Reflections of Darkness - Music Magazine - Preview

Details: Written by: Daniela Vorndran; Published: 22 March 2005

Article Index

Page 3 of 5

Die Ärzte

www.bademeister.com

Die Ärzte Biography 2004
1982: The Berlin based punk band Soilent Grün turns into Die Ärzte: Farin Urlaub (guit.), Bela B. (drums) und Sahnie (bass).

1983: Berlin Indie-label Vielklang to put out the first Die Ärzte releases
1984: The Band wins the local music competition and starts a huge series of live-gigs, signs a deal with CBS and releases their debut »Debil«.
1986: Bassist Sahnie to quit the band, being replaced by The Incredible Hagen.
1987: Die Ärzte to become the most-censored band of the Western world: 3 songs, 2 albums, a concert poster and coinciding ticket are being labelled as youth-threatening items.
1988: At the end of a ground-breaking 3-months-long tour being topped by a legendary show on the island of Sylt, the band decides to call it a day. The resulting triple Live-album enters number one of the German sales charts.
1993: The German music trade-magazine Musikmarkt prints the following sensational advertisement: »Die Ärzte (Best Band in the World) looking for record company.« The label Metronome gets the deal and releases »Die Bestie in Menschengestalt«. The bass is now played by Rodrigo Gonzalez, who used to be in the German trio The Rainbirds and also shared a project with Bela called Depp Jones.
1994: Extensive touring which includes 5 sold out nights in a row at Hamburgs legendary Club Docks
1996: The rhythm groups dream come true: Die Ärzte get to support the KISS reunion tour as their Special Guest. At the famous Rock am Ring Festival they´re playing in front of 100.000 people.
1998: Die Ärzte are founding their own record company »Hot Action Records«. The 14th album is called »13« and the first single breaks all sales records. The matching music clip features original Tomb Raider´s Lara Croft.
2000: The new album »Runter mit den Spendierhosen, Unsichtbarer!« to be released in a fluffy, polar-blue plush bag. The following tour attracts about 300.000 fans to go see their 3-hours-shows in venues all over Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Their DVD »Killer«, by accident, wins an Innovation award.
2001: The official band bio, as big and as heavy as a tombstone, hits the bookstores and finds itself on no. 13 of the book charts published on a weekly basis by Der Spiegel. Die Ärzte are embarking for a reading tour, taking place in movie theatres in G/S/A.
2002: By MTV-invitation Die Ärzte are recording a six–hour-long unplugged session in a Hamburg High School assembly hall, featuring the entire school orchestra and choir.
2003: The 29th of September has seen the release of the double album »Geräusch«. Ticket sales for the December-tour have been increasing throughout the summer to being absolutely sold-out.
2004: After a # 1 Album, a # 1 first single »Unrockbar« and two top 15 singles (»Dinge von denen« and »Nichts in der Welt«) Die Ärzte are currently playing an extensive Tour through sold out Arenas and Stadiums all over Germany, Austria, Switzerland and even Italy. The release of the fourth single »Deine Schuld« is scheduled for July 12th and the first Live double DVD release »Die Ärzte im Konzert - Die Band, die sie Pferd nannten« is expected for the 23rd of August.

Flogging Molly

www.floggingmolly.com
www.floggingmolly.de

Cruise down Fairfax Boulevard in Los Angeles, and if you're lucky, you'll spot a small Irish watering hole named Molly Malone's. It's a neighborhood pub smack dab in the middle of a big city. Guinness and Harp are on tap, the patrons are friendly (but sometimes dangerous), and overall, the spot is downright welcoming and cozy. In other words, it's the perfect birthplace for Flogging Molly. "It's a lot to be said for alcohol, I suppose," says Flogging Molly singer-guitarist Dave King. "We found each other in a bar and did what we did for the love of the music. Who would have known that in three years we'd have albums out and be on the Warped Tour?"

Blame it on the luck of the Irish. The transplanted Dubliner met many members of FM — which include accordion, fiddle, tin whistle and mandolin players - while bending an elbow. Luckily, the band's thirst for whipping a uniquely unclassifiable style of music is just as fierce. Flogging Molly eventually took its name from a long-running residency at Molly Malone's, where the band's live shows flogged the place into worship. Since 1997, King and Co. have crafted a self-produced live disc, their proper 2000 debut SWAGGER and just-released DRUNKEN LULLABIES (the latter of the two engineered by Steve Albini). Cross breeding traditional Irish influences and heavy-hearted storytelling with brazen punk rock, feel free to call Flogging Molly what you'd like — "Agro-Celt," "jig-punk," "Celtic 'core— they've heard it all before.

"I'm inspired by bands like The Dubliners and The Pogues," says King, who checked out a Pogues' reunion show on a 2001 holiday trip back to Ireland. "And then we do what we do with it. We're taking a love of Irish music and we're making our own thing. We are our own little dot on the map. What we have is really special." King's telling tales of freedom, struggle and his parents (his father passed when he was 10 years old) have been known to move fans to tears. But mainly, the music's kinetic energy winds up the crowds who turn out for the ballistic shows. Often mentioned in the same sentence as contemporaries Stiff Little Fingers and the Dropkick Murphys, Flogging Molly was recently seen blowing away just about everybody else on the 2001 Warped Tour. And are always up for a sweaty club appearance

"The only way I can think to describe the atmosphere at a show is that of a football game — and when I say football, I mean soccer game — in the sense that there's a camaraderie between the band and the crowd," says King. "We become one. There are no barriers at the show. It's just one big fucking party. When people leave our show, I want them to go, 'I had a fucking great time there.' That's very important to us." King's been in the States for a little over a decade, and has put some time in other bands — namely Fastway, the band formed by ex-Motorhead guitarist "Fast Eddie" Clarke. But the roots of Flogging Molly can be traced as far back as his childhood. "Both my mother and father were great singers and we had a lot of parties in our house, called 'hoolies,’" says King. "We'd all sit around in a circle and people would be jamming, playing music and singing. It was great. Sometimes when I look at the songs that I write now, I'm really searching to get back there. I'm searching for that spark of inspiration." When recording, the band works to retain that same liveliness and musical freedom. King builds the basic structure of a song and the band comes together to blow it out. It moves quickly in the studio — SWAGGER and DRUNKEN LULLABIES were recorded in just a few days.

"We record albums in the same amount of time that are mere belches for other bands," says King. "We don't want to over-do our albums, because we want to give the songs room for improvement. The album shouldn't be the end-all, be-all of what we're saying. There should always be room for spontaneity. The album is just a blueprint of what the band should be about and then you take it from there. It's all about the live show." But the blueprint that King is working from is just as time-tested as his Gaelic tradition. Songs on DRUNKEN LULLABIES like "May the Living Be Dead In Our Wake," "If I Ever Leave This World Alive" and "What's Left of the Flag?" are gut-wrenching tales of struggle and triumph, and some of the most honest personal accounts you'll hear in punk music today.

"I only sing about things that effect me. And fortunately, or unfortunately, things that effect me effect everybody. I sing about life," says King. "I've had the good times and I've had the bad times. Everybody has. And whether you're 40 years of age or 14 years of age, this music can touch you in some way. Anybody who has a beating heart in their chest can relate to what I'm singing."

Kettcar

La Vela Puerca

Madsen

Millencolin

www.millencolin.com

Fredrik Larzon - Drums,
Erik Ohlsson – Guitar,
Mathias Färm - Guitar,
Nikola Sarcevic- Bass, Vocals

Every now and then a band sneaks in under the radar, stealthily picking up fans while the masses sleep. Then, suddenly, they show up as a big, fat blip on your radar, swooping in low with guns blazing, cutting a scorched swath across the rock and roll landscape. Meet MILLENCOLIN, a quartet of disarmingly affable Swedes about to blow your face off with Home From Home, their spanking new 13-track rock attack. Home From Home finds the band, (whose back catalog has already Sound Scanned over 300,000 units in the States, latest album “Pennybridge Pioneers” sold Gold in Australia and totally the band has sold impressive 1,5 million albums worldwide), sidelining the sonic doctrine on which they cut their teeth in favor of a powerful melodic assault; giving way to…More rock. More rock! laughs guitarist Erik.

Now, in a world where bands suffer for swapping styles, this might seem brave. But MILLENCOLIN, they've only souped up their sound. No forsaken roots here. They've simply progressed as a band. You need to get influences from wherever, [then] pick up melodies or song structures, says guitarist, Erik. If you listen [repeatedly] to the same music as you're playing, the music will stop there. Pennybridge Pioneers took that step even further. On Home From Home, we're really starting to find our own sound.

