Cucumber Men

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Cucumber Men
General information
Genre (s) Funk - rock
founding 1990
resolution 2001
Founding members
Justin Balk
(vocals from 1991)
Boris Büchner
Heiko Franz
Last occupation
Vocals , guitar
 Justin Balk
Drums
 Heiko Franz
bass
 Ronnie Henseler
former members
singing
 Jens Volkmann (1990–1991)
bass
 Nico Wirtz (variously between 1997 and 1998)
bass
 Tommy Peters (1998)
bass
 Beat Halberschmidt (1998)

The Cucumber Men were a German music group from the Pinneberg district , more precisely from Heidgraben , Tornesch and Uetersen , which existed from 1990 to 2001.

history

Cucumber Men was founded in 1990 by Justin Balk ( guitar ), Boris Büchner (bass) and Heiko Franz ( drums ) as a school band. Franz comes from Tornesch, Büchner from Uetersen and Balk from Heidgraben. First, the band covered songs by the Red Hot Chili Peppers . While looking for a singer, the three came across Jens Volkmann, who was soon replaced by another vocalist. He soon left the band and Justin Balk took over the vocals.

After gaining some stage experience, the first releases came in 1992 and 1993. They were represented with two English-language songs each on the samplers Hidden Treasures and Batsch , and their first German-language piece, a translated version of Wham! -Hits Last Christmas , as a split single whose B-side came from befriended Monroes. In 1994 the first standalone Cucumber Men release, the EP We Tell Your Mama with five songs in English, was released.

Despite moderate success as the opening act for Fischmob 1995, the band was signed by Mercury Records in April 1996 . The first album of the Cucumber Men, We used to be better , contains only German-language songs. The trio became popular for a short time through the single I know the brother whose girlfriend has a sister whose father used to be his football coach , which can also be found on the compilation Bravo Hits 15 . The album also contains the follow-up single Schlagartig and the song Mach's Mir as a hidden track without a title.

Boris Büchner, seriously ill, committed suicide on March 11, 1997. Justin Balk and Heiko Franz played the tour planned at the time with the substitute bassist Nico Wirtz, who soon became a member of the band. He had his first contact with the band shortly before as a bassist on a tour with Mr. Ed Jumps the Gun and the American bands Mucky Pup and Rezin, when it was still assumed that Büchner's health problems with a hip operation and medication would soon be over .

The "Flea Market Tour" in May 1998 initially took part in Tommy Peters on bass. Beat Halberschmidt played the bass in preparation for and during the recordings for the second album. In September 1998 the album Turbo was released . From this point in time, Nico Wirtz was a permanent member. Turbo sold only moderately, whereupon the collaboration with the record company Mercury was ended. Wirtz played several live concerts, but eventually left the band due to the lack of a contract.

The 2001 EP Cucumber Men , on which the new bassist Ronnie Henseler, long-time member of Prollhead , demonstrated his skills, is the group's last release. A year later the three members decided to go their separate ways musically.

Justin Balk 2003 released his first solo album Justin Balk with significantly quieter sounds, but still intelligent lyrics. The fact that Ronnie Henseler was involved in the album as bassist and Heiko Franz was responsible for the graphic design of the booklet shows that there is no argument among the former bandmates. Another solo album by Balks, entitled Golden, followed in August 2006.

Heiko Franz was a member of the band Splashdowns and played in Max Mutzke's band from 2009 . He has been on drums in The League of Ordinary Gentlemen since 2015 . Heiko Franz is also co-owner of the Hamburg advertising agency Büro 76 , which has worked for companies such as Nivea , Carl Kühne KG , H&M and tesa , among others .

Ronnie Henseler works as a producer and gives bass lessons.

style

The music can best be classified under funk - rock or "rock-funk". In addition to “snappy guitar riffs and groovy bass runs”, the band also distinguished the “partly absurd, partly chaotic” lyrics. The texts are Balk's “personal snapshots” or topics that are close to his heart with critical approaches. What is offered is not innovative - especially with regard to competition like Freaky Fukin Weirdoz  - said Spiegel Online in 1998 on the occasion of the Turbo release. The reviewer foresaw that the lack of freshness prevents lasting success .

Discography

Albums

  • 1996: We used to be better
  • 1998: Turbo

Singles

  • 1993: Single Bells (7 ″ vinyl split single, track Last Christmas )
  • 1996: It 's okay, baby
  • 1996: Is' Already Okay, Baby (Limited version with four titles)
  • 1996: I know the brother whose girlfriend has a sister whose father used to be his soccer coach
  • 1997: suddenly
  • 1998: Sun out of your ass
  • 1998: Disco Montezuma
  • 1999: finished . Out. House. Mouse.

EPs

  • 1994: We Tell Your Mama
  • 2001: Cucumber Men

Sampler contributions

  • 1992: Hidden Treasures (Titles Little Blossom and Just Me )
  • 1993: Batsch (title How come and Funky )
  • 1996: 30 Years of Star Trek - A Tribute (Title The Spaceship Enterprise Song )
  • 1996: Cool Bits (title Saufen auf'm Meer )
  • 1996: Bravo Hits 15 (title I know the brother whose girlfriend has a sister whose father used to be his soccer coach )
  • 1997: censorship ?! (Title you would so much like to be above things )

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Cucumber Men. Portrait. Laut.de biography. In: laut.de. Retrieved September 11, 2015 .
  2. ^ A b Fiete Stegers: Cucumber Men: "Turbo". Fun and bass: of course whites can be funky - but also when they sing in German? The three Pinnebergers try it. In: spiegel.de. September 10, 1998, accessed September 12, 2015 .
  3. ↑ a b The infamous Mercury gang… In: MusikWoche . The news magazine for the music industry. No. 10/1996 , March 4, 1996, Music People, pp. 7 .
  4. ↑ We Were Better at discogs.com in the past
  5. ↑ We used to be better at allmusic.com
  6. ↑ Biography on the band's MySpace page
  7. ↑ a b [Phili] p Ro [ser]: Cucumber Men complete . In: MusikWoche . The news magazine for the music industry. No. 39/1998 , September 21, 1998, scene, p. 28 (Author abbreviation: (pro)).
  8. ↑ Short biography of Heiko Franz at the drum manufacturer Yamaha
  9. ↑ Office 76 online presence
  10. ↑ a b Cucumber Men. We used to be better . In: MusikWoche . The news magazine for the music industry. No. 38/1996 , September 16, 1996, news, p. 30 .