Kafkas
| Kafkas | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Punk , alternative , pop-rock , electro |
| founding | 1995 |
| Website | http://www.kafkas-online.de |
| Current occupation | |
| Markus Gabi Kafka | |
| Thorsten Karin Kafka | |
| Andreas Agnes Kafka | |
| "Dee Pee" Renate Kafka since April 2014 | |
Kafkas are a German band founded in 1995 in Fulda that combines pop, rock and punk music with elements of electro .
Band history
The band initially described their music as "punk without studded leather jacket" and "hardcore without muscles". With the album Paula (2010), the band opened up to other styles of music and integrated electronic elements into some songs. You ironically describe yourself as "the Munich freedom of punk rock". The band members give themselves artist names, which are made up of their own first name, the first name of the mother and the addition "Kafka" as a surname.
In August 2014 the 6-song EP Lifetime was released on the band's own label Domcore. With the single I dance naked in my room , the band was u. a. played on radio stations such as hr3 , Bayern 3 , NDR 2 , N-Joy , MDR Sputnik , You FM , Dasding or WDR 2 . The accompanying clip was in store TV of McDonald's in Germany a three-month rotation and was also RTL.de presented. With the song Forever , Kafkas were in the listener charts of the Hessian radio station You FM for six weeks due to the likes received. There the song reached number 32.
With the song "Clap your hands" the band reached number 1 in 2010 on the music channel MTV in the program "Rockzone". The accompanying music clip was also presented on SAT1 and RTL Luxembourg in 2009.
Since the band always tried not to represent clichés and to act musically in a versatile way, the audience is also heterogeneous and does not belong to any particular music genre. It is important for the band to maintain direct contact with the listeners. So the sound carriers and merchandise can be ordered directly from the band. After the EP Lebenslang was published , Markus Gabi Kafka made an ironic statement in an interview with Hessischer Rundfunk: "We are dwarfs in social networks, but when it comes to direct orders, Metallica ."
The band members represent u. a. the opinion that every living being born on earth should be able to lead a life that is as painless and undamaged as possible, regardless of origin, race, species and sex. That's why they are u. a. convinced vegetarians or vegans . In addition, the band has been supporting projects to protect the tropical rainforest and rescue threatened orangutans for years . Again and again, the band spoke out against homophobia within the alternative music scene. For example, Kafkas released the song Schwule Punks for a sampler , in which they took a stand against homophobia within the punk scene.
The Canadian band Propagandhi invited Kafkas three times as tour support. Kafkas have since played concerts in Germany, Switzerland , Austria , Belgium , Bulgaria , Luxembourg and Hungary . The band always tried not only to play big clubs and festivals , such as the Deichbrand , on which Kafkas already played twice, but also to play as many small, different clubs as possible so as not to lose the live feeling, to always gain new impulses and lively to stay. Since 2014 the band has also played selected concerts with an acoustic and electronic set. The band split from their (live) drummer and announced that they would rather continue without a drummer in the future. For this the band would like to continue working with a background singer, who can already be heard on some songs of the lifetime EP.
The writer Oliver Uschmann writes about the Paula album : “There are bands that have matured from snotty rebels to serious sentimentalists. From renitenz to Raiffeisenbank. Not so with the Kafkas. You grow up without giving up. Suddenly they write songs as wide as the Weakerthans , even playful and happy to do things. They reveal personal feelings. You go to the heart. And yet they still have the anger that some call permanent youth and others principled. Like the diary of an activist who finally begins to take care of himself, but does not forget his cause. Disturbing and different. ”He describes the EP Lifelong as follows:“ Gingerbread heart instead of riveted bracelet, melody instead of aggression and excursions into electronics instead of stylistic orthodoxy - the Kafkas make punk for nerds who convert introvertedness into hooklines . Wonderful!"
On August 26, 2016, the band released their sixth album entitled St. Helena . From this, the preliminary single No Sea was released on June 24, 2016 . The single reached number 199 in the radio airplay's trend charts on June 4, 2016. In addition, the clip for the single was rotated on the music channel Go TV and on Ich liebe es TV from McDonald's, where it was broadcast daily in the sales branches. Airplays received the single u. a. for radio stations such as HR3, NDR 1 Radio MV , WDR 2, MDR Sachsen-Anhalt , NDR 2, Bayern 3, DasDing, 103.7 UnserDing , Puls , BRF1 , Bremen Eins and delta radio . Clipfish presented the video premiere together with RTL II Online. In September 2016 the band was a guest on the late night show "Bombis Nachtwache" on HR TV. In the show with Jörg Bombach and Daniel Boschmann, Kafkas presented the single "Kein Meer". In December 2016, during a shoot with RTL Hessen, the band presented the following single "Was dirissa". For the music clip, the band works with wind players for the first time, which was also implemented in the studio in a new version of the song. For 2017 Kafkas announced a new sound carrier with old, sold out and new pieces.
Discography
Albums
- 1996: Hypochondriac
- 1997: Serotonin
- 1999: slave machine
- 2001: Throne of Privilege
- 2010: Paula
- 2016: St. Helena
EPs
- 1998: brain food
- 1998: Louise, Willi ( split EP with Killrays)
- 2004: super rocker
- 2008: LD50
- 2014: lifelong
Web links
- Official website of the Kafkas
- Kafka at Discogs (English)