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Tag: Hafenklang

  • … for Steve!

    … for Steve!

    Although i know that our little scene is actually very close, very tight and generally full of mutual appreciation there are these little moments, these little gestures and these observations that do stun me. Tuesday evening at the Hafenklang was such a moment: What under normal conditions would have drawn say 100+ people to see the Adolescents turned out into an almost sold out show that the Hamburg lot come out for and provided the band with a huge wave of love and appreciation.

    When the sad news of Steve passing away came over many people thought “…that’s the end of the Adolescents, they will cancel the tour” and quite right so. We (and i) have lost members of our little scene in the past and not so recent past and it is a devastating feel. And now think of a band that just finished a new record, booked flights to Europe and all of that was managed by … Steve. It takes a lot of guts to then just hang in and come over. You could feel that the band was in two minds: The heavy push down by the sad loss and the uplift from the love coming back from the audience.

    And whilst you should never reveal the end of the book at the start i think “For Steve!” is a good reason to let you know that the Adolescents came out of that amazing: They gave most likely the best, tightest and heart-full set ever in Hamburg: For Steve!

    The support slot was taken by No Sugar who sported some familiar faces. It was their 3rd only gig but individually they have some experience under their belt. They claim to do Proto-Post-Punk/Anarcho-Rock’n’Roll and that makes me smile, as i can now add another drawer to my mu-sick-al cupboard.

    No Sugar (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 17.07.2018 (c) gehkacken.de)
    No Sugar (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 17.07.2018 (c) gehkacken.de)

    When they played i could actually not make out any connections to the cupboards mentioned, it think they play something with a good twang and have a special advantage by all of the three in front singing. Either individually, or in harmony or with some as chorus. Whilst i could not make out all lyrics (in English) it was their main asset.

    Did i like them? Yes – i stayed inside during their set whilst half of the audience decided to have beer, sun and conversations outside of the Hafenklang. Their set was short (say 25 minutes) and only had one disadvantage for my ears: There was little rhythm change, little variations in speed. Whilst that per se is not an issue, i think their type of twang would work better with. Lets see where they head for and lets see how it works should i see them again.

    And then came the Adolescents and they were greeted with loads of applause and loads of cheers. And they kicked in like this:

    Bang, spot on. And sorry for cutting the cheers off at the of the video – there where many. It was clear that for them doing this was a heavy task, the heaviest most likely for Tony (who lost a life long friend) and for Brad (from F-Minus, Leftover Cräck and Rats in the Wall), who had to fill in on Bass.

    Adolescents (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 17.07.2018 (c) gehkacken.de)

    And whilst they blitzed, bulldozed and stormed through their set they also took the time to remember Steve and let the audience know how much they appreciate the support and expressions of love. It was truly a show fueled by love and positive energy and it made everybody feel good.

    As stated earlier i think it was the tightest and most energetic set of the Adolescents ever in Hamburg. The longer the set went, the the way above 200 people in the audience got moving and enjoying. And i think also the band on stage really enjoyed it.

    And when it came to the end there sure were encores and the final encore was an obvious one:

    Thank you so much Adolescents! That was a worthy remembering of Steve’s legacy and that was a great show. Hard things may hit us and hard thinks will eventually hit us – it is how you go about it. You went about it in the best possible way and for that we are thankful.

    And with all that love and joy most of the audience set off to plunder the merch table, many got the new record and a shirt – one loner got the first record and subsequently was taunted by one of me mates (for no good reason). I got the new record and the “Free Melania” T-Shirt and when i turned around 5 of me mates had done the same choice, so we decided to co-ordinate wearing it for one show in the future to appear as a gang.

    I was home very late (and nicely hung over on work next day) but for a very worthy cause.

    nb: And here is how the Adolescents phrase it:

    On June 27, 2018, we lost STEVE SOTO: fearless leader, bass player, singer, songwriter, producer, and best friend. After much internal conflict, soul searching, and heartbreaking discussion, we have realized that Steve - the hardest working man in punk rock - would be upset if we did not finish the tour to support the new record that he worked tirelessly on for well over a year.

Steve did not cancel shows, and considered doing so to be sloppy, disruptive, and unprofessional.

We will do what Steve set out to do. What he wants of us, and what is right. We will fulfill our commitment to share those songs. Longtime friend Brad Logan will rock the bass in Steve’s honor this summer in Europe and the UK.

We thank you for your support, love, understanding, and patience with us during this time and hope you will join us to celebrate and honor Steve the way we know - by playing the music he helped to create.

This is not a time for hate. Hug your loved ones; this ride is short. Come celebrate Steve’s legacy. Sing the songs we wrote.

Tony, Dan, Mike, Ian
The Adolescents
7.12.18

     

  • … surf pop the metal way: Welcome back Hard-Ons!

    … surf pop the metal way: Welcome back Hard-Ons!

    It has been a while that the Hard-Ons graced these shores, i can’t even recall when and where i did see them in the 90s the last time. But they stayed forever in my books as one of the bands that had an almost endless stream of great singles with excellent covers. Still, sometime after Yummy (their 1990 effort) they somehow lost me from a record perspective (i still got more than 10 records by them though) and some time later also from a live perspective.

    Nevertheless it was worth it to give them yet another chance, specifically as they now are a 4 piece and they have Keish solely on vocal duties whilst new recruit Murray on drums.

