Phantoms of Future

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Phantoms of Future was a German rock band .

history

The Phantoms of Future were founded in 1986 in Dortmund. The founding members were Sir Hannes Smith alias Hans-Jörg Schmidt ( vocals ), who was best known with the punk band The Idiots , Dörfel ( bass ), Harald Uri ( drums ) and Dirk “Dr. Krid “Schwarzer ( guitar ). A first tape with four songs was recorded in 1987 and sold 500 copies straight away. In addition, the group auctioning off on extravagance prevailed against 350 competing bands in the “ Prinz -Ruhrgebiets-Contest”.

In 1990 two members of the band changed and Paul "Eysenhauer" Schrewe (also: "Paul E.") took over the bass and Olaf Bolte the drums. A first vinyl record and CD called Cruel Times was also produced in Hildesheim in 1990 . Three more albums followed: Loco Poco in September 1991 as well as Chapter 3 - the Trance Album very early and This Flight Tonight very late in 1993. In 1995 a contract was signed with major Sony Music and the German producer Siggi Bemm (Woodhouse Studio , Hagen, including Peter Maffay and Udo Lindenberg ), became aware of the band. There was an intense and creative collaboration that can be heard on two successful albums ( Call of the Wild and Chimera ).

Ted Lachmann joined the band as a further member and operated the keyboards . The band chartered in 1995 and there were many TV reports and games over the next three years. a. at VIVA . The two music videos for Crackin 'Up and Caught by Fire have been released. During the recording of Chimera , a single was recorded with the then BVB player Lars Ricken ( Mary Jane ). The single was released as a limited edition. In 1998 the band separated from Siggi Bemm and produced the albums Tie Me Up , Live in Concert and Inside / Outside on their own until 2000 . In Tie Me Up is the the eco-activists and Greenpeace -Mitgründer Paul Watson pays homage Sea Warrior with a spoken by his girlfriend intro. They also helped financially in the form of benefit concerts , because Watson's ship was severely damaged several times during the clashes at sea. For Ted Lachmann, Stephan Voigt from the techno / industrial scene joined the band as keyboardist in 1999 . The Phantoms of Future toured Germany , the Benelux countries and Switzerland for over 13 years . They performed an average of 100 concerts per year, including 23 open-air performances in 1996 . They also excelled from the aspect of being close to the fans by organizing fan conventions . In 2001 the band split up and said goodbye with a sold out two-day concert in what was then Dortmund's live station.

style

music

The music of the early years was very experimental and a mixture of punk , new wave and rock . It developed into an independent form with elements of punk, rock, metal and experimental influences.

The Osnabrücker Stadtblatt praised the “ eccentric style changes that are a trademark of the Phantoms. Pop, rock, punk, heavy metal and chanson merge, carried by the Sir Hannes Smith exceptional voice and cheered on by the fundamental rhythm group around the brilliant guitarist Dr. Krid. "The Zillo also spoke of a trademark :" [...] Hannes' strange non-singing that takes some getting used to, which counterbalances the work of his colleagues, but quickly turns out to be a trademark. "

The Rock Hard encyclopedia about the musical development: "In the instrumental area, based on old post-punk heroes like Killing Joke , Hannes' powerful psycho-singing takes a bit of getting used to." The mixture of "Punk. Guitar rock and heavy metal "as well as the improved singing through singing lessons are increasingly being perfected and chanson and psychedelic are added" in an unusual way ". The product manager at Sony Music explained the Phantoms style as follows: “For me, the Phantoms of Future can be compared, if at all with anyone, to the Schwerin band Das Auge Gottes . They have an idiosyncratic sound and are very brittle. In other groups you can always hear role models [...]. The Phantoms of Future, however, offer an elusive mixture. "

About the debut album it said in EB / metronome : "Unusual music, no question of permanent change between New Wave, Sixties, punk and jazz ., Wrapped in a dark basic sound" Almost as it saw the Zillo by "Wave, Punk, Folk and Jazz ”as components. The band has been dubbed "the wild dogs of wave rock".

In the Poco Loco review, the magazine stated: “The phantom sound is shaped by a reverberant guitar loaded with chorus effects, whose melancholy harmony is repeatedly broken up by punk and hard rock fragments.” The singer's “wondrous vocalistic escapades” provided “for pleasant surprises ”, while the fellow musicians dressed these“ troubles ”in a compact, smooth, powerfully straightforward and uniformly produced wave rock sound”.

Regarding the successor, the Sub Line meant that the pithy indie rock attitude wore off over the course of the playing time. The vocals, guitars and lyrics are still rough and the spirit of Faith No More is palpable, but after 20 minutes they can no longer captivate. Nevertheless, the band is way ahead of their competition. A few issues later, the Deine Lakaien singer Alexander Veljanov gave his verdict. He perceived what he had heard as heterogeneous vocally, musically as “a very unique mixture of folk and English wave” and all in all as “unusual, daring, interesting [...] so pretty good”. For the Musikexpress , on the other hand, it was “brutal all-metal food, as long as the tempo is not slowed down.” Only the “quiet, feverishly tense pieces” that do not have any ostensible effects are successful.

With Tie Me Up , according to Holger Stratmann in Rock Hard , the Phantoms “finally said goodbye to all heavy / punk / rock drawers”. The fact that it sounds "half-baked and hectic" to the unprepared listener is due to the abruptly assembled grooves , chords , effects and the overflowing wealth of ideas in general, which first required getting used to.

