Placebo effect

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Placebo-Effect-Schriftzug.jpg
General information
Genre (s) Dark Electro
founding 1989
resolution 1999
Last occupation
Axel Machens
Singing, synthesizer, sampler , percussion
Christoph Kunze
Synthesizer, sampler, sequencer , vocals
 Achim Windel (✝ 2016)

Placebo Effect is a German band that was founded in 1989 in Duderstadt . In addition to bands like yelworC and Trial , you play a pioneering role in the development of dark electro in Germany. The group became known in particular through the hits Move and Slashed Open , as well as the piece Gallery of Pain , which begins with a sample from Bernard Herrmann's Psycho soundtrack.

history

1989–1991: Founding and first successes

Placebo Effect was founded on March 29, 1989 by Axel Machens, Christoph Kunze and Achim Windel. All three members brought different influences into the band. Axel Machens was inspired by groups like Skinny Puppy , The Klinik , Cabaret Voltaire , Front Line Assembly , Front 242 , Portion Control and SPK as well as contemporary film music from horror films. