Tag: Monkeys Music Club

… how to ruin a good show!
It could have been a great Thursday, the tourist from St. Ingbert yet again in town and visiting the show, the lovely couple self-exiled to Denmark (❤️ 🇩🇰 ❤️) was there and a perfect line up with local heroes Red Bricks, the energetic Antagonizers ATL and the so called “legend” Anti Heroes (who played Hamburg last time 20+ years ago). But it would turn a wee bit sour at the end …

Red⚒Bricks kicked off with a great (at least according to the Blackpool Pilgrimages tales) Rebellion Set under their belt. They where hampered though by the fact that their Bass Player Keith was not available short notice, hence the Bass from Antagonizers ATL jumped in (and did a good job under the circumstances).
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Red⚒Bricks (Monkeys Music Club, Hamburg, 17.08.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)
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The unfortunate thing though is that indeed the signature bass was missing, for my ears it provides that extra that makes them slightly different, slightly better. How did it sound? It sounded like this … though throughout the whole night the sound was not perfect, somehow.

Still, a good set and a fitting start into the evening. For their little niche they bring everything needed and specifically melodies, though they can also do full frontal chants. Check out their new single “They Shall Not Pass” which has just been released .

Next Antagonizers ATL from sunny Atlanta, Georgia, in the US of A. And from the first chord on their main asset towered the center of the stage: Their singer Bodan is large, present and lends into it as if he is commandeering 100s (if non 1000nds) in front of the stage.

I take it that he is also self aware, as sometimes he steps aside and gives space to the others too, great stage movements by all actually making it a really entertaining set. On top they have all ingredients in the music, a well balanced mix of pace, melodies, twin guitars and sing-a-long.

The played for like 45 minutes and had a good grip on the audience, i saw a lot of smiling faces around me and even a couple of folks happily dancing away in front of the stage.
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Antagonizers ATL (Monkeys Music Club, Hamburg, 17.08.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)
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For me and my ears a near perfect set (give or take on the sound, it wasn’t perfect all night) delivered in class (and completely unpretentious). Rock solid work if you ask me, out of the rooster of American Street Punk (what damn stupid cupboard actually) one of the key assets. I will definitely endeavor to see them again, suggest you check them out too if this is down your mu-sick-al alley.

Finally Anti Heroes, if my memory serves me well they played Hamburg last somewhere around 2000 or 2001 at a small youth club in Ahrensburg, a suburb just north of Hamburg.

Here is what they set out to deliver:

Anti Heroes – Setlist (Monkeys Music Club, Hamburg, 17.08.2023 (c) gehkacken.de)

And this is what we got:

From a musical point full on and absolutely my thingy: hard, fast and short. What quickly caught the eye of some folks though was the shirt of Mark Noah – the slogan “Let’s go Brandon !” is taking a side that was not savored well.

During the show he paired it with the explanation “It means fuck Joe Biden”, after the show when a friend asked about the shirt he responded with a barrage of trash along “… Joe Biden is more bad than Hitler and Stalin together, you in Germany get not told the truth“. My wild bet would be that he also explained the corrupt left press is the reason, i guess the odds are 1:1. My friend turned around and did not want to have anymore of that shit, rightfully.

One part of the audience decided to let go during the set and retreated to the pub, the larger part stayed for the show. I had no clue what the shirt actually referred to during the set and the “Fuck Joe Biden” comment could have meant anything – so i kept watching.
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Anti Heroes (Monkeys Music Club, Hamburg, 17.08.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)
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Luckily he took the shirt off (not sure if told or because it was too wet). On the mu-sick-al side they continued to deliver strong though.

After the show i got tipped off with respect to the shirt and context and somehow that took away large part of the joy the live music provided. I have no clue how much the rest of the excellent band shares Marks views, from where i stand i will sure not take an effort to see them again. I guess they will also not be booked anymore into my favorite clubs and i am fine with that.

Still, great evening with some good chats and great music. I could also walk the tourist home with a bit of sightseeing, explaining the beauties of the Große Bergstrasse emptiness at night. He and his son only ever complained about Beer pricing in Hamburg, one of the key disadvantages of the big city.

But whatever great music, stupidity sometimes ruins it. Well done Mark, now go back and bail out America from the hands of the Un-Americans. Oh my lord …
2023/08/19
… quand la joie l’emporte sur la musique : Le retour des Bolokos!
Last year The Bolokos delivered the show of the year at the Indra, surprising 30+ people with more than 2 hours of joy. This years return optimistically was moved to the bigger Monkeys … and indeed more than double (but still not enough) turned up.

Support was to be Dead Dates from Düsseldorf, who would have brought the gear. They had to pull out short notice and the Monkeys had to find a local support with Backline. NōōS jumped in to help and thus secured the evening (and a support slot).

