Posted in Uncategorized on August 8, 2008 by evemassacre
Tonight finally our first queer party in Nuremberg comes true: ORCHID (www.myspace.com/orchidclubbing). I miss my little cat like hell but partying down the sadness is about the best thing you can do in the face of death and after having spend houuuuurs last night with Quirin working on decoration, I’m more than ready for it. I haven’t been so excited about a party in a while, and I guess that’s because its motif isn’t only based on a vague idea of fun and some music genre(s) but also on an ‘attitude’. I’m really glad that Thomas Lechner took my invitation to dj cause his Candy Club parties in Munich are, next to the No No No! night in Leipzig (where I’ll be guest on the 20th of September with our wonderful Elektronisch Rocken boys, and it’ll be my birthday - woot!) and the Poopsy Club in Berlin (where I’ll be djing and live-ing on September 26th)… well, those parties where the kicks in the ass it took me to finally put up a queer party in Nuremberg too. I thought it was a shame that my hometown - despite of having lots of nice underground parties and wonderful people dancing their asses off there - has no queer party.
What else to say… Well, I came up with the slogan ‘Are you fagetarian?’ by mixing up song titles by two favourite artists of mine: “Fagetarian & Dyke” by Team Dresch and “Are you fagetarian?” by Joakim, thus combining heartfelt queerpunkrocksloganeering with a sophisticated dance tune. Perfect.
The name ORCHID stuck to my mind when watching the last episodes of LOST. If I remember it correctly, it’s a fake botanical garden which houses a secret facility to move the island in time. Moving an island and all - I liked that imagery for a queer party and also the other associations the name gave me: Orchid used to be one of my favourite posthardcore bands (they sadly split years ago) and their line ‘Dance tonight, revolution tomorrow’ fits well too. Last but not least another of my favourite bands was named Monorchid and the collage-eye-mouth-flowers on the Orchid site are taken from one of their album covers.
That’s it with the information, I’m off to pester people with posting oversized flyers in their myspace comments and then it’s already time to prepare things for tonight.
Posted in Uncategorized on August 5, 2008 by evemassacre
“That’s life, that’s life and I can’t deny it Many times I thought of cutting out But my heart won’t buy it But if there’s nothing shakin’ come this here july I’m gonna roll myself up in a big ball and die My, My…” F. Sinatra
Well, looks like nothin’ shakin’ came here in july so Tiga rolled himself up in a - well, not exactly big ball. nothing like you might have expected if you know him from a couple of years ago as the massive top-tomcat of the hood, but no, now, today, he ended as such a tiny furry ball, all shaky, weighing next to nothing compared to when I got him from the animal shelter, and when the vet put the needle to his thin vein it burst cause it was too fragile to hold the narcotic fluid but he died quickly and peaceful and now we’ve already buried him and it hurts like hell and the same time I can’t believe yet that I’ve lost him.
Posted in Uncategorized with tags cat on August 4, 2008 by evemassacre
“And we’re slow to acknowledge the knots on the laces
Heart it races” Architecture In Helsinki
Some neighbours complained about regularly finding my cat, Tiga, lying at their garden pond, one paw in the water and catching their fishes. So now I can’t let him out anymore. Instead he now got his own little pond to hang around: my kitchen sink.
He’s lying there for hours now, paw or mouth dipped in the water until I carry him somewhere else to sleep. Actually I don’t think he’s still able to catch fishes but as staying indoors doesn’t seem to bother him much anymore it’s better this way I guess. I wonder what his new found love for water is all about. He even didn’t complain when I soaped and showered him last week.
I know that 20 years is quite an age for a cat but still it’s hard to see him getting weaker and weaker. He can hardly walk anymore, especially his hind legs seem a bit lame. Every single day I think I should go see a vet but to be honest: I’m scared of getting the advice to have him euthanised. He doesn’t seem to be in pain and eats regularly (although he’s nothing but skin and bones by now) so I’ve decided to postpone the visit to the vet once more.
“Who took the ram from the ramalamadingdong?” Le Tigre
Don’t have time to write much today but MELTING POP was wonderful. I think in the end there were almost 1000 guests and no problems at all. Okay, some minor ones but really nothing serious.
Ach, except for one thing: I got a unicorn as a present that night and it sat on the dj desk all night but when we entered the stage it suddenly was gone. It was no surprise that under those circumstances we played a lousy set. It didn’t help either that the cd players got stuck and stuttered all the time and that the record players gave feedback if you turned them up properly. It was fun but lousy, no use pretending. Anyway -
I assume that the unicorn didn’t run away as - which you might have guessed - it was no real unicorn but a stuffed one. So, dear everyone-who-was-there:
Stealing drinks, stealing mobiles, stealing bikes, trying to steal yourself in without paying entry although we keep it as low as possible - I know those things happen and they are already pretty low.
But stealing unicorns?!
Please!
What has the world come to?
That’s lower than low, you scum!
At least I haven’t received any ransom demands yet.
Well, thanks to everyone who helped making this such a great night, guests, djs, musikverein staff - it was really nice to be a part of this again.
And special thanks to the best photographer in the world! I was too lazy but Corinna (I owe you a drink if I got your name wrong! Or you may kill me if you like that better.) was so nice to take over my digi and she took plenty of snaps. It’s like a kid unwrapping a christmas present if you get a camera back, brimfull with pictures you haven’t taken yourself.
So here’s a slide show with some pictures, see all of them in the pictures section.
PS.: If someone is driving from Nürnberg to the World/Inferno Friendship Society show in Würzburg on Thursday (31. july) and has a free space - please get in touch!
“Comes in bells, your servant, dont forsake him Strike, dear mistress, and cure his heart … I am tired, I am weary I could sleep for a thousand years A thousand dreams that would awake me Different colors made of tears” Velvet Underground, ‘Venus In Furs’
The M TO THE V Festival was wonderful. Lots of nice people to chat along with and lots of great bands to watch. I was happy that so many people showed up although there was no really well-known or headliner band. The musikverein wheel of fortune Quirin has made was cool too! And I drank a bit too much of the punch that was my contribution. I took quite a few snaps and you’ll find them over in the pictures section.
And hey, among the dozens of musicians of the six bands that played we even there even was one female! A friend has reminded me of what actually lingers as a dark shadow of bad conscience over all the last shows: Where are the girls, where are the women, where are the ladies in today’s underground music? Can you please get your bloody asses in motion and grab yourself some instrument and mic start making some noise? From all the booking requests we (musikverein) get for shows there’s still 90% male artists. It’s the 21st century, damnit! Will it ever change?
* _ *
I’m a bit lazy with new songs myself though. Today I’ve kind of finished a song I had left simmering for a while. I hate it when I can’t get it all done in one piece but it’s not that easy when you make beats, synths and vocals yourself and produce it too although you don’t really have much clue of it. I did the rearrangement of the instrumental part yesterday, wrote the lyrics and vocal lines today and recorded it. Now I got stuck with equing and compressing and finding the best effects for the vocals. Wish it would be done right now.
* _ *
I’ve got Velvet Underground’s ‘Venus In Furs’ stuck in my head since a couple of days and youtubed this Warhol clip of it for you cause it’s such a wonderful song:
I remember drunkenly discussing a part of the lyrics with some band when we drove to my place but I don’t remember which band and when it was.
I would like to hear Get Hustle covering that song or “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane:
And I would please like to get a pill to make me small.
* _ *
This morning I recollected Jack/Pete of World/Inferno telling me how great it is when during a live show you feel so high as if you were on drugs and suddenly realize that you are not but that what you feel actually is real ecstasy.
* _ *
I’ve listened through most of the cover versions that Buffet Libre so nicely arranged on their website: They have a big 80s cover versions project called “Rewind” with artists like Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, South Central, Dragonette and many more. You can download the single cover songs and watch little clips of the original tune or you can download all the fiftysomething tunes in one big zip.
Cool cover versions are a guilty pleasure of mine. My favourite one of those is RAC featuring Karl Kling covering A-ha’s “Take On Me” in a bleep-noise-pop kind of way. South Central’s take on Big Black’s ‘Kerosene’ is cool too. Go have a listen yourselves!
Not a real cover but I like Men’s (a Le Tigre side project) remix of the BeeGees‘ “More Than A Woman”. A nice and solid queer electro trash pop thingy.
Oh, and with all the talk about the new Girltalk stuff over at GYBO I’ve reuploaded this monster of a mix. I still love (almost) every second of it.
* _ *
In other news I still hate myself, the rest of the world and am feeling a bit lonely but at the same time the pure thought of meeting a friend and having a proper personal conversation about myself exhausts and disgruntles me. I hate it that these days I don’t even manage to keep track of friends’ birthdays.
Well, it’s good that tomorrow there’ll be another big la famiglia event to dissolve my little self in: Melting Pop. We’ll already meet in the afternoon to have enough time to decorate which will be a lot of work but hopefully worth it cause we want it to become a night to remember! Last year I already was exhausted when we opened the doors but the party crowd pouring in and lots of nice little chats and impressions pumped enough endorphines back into my veins to stay till seven or eight in the morning until we had everything cleaned up. Exhausting but worth it.
Please don’t miss it!
It’s one of the few big events in town that’s organised by a loose collective of befriended djs of several more or less underground parties in town. No big club promoter is behind it, no professional bouncers hired. Just the djs and friends from Musikverein and Cafe Kaya for the door and bar. The money will go to a charity we’ve not yet decided on. There’ll be 10 dj teams from 12 different parties spinning in two rooms so there should be music for everyone’s taste to dance to and it should be a good and friendly atmosphere (if only because I’m in the mood to kick any ass that discommodes others).
Oh, and it will be the very very last chance ever to dance to the Sophisticated Boom Boom tunes! We’re on at 3pm on the big floor upstairs. Yes, 3pm. As if any of us but Tobi would be sober enough to dj properly at that time of the night.
* _ *
Yesterday I got my bandnew shiny copy of The Bug’s ‘London Zoo’ but although it is - Tobi, you’re right! - a great successor to ‘Pressure’ and although it makes more than good for the mediocre teasing live show at the OK in April I won’t take it with me to Melting Pop tomorrow because limited-triple-180g-vinyl is cool for posing but far too heavy to carry around with me when djing.
It brings together his harsh dancehall/ragga riddims with hints of grime and fresh dubstep ideas. I remember him already being too bassy and loud to cope with back in his noisy Techno Animals days. Anyway, buy that album. It’s already one of the best of 2008.
It was the best World/Inferno show in years. At a few of their last shows I had the feeling that something was missing - horn section too small, no firespitting, not as much fire as a couple of years ago, you know: The usual not-as-good-as-it-used-to-be-back-in-the-days stuff. This time though it was a blast. I always enjoy to have them playing here as it’s like a family reunion (in a good way ) on which you step out of time for one night. It’s not just about the show but also about meeting friends, lots of happy faces, chatting till three in the morning out on the street, getting far too drunk.
And tonight we already have the next show at the K4: Meneguar and Woods. I’ve already heard very different opinions about shows they already have played on this tour so I’m quite curious if I will love or hate it. The older stuff of Meneguar was great, fresh and raw dancy punk in the footsteps of Les Savy Fav and the likes. I’ve found it a quite nice surprise that their new album is far more psych and lo-fi and that they don’t go the sheep path of trying to becoming the bazillionst discopostpunk hype band. Anyway, I have to make some beds for them as they’ll stay here tonight. So this stays one more short post by yours truly.
PS.: Music biz style guest list culture is killing small d.i.y. live music.
“I can’t stand the rain against my window bringing back sweet memories” T. Turner
Why does the weather have to be so shitty when I wanted to visit friends in Munich and go to the CSD / Gay Pride thingy and watch Scream Club and J.D. Samson? I cancelled it and sit at home grumpy instead but I will at least drive there tomorrow to watch Tar..Feather.
Multi-tasking talent that I am I managed to sit grumpying and at the same time finally uploading some concert pictures of Milemarker, Ibsen and The Yoohoos.
Go to www.evemassacre.org PICTURE section to see all of them.
I also updated the LIVE section with lots of old flyers and some new dates.
And I turned it all black.
The Milemarker show was really good by the way. They are still quite unique in how and what they do, even if the show somehow had an aura of nostalgia all over it. There were people at the show that I haven’t seen at shows for ages. Oh, and it’s an absoute no-no to wear a Fugazi t-shirt, you person in the Fugazi t-shirt. You are not what you wear etc. etc. etc.
