April. Weather shenanigans. And thus keeping people at home. Though when i strolled down to the Hafenklang i was greeted with a stellar view towards the sunset in the West.
Sunset on a miserable Wednesday ( (c) gehkacken.de 2024)
But as empty as the streets the turnout at the Hafenklang would be. Next to a couple of friends of the Slanders it may have only been 30something good people. And half of them i knew by name. Pitty, as the rooster was an excellent one. Though definitely something that work so much better on a hot summer evening, best a Friday (or in Bergamo, i guess most of the Punk Rock Raduno regulars where at the Hafenklang).
Sharp at 21:00 Slanders kicked off with their very own Pop Punk, deeply grounded into the US of A, 1990’s and … on Lookout Records. Screeching Weasel anyone?
Their stance on stage remains feet wide, strings low. And this night it was quite fun to see two of the members sporting a shirt of The Haermorrhoids. Who just finished a very successful short tour. And where Greg plays and sings too.
Nice appreciation (or simply cheap shirts). How did it sound? It sounded like this:
Pleasant indeed, the speed, the dual vocals – it all works well. The songs are crisp and short (more or less) but the sound overall does not carry too many variations, they tend not to break out of their style a single note.
I dig them, though that lack of variation sometimes annoys my single-minded mu-sick-al brain.
The Yum Yums took the stage next and despite the fact that it was feeling a wee bit empty upstairs at the Hafenklang they did smile from the start. And that is the upbeat feeling of their songs anyway, singing about love, girls and everything that goes with it.
The Yum Yums (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 17.04.2024 (c) gehkacken.de 2024
On stage they are much more active compared to Slanders, though Morten stood center stage like a rock and did not move at all.
The amount of variation i missed with Slanders was there but somewhat it was all covered in a layer of sugar. Even up to the point that it was too sweet.
They played quite long, did throw in a couple of extras (but not all from the setlist) and took a rest. Well deserved. In all honesty a shorter (and crisper) set would have worked too.
As they had their brand new LP with them i scored it (on red vinyl, pitiful #recordcollectorsarepretentiousareseholes me), also the repress of their first LP now finally sits in my shelf.
The Yum Yums – Sweet As Candy (Norske Albumklassikere, 2022 reissue)The Yum Yums – Poppin’ Up Again (Screaming Apple, Red Vinyl, 2024)
Relaxed evening surrounded by largely friends (and friendly people), just a tad bit too empty.
One of these nights. Fans watching sellouts. Boring`?
Far from, this evening was full of unexpected and somewhat expected surprises. A surprise indeed was that the show was moved downstairs into the larger room and that it ended up sold out. Somewhat a surprise, as The Meffs only had a not so full show on the MS Stubnitz last year to mark their ground in Hamburg.
A bigger surprise came for me mate Frosch and myself when the support to the support entered the stage and a very familiar face not seen for i guess 30odd years took residence behind the drums. Schnaps hail from the Harz mountain range and said drummer hails from the top of that mountain range. Welcome back to your home harbor, Christoph.
Schnaps have the same setup as The Meffs, just drums, guitar and singing, though the main singing is from the drummer. I guess i would drop them into the Deutsch-Punk cupboard, though they dub themselves as “SCHNAPS are a two-piece old-school HC-Punk band from Wernigerode, Germany.“
Even with all the joy to see an old fellow my ears and brain did signal “Deutsch Punk“. And that paired with a guitar that sounded – alone – way to thin. Go check them out for yerself, for me it did not really work out. With more volume, more umpf, more depth and force on the guitar it might sound better for my single minded mu-sick-al ears.
Next one of my local favorites, Shitshow yet again took the stage at the Hafenklang. And yet again they delivered a near perfect support slot in front of a packed Hafenklang. And yet again they proved worthy for the task.
Around a rock solid blast of hardcore bangers well below the 02:00 (magic) mark they also have branched out into wider territory – a good balance that capitalizes on their abilities and allowing Julia to fill the front with her presence, her voice and her aggressiveness.
Here is Red Light from their 2023 EP:
And as with almost all their songs it has great lyrics too:
Lights off, flying through night life
Another night, red light, my eyes open wide
They stare at me, but they never see
The person behind - myself, me
Red light- another night to fight
Forces me on my knees - who is the person behind?
