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Tag: Hafenklang

  • … what a surprise: Battalion of Saints blast the Hafenklang!

    … what a surprise: Battalion of Saints blast the Hafenklang!

    It ain’t a sprint, July in Hamburg this year is a marathon in damn heat. Next on where Battalion of Saints from sunny San Diego, a household name in the 80s, a lesser known name in the 90s (even whilst on Taang back then) and a lost name/cause after that (at least from our viewpoint across that mighty ocean). Many people in Hamburg decided to let go the option, i was curious to see what they are up to now. On purpose i did not check out obvious sources like YouTube, ahead of the show, as i wanted to make my (most likely final) choice based on stage performance.

    First on in a rather empty Hafenklang were The Cryptics, from New Hampshire in the US of A. They had the pain of playing towards say 15 people facing the stage and i have to admit they did well. They stick a “Melodic Punk” label onto themselves, i guess thats is something that works in the US of A but for me it ain’t working (and does not do them justice).

    The Cryptics (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 22.07.2018 (c) gehkacken.de)

    They had good moments when they where short and fast paced, they had almost good moments when they where fast but melodic. And they had lackluster moments for me when they were slow. Best was the bass, who kept a very groovy line throughout the songs. I think i will dig them out deeper, i already noted that the singer has some solo recordings up (on the internet, damn internet – never forgets) that at least got my ears.

    But what started with them already was that itch that was to be carried forward to Battalion of Saints: In passing the singer noted that is was the first show with the guitar player and the 3rd with the bass. So effectively we saw a new band or, my wild guess, a band leader with a new assembly.

    And that swiftly gets us to Battalion of Saints, who have George Anthony as the only remaining member of what was Battalion of Saints in their hey-days in the 80s. To be very frank my first shock was when i saw George, as he looked like a very wasted rock star. Very wasted. Very much too much weight on him. Then i noted that the singer of The Cryptics settled behind the drums. And my initial reaction was fear of seeing a joke. And little did i know!

    To vocals and drums the setup added a fuzzed bass (with a very agile bass player) and a solid guitar (with someone who looked initially to be in the wrong band). And what they delivered was surprisingly tight, in sync and basically rock solid. And the more they played, the more they filled the Hafenklang (now still empty with say 45 good folks) with a unique wall of sound that had Georges unique vocal style has a high pitched instrument on top.

    Battalion of Saints (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 22.07.2018 (c) gehkacken.de)

    Most likely this ain’t the Battalion of Saints from eg. “2nd comming” but it is a Battalion of Saints with a unique sound, delivered surprisingly consistent and well. I could make out some songs i remembered, i could make out the notorious “Ace of Spades” cover in their unique style but to be frank i did not bother, as i got carried away by their sound.

    And the end many of the people attending actually recognized the set as a good one and as someone put it in typical Hamburg style “…was für ein Brett!“. I have seen far worse incarnations of band names and i have listened to far worse performances over all the years. If you have a chance to see them in 2018 – go and check them out. If the figures on drums, bass and guitar change then fear the worst but at least expect a surprise.

    I loved it but i can also understand why people did let go the opportunity: They most likely spared the 14€ for Dickies and TSOL on Tuesday.

  • … 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).