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Tag: The Briefs

… bäm, bämbäm: Perfect party bands fueling a dancing party!
Sometimes it is all about correlations. A band hitting a ready audience. A band hitting town on the wrong day. And evening with a thunderstorm, hail and rain. And thus now show on the audience side. And sometimes it is two great party bands for themselves, criss-crossing Europe and having a day to spare before descending down onto Back To The Future in Glaubitz.

The brave folks of the Knust, Wild Wax Shows and Punk Rock Hamburg sized the opportunity and got both into Hamburg, though due to traffic The Spits where quite late in managing the 500 km between the Plan B in Malmö and the Knust in Hamburg, crossing through Denmark.

The Briefs kicked off and an eagle eyed friend provided me with the set list whilst i was still outside and chatting. Here is what they set out to do:

The Briefs – Set list (Knust, Hamburg, 26.07.2024 (c) gehkacken.de 2024)

And this is how they stormed into the set with Static:

Yep, that is Briefs territory: Speed, melody and energy. From where i sit the Glam-to-Punk connection from early UK Punk, deeply rooted in a more traditional rock fashion but with all the speed and umpf needed. Power Pop in the widest sense.

Plus a great sing-a-long mentality attached to almost all songs.
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The Briefs (Knust, Hamburg, 26.07.2024 (c) gehkacken.de 2024)
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And, always a bonus, they dressed for the occasion, giving away individual stage personas (whilst not really interacting with the audience a lot). But as they have a lot of good music to give to the audience, that one was not a downside.

They almost rushed through their almost 25 years of mu-sick, spanning also all the way back. Here is Stuck On You, which dates back to a 2005 7″:

The audience loved it, already some dancing was going on but then the party was spoiled a wee bit: As much as i could make out a drink was spilled on stage, on the left side behind the PA and that somewhat not only created a little lake but took out part of the electricity on stage. Amps where off (thanks to the invention of circuit breakers).