Eyes stare at me, but they never see
The person behind - myself, me
And you think of your dreams
Don’t put them off until tomorrow
You regret!
The audience by now was well prepared for the headliner, who are to sail into a European run that will be a month long. And this is how The Meffs kicked off:
Unfortunately for Schnaps there was the immediate contrast: Drums, guitar and vocals but the guitar with so much more umpf and due to the fact that Lily takes the singing duties with so much more action on stage.
On top of that Lily comes with all the street smartness and banter that we like so much from those from the Island yonder (that choose to separate itself from us). And as their songs have meanings, have messages her lead ins always provide relevant context.
The Meffs (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 31.01.2024 (c) gehkacken.de 2024
From start to finish The Meffs simply owned the audience. Upfront the audience was more female than male (always a good sign) with loads of dancing. Within that, there was also a small justified pit violence, a good slap into the face of someone who sported an overly male dancing style with little to no attention to his companions.
Sure they played also what maybe can be dubbed their signature song, here is Broken Britain, Broken Brains:
I got to admit that i was a bit unsure if i would dig them fully, there was plenty of praise from the Blackpool Pilgrims and there was much acclaim in the Indie press (and already the term Indie pisses me off big time normally).
But what i got was a humble, friendly and approachable duo. With a real bonus: No fuzz and outspoken truthful – Lily invited the audience to the merch table after the show to buy stuff and have a chat “because that is what i do for a living“.
I wish them to be sellouts forever (and make a living from it)!
The mu-sick-al year 2023 somehow pushes the envelope (as the marketenders like to brag) and seems to culminate towards year end. Within those many shows to come was this one, mainly of utmost interest because it would expose a band with a selectively different sound to an often single minded audience.
Advance tickets for the show went to so well (~150 sold ahead of the show) that the Hafenklang decided to move it downstairs, into the big room. At the end around 200 folks took the opportunity to see Home Front, door tickets on the rainy and cold Thursday turned out less than hoped for.
Support was local Post Punk band Fun Total. A band i never picked up prior and by the looks on stage all members rather unfamiliar to me. And to be frank, i feared the worst. But once they started it sounded much more acceptable. Actually making sense, somewhat.
Fun Total (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 09.11.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)
A rather bare bone sound with a hammering bass (and a cool Bass in Gold, that already won him the “Strings Of The Day” award), a guitar that flip/flops between distorted/not distorted and almost invisible (as in perfect fitting) drumming. On top a singer that talks in German rather than sings, much in Jens Rachut vein (and he may forgive me to get such a notion).
Songs where more on the complex side and thus tended to be longer but taking all in they worked quite well. I guess i will check them out again, they soon have a record out and a release party in January 2024 at the Komet – if this is 100% up your ears then by all means join them.
Else check them out for yerself:
Quick changeover and on went Home Front – and kicked off like this:
Despite the more melow and maybe even spherical music Graeme jumps around like he is fronting No Problem (and he even sported his standard Gorilla Angreb shirt). Which is a great sign, as it means he is 100% into it. During No Problems initial hey-days he gave a side comment in an interview:
I think the only way you stay around is if you make natural changes, you don’t force anything. I’m not going to try and tell some kid what I think is cool. I hope he’s telling me. I hope he’s doing something that’s just going to blow my mind.
And with Home Front he indeed does – he blows my mind! I believe the whole idea came around during Covid and then quickly was made real. The first 12″ EP in 2021 and now in 2023 followed by a near perfect album:
That beauty is such a genius strike, such a great non-conformity step in a scene that is rather conform to the max. I did read striking reviews that set the scene very well:
This time around they have manifested a collection of Post Punk anthems that act as a sonic looking-glass reflecting all of the textures of this genre. Case in point, not too many bands nowadays remember when Post Punk 12 inches were the go-to dance music for the 80s club kids in the UK. Straight up, their title track “Games of Power” shows us all that Dance Music comes in many forms, and that’s why this is one of my favorite songs of the year.
