Blackmail (band)

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Blackmail
Singer Aydo Abay and bassist Carlos Ebelhäuser in Heidelberg
Singer Aydo Abay and bassist Carlos Ebelhäuser in Heidelberg
General information
Genre (s) Indie rock
founding 1994
Website blackmail.de
Current occupation
Carlos Ebelhauser
Kurt Ebelhauser
Mario Matthias
Mathias Reetz
former members
Aydo Abay (until 2008)

Blackmail ( spelling blackmail ) is a German independent band that was founded in Koblenz in 1994 . The current line-up consists of the singer Mathias Reetz, the guitarist Kurt Ebelhäuser , the bassist Carlos Ebelhäuser and the drummer Mario Matthias.

history

Although the band originally had prospects of a major deal with Virgin Records , they signed their first recording deal with bluNoise Records . The self-titled debut album was recorded in 1996, but was not released until the fall of 1997. The follow-up album Science Fiction , which had influences from 1980s pop music , was recorded in the summer of 1998 and released in February of the next year. This was followed by appearances at Rock am Ring and at the Bizarre Festival and as the opening act for the Manic Street Preachers . With Do Robots Dream of Electric Sheep? This was followed by a remix album for science fiction , the title of which was based on the novel Androids Dreaming of Electric Sheep? alluding to by Philip K. Dick . Eventually the group signed a record deal with Speicherstadt, a sub-label of Warner Music Group , where they were assured artistic freedom.

In the summer of 2000, the recordings for the third album Bliss, Please , which was released in February 2001, began. The first single, Same Sane , achieved permanent rotation on VIVA Zwei , according to the tape . The album was later ranked 421 of the 500 best albums of all time by the German edition of Rolling Stone magazine .

At the end of 2001 Blackmail switched to the mother label WEA Records , because Speicherstadt should be closed. A year later, the EP The Light of the Son Is the Son of the Light was released , the track of the same name as the title track for a John Sinclair radio play.

In mid-2002 the recordings for the next album Friend or Foe? which lasted until February 2003. Two years later, the Visions editorial team voted the album at number 140 out of the “150 records for eternity”.

The EP Foe , which followed in 2003, celebrated great success in Japan , so the band decided to go on tour there. After Blackmail returned from Japan, they were offered the opportunity to work on the soundtrack for the German film Kammerflimmern , which they also did together with Lee Buddah and director Hendrik Hölzemann .

Recordings for the album Aerial View began in April 2005, and the album was released on January 13, 2006. For the first time, the band, which normally produces their own albums, brought in Andi Jung, an external producer.

On March 28, 2008 the album Tempo, Tempo was released , which was again produced by Kurt Ebelhäuser himself in his own Studio 45 . The Mad Luv EP , which was exclusively available at concerts during the following tour, was followed by three previously unreleased songs, including a cover version of Tears for Fears with Mad World and an alternative version of The Good Part with the participation of the gypsy jazz and flamenco guitarist Lulo Reinhardt .

Shortly before the end of the concert series, Blackmail announced on December 11, 2008 that the band had separated from Aydo Abay after internal disputes . The remaining members say they want to continue under the same name after a break, but the current tour has been canceled.

In February 2010 Mathias Reetz joined the band as the new singer. Kurt Ebelhäuser had discovered him and convinced the remaining band members to sign him as the new front man. On April 29, 2011, Reetz's first album, Anima Now! , including the pre-released single Deborah . Night School was released as another single from the album .

The next Blackmail album II was released on February 22, 2013. The first single was The Rush , for which the Berlin artist Jörg Steineck produced an animated video clip. Two months earlier, the band released the song Impact as a free download on the Internet.

In addition to Blackmail, the band members are also involved in other groups such as Ken or Scumbucket .

Discography

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
Bliss, please
  DE 46 03/12/2001 (2 weeks)
Friend or Foe?
  DE 56 06/09/2003 (4 weeks)
Aerial view
  CH 68 01/29/2006 (1 week)
  DE 34 01/27/2006 (6 weeks)
Pace, pace
  CH 74 04/13/2008 (1 week)
  DE 34 04/11/2008 (1 week)
Anima Now!
  DE 70 05/13/2011 (1 week)
II
  DE 81 03/11/2013 (1 week)
1997-2013
  DE 50 05/01/2020 (1 week)
Singles
Foe
  DE 98 09/01/2003 (1 week)
  • Blackmail (bluNoise, 1997)
  • Science Fiction (bluNoise, 1999)
  • Do Robots Dream of Electric Sheep? ( Remix album , Noisolution, 2000)
  • Bliss, Please (Speicherstadt / Warner, 2001)
  • The Light of the Son Is the Son of the Light ( EP , WEA, 2002)
  • It Could Be Yours (EP, WEA, 2003)
  • Friend or Foe? (WEA, 2003)
  • Foe (EP, WEA, 2003)
  • Ventricular Fibrillation (OST) (with Lee Buddah , Rough Trade, 2005)
  • The Ventricular (only available in Japan, Imperial Records, 2005)
  • Aerial View (City Slang / Rough Trade, 2006)
  • Tempo Tempo (City Slang / Universal, 2008)
  • The Mad Luv EP (EP, only available on tour, 2008)
  • Anima Now! (45 Records / Soulfood, 2011)
  • II (45 Records / Unter Schafen / Alive, 2013)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Visions of September 2005, issue 150, page 117
  2. ↑ Official website
  3. ↑ Official myspace-Blog.de
  4. ↑ Info about Abay's exit on Intro.de ( Memento of the original from December 19, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. and laut.de @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.intro.de
  5. ↑ Official Facebook page
  6. ↑ Video interview with Ebelhäuser and Reetz from 2011
  7. ^ Message on the Blackmail homepage from November 20, 2012
  8. ↑ Video clip for 'The Rush' on YouTube, accessed on February 28, 2013
  9. ↑ message on www.visions.de, accessed on February 6, 2013
  10. ↑ DE chart tracking / CH chart discography