And off went the band, to give room for RCA.
```
The Briefs (Knust, Hamburg, 26.07.2024 (c) gehkacken.de 2024)
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It took the technical folks of the Knust some minutes to identify the problem, isolate the offending circuit and get it all going again.

The Briefs came back and went on just as if nuthin’ had happened. And also got some real fan favorites out, like Silver Bullet:

This songs gets it condensed in it’s 1:00 and bit glory and this little rhyme from the songs pretty much goes all the way back to their 1976 connection i guess:
```
When i think of you you know i think of rotten fruit
The world would be a better place if you were born a mute
```
Correlations. It is all about correlations.

And now sing-a-long: Kill Bob Seger right now! Surprisingly Bob Seger is still alive when i last check (though not at best health).

All-in-all a perfect show by The Briefs fueling the audience well and setting a high bar for the further proceedings.

For The Spits it was a wee bit tougher, arriving late they had to do the sound check on the spot, after the stage was changed over for their definitely different setup. That tune in of sound, monitor sound and all the rest took a bit and was in full view of the audience but thanks to the expert sound people of the Knust it went faster than feared.

And once they had changed into their stage uniforms and personas (a robot and three child molesters dressed in trench coats) they kicked off with Remote Control:

And this took the baton offered by The Briefs up and onward. All the way from Power Pop to … actually a splendid mix of rough, dirty and sleazy Garage Punk mated with Synth Punk and, believe it or not, Dance Muzak.
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The Spits (Knust, Hamburg, 26.07.2024 (c) gehkacken.de 2024)
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And besides the mu-sick the stage setup indeed makes them stand-out: The robot on the keyboards stands up on the drum podium, the rest of bass, drum and guitar is lined up to the front of the stage. Lovely and welcome different view point for the audience.

That said, the guitar putting down the trench coat triggered a friend next to me: “This is how a child molester looks, if he stops by on the street i will ruuuuuun” – and indeed she was right. He looked all the way evil with his old school glasses and the fishnet shirt.

But the audience did not run away, in contrast, the short and dance-able bangers of The Spits did creep into large parts of the audience forming a wide sea in front of the stage that moved around, all the way back to the bar area.

And the best was that they attracted all ages, all genders – it was far off from a stereo typical old punk show. Wow.

And i can not even explain what secret ingredient they use to get that effect, in my simple mu-sick-al mind it is the combination of short songs, drum machine like drumming and … voila, the feeling of sing-a-long (whilst actually you can’t).
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The Spits (Knust, Hamburg, 26.07.2024 (c) gehkacken.de 2024)
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It got my feet moving, it got plenty of other feet moving, it got even more bodies moving and – by and large – all people smiling. And frank, it has been a while that i had that feeling (to be exact 3 days). No, honestly, it was a near perfect party soundtrack that converted the Knust – not full enough but ok filled – into a dance hall.

And this is how they closed out the show, with their robot flying into the audience (an earlier and more uncontrolled attempt made him hit the dance floor hard):

Stunning set, topping the already excellent one by The Briefs.

And – frank – i was not aware that so many people in Hamburg actually dig The Spits.

Or was it just coincidence? Very capable bands hitting a very willing audience on a Friday evening? Whatever it was, it was a show that with me qualifies for the short list of show of the year.

Yes, it was that good, yes it was that sorta fun. A real party. Fueled by party bands.
2024/07/28
… neither poor in taste nor weird in sound: 6x pure surprises!
Already the 7th edition of this poor mans travelling circus, this time with The Briefs as headliner (and – wild guess – name giver). Location was to be the Molotow, which is for me always something … dunno … painful. Like some others i never got warm with their new location (and layout) at the bottom end of the Reeperbahn.

Kick off was very early and with the Anger Boys from sunny Recklinghausen. The classify themselves as “weird n’ nervous hardcore punk!” and they come across as short bursts of sometimes structured and sometime less structured noise topped with some very capable female vocals.
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Anger Boys (Molotow, Hamburg, 14.12.2019)
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They had like a 20 minute blast into a largely empty room (once they had sorted some bass amp signal issues) and they indeed did surprise me. I will definitely check out their demo and for sure i will give them another chance (on a different stage hopefully).

With a very quick changeover Bad Affair from Hamburg took the stage and they too surprised me. I saw them in April and boy have they improved since then. I would not even know where to start …
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Bad Affair (Molotow, Hamburg, 14.12.2019)
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… i guess key item is that they have balanced singing and guitar and that they have been able to pen down some really good songwriting: Complex where needed, powerful and with a real drive. I will definitively watch out for more, time being you will need to resort to their demo (as the last 6 tapes did sell out on that night, or?). Good stuff and again female fronted … something that unfortunately did not last through the proceedings.

Local heroes The Haermorrhoids claimed the stage next and they have by now perfected both their setup and how they deliver:

Tick for stage attire. Tick for in-sync movements of Guitar and Bass. Tick Tick Tick for being solid, together, tight – just class. Can’t phrase it different. The sound though at the Molotow was less than perfect – i’d love to see on the perfect stage, with the perfect sound system and the perfect sound man. That’ll be fun!
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The Haermorrhoids (Molotow, Hamburg, 14.12.2019)
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The Molotow by now was well filled and sure their fan base was front row and cheering. If i noted correctly they have just come back from a short tour in Italy, so it was really a well oiled machine – delivering new songs and classics like this one from their debut record:

Boy do i look forward to the next album. And please do surprise me by having it recorded at Sonic Iguana and produced by Mass Giorgini or – if easier – record and produce it at the Blasting Room. Bang! That would put you and Hamburg on the map. Big time.

Class set as ever, quick, fast – no fills.

Next on from those alpine meadows of Switzerland the Bad Mojos. They took off where them Haermorrhoids left it: Fast paced and sunny one minute blasts of fun and joy. And they also knew that it take formal stage attire to be successful – so they dressed up for the occasion.

Nice cheap mans space outfit? Or sweat-suits as they have to make weight? What ever, it nicely fitted and gave their set the visual perfection that matched the music.

And another big surprise, as they got me left-field: I thought i have seen them before at a Get!Lost!Fest! but they did not impress me – now their less than 2 minutes blasts just sounded perfect.
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Bad Mojos (Molotow, Hamburg, 14.12.2019)
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And these blasts are lightweight high speed punk hymns with a strong fuck you anyway empathy, as expressed in their current record:
```
I HOPE YOU O.D. (Bad Mojos, released February 20, 2019)