(CVLT Nation)
Home Front have managed to fix truth to the beautiful and borderline mythical thread-needle moment in which punk, new wave, pop, indie and rock and roll all descend upon a single source. We may have only dreamed that Tears for Fears might have been going to see GBH at the weekend or that Annie Lennox spent her evening sewing Crass patches to her Wrangler Blue Bell jacket, but Home Front have rang the dinner triangle for us all to feast.
(J. Falco)
I got the record earlier the year and liked it but never managed to listen to it in entirety, only by pieces. Because there was something absent, but i could not pin-point exactly what.
Home Front (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 09.11.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)
During the show it made “click”: As a live band the whole delivery was much more lively, much more outgoing. So much more connecting to the listener. And that was not only through Graemes outgoing and active fronting, no – it was the rest of the band too.
I was not the only one with that itch and the click, me mate Frosch had the same feeling:
I have to confess that I’m a great fan of No Problem, Home Front singer Graeme MacKinnon’s hardcore punk band. They released 3 albums and several 7’s between 2010 and 2018 and I’ve seen them 4 times in Hamburg, including a legendary boat trip, where things got so wild and crazy that the captain threatened to stop the boat ride if things won’t calm down…
Even though I wasn’t fully convinced of Home Front’s recorded output, I was really looking forward to their show at Hafenklang, expecting Graeme to put on an energetic stage act.
And that’s just what he did, he really rocked the place along with his pretty young band mates. Home Front’s songs, sounding a little too sterile on record for my taste, really came to life when performed on stage and I would really look forward to a live record if they were going to release one.
Watching a video of their Paris show a couple of days earlier you could see the whole crowd moving and stage diving, something that didn’t happen in Hamburg to Graeme’s regret, but then Paris might be the biggest Joy Division worshipping city in the world.
Still one of the best shows in Hamburg this year, and asking Graeme No Problem is still going as a band, more great news on a memorable night!
His account is spot on, that energy flow you can see here too:
Whilst Graeme was roaming the front and using his vocal abilities across the full spectrum there was the stunning bass (#haveyoueverfalleninlovewiththebassplayer) on the right driving it forward, a pair straight out of Manchester mid-80’s (and fed on Factory Records records) on Guitar and Synth on the left plus a hammering drummer.
And all the ingredients where almost perfectly mixed down by the Hafenklang sound man, it is not very often that all feels perfectly fitting together. The longer it went, the more people in the audience smiled. In the stereotypical cool and held back attitude of the North there was only little dancing, i bet you on their return and on a bigger stage with more space in front they will command a full dancing dance floor rather.
Home Front (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 09.11.2023 (c) gehkacken.de 2023)
They played for about 45 minutes and from where i sit they took the lot by storm. Every single person i spoke to after the show was full of appreciation, full of praise. And frank, i’d love to see them grow big, i’d love to see them being given the money to produce ever better quality output and take that on tour that gives them 500 a night rather than 200.
Why?
Because they come from the wide empty of the Canadian plains and their dance music fucking deserves it. And it is a much better time travel than the one that happened in parallel at the Knust, where 999 played (and lured some familiar faces that i would have expected over at the Hafenklang).
As ever i scored vinyl when the band was able to persuade me live, not knowing how much they had on hand i simply grabbed all that was missing in my collection already prior to the show starting.
When i put the beauties into my Nasser Hund tote bag Graeme noted the Chain Whip LP i had in there (for swapping against the new Clowns LP later in the night) and inquired extensively how the show went on Monday. Canadians, always looking out for friends from home.
I took a couple of drinks with me mates, had some fun chats with the bass player about her beautiful equipment bag made from red leather (a bowling ball bag as i now learned, it got her the “Best Gear of the Night” award single-handedly) and then it was time for uphill & home – happy as a fuck.
It wasn’t straight to bed though, a moment of holding back and memorizing names was due at the stumbling blocks in my street. Julius & Betty Levy lived here and where deported in 1941, to be murdered in Riga later. Gertrud Hirsch was deported 1942 and murdered at Theresienstadt 1943.
no forgiveness, no forgetting! It startet 09.11.1938 and it won’t happen again in my street!
And whilst i had that little itch already after the show it now comes back even stronger: The Home Front set indeed currently is in the Top 5 for 2023 and thus Show Of The Year Material. Not only for me, i hear!
PS: And the wide plains of Alberta? Shall be kept rats free!