Est. 1992 in Örebro, Sweden by Erik, formerly of Charles Hårfager, bassist/vocalist Nikola and Seigmenn drummer Mathias, MILLENCOLIN's Pennywise, NOFX, Operation Ivy and Bad Religion-influenced sonic doctrine would quickly make them a favorite in their country. In early 1993, they would record two ten-song demos, Goofy and Melack, adding Kung Pung drummer Larzon in between; Mathias being a better guitarist than drummer. Melack would arouse interest from Swedish indie label Burning Heart Records. In short order, the band had a deal. Three full-lengths, Tiny Tunes, later renamed Same Old Tunes (due to threat of a lawsuit from Time Warner Company who claimed the artwork and title being a rip off of their Looney Tunes-trademark, which is also was…), Life On A Plate, and For Monkeys would emerge between 1994 and 1997. Until this point, it's all perfectly congruent with any band's story, except MILLENCOLIN had attained a level of success in Sweden which had them feeling adrift in a trendy sea, watching the original intent of the band bubble under. They would begin to tour outside of Sweden, reaching other parts of Europe, Japan, Australia and the U.S., which helped rekindle the flame.

Right about here is where they began to reexamine their sound, looking beyond punk and ska in search of something seamless and identifiably MILLENCOLIN. A step toward this was Pennybridge Pioneers, an album which Epitaph prez/Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz, having already shepherded the U.S. release of Life On A Plate, would request the pleasure of producing. A more straightforward rock album, Pennybridge Pioneers was recorded at the punk recording bastion, Westbeach Studios. We really worshipped everything that came out of Epitaph and was recorded at Westbeach, Erik confesses. Going into Westbeach and with Brett was one of our biggest dreams, ever.

After touring Pennybridge, MILLENCOLIN had reached the critical stage where, after four albums, it was time to make a sort of debutante disc introducing a band with a fully formed sonic identity. To that end, MILLENCOLIN enlisted producer Lou Giordano, known for his work with such bands as Samiam, Goo Goo Dolls. Live, Lemonheads and Sugar. Giordano would fly to Sweden to begin work on what would become Home From Home. Giordano and MILLENCOLIN settled into Mathias' Sound Lab Studios for a pre-production session, whipping a batch of seventeen songs into shape. The next week, band and producer relocated to Little Big Room in Haninge, where the batch was whittled down to thirteen tracks which found MILLENCOLIN evolved beyond their influences and having made their statement.

The archetypal opener, a three-minute fist-pumping, yeah-yeah anthem called Man or Mouse, will become a live standard, as it's also a perfect show starter. Fingers Crossed follows it up with a galloping punk rhythm that says hello to Life On A Plate Millencolin before bounding into two stellar examples of Millencolin circa now: Black Eye, with it's Samiam-style ringing/droning guitars and sweet Sugar-y vocal harmonies, and Montego, which recalls the anthemic quality of Man or Mouse, slightly subdued, but no less powerful. Latin-tinged guitars propel Punk Rock Rebel. Kemp, the first song written for the album, is another blistering melodic assault with a nice, juicy hook. Botanic Mistress, is bouncy punk rock bliss. Happiness For Dogs picks up the pace before Battery Check stops for mid-tempo reassessment of life.

On the homestretch, the relationship analysis Fuel to the Flame re-ignites things, the melodic political rocker Afghan puts the cards on the table, Greener Grass is bounding introspection, and Home From Home sings up the Swedish punk scene with Nikola and Bombshell Rocks' Mårthen Cedergran doing lead vocal quid pro quo. It's a new and exhilarating ride for the band and its fans, and one that forecasts a long tenure for MILLENCOLIN, as they've achieved standout status by hitting upon a cohesive sound and delivering it with aplomb. What's most important, says Erik, is it feels like we've created our own sound, but still haven't given up our roots; never jumped on a new trend and completely changed sound all of a sudden. We've just grown into this sound from over the years and it feels really honest. This sincerity of sound that will further endear Millencolin to its rapidly growing fan base, which will get to experience Home From Home live this Spring, as the band prepares to beef up their already-impressive lifetime gig total (650-plus), with another world tour. Millencolin is justly proud…and elated. It feels good, says Erik. Home From Home comes from the expression 'home away from home', meaning simply that our band and being on tour has grown in to being our second family.