Neurotic Arseholes
| Neurotic Arseholes | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| origin | Minden , Germany |
| Genre (s) | German punk |
| founding | 1979, 1989 |
| resolution | 1986, 1998 |
| Website | www.neurotic-arseholes.de |
| Founding members | |
| "Zahni" | |
| "Kurt" | |
| Last occupation | |
| Dierk "Zombie" Pastowskie | |
bass |
"Zahnie" |
guitar |
"Kurt" |
| "The short" | |
Neurotic Arseholes was a German punk band from the 1980s.
history
The band was founded in 1979 in Minden by bassist “Zahnie” and guitarist “Kurt”, who were inspired by John Peel's program Rock Today to play music in the style of the Lurkers or the Dead Boys themselves . In domestic production, the two had already Punk - Fanzine published. In 1980 singer Dierk (“Zombie”) and drummer “The Short” joined the founders. "The short one" (later also called "Shorty") got his pseudonym because he was only 14 years old when he joined the band, and thus about 4 years younger than his bandmates. The first appearance took place in 1981 in a youth center in Minden.
Also in 1981, the quartet received a recording contract with Karl-Ulrich Walterbach's label Aggressive Rockproduktionen , whereupon three pieces of the band were recorded in a studio in Berlin in one day and published on the sampler soundtracks for Untergang II . In 1982 another three tracks followed on the underground hits sampler and in 1983 the band's first LP was finally released ... to the bitter end . However, after the album production ended, the collaboration between the band and Walterbach was ended, as his label , now Noise International , began to concentrate on the production of metal .
In 1984 the band therefore switched to the Hamburg label Weird System , which initially only released a few new tracks on the sampler No Experiments! Vol.II before the second album Angst was released in 1985 . Despite enthusiastic reviews, there were differences within the band, which therefore decided to break up and gave their official farewell concert on January 25, 1986 at the AJZ Bielefeld . Only for this occasion the single Paradies was produced with the help of Weird Systems , which could only be bought at the farewell concert.
In 1986 , Weird System subsequently released the live LP All die Jahre ... Live with recordings from the band's last concerts, which only gave about 90 concerts in total. Individual tracks were also re-released on other samplers of the label.
After the split, the members went different ways. Drummer "Shorty" founded the band The Brides with guitarist "Kurt", but they never achieved professionalism, so the project was abandoned and "Shorty" hired himself out as a drummer in dance music bands. Only bass player “Zahni”, who recently was with the Drowning Roses with Neurotic Arseholes, achieved a certain level of professionalism with this band and was part of the opening act for NOFX on a USA tour.
In 1989 there was a reunion of the Neurotic Arseholes and a smaller tour, which was aptly titled "Just for Fun Tour". During the tour, the EP Just Do It for Fun was distributed with older unreleased recordings. The busy fanzine maker Karl-Heinz Stille took care of the production of the single .
Because of the demand for the band's old records, probably due to the reunion, Karl-Ulrich Walterbach released a new edition of the first LP in 1989, which had appeared on his label six years earlier. This led to a lengthy legal battle between Walterbach and the band. Then it became quiet again around the Neurotic Arseholes.
In 1998, the band surprisingly returned with the EP Melancholia and again a smaller tour across Germany took place.
style
The records of the Neurotic Arseholes offer predominantly melodic punk, which also has clear influences from New Wave and Ska . Frequent tempo changes, routine breaks, harmonious guitar solos and the varied mix of styles are evidence of the high musical quality of the band. The predominantly subtle political texts are partly German and partly English.
Others
The band, whose three albums have now become popular classics of German punk, never saw themselves as a professional or commercial band. Guitarist "Kurt" composed and wrote most of the lyrics. The first album consisted of all sorts of song material that had accumulated since the band was founded. The second album is, in the broadest sense, a concept album that was made up with a few pieces that were created spontaneously in the studio. The concerts of the 1980s took place mainly in youth centers and autonomous centers for minimal fees. Even during the last tour in 1998 there was no ambition on the part of the musicians to pursue a further career with the project. Bassist “Zahni” in an interview from 1998: "The concerts have all been great so far, but we don't have to overstrain it either and I don't want to let it get to the point where people start saying it would be better if we didn't have it yet done something. "
Discography
- I Saw You Die (demo tape, in-house production 1982)
- ... to the bitter end (LP, Aggressive Rock Productions 1983)
- Anxiety (LP, Weird System 1985)
- All the Years ... Live (LP, Weird System 1986)
- Paradise (single, Weird System 1986)
- Just Do It for Fun (EP, Crime Records 1989)
- Melancholia (EP, self-published 1998)
- Do not give up! - The complete recordings 1979-1985 (2xCD, Weird System 2007)