Without NōōS there would not have been a show, hence they had my sympathy. Unfortunately they only called debits on that sympathy account, largely for their mu-sick (a bit of everything) but also for the overly self assured (and talkative) singer.
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NōōS (Monkeys Music Club, Hamburg, 15.08.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)
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To a different audience and setting they may work, for me they did not work at all (though their Bass was fun – a guitar with Bass strings). For the rest of the audience they also did not work, it turned into the rare occasion that a band literally is emptying the room in front of the stage.

… NōōS really achieved emptying the room, outsch!

Sorry NōōS, with me you need to try again. Or better not, as my mu-sick-al mind is very narrow minded i fear.

Next The Bolokos and they simply followed on from where they left it almost a year ago on 19.08.2022 – childlike joy and emitting fun down from the stage. Yet again with their borrowed drummer (running gag ctd, their drummer could not travel) and in their typical Bolokos gear (did i say that i like uniform stage attire?).
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The Bolokos (Monkeys Music Club, Hamburg, 15.08.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)
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Thats energetic Edy Caramello on Guitar, lovely Océ Cheapfret on Bass and the running gag on Drums. Edy joked that the last time they rehearsed was right back on the stage of the Indra – i guess that was a lie, as they where perfectly together.
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The Bolokos (Monkeys Music Club, Hamburg, 15.08.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)
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It was nice to note that Edy could remember almost all that attended the show last year but it was even more fun when he realized that the “lalala” replay attack would be levied against them again. His realization and the broad smile that came – priceless.

I guess they did not play as many songs as last year, this time round they limited themselves to “only” ~2 hours. But these two hours where filled with exactly that uplifting joy that makes you feel good.

As me mate Christian noted: Musically there are definitely better bands, but in terms of sympathy and what they have delivered, The Bolokos are way ahead.

As expected the distance between the band and the yearning audience disappeared quickly and as per Bolokos custom their version of “If the kids are united” invited everyone on stage. The only item odd was that it also lured Luke (of Spitfire Stevens fame) on stage with something brewed in his hands that was not … Jever. Wow!
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The Bolokos (Monkeys Music Club, Hamburg, 15.08.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)
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They came back for some more and despite that the Bass did not work anymore on the final song they got the lot singing. Indeed The Bolokos know how to deliver and how to take an audience along and thus deliver a worthwhile evening, period. Even with the too small attendance on a Tuesday evening.

The only item i’d love to see next year is that they up their merch to include the famed Bokit sandwich and some local white rum. They they would not only please my ears, my eyes but also my stomach.

How about that Edy?

For the Hamburg lot the gentle reminder that attending a Bolokos show is minimum 2 hours of joy – don’t miss that next year (the only ones excused this year where those seeing DEVO in Berlin on the same evening).
2023/08/19

… sign of times: Monkeys needs help!

As with many venues the post pandemic norm also for the Monkeys is less guests, higher cost and as such a fragile setting at the risk of breaking.

I have been out to the opening of the Monkeys way back in 2014 and have seen many great shows there. And indeed i have noted post-Covid a significant reduction in attendance.

The Monkeys is asking for support, i have joined in to do so. If you value their program and if you want this little niche to continue you may do so too.

Here is what they say:

We need to talk

For those of you who know us well enough, this next part might not contain new information. But we’d like to take a minute, to introduce ourselves and our work.

Our journey starts 8 years back from now. When this whole adventure started, we had to goal to create a space of (sub)-culture and live music in Hamburg. All DIY.

Lots of you awesome people were celebrating, dancing and laughing with us during the last 8 years. But times change. And now we are not really in the mood for a dance through the night.

Since the end of the Corona-pandemic, which on its own is a tough pill to swallow, there has been lots of repayments and rent increases. Nevertheless the higher costs in general when it comes to energy bills, fees, extra costs and many more. With all of this in mind, times are tough and we don’t really see a light at the end of the tunnel.

So, what are WE doing, to develop a new program, with more open offers to new demographics. New events, new discos. And we are still open for bookings. This summer has been highly stressful and even though summer might be gone soon, we still don’t really know, how to survive the winter.

But what can YOU do to help us? As said before you can book us as a location. And even if you don’t want to you can recommend us to other people you know. Privat parties, company parties, birthdays, Live-recordings, shooting music videos, film set, record recording, record-release-parties and many more. We are a great music-venue which is very versatile, when it comes to booking us.

Go see us. Together we’ve had a blast the last 8 years. Your support before, during and after the pandemic has been tremendous and gave is the opportunity to keep going.

And if you’d like to support us even more, then check out our Patreon:

For those wondering: Patreon is an online service which allows you to support us via a certain monthly subscription. In exchange you get some perks like earlier links to buy tickets or livestreams. At the end its important to notice, that we don’t want to get rich with this. Every dime spent by you will directly float into refinancing our costs and battling new and higher costs.

Every support helps us to keep going,

Thank you for being there for us.

Cheers,

Sam, Sandra and the Monkeys’ team.

Their choice of support is via Patreon.com – here is the link:

2023/08/14

Tag: Monkeys Music Club

… how to ruin a good show!

… quand la joie l’emporte sur la musique : Le retour des Bolokos!

… sign of times: Monkeys needs help!