 1. DIGGIN' MY OWN GRAVE 01:32	
 2. BABY I'M DOOMED 01:17	
 3. I WANNA BE DEAD 01:02	
 4. I HATE 01:09	
 5. COMMIT A CRIME 01:57	
 6. POLICE CAR 01:23	
 7. I HOPE YOU OD 01:48	
 8. TOO DRUNK 01:23	
 9. OUT OF CONTROL 01:46	
10. EVERYBODY HATES ME 01:28
```
Any doubts? Nope!

They were forced to play an encore (despite the running order not allowing for it) and gave an ode to Ian Stuart and safe car driving – indeed a perfect poor and weird extra! Well done lads!

With so much fun and high speed blasts it was time for something different. And something different we got: UK ’79 – ’81 (surprisingly the name of their recent effort) was the theme and the age of the musicians was slightly older than what we had seen before.
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DefektDefekt (Molotow, Hamburg, 14.12.2019)
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They hail from Bremen, have an English contingent and mix their string duties: Mid way bass and guitar swooped duties and with that also slightly changed the sound.

At the start it sound “hard mod“, later it sounded definitely like something i heard back then via John Peel on BFBS (and relentlessly taped it). They sing in German, in English and i believe i heard another language on top.

Great stuff, excellent musicians but … stage attired could be improved if you ask me. But to me they turned out as the biggest surprise: I tend to ignore Bremen where i can (for all sorts of bad reasons), so i did not catch them prior. Great set and towards a packed house by now.

It all felt rushed, or, in a positive way, without delays. Reason must be that the Molotow wanted to max turnover/turnaround on that Friday, ie. the live music should be over by 23:00 so that they can fill the club with entertainment seeking youth (“suburban hipsters” as someone pointed out).

Headlining thus came fast and furious … and from The Briefs – still one of the most entertaining party machines around. They conquered the Monkeys last December and they conquered indeed the packed Molotow this December.

All singing, all dancing and a huge number of smiles in the faces of the good people attending. Whilst on stage it was sans the female element in front of the stage a notable number of female enjoyed it and danced away. To get you into the mood spin the video and sing-a-long:
```
Outside the walls a curtain calls
i cant believe were here at all
what you see i do believe
i got no place, no place to bleed
i've got nothing left, i've got nothing right
i've got not place to sleep tonite,
cuz what you see is what you get
i don't want your sympathy yet

Ain't it the truth
ain't it the truth that hurts
there's no excuse
and it could only get worse

Faze in this world are hard to face
i must agree i hate this place
the cover ups have all been shown
we pay no mind, don't want to know
we don't hear a word, we don't need to think
we don't want no trouble don't change a thing
cuz life's much better when you close your eyes
But i cant live in your disguise

Ain't it the truth
Ain't it the truth that hurts
There's no excuse
and it will only get worse, and worse, and worse...

So all the morons stand it lines
we turn cheeks and eat the lies
the TV news is nice and dull
the networks keep us comfortable
leave it alone, there's nothing wrong
shows over folks so just move along
and in the end we'll wonder why
then we'll count to ten and say good bye

Ain't it the truth
ain't it the truth that hurts
there's no excuse
ain't it the truth that always hurts
ain't it the truth... etc...
```
Steve and Daniel on Guitar, Chris on Drums and Pascal on Bass – did anyone actually realize that this makes the Briefs a 50% German band? Chris lives here and Pascal is German. Great to claim such a great band!

There was no stopping in the barrage of hits and there was no stopping in the audience enjoying it. They are though not too much a chatty band, they rely on the songs to get their message across.
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The Briefs (Molotow, Hamburg, 14.12.2019)
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Once done the audience demand more and screwing the set timeline they embarked on a couple of songs encore, including their own little self-assessment of them as Americans:

Sing-a-long again:
```
We American's is dirty
We American's is positive
We don't know if we should be
We American's is cowboys
We American's love guns
Ain't no one can stop us
Not even them injuns

