Cpt. Kirk &.

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Cpt. Kirk &.
General information
origin Hamburg , Germany
Genre (s) Independent
founding 1984
resolution after 2000
Founding members
Tobias Levin
Matthias Geisler
Christoph Meier
Last occupation
Christian Berg
former members
Wiebke Linneweber (1986–?)

Cpt. Kirk &. were a Hamburg music group in the 1980s and 1990s . Along with Colossal Youth and Eastern Zone Soup Cube Maker, it is one of the first bands that critics later assigned to the so-called Hamburg School .

history

The band was founded in 1984 by Tobias Levin , Christoph Meier and Matthias Geisler in the Schleswig-Holstein district of Pinneberg as Cpt. Kirk & his incredible Lovers founded. In 1985 a first piece appeared as a contribution to the cassette sampler Nuvox - Nothing is sure, the band made their first big appearance as the opening act for The Jesus and Mary Chain in the Hamburg market hall .

In 1986 the band shortened their name, added Wiebke Linneweber on the keyboards and produced their debut album Stand Rotes Madrid , with a mixture of German and English lyrics. At the end of the year they toured Germany together with the Gun Club . They were named the best newcomer band of 1986 in the Spex reader polls.

A nervous disease in Levin forced the band to change - some muscles in his left hand disappeared and Levin could no longer grasp some chords. Wiebke Linneweber left the band, Levin played part of the band Die Erde from 1988-1989 - together with influences from bands and musicians such as A Tribe Called Quest , Robert Wyatt or Talk Talk and the decision to use exclusively German lyrics, something new for the band emerged Sound. It was not until 1991 that the band played live again, under the motto “Follow the process, audience” in a series of concerts together with Brüllen and Blumfeld , covering songs by Robert Wyatt.

In the spring of 1992, after more than five years of work, the LP Reformhölle was published . With guests like Johann Popp on the keyboards or Jochen Distelmeyer as singer and trumpeter, a sound was created that was more piano than guitar-oriented and was based on jazz as well as on Talk Talk's “ Laughing Stock ”. Together with the almost simultaneous appearance of Blumfeld's debut Ich-Maschine , the album prompted Thomas Groß in a taz article to coined the term Hamburger Schule .

One last album, Round About Wyatt , was released in 1994. The co-production with the Austrian band The More Extended Versions contained numerous cover versions and revolved around the work of Robert Wyatt .

The band never broke up formally, but gradually stopped their work. Levin began working as a producer and built his own studio, the other band members returned to their middle-class professions. In 2000 there was a short tour of Germany, on which the band also presented new pieces. However, a publication announced for the end of 2002 did not appear.

reception

In a flashback to the time called Andi Schoon 2006 LP reform hell his favorite plate, a "style-colossus", and describes it with the words "Levin's high voice takes the change in gliding, it blurs the structure and stretches the metrics. The bass plays wide arcs and the drums play their own unleashed game ”. He characterizes it as "underground rock [...] with a rich historical background [...] The emancipated rhythm section is borrowed from jazz, hip-hop phrases appear in the singing , some piano passages are reminiscent of minimal music , with a romantic rustle Sea of ​​melodies. ".

Discography

  • 1986: Stand Red Madrid (LP + CD)
  • 1991: Geldunter (7 ″)
  • 1992: Reform hell (LP + CD)
  • 1994: Round About Wyatt (with The More Extended Versions ) (CD)

Contributions to compilations

  • 1985: Heavenly Kick for Paradise on Nuvox - Nothing is certain ( Independance )
  • 1987: Windfall on Gore Night Show (WhiteNoise)
  • 1990: Bad Saalschlacht on noises for the 90s ( What's So Funny About )
  • 1992: Outside is friendly to A company of its own with its own morals (What's So Funny About)
  • 1995: Pushers on storm and twang! ( Big Cat Records )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d e f Ronny Galczynski: CPT. KIRK &. - Munzinger Biographie - Pop-Archiv International 12/1992 from December 15, 1992 , accessed on May 26, 2013
  2. fromthearchives.com: From The Archives -The Gun Club- Concert Chronology / Gigography , accessed May 26, 2013
  3. a b Birgit Reuther: Series: The clever head behind it - Tobias Levin: Collective workers with buttons - Culture & Live - Hamburger Abendblatt, August 10, 2010 , accessed on August 25, 2012
  4. ^ A b Thomas Venker & Linus Volkmann: Germany, Pop and Language at the Stammtisch - Status Quo Vadis? ( Memento of the original of March 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.intro.de 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. In: Intro . No. 93, March 21, 2002
  5. Ulf Kneidling: On social conditions, the nonsense of place names and other values ( memento of the original of March 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.discover.de archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: discover (interview, before 2001)
  6. blog.zeit.de: Relaxed music for relaxed types “Rock” sound carrier , accessed on May 27, 2013