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Sadly enough, but time to make another comment on something I´d call the worst chapter in the label history: the release and soon after cancelation of the debut EP by the German band Die Angst. As stated here before, two weeks after the release of the record I found out that one of the members of Die Angst also plays in the Neo Folk band Sonne Hagal. This band obviously has a right-wing following. That´s bad enough I think, but to make things much worse Sonne Hagal frequently team up with notorious right wingers such as Ian Read (sang for Death in June and later started the group Sol Invictus with Gary Smith, who was also bassist in the White Power Skinhead band No Remorse) and Markus Wolff (germanophile artist who is also involved in the American Naziband Bloodaxis around former Nazi skinhead Michael Moynihan). Both appear as guest musicians on different Sonne Hagal records. Besides this, the band released several records on the right wing German label Eislicht Records.
After I found out about all this, I called and e-mailed all members of the band Die Angst, but they refused to give any explanation. Instead, they kept accusing me of jeopardizing their musical career, while never making an attempt to go into any of the facts mentioned above.
In the end, all this caused a lot of damage to me, like former mates turning their backs because they don´t want to accept that to me a band like Sonne Hagal is something that I obviously don´t want to be associated with. Besides all the personal drama, I´m left with another 1200 Euro down the shitter, as I sold maybe 20 copies before I stopped the record (all circulating copies are either the band’s free copies or promos I´ve sent out before all that crap came to my attention).
Meanwhile the person who is in both bands Die Angst and Sonne Hagal did sent me an
email in which he threatens to sue me if I don't take this statement off my website.
So yes, I could definitely use some support now by those who care. I´m not asking for donations or anything, but if people would order a bit more from me now that would already help. Also some of my pals promised to organise some benefit show or party for Thought Crime Records, so if that happens you´ll be informed.
Feb 09
“Does it hurt?” is the name of a compilation LP that should be out by the end of the month. It features 7 international HC bands, contributing a total of 21 unreleased studio tracks. The thing is a total rager as you can hear in the releases section.
Next is gonna be Condenada´s “mother tongue” EP. It´s in the pressing plant and should be out soonish. After that we´ll see a new EP by Barcelona´s Primates, a band that brought us a criminally overlooked vinyl debut some time ago.
There´s tons of new shit in the mailorder section, so you should seek that stuff out, or pay shitloads of money for some of the goddies on e bay in a few months time…
October 08
If the label survives the current financial crisis and it looks like it might as some of my close allies promised to lend me money once again, we´ll have a couple of new releases coming in the next few months:
After years of silence, Narsaak, one of my favourite German bands, are back with six songs they recorded for a 7” on Thought Crime, called “prasina”. As expected, they deliver another manifesto of hope and, uhmm general optimism. I can´t wait to have this out.
The compilation LP is coming together. The final line up will be: Sotatila (Aut/Fin-3 songs), Dumbstruck (UK-4 songs), Charlie (It-3 songs), Ruidosa Inmundicia (Aut-4 songs), Yellow Eyes (US-3 songs), No Slogan (US-2 songs) and Narsaak (Ger-2 songs). It should be out soonish.
After that will follow the release of an EP of Chicago´s all female Queer punk band Condenada. Great band, great people and their EP on Lengua Armada is one of my favourite records on the label.
By the end of the year we might also see a CD that contains all recordings done by Ruidosa Inmundicia so far. That´s it.
August 07
I just came home from touring southern Europe with my band Solid Decline. Things went pretty allright and I wanna thank all the people involved, especially Jorge from Madrid, Marat and Teodoro from Barcelona, Igor from Belgrade, Ruidosa Inmundicia crew, Yellow Dog folks who put on a cool fest in the middle of the eastgerman wastelands and anyone else who made this trip worth while. I found some records for the distro, was visiting Munster records in Madrid and all that. So you should get those goodies and the other stuff in the distro section. Highly recommended are TDK “carnevision” LP, their second LP now on Munster, Siniestro Total “cuando se come aqui?” LP, originally on DRO now reissued on Munster, PVP “miedo” 7”, Madrid´s Clash, their awesome first 7” from 82, Mortimer “general Idi Amin Dada” 7”. Don´t know much about this band, but I believe it´s fairly early, Proto Punk kind of. Toreros After Ole 2x7”, it´s the 12” and for some smart reason Munster decided to repress it as a 2x7”, oh well. That´s it for the old Spanish Punk department. Über 7”, Über are a current band from Barcelona, they are pretty good and they´ll possibly be the next hype in the Bay Area, but what do I know. Hailing not from Spain but from Italy is a band called Giuda. Imagine a new Wolfbrigade record with Mila (Agipunk, ex DDI) singing and you have an idea. To me this here makes a lot more sense than the new album of the “real” Wolfbrigade on the same label. Mila is just such a great singer!
The Thought Crime label news: Die Angst 7” will be mastered and shipped to the pressing plant in only a few days. Ruidosa Inmundicia recorded 10 floorpunching shredders for the split LP with Solid Decline, and the latter will do their part early September then. That´s it for now, drop me a line if you like.
July 07
Seeing Christ On Parade at Köpi some weeks ago was like paradise to me.
I didn´t expect much, since most reunions I´ve seen were shit and it usually makes me sick to see some retired farts playing songs they can´t relate to anymore, ‘cause they are now family people, professional alcoholics or big wigs at some corporation.