So shoot the president
Forget the national debt
It makes no difference to me
It don't effect my rent you see
And it has always been this way and it won't change
God bless the good old USA

We American's can't write
We American's don't read
And we don't want nobody
Telling us what we need

'cause were better then that
And were better then this
And were better then everybody else
We got the dollars and we got the cents

And it has always been this way and it won't change
God bless the fucked up USA

You know you can't complain
We'll just wipe out the stains
We like to suck before we spit
We spray pain on the walls
'cause we love those shopping malls
All those purple track suits make me sick
That's it, we quit

We American's is stupid
We American's don't write
Ain't no one can stop us
'cause we do what we like
```
Classic and actually no surprise. But how nicely it all fitted together over 6 bands and how great the tight schedule worked to give the audience a non-stop enjoyment from 18:30 to 23:15 – wow! And for the The Briefs the surprise i would like to see is … get them to cover the first two The Boys records!

Surprisingly good entertainment on a Saturday evening in December, at a location that just does not resonate with as much as the bands resonated with me.

Great travelling circus and by no means poor entertainment and weird music – i hope this now gets a firm annual repeat!
2019/12/17
… The Briefs are back, so party on Hamburg!
People got quite exited when word came around that The Briefs are back for good and will hit Hamburg during their short Winter 2018 Tour in Europe. Back in the early 2000’s they spat out 5 great long players and endless singles (about 12 if i have my greedy record collector asshole memories right) and where the #1 party machine live. And thus folks where keen to see if that party just continues.

Support was for Spit Pink from sunny Recklinghausen. The last time i saw them was last years “Burn down the Baum” at the Knust and my verdict was rather harsh. This time round tried to stay in front of the stage throughout their set and did manage that (for most of the time).
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Spit Pink (Monkeys Music Club, Hamburg, 11.12.2018 (c) gehkacken.de)
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At times their songs have great licks, great chords and ear pleasing songwriting – only to not sustain that throughout the whole song. They are still “too much rock infused punk” to me though they do nothing wrong per se. It just is slightly off what pleases my single minded mu-sick-al ear.

And with that the well packed Monkeys eagerly awaited The Briefs. Whilst they setup the gear an agitated Briefs fan tried to add a missing song (at least according to his tastes) to the setlist, only to be turned down by the stage hand and the bass player with rude words: “Please don’t do that, that ain’t no good“…

The Briefs – Setlist (Monkeys Music Club, Hamburg, 11.12.2018)

… but it did not stop The Briefs to do a professional stage entry with an instrumental intro and storming into Stuck On You:

Yep, they are back and they still know how to throw a good party. And they had a packed dance floor with a lot of enthusiastic fans singing along. They even got the stage fuse going (or someone put beer into a socket, who knows) and had a temporarily shutdown (including leaving the stage).
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The Briefs (Monkeys Music Club, Hamburg, 11.12.2018 (c) gehkacken.de)
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The had a rooster of many hits lined up and if not mistaken they played both songs from their brand new 2018 single. And that made everybody thirsty for the 2019 to come record, by the looks that will be just another one to be added to the collection.

Also worth to note the high number of female fans in the front, whilst they kept their sun glasses on it looked like they are not only a boys party band but also something for them girls – which in hindsight anyway is the best setting. Shows with bullying males only out for physical accidents are dead boring and shows where everybody at the front happily dances away are simply the best.
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The Briefs (Monkeys Music Club, Hamburg, 11.12.2018 (c) gehkacken.de)
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And the last song prior to some encores was from the Angry Samoans – Todd Killings made the audience (or better, the card game producing part of the audience) go ape shit:

Spot on that is where them Briefs get the party credibility from: The mix of 1977 punk rock and high speed US punk elements. Rarely a band had that mix that much perfected. As such it is great pleasure that they record again and that they come out and play again. And if not mistaken this was just a trial run across Europe: With the new record in tow they seem to plan an much longer tour in 2019.

Great turnout for a cold Tuesday evening and great fun emitted from the stage. Two birthdays in the audience. A couple of pints. No hangover next day at work. Nice one.
2018/12/16