turned Mariachicore:

And it still stretches out the original from 1:47 to 2:34 but has everything they are good at condensed into it. Perfect, ain’t it?

And where Dukes Of Tijuana faced a bit of a void in front of the stage Hola Ghost had everybody in the room and all front rows nicely filled. They even got some few people dancing and some old fellas to throw their fists into the air.
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Hola Ghost (Knust, Hamburg, 04.11.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)
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They had plenty of audience interaction, though most through Peter who grew up just north of the German/Danish border and thus is bilingual. And they had fans from across Europe dropping into Hamburg – from home in Denkmark, from sunny Finland, from that island yonder that wanted to get away and from Belgium.

I guess it was more of an inside joke that Peter commented on the absence of the Swedish contingent, though more people and a packed main hall of the Knust would have been a bonus (for the band, for the guys who set it up and for the Knust itself).
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Hola Ghost (Knust, Hamburg, 04.11.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)
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Hola Ghost got plenty of cheers, plenty of applause and delivered a little bit more than an hour of non-stop fun, non-stop Mariachicore, both in high speed and temper mode.

And they included their nod towards Lemmy, Mariachicore in Motörhead style:

Just perfect. On all fronts. Once they finished they made true on the promise to see people at the bar and where great folks to chat with. Both myself and me mate Frank more than once reminded them that they must come back earlier than later, we both demand that that they significantly reduce their time between gigs in Hamburg.

And as ever when a band convinces me live i took something home, this time a new Hola Ghost shirt for the me love (who could not attend due to Covid, still raging!) and i was finally able to score the Fight (Lemmy Tribute) 7″ (for a bargin price, hüstel).

Hola Ghost – Fight (Lemmy Tribute Version, Hola Pete Records, 2018)

I was home late, only had a minor number of beers and happy as a fuck. Now my dream still is that Hola Ghost play a sizable audience in Hamburg and take say 400 people by storm.

En god drøm at beholde.
2023/11/06
Save The Date – Stadium Rockers Gerd Return To Hamburg!

2023/09/25
… warming up for Rebellion 2023 and finishing with a perfect punk rock opera!
It is this time of the year: Plenty of bands from the US play Hamburg left and right of Rebellion Festival and plenty (actually many) of the Hamburg lot take the pilgrimage to Blackpool.

The good folks behind Punk Rock Hamburg and the Knust teamed up to provide the two bands from Hamburg playing there this year with a warm-up opportunity. To round off the feeling of Festival they paired them with the mighty Wonk Unit, who are kinda special love affair for the Hamburg lot.

First on and very early the Harbour Rebels. Actually like 20:10 – fitting for the age group expected as the audience, thank you very much. I guess they played their to-be Rebellion set, short and crisp and with their music being more on the mid-tempo melodic side.
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Harbour Rebels (Knust, Hamburg, 21.07.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)
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It is not too much up my alley, in good moments it is catchy, sing-a-long and with great female vocals – in bad moments my brain deducted “Deutsch Rock” rather. I think you got to check them out for yourself, my single minded mu-sick-al mind might not be the best advisor . For Blackpool and the audience there i can see how they fit, they will play on Friday 4th of August 21:30-22:00 After Dark in the Arena.

Back to the Knust and already at 21:00 the Razors entered like this:

I guess they also tested their Rebellion set and this is indeed a perfect and catchy lead into playing for well aged punk connoisseurs (actually Friday 4th of August 18:30 – 19:05 at the Pavilion).

It took a bit of time to lure people from the outside and from the bar towards the front of the stage, i guess around 200+ folks filled the Knust (and that makes it only half-full, unfortuneatly).
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Razors (Knust, Hamburg, 21.07.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)
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With their wide variety of songs it most likely is hard to make a call what fits towards Rebellion, for me they took the right choice to cut out most of the local Hamburg favorites (be it Tommys Gang or Law) and focus a wee bit more international.

Like their redemption of Heroes:

With every word you can feel how much Klaus is into this, how much he loves to pay tribute to David Bowie. And the musical uplift the rest of the band provides makes it more than a worthwhile sing-a-long, it is actually one of the songs that gets the audience going.
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Razors (Knust, Hamburg, 21.07.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)
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But the Razors not only look back and take their inspiration from back then – they also take inspiration from today’s Hardcore scene: “No Brains” form their first LP back in 1980 has been transformed into a less than 30 seconds assault, up to and including fitting new words:

My take: The Razors are well rehearsed and ready for Rebellion, lets hope they got plenty of folks enjoying them – as ever they are worth it!

Once the Razors where done there was a bit more of a setup for Wonk Unit, 6 people and as keyboard needed to fit the stage. Came 22:10 and Alex and his troops where ready … and boy where they ready:

The setlist was 40+ songs and they where not limited, as they did not have to warm-up for Rebellion as they will not play (they got Wonk Fest lined up for 29th of June rather).

Wonk Unit – Setlist (Knust, Hamburg, 21.07.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)

And believe it or not, they played – my wild guess – all of these and they would finish up only two hours later, just ahead of midnight.

It was the can’t remember how many time they played Hamburg but they where never that tight, that together and that brilliant. And it was simply like this beauty, all fun, all dancing and all sing-a-long:

Where The Adicts throw a sing-a-long kids party it is Wonk Unit who throw more of an adult party, sans drugs but with plain good clean fun. And in brilliant moments they even sounded like The Dickies (a view a mate levied upon me and i have to say that i agreed on the spot).
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Wonk Unit (Knust, Hamburg, 21.07.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)
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A party they indeed got started, plenty of dancing, plenty of sing-along in the audience and plenty of tongue-in-check banter by Alex between the songs.

His lengthy into to one of the all time faves included a more detailed then needed advise that it was time to piss on your friend or your girlfriend and be pissed on too. Time to enjoy the experience.

Lewisham, of all places:

Just puuuurfect.

They not only played plenty of great songs, they also where incredibly busy on stage – moving around, changing position and trying to guess what song Alex desired next, rarely he gave away more than an indirect clue whilst chatting to the audience.
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Wonk Unit (Knust, Hamburg, 21.07.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)
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They played and played and then came back for plenty of encore, kicking off the add-on part like this:

Even down from the large stage of the Knust they where one with the audience, had people dancing on & off stage. With Alex commandeering the troops on and off stage, even something irrelevant like stage diving was converted into a family thingy providing additional joy.
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Wonk Unit & Family (Knust, Hamburg, 21.07.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)
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After almost two hours of fun, fun and fun they closed it down with a big hats off to the Punk Rock Hamburg Family, to which they most likely by now are adopted from the island yonder.

Thanks Alex, thanks Vez, thanks Max, thanks Pwosion, thanks AJ and thanks Jude. This was the best ever show you gave the Hamburg lot! It felt like a double album, gatefold cover damn fucking Punk Rock Opera without any break.

Simply a perfect evening with perfect companionship on and off the stage. Could i ask for any more?

Yes, Repeat.
2023/07/23