What Stratmann still found worthwhile, his colleague Marcus Schleutermann disliked with the following album Inside / Outside : “Instead of working out one good idea accordingly, the Phantoms turn directly to the next one, which makes the pieces appear mostly overloaded and leave an unfinished collage-like impression. In addition, some brazenly obvious parallels such as the Mustaine riff in Love Machine do not do justice to the avant-garde band's own high standards. "

“Our music is demanding, has its own style that takes all directions such as punk, heavy, reggae , opera and operetta and the like into sufficient consideration,” they said of themselves.

Appearances

According to the Rock Hard Encyclopedia, the changing costumes in the carnival-like hustle and bustle, interspersed with robotic, theatrical or psychedelic touches of the singer, who is often provocative outside the stage, can not be found a second time in Germany.

Thomas Guntermann described an appearance in the Zillo in 1991: “It hisses and hisses, there is a clang, rattle and staple in the air. Suddenly sparks fly from the opposite side of the stage. Singer Sir Hannes Smith steps out of nowhere like a ghost into the flickering glow of the glistening and unnatural light. Only the dark contours of the eyes rise from his white make-up face, and a hat hovers over them. The bent figure is wrapped in a light coat. The band accelerates. A straight up-tempo rhythm is complemented by an indefinable, roaring snarling, which later turns out to be a duck recorder. While the club is completely shrouded in fog, Sir Hannes makes his way through the crowd to the stage. "

Discography

Albums

  • 1990: Cruel Times (Sucker Records)
  • 1991: Loco Poco (Sucker Records)
  • 1993: Chapter 3 - the Trance Album (Gusch Records)
  • 1993: This Flight Tonight (Gusch Records)
  • 1995: Call of the Wild (Epic / Sony Music)
  • 1996: Chimera (Columbia / Sony Music)
  • 1998: Tie Me Up (Terra Zone)
  • 1999: Live in Concert '99 (in-house production)
  • 2000: Inside / Outside (BMM Records)

Demos, singles and EPs

  • 1989: Phantoms of Future Vol. 1 (Demo, Idiots Rec)
  • 1990: Phantoms of Future Vol. 2 (Demo, Idiots Rec)
  • 1991: Around the World (Single, Sucker Records)
  • 1992: Voices (Single, Gusch Records)
  • 1995: Crackin 'Up (vinyl maxi single, Epic / Sony Music)
  • 1995: Jack in the Box (Single, Epic / Sony Music)
  • 1995: Sun (single, Epic / Sony Music)
  • 1996: Caught by Fire (EP, Columbia / Sony Music)
  • 1997: She's Cold (internet single)
  • 1998: The Fly (Promo-Maxi-CD, Terra Zone)

literature

  • Christian Graf: Rock Lexicon Germany. The German music scene in more than 700 keywords . Edit again Edition. Lexikon-Imprint-Verlag, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-89602-273-3 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Thomas Guntermann: Phantoms of Future . In: Zillo . (December / January 1991/1992), 1992, pp. 8 .
  2. ^ A b Frank Jinx: Phantoms of Future. Cruel Times . In: EB / metronome . No. 29 (November – January 1990/1991), 1991, Just for the Record, pp. 55 .
  3. ↑ a b Ralf G. Poppe: Phantoms of Future. Crazy pigs on the way to the cosmos . In: EB / metronome . No. 35 (December / January 1991/1992), 1992, pp. 14 .
  4. ↑ The Phantoms of Future maxi “Voices” will be released in mid-November . In: Zillo . November 1992, short information, p. 5 .
  5. ↑ a b Jan Plate: Phantoms prevail . In: MusikWoche . The news magazine for the music industry. No. 28/1995 , July 10, 1995, scene, p. 11 .
  6. ↑ a b c d Holger Stratmann (ed.): Rock Hard Encyclopedia. 700 of the most interesting rock bands from the last 30 years . Rock Hard GmbH, Dortmund 1998, ISBN 3-9805171-0-1 , Phantoms of Future, p. 298 .
  7. ^ A b Holger Stratmann: Phantoms of Future. No concept is the best concept! In: Rock Hard . No. 131 , April 1998, pp. 88 f .
  8. ↑ The Dortmund crossover provocateurs Phantoms of Future want to defend their title as the most fan-friendly band on the planet again this year . In: Rock Hard . No. 143 , April 1999, News, p. 10 .
  9. ↑ Gravetti: High percentage. Phantoms of Future . In: Stadtblatt . No. 197 . Osnabrück May 1995, p. 94 .
  10. ↑ Thomas Guntermann: Phantoms of Future. Cruel Times . In: Zillo . (December / January 1990/1991), Plattenmarkt, p. 34 .
  11. ↑ Thomas Guntermann: Phantoms of Future. Loco Poco . In: Zillo . October 1991, Plattenmarkt, p. 48 f .
  12. ^ Martin von Arndt: Phantoms of Future. Chapter 3 / The Trance Album . In: Sub Line . March 1993, p. 42 .
  13. ↑ Barbara Berrar: Alexander Veljanov (your lackeys) . In: Sub Line . (July / August), 1993, Sub Line Outing, pp. 28 .
  14. ^ Stefan Kerzel: Phantoms of Future. Chapter III - The Trance Album . In: Musikexpress / Sounds . February 1994, Metal, p. 78 .
  15. ^ Holger Stratmann: Phantoms of Future. Tie Me Up . In: Rock Hard . No. 131 , April 1998, pp. 108 .
  16. ^ Marcus Schleutermann: Phantoms of Future. Inside / Outside . In: Rock Hard . No. 156 , May 2000, pp. 95 .