    The support slot on this warm and sunny Wednesday (that had Germany exiting the pretty useless 2018 FIFA WC vs. South-Korea) was for locals Bolanow Brawl and they took it with pride.

    Bolanow Brawl (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 27.06.2018) (c) gehkacken.de)

    I do not necessarily dig them but they have grown  quite a bit: They have a very tight sound and absolute excellent dual guitar play (and on top great whoooa-background vocals). But the thing that keeps me off is something like an undercurrent and that keeps being both that they sound like something i heard before and that their songs tend to be too complex and too long.

    That second thing was actually a shared observation with a fellow friend in the audience who has a sufficiently successful career in a band so seems to be in the know much more than me when it comes to debunking mu-sick. But what they do they do very well, so i stayed on through the set (whilst many others enjoyed beer and sun outside).

    Next on the Hard-Ons, now fronting about 75 people in a rather empty Hafenklang. I observed some initial surprised faces and heard some comments about the 4-piece thing, by the looks many people did not keep up to date with the ins- and outs of the Hard-Ons (breakup 1994, return 1998 without Keish and then 2016 the final return of Keish to from the 4-piece). But down-under is far away so that somehow comes natural.

    Hard-Ons (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 27.06.2018) (c) gehkacken.de)

    And the Hard-Ons gave all that you would expect: Loads of power, loads of metal infused whatever (someone on the internet (damn internet, never forgets) called it once “… a mix of punk, pop, and metal with dashes of power pop, psychedelic rock, thrashy metal, and a healthy dose of humor“). In the initial part of the set it was a wee bit too much of that long haired guitar work (though Peter Black is a terrible great guitar player and Murray/Ray are a terrible great driving backline).

    There where also some fun moments, specifically as the well intended bad joke about Germany going out was met with sheer ignorance by the audience. On top i also liked that after 3 songs everyone but Keish uniformly took their shirt off to sweat it really out. And sweating they did.

    And then came overtime and they gave the audience the choice. Some requests where denied (“Sorry Mate, we did not practice that one…“) others where met with a smile (and a quick on-stage rehearsal of the chords). And within that, they also played one of my loveliest songs:

    And yes, for me they still have it and as a 4 piece they actually have it even more. The only item to complain about was that guitar, bass and drum where quite loud and Keish was quite not loud enough. But i guess that comes natural when the dominant force is the strings.

    And how did that one sound in the 90s – here is some MTV history for ya:

    In the end they played like 90 minutes i guess and they put in all i want from a touring band: Energy, humor, humbleness and both listening to the audience and playing for themselves. No complaint here. I think i will now check out they more recent records too.

    Perfect Wednesday out at my local club down the road and more to come in July (let’s see what happens to the Adolescents show given the sad news of Steve Soto having passed away).

  • … a small K-Town warm-up with a small turnout!

    … a small K-Town warm-up with a small turnout!

    Over the last years the K-Town Warm-up was quite a sizeable effort at the Hafenklang, this year it was cut back to a small and intimate setting. Though when i arrived at the Hafenklang i had the initial fear that i was going to be surprised by a large something, given the huge nightliner in front of the doors…

    K-Town Shuttle?
    K-Town Shuttle?

    But that was wrong – it was going to be two bands only and it was going to be empty. Not sure if it was the competition (Lillingtons in Bremen, Beatsticks at the Rote Flora and a few other items) or just the unknown bands.

    But unknown is the trigger, at least for me. How can i judge what music to listen to or what records to buy if i do not check out new bands? First on where Idiota Civilizzato from Berlin (and some other places) and they came just in time for the show.

    Idiota Civilizzato (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 14.06.2018) (c) gehkacken.de)

    They sound like great US inspired Italian Hardcore from the mid-80s and they do sound almost perfect in that vein. Push, drive, speed and dual guitars. The vocals must have been in Italian, as i could not make out any theme. And they pushed their set in a stoic manner towards the rather empty space in front of them.

    Besides Project Youth there where about 15 paying customers and that does not really drive enthusiasm but i have to give credit to them – they where relentless. How did it sound? Listen up youth:

    Next on Project Youth from Istanbul (Turkey) and i think so far i have not yet seen a band from Byzantium so i was very interested to see and hear. It was a wee bit a surprise (and in hindsight not really) to get to see and hear a band that was fully engulfed into 80s UK punk.

    Project Youth (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 14.06.2018) (c) gehkacken.de)

    And their sound indeed was more Punk Rock than H/C, had some melodies and their singer tried to be a wee bit of an entertainer, an art really lost on the few people this night. They where pretty much like a well oiled engine, pushing out their songs and mixing English and Turkish language. And they did engage a bit more with the audience.

    Their sound is pretty much summed up with this Blitz cover, i guess their finest moment that night.

    As for Idiota Civilizzato they would have benefited from a few more people, a bit more enthusiasm in front of the stage and generally “more” (of everything). I think in a different setting they will be well received, lets see if they make it back to Hamburg on a different occasion.

    As you lot where not there, check out both bands on Bandcamp:

    I went home not really satisfied (though indeed with some new mu-sick-al experience) and sincerely hope that next year K-Town Warm-Up at the Hafenklang is again a bigger variety and a bigger exposure for bands travelling to DK.

    And the real thing over this weekend was in København!