A friend of mine mentioned that at the radio station he works for he tries to make people give statements about the music they play cause most of them don’t do that anymore. One guy argued that chosing a tune and playing it out already is a statement about the music as he wouldn’t play it if he didn’t like it. Somehow this got stuck in my head. I haven’t read many good reviews lately. If someone got recommendations for well-written mp3 blogs - you’re welcome! I personally also find it harder and harder to write about music. I mean really write. Not just saying it’s great/awesome/wonderful/godawful etc. and give some information but making thoughtful statements about songs or albums. That’s a shame because I remember how much fun it was to try finding words to express what a certain song does to you, to derive some meaning, to use words to play with music.
Lately I miss the YOT (a zine I was involved in for a couple for years) a lot. It was such a good direct communication tool. Blogging is fine too but it’s lonelier. Not because of the little feedback you get, that’s also scarce with a print zine. But because of writing only your own little ego out, and not being part of a group of people who share opinions or differ and criticise. For a while I thought about asking some people whose opinions and tastes I appreciate to join together for a shared blog but the sad truth is that I don’t think any of them has enough time and consistency to stick with it and I don’t want to start something that’s already bound for wasting away when we start it.
Me negative? Nooo wai.
I love Sophie Rois. I had almost forgotten about that fact. Her voice and her tomboyish style is plain awesome. I think I first was aware of her when she played a phone sex girl in ‘Deathline’ (Der kalte Finger). Now I’ve stumbled upon this cover version she did:
“These plastic molded seats had to be cast from someone’s perfect ass. Leaving the rest of us to squirm uncomfortably.” Milemarker, ‘A Quick Trip To The Clinic’
Milemarker are playing at the K4 on Tuesday 1st of July and I’m pretty excited. They used to be one of my favouritestestest live bands ever and if you haven’t seen them ‘back in the days’ maybe these clips give you an idea of what makes their shows so great. Post Hardcore Synth Screamo whatever goodness with an attitude.
P.S.: Don’t come to the show for the tits, Roby isn’t playing with them anymore. Which is a shame. But for different reasons.
* _ *
The Comadre show last Wednesday was good. Okay, that was an understatement. The perfect band/audience constellation and I was happy that so many people showed up despite of Germany playing the semi-finals of the Euro. Comadre were pure energy and people shouted along with the shout-along-parts and danced and circle-pitted and clapped and it was all exciting and cool and silly and positive and one guy of Trainwreck danced in a full-body-cardboard-costume as ‘drunkbot’ and and and…
Not one single aggro dance idiot, no fake ‘I’m more d.i.y. than you’ crap, just people who seemed to care, and even the crowdsurfers watched out for the mirrorball. That show really was what I always have loved about hardcore.
We had left one window open cause Germany had won the match so for once no one cared about loudness. Through that window you could see an endless march of people with flags on the big main street outside. It actually gave me goosepimps to be in the heat of the Comadre show and at the same time see thousands of people cheering for ‘their country’ outside. Papers said it was like 10.000 people ‘celebrating’. I was so thankful for being in our little parallel world behind the thick walls of the K4. No one can tell me that it’s harmless to spark patriotism at a time in which the nazi movement is still growing ever bigger, nourished well in the shadows of the new conservatism.
* _ *
Living here and now instead of planning for a future that is uncertain anyway has always seemed a relatively good recipe to get through this life. At the moment though I feel like that here-and-now-thing shows its negative teeth: I tend to get lost in it. I find it hard to concentrate for long, I get lost in worthless things like watching tv, I make plans instead of doing things, I browse the internet instead of using it to communicate, I postpone things etc. All that periodically makes me feel down. I mean: really down. I hate it when I fail to take my time and focus on something cause I love, no: I NEED that feeling when a work that at first seems like a pile of chaos slowly takes form and grows into something ‘good’. No matter if it’s writing on some theoretical literature shit for university or an article for a fanzine (I miss our YOT zine!) or if it was creating a new song or a new flyer. When you’re really into it, it’s an awesome feeling of high. The thrill of something getting closer and closer to what you want it to be. I’ve always enjoyed the process of creation more than the finished piece. Maybe cause I’ve never really seen something as ‘finished’ but as ‘not improvable by my limited skills at a certain moment in time’ and I’ve always been happy with that.
I miss that.
At the moment I feel like a nihilist piece of crap killing my time with useless things till it’s over. Usually I feel like an existentialist piece of crap wasting my time with wonderful things till it’s over.
Believe me, the latter is better.
Been late at the AmenRA show last night. It was epic and evil and the visuals fitted nicely. I spend 10 minutes inside watching the show and 30 minutes outside smoking. It’s so pitiful. I was in a pretty bad mood too. Saturday nights are overrated. Anyway, here’s some new music:
“I depend on fags” was the alternative title. M to the P to the 3 http://www.evemassacre.org/mix/evemassacre-wesmokechildren.mp3
P.S.: I’m working on a new website and have changed some directories, so if you have problems downloading older songs drop me a line and I might send you the proper links.
“If you can cheer me up I could learn to love you” Descendents
Hey Willpower was adorable. R’n'B pop at its best. And when I say R’n'B I mean really good R’n'B like back from “Bills Bills Bills” or TLC-”Waterfalls” times. There were two nice cover versions in the set, Architecture I.H.’s ‘Heart It Races’ and Annie’s ‘Chewing Gum’. And Tomo must have sweated to death in his cat-sweater. It was appreciated. It was a really nice cat-sweater. Hell, it was the most heart-warming and positive show I’ve been to since last year’s Ted Leo show. The kind of show that leaves me brimming with new energy to face all the crap in the world. There weren’t that many people showing up but it was great to see how everyone who was there turned out to be bewitched by Will’s charme and everybody went home with a big smile on their faces. Magic. I asked if they please could come back in a month and play again, or even monthly but I don’t think Will really considered it. Tsk. If I remember it right the interview that Tobi has made with him will be aired on Radio Z next Monday. A big big thank you to Quirin to get them to play in Nuremberg.
I’ve uploaded a few more snapshots in the pictures section at www.evemassacre.org
There I’ve also finally uploaded the photos from the final Sophisticated Boom Boom party, the We Are Wolves show, and of Mochipet and The Death Set!
* _ *
Tonight I’ll dj at Rebel Music night at the Desi. It will be a journey through four decades of danceable rebellious underground culture, from black power soul via reggae, punk and post-punk, hardcore and indie and hiphop to the non-commercial trends of today’s electronic music.
Redcar of Here Comes Conclusion and me will take care of the guitar tunes of this swooshy night. It starts at 11 pm. I haven’t played guitar music out in quite a while and it should be fun!
Should I take “Anarcho punx are mysterious” by Against Me or “Only Anarchists Are Pretty” by World/Inferno? Have Bambix drunk too much Jägermeister over the years for me to still play their ‘Explain it’ and will I play Le Tigre’s ‘Deceptacon’ even though it has been used for some tv ad? Is Minutemen’s ‘Fascist’ too short to dance to? Is Big Boys too funky to be played amongst the guitar tunes? Is Xiu Xiu’s ‘Support The Troops oh’ too long and slow even though it’s my favourite anti-war song? Is Jello Biafra & Mojo Nixon’s ‘Will The Fetus Be Aborted’ too country? It’s fun to pick those tunes and I can’t wait for tonight.
* _ *
We had tried to keep our musikverein-shows free of flags and flag-wearers. Two reasons: The obvious nationalism and the fact that the later the night the more of the people who wear that stuff disturb the show/party for other guests with drunken comments and out of place football cheering. Well, it looks like we can’t. It’s a public building in which we are putting up our shows and it’s owned by the city, so the law seems to say we are not allowed to exclude someone because he carries or wears a national flag cause that’d be discrimination.
This whole consumerist euphoria/hate spectacle that the euro cup is seems boring and scary and annoying at the same time. Doesn’t it show how easily people can be mobilized to become a collective mob that has zero acceptance for those who are ‘different’? Even if ‘different’ means people who simply are not interested in that game. You get it forcefed. It doesn’t add sympathy points that professional football still is a repressive hotbed for patriotism edging on nationalism, homophobia and sexism. Under the mask of ‘it’s just a game’ and ‘no one means it seriously, it’s just fun’ the most conservative mindsets get reinforced in the mainstream and by the mainstream. The tone of conversation at public viewings or even in the bus or underground is set to bar room clichés, and if you don’t cheer in, or if you dare to criticise when someone says a bad player ‘plays like a woman’ or that if a players moves look a bit dancy he’s called ‘gay’ in a derogative way, well - for any bad word about that joyful football community you quickly get the whole spirit of ‘you’re either with us or against us’ in your face bukkake style.
Well, that’s euro cup democracy for you: You get forced to swallow the discriminations that are mainstream and you get forbidden to discriminate against people who wear flags. Boo-hoo. Rant over.