Anyways, Christ On Parade were pretty convincing, not only to me I believe. Some people kept complaining about the stage appearance of their singer though, calling it too macho and what not. To give you a picture, he looked like some sort of Rockabilly, Horrorpunk type, taking off his t-shirt after a few songs, showing off his upper body that seemed pretty attractive for a guy his age. To me it felt pretty refreshing to see five quite different looking individuals playing in the same band together, everybody expressing his personal definition of Punk. That kind of diversity is something I offten miss so bad in the punk scene today. To me the accusation of this guy being too macho on stage seems pretty hypocritical anyways. The same people pointing their fingers here probably wouldn’t mind seeing four bulletbelt wearing crusties, stomping their boots to the beer soaked floor of that very same stage. Let´s be frank, how often do we get to see some Rockabilly dude in a d.i.y. Punk space anyways? To me the everyday dullness and machismo amongst the d.i.y. crowd is way more relevant, not the bizzare egotrip of some punk veteran. The influence of Metal and it´s subgenres like Crust and Grindcore for instance brought some now well accepted developements over the past 20 years that are highly questionable to me. Right, there´s been a lot of Grindcore released on Thought Crime as well in the past, and I don´t think that this kind of music is bad by all means. It´s the attitide and aestetics of Metal and Crust that I don´t get along with too well lately. The attraction to illustrations of extreme violence, the fashion that reminds me of badass bikers rather than Punks, all the fucking skulls. What´s so Punk about all those bloody doomsday’s eve phantasies? You tell me.
The 7” by Die Angst is on it´s way. Not sure when it´s out though. Maybe early September, but who knows. Next thing after that one will be a Ruidosa Inmundicia /Solid Decline split LP. Both bands will record this summer, and I´m pretty sure the record will be a rager. Both bands also have been interviewed for MRR and will be fetured in issue number 290 and 291. By the way, I´ll be on tour with Solid Decline and I´m pretty excited about that. Check the tourdates section for the full schedule and maybe come see us if you have the chance. The mailorder section has been updated and you should definitely get a hold of shredders like Narsaak 7”, Kieltolaki 7”, Framtid/Disclose split 7”, Kolokol LP and Pedestrians LP.
That´s it for now. Enjoy the summer.
April 07
The image I used for the first page is neither a giant espresso machine, nor is it some art student’s expression of feelings of isolation and loss that frequently capture his brains while drinking caipirinha in a fancy lounge in Berlin-Kreuzberg.
In fact, it is a picture taken around 1972 in my hometown Premnitz, a shithole about 2 hours away from Berlin. I spent the first 2/3 of my life there and that only due to lack of alternative options rather then by free will.
What we see is a part of a huge industrial complex to produce synthetic textiles which was built and constantly extended from the early 60ies to the very late 80ies. It would provide 7.000 jobs until the fall of the Regime in East Germany. The defacto annexation of the former GDR by West Germany, which was the will of the majority of East Germans was soon to bring the complete collapse of almost the entire industry there. Within 3 years, 6.500 jobs were lost in Premnitz, leaving the population of 13.000 at the mercy of corrupt local politicians, enterprising turbo-capitalists and juvenile right-wingers who now rule the streets with a mix of (East) German patriotism and alcohol-fueled extreme violence. A nice place to be.
Thinking back to my childhood there I pretty much remember the town like a well oiled machine. Everything was precisely organised by government and local officials. From saluting the flag to the tight schedule of sport and semi-social activities that often followed a long day at school. In addition to this, parents, family and schoolmates also had their own ideas about how I should live my life. I wasn´t always happy about all these caring forces, trying their best to manipulate my personal affairs. On the other hand, I was afraid that the people who promised that I would sink into misery if I don´t give up all my stupid ideas about life, might as well be right.
Today the plant on the picture is history. Most of it´s buildings where torn down and there´s only a handful of jobs left, provided by a new company that is now producing combat clothing for the U.S. Army in the area. Many of the people who surrounded me during my childhood seem very bitter today, both with their economical situation and their lives in general. Personally, I´m still not totally sure whether I´m on the right track or what, but at least it seemed to work for me so far.
Hey Ho! The Thought Crime Website is up and ain´t it fucking neat! I´ve been talking about it forever but I managed to delay things for quite some time. I still enjoy running the label out of my bedroom, but working almost fulltime as a physiotherapist now increases the need to run the label a bit more organised. Well, a little bit at least.
Time to say a big Thank You to all the nice folks who helped me operate the label and my life in general lately. It might sound a bit pathetic, but I wouldn´t do what I´m doing without the constant support of the following individuals: Nadine (best mate no. 1), Olli (screenprinting dictator, best mate no. 2, source of inspiration), Ilja (shitworker for life, he actually kept things rolling on my end in the past few years), Göffel (aka “der feine Herr Loff”, best mate no. 3), Flo/HeartFirst (the man in charge of questions concerning good taste in general), Ika (personal affairs analyst), Johnny (student for life, the nice guy next door), my bandmates Keulo, Harti, Das Getöse (family of choice, 3 of a kind), Fam. Franke (family of birth, cash and warm meals), Doreen (she actually helped put up the website), Jens Walter (the big guy who started this mess, source of inspiration anyways), all Thought Crime bands, Markku (you know, that guy from Finland), Micha Meyer/ Farewell, everybody at Yellow Dog (local record empire no. 1), Stefan Klose/ Bis auf´s Messer/Vendetta (local record empire no. 2), Stachel, Jukka /Kämäset Levyt, Jorge/Antiwar, Record Boy, Base Records, Mila/ Agipunk, Sned/ Flat Earth, Al Quint/ Sonic Overload, Golnar /MRR, Stephe Perry/ Equalizing Distort, Ben/ Armageddon Shop, Kim Bae and everyone else who cares.