Girls Under Glass
| Girls Under Glass | |
|---|---|
 Live at the Blackfield Festival 2010 |
|
| General information | |
| origin | Hamburg , Germany |
| Genre (s) |
Rock , Metal , Crossover (1994–2006) Gothic Rock , Dark Wave (1986–1993) |
| founding | 1986 |
| Founding members | |
| Thomas "Iand Claude" gap | |
Keyboard, drums , vocals |
Hauke "Ezra Curven" Harms |
| Volker "Zaphor" Zacharias | |
| Current occupation | |
Vocals, guitar |
Volker Zacharias |
singing |
Tom gap |
Bass, keyboard, programming |
Axel Ermes |
Girls Under Glass (GUG) is a band that was founded in 1986 by Thomas Lücke (singer), Hauke Harms (programming and keyboards) and Volker Zacharias (guitar) as the successor to Calling Dead Red Roses in Hamburg . Originally founded as a gothic rock band, the Girls Under Glass broke across genre boundaries at an early age and incorporated metal and electronic elements into their music.
history
The band was founded in the spring of 1986 and gave their first live appearance in May of the same year in the Hamburg disco "Kir". A little later the demo cassette "The Question - The Answer - Pop" appeared, on which titles such as "Humus" and "Armies Walking" are included in raw versions.
In the following year Girls Under Glass released the track “Tomorrow Evening” on the compilation “Gore Night Show”, which was recorded in March 1987 in a live session at the White Noise Studio Hamburg. At the same time, the recordings for the first album "Humus", which was produced by Christian Mevs ( Slime ) began. Guest musician Dr. Curse . Since no label was ready to produce the album, the band decided to finance the album themselves. In March 1988, their debut "Humus" was released on the label of ÜberSall Records with an edition of 500 copies: the album was reissued twice within two months. Concerts with The Neon Judgment , Attrition and Fields of the Nephilim followed . Together with bands like Red Lorry Yellow Lorry , Girls Under Glass played in September 1988 at the Independent Festival in the Bremer Schlachthof.
The second vinyl release "Ten Million Dollars" came on the market in January 1989, but remained without commercial success. For upcoming performances, Marcel Zürcher ( Abwärts ) was called in as drummer and Olaf von Ridder as bassist (1988–1989). For the recordings of the upcoming album "Flowers", Axel Ermes from Cancer Barrack was employed as bassist and integrated into the band as a permanent member. Volker Zacharias, who was initially active for both bands, meanwhile quit Cancer Barrack as a singer in order to be able to concentrate more on his role in Girls Under Glass.
On January 15, 1990, the second album "Flowers" came out on the Hamburg label Collision Records . Up until this point, Girls Under Glass had been producing conventional Gothic rock in the style of The Sisters of Mercy and Fields of the Nephilim . On the 1991 album "Positive", which was produced by Rodney Orpheus ( Cassandra Complex ), electronic and hard rock components were increasingly used. The album was described as a "bastard between Revolting Cocks , Cassandra Complex and The Sisters of Mercy" and presents Volker Zacharias for the first time as a new singer. Project Pitchfork acted as opening act on the tour of the same name .
The fourth LP "Darius" is a multi-layered dark wave album with metal influences, on which several guest musicians were again involved. With Markus Giltjes ( Pink Turns Blue , Project Pitchfork ), for example, a real drummer was used for the first time. Peter Heppner von Wolfsheim could be won as guest singer for the tracks Gray in Gray and Reach for the Stars . The latter song appeared in an alternative version on the compilation "040 - Hamburg Strikes Back!". A remix for Gray in Gray was released in 1993 on the sampler "Electrocity Vol. 3".
With the work “Christ” the band returned to the harder sounds of the album “Positive”. As on “Darius” Markus Giltjes took part as the drummer and Raj Sen Gupt as the guitarist. For the following tour Gupta was replaced by Robert Wilcocks, who also accompanied the band in the following three years. In the same year, the debut “Fractal 1” by Trauma was released , a side project that was initiated by Volker Zacharias and Hauke Harms. Musically, the project moved between New Age and Trance , the second album "Construct" from 1995 was produced by Peter Spilles ( Project Pitchfork ) among others . Spilles also worked on the piece Le Chant de Baleine ("Whale Song"), which can also be found on the album "Construct". By 1998 Trauma released three albums and one maxi.
After the 1994 EP “Down in the Park” already indicated the new stylistic course, Girls Under Glass left their Gothic / Dark Wave phase behind with the best-of album “Exitus”. The albums "Crystals & Stones" and "Firewalker" were released, on which the band increasingly used pop , techno , industrial metal and trip-hop elements. In 2006 a live DVD was released which also contains songs from the last album "Cycle", on which Peter Spilles appeared again as a guest musician - he sang the rock number Ohne dich with Volker "Zaphor" Zacharias .
Since then Girls Under Glass appeared as a trio (Zacharias, Ermes, Baumgart) at various festivals in the following years. The two girls members Zacharis and Ermes are currently (as of July 2012) working with Rodney Orpheus and Andy Booth on the successor to the band The Cassandra Complex.
In 2016, 30 years after the band was founded, Girls Under Glass appeared with the original line-up for the first time in more than two decades. The first concert in this formation took place on May 7, 2016 in the Markthalle Hamburg. Tom Lücke, singer of the founding formation, was invited on stage for a Humus & Flowers “song block” (26 years after the singer left the band). In 2016 and 2017, this was followed by further appearances with this original line-up at the WGT 2016 and the NCN Festival 2017. The line-up in 2016 and 2017 consisted of Volker Zacharias, Axel Ermes, Hauke Harms and Tom Lücke; always accompanied by long-time companion Lars Baumgardt on the electric guitar. At the end of 2017, Hauke Harms left the band with two farewell concerts in Bremen and Berlin. In 2018 Girls Under Glass reported back with the new song "Endless Nights", which was also played at the only live performance at the Amphi-Festival in Cologne. In 2019 Girls Under Glass with original singer Tom Lücke will play a program with songs from the early phase 1986-89 at some festivals and an exclusive solo show in Hamburg. At this time the band plans to release more new songs.
Discography
Girls Under Glass
- 1986 - The Question - The Answer - Pop (MC)
- 1988 - Humus (LP / CD)
- 1989 - Ten Million Dollars (12 "single)
- 1990 - Flowers (LP / CD)
- 1990 - Random (12 "single)
- 1991 - Positive (LP / CD)
- 1991 - Never Go (7 "single)
- 1991 - Live at Soundgarden (LP / CD)
- 1992 - Darius (LP / CD)
- 1993 - Christ (LP / CD)
- 1994 - Down in the Park (EP)
- 1995 - Exitus (Best Of, 2CD)
- 1995 - The Time (CDM)
- 1995 - Crystals & Stones (CD)
- 1997 - Firewalker (CD)
- 1999 - Nightmares (Best of, CD)
- 1999 - Equilibrium (CD)
- 2001 - Minddiver (CD)
- 2001 - Frozen (CDS - Promo)
- 2002 - Remembrance (CDM)
- 2003 - In Light & Darkness (Live-Album, 2CD)
- 2004 - Ohne Dich feat. Peter Spilles (CDM)
- 2005 - cycle (CD)
- 2005 - Touch Me (CDM)
- 2006 - Focus (DVD)
- 2016 - The Question - The Answer - Pop (LP)
- 2018 - Endless Nights (digital single)
- 2019 - New Single (TBA) out in September / October
trauma
- 1993 - Fractal 1 (CD)
- 1994 - Silent Mission (CDM)
- 1995 - Construct (CD)
- 1998 - Phase 3 (CD)
Web links
- Official website ( Memento of May 16, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
- Website by Axel Ermes
- Interview with border waves
- Girls Under Glass on Facebook
Individual evidence
- ↑ Glansost Wave magazine: Review of the album "Positive" , issue 26, p. 34, 1991