18 Summers

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18 Summers at Nocturnal Culture Night 2014.

18 Summers is a music project that was founded in 1990 under the name Silke Bischoff . In 2002 the project was renamed by singer Felix Flaucher (born January 14, 1958 - August 22, 2017) and songwriter and guitarist Frank Schwer to 18 Summers .

history

Felix Flaucher and Axel Kretschmann founded the Silke Bischoff project in the spring of 1990 and then published 3 demo tapes with two tracks each. Already at that time the track I Don't Love You Anymore could develop into an underground hit. Her biggest hit, however, was On The Other Side , a kind of hymn for the dark wave and gothic movement of the early 1990s, with which Silke Bischoff became a major player in the dark wave environment of the 1990s.

The name Silke Bischoff goes back to the victim of the Gladbeck hostage drama in 1988 (some texts refer to Silke Bischoff, for example on the track Why Me? From the 1991 debut album). The use as a band name was initially heavily criticized; Felix Flaucher had deliberately chosen the name as a tribute to the 18-year-old girl who, had it not been for the media hype at the time and the failure of the police, might not have died in the hostage-taking. He also found it “not in order that the names of the perpetrators usually survive in memory years later; after a short time one can often no longer remember the victims ”.

In 2001, the band achieved their first chart success with the album Phoenix From the Flames , the clip for the single Felix in the Sky was filmed by the renowned director Norman Hafesi in Kiev and finally broadcast on the power rotation of the music channel VIVA 2 and released on DVD together with the live recording of the VIVA Overdrive concert in Cologne. Both Phoenix from the Flames and the follow-up album Virgin Mary were produced by John Fryer and Roman Schönsee; both appeared on Drakkar Entertainment.

Felix Flaucher also made a name for himself as a photographer very early on and was a style-defining factor for a number of photographers in today's gothic and fetish scene. From the beginning he used girls' photographs for the artwork by Silke Bischoff and 18 Summers . He has portrayed a wide variety of bands, and some notable titles in the magazines Gothic , Orkus , Sonic Seducer and Zillo come from him. Many of these band photos can be seen alongside nudes, fetish and portrait photos in the photo book Under your Skin, which he published . In addition to various other projects, he is the German voice of Marilyn Manson on his audio book autobiography.

After a legal dispute with Axel Kretschmann in 2002, Felix Flaucher and Frank Schwer changed the band name to 18 Summers . The new name 18 Summers also refers to what happened back then: Silke Bischoff, who was killed in the hostage drama, died on August 18, 1988 at the age of 18.

Collaborations with The Dreamside (2007) and Sara Noxx (2009) followed later .

With the album The Magic Circus , in March 2012, the band generally takes up their musical past again, but breaks new ground in the essence of their artwork and their themes.

Flaucher died on the night of August 23, 2017 after a long illness at the age of 59.

Guest musician

  • Alex Papavergou ( percussion )
  • Klaus Zuberbuhler (percussion)
  • Martin Schnabel (electronic violin)

Discography

Silke Bischoff

  • 1990: I Don't Love You Anymore / Small and Tired (MC)
  • 1990: Why Me? / Follow Me Into the Night (MC)
  • 1990: 666 Hellbound / Hold Me (MC)
  • 1991: Silke Bischoff (LP)
  • 1992: Silke Bischoff (CD)
  • 1993: The Man on the Wooden Cross (CD)
  • 1995: To Protect and to Serve [3-Track Promo] (3 "CD)
  • 1995: To Protect and to Serve (CD)
  • 1996: Northern Lights [4-Track Promo] (CD)
  • 1996: Northern Lights (CD)
  • 1996: Waste of Time (CDM)
  • 1996: Waste of Time [promo video] (Vhs)
  • 2001: Felix In the Sky (CDM)
  • 2001: Phoenix from the Flames (CD)
  • 2001: Down In the Park - Unplugged in Cologne (CD / DVD)

18 Summers

  • 2002: Girl of 18 Summers (CDM)
  • 2002: Virgin Mary (CD)
  • 2003: Phoenix from the Flames [Re-release] (CD)
  • 2012: The Magic Circus (CD)

eLeSDe (project led by Axel Kretschmann)

  • 1998: Dance with me (CD)

Crystal Lake (project led by Frank Schwer, Felix Flaucher and Peter Ehrenfeld)

  • 1994: Violent Vision Blue (CD)

SF headquarters (project led by Frank Schwer)

  • 1993: Really feeling and with taste (LP)

Web links

Commons : 18 Summers  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Peter Matzke & Tobias Seeliger (eds.): The Gothic and Dark Wave Lexicon. Schwarzkopf and Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2003 ISBN 3-89602-277-6 .
  2. ↑ Glasnost Wave magazine. Issue no. 25, interview with Silke Bischoff, page 10, January / February 1991
  3. ↑ Felix Flaucher: Under Your Skin - The Church Of 18 Summers, Zoomia Medien Gruppe / Ubooks, 2005 ISBN 3-86608-025-5 .
  4. ↑ Bodystyler Electrozine. Issue no. 34, Interview with 18 Summers, page 26, February / March 2010
  5. ^ Zillo music magazine. Issue no. 12/2011, interview with 18 Summers, page 12, December 2011
  6. ↑ Editor: Felix Flaucher (Silke Bischoff / 18 Summers) passed away. Mindbreed.de, August 23, 2017, accessed on August 23, 2017 .
  7. ↑ Felix Flaucher (18 Summers / Silke Bischoff) died last night. Sonic Seducer, August 23, 2017, accessed August 23, 2017 .