Kai Havaii
Kai Havaii (* 14. April 1957 in Hagen as Kay-Oliver Schlasse ) is a German rock musicians, writers and cartoonists. He was best known as the singer of the rock band Extrabreit , which especially shaped the 1980s.
Life
Havaii grew up in Hagen as the son of advertising consultant Günter Schlasse (1924-2019) and copywriter Inge Schlasse (1931-2004) together with his brother Ralf (1961-2002) and his sister Cora (* 1964). After graduating from high school, he studied German and history for a few semesters and was then part of the left-wing alternative “Sponti” scene. He made his living as a freelance graphic artist and taxi driver before joining the punk rock-influenced band Extrabreit, founded shortly before by Stefan Klein (alias Stefan Kleinkrieg ) in 1979 .
Stefan Klein also gave him his stage name, who announced him on his first appearance with Extrabreit as "Kai Havaii, the siren from overseas" - a pseudonym that, according to Havaii's own information, immediately stuck with him. Havaii was married from 1988 to 1993 to the American photographer Stefani Kong, with whom he lived in Los Angeles and Cologne. At the time he became addicted to heroin and was repeatedly arrested. In 1991 he managed to withdraw and shortly afterwards had to witness the suicide of his new partner. From 1993 to 2000 he lived and worked in Berlin. Since 2000 he has lived in Hamburg with his partner, the film editor Maren Großmann. They married in Edinburgh in 2016. Havaii has no children.
Career
After first cartoon publications ( Hagener Volksblatt , taz , Der Spiegel , later Eulenspiegel and tip ), Havaii was particularly successful as a singer, lyricist (and later also a composer) in the band Extrabreit, who with their "punk 'n' roll “Style became one of the defining bands of the Neue Deutsche Welle . His sophisticated, often multi-layered and ironic lyrics and his breathlessly driving to paranoid singing style contributed to the fact that Extrabreit became one of the most successful German music acts in the 1980s (two golden LPs 1982). The best-known titles of the band include Hurray, Hurray, the school is on fire , police officers , aviators, say hello to the sun and hard as jam . In the 1990s u. a. the duets with Hildegard Knef ( it should rain red roses for me ) and with Harald Juhnke ( nothing is forever ). After the 1,000th live concert with Extrabreit (August 2005), he published his autobiographical novel Hart wie Marmelade in 2007 , which received excellent reviews. At the readings from his book, he is usually accompanied by his Extrabreit partner Stefan Kleinkrieg, with whom he performs Extrabreit songs unplugged.
Havaii has also been working as a writer and producer for television since 2000 and was editor-in-chief for the German version of the bizarre British comedy series Banzai (Sat.1 2001/2002). Today he often works as a freelance director and co-producer, especially in the field of documentation for ARD , ZDF and ARTE ( The automatic brain , Germany from above , migratory birds ).
Song lyrics
Havaii's lyrics often deal sarcastically and ironically with socio-political issues - e.g. B. the tendencies towards the surveillance state ( police officers ), genetic manipulation ( the Führer gives the clones a city ), political violence ( the president is dead ), the ambiguity of public figures ( fame ) or drugs ( cocaine ).
Current works are Andreas Baader's sunglasses , a satire on RAF cult and ebay being, as well as King of Fear with the subject of rampage . In addition, there are the typical everyday stories, in which the - often anarchic - self-assertion of the individual in the regulated society is at the center ( kleptomania , hurray, hurray, school is on fire , hard as jam ). This common thread runs through the adaptations of German film hits or chansons, such as Flieger, greet me the sun (“Pilots is not forbidden”) and For me it should rain red roses (“I want all or nothing”). Havaii's characters are often battered heroes from the fringes of society ( Russian roulette , Walter makes a bank , child of the occupation ).
Another element are the more metaphorical-associative songs, which have the modern big city paranoia as their theme ( 1-1-0 , It's ticking , ghost train ride , In der Stadtmaschine , Friday night ). The topics of sex and love are treated both in a striking and humorous way ( Annemarie , Every Day - Every Night, Elvira ) and in a more serious, melancholy form ( Let it rain , At present ).
Overall, Havaii's song lyric moves between slang-like puns and deeper, often surreal images. The tendency, which is often directed against the authorities, also led to controversy: Police officers were already banned from radio in Bavaria in 1981 because of the "denigration of state organs". The funny, light teenage hymn Hurray, hurray, the school is on fire with the arson suburban girls was attacked in 1982 by parents and teachers' associations.
Cartoons
Havaii's cartoons, which he signs with his real name Schlasse, were, according to his own information, initially strongly influenced by the illustrator Gerhard Seyfried , who also emerged from the left-wing "Sponti" scene and whom he met personally in 1979.
Other influences in the early days were the American underground comic artists Robert Crumb and Gilbert Shelton .
Later, his drawing style developed more openly and minimalist, while his content shifted from the subjects of the left subculture to a more timeless, black humor, which, as with Gary Larson, is often conveyed through animal figures.
writer
Havaii's writing debut in 2007 was the autobiography Hart wie Marmelade , in which he describes some stages in his eventful life in a self-deprecating, often sarcastic style. In addition to the linguistic wit, the detailed description of the zeitgeist and the milieus in which the author moves were praised (“Surreal real”, Rolling Stone , “Has wit, speed, self-irony and feeling”, Frankfurter Rundschau , “Amusing and relentless ", Vanity Fair ).
On September 13, 2019, Havaii's first novel "Rubicon" was published, a thriller about an ex-elite soldier in the German Armed Forces who becomes a hit man for the Italian mafia. The book was nominated in February 2020 for the Friedrich Glauser Prize in the “Debut” category, but did not win the award.
literature
- Kai Havaii: Hard as jam - a rock 'n' roll novel from the provinces , Kiepenheuer, March 2007 (hardback), ISBN 978-3378006799 ; Structure, October 2008 (paperback), ISBN 978-3746624594
- Hollow Skai : just a dream? Curse and Blessing of the Neue Deutsche Welle , Hannibal April 2009, ISBN 978-3854453024
Web links
- Biography on the band's homepage
- Kai Havaii in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Secret Service. Retrieved April 15, 2019 .
- ↑ Syndicate: The nominees for the Glauser 2020 , Buchmarkt.de , accessed on February 28, 2020
- ^ Winner of the Debut category
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Havaii, quay |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Schlasse, Kay (maiden name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German rock musician, writer and cartoonist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 14, 1957 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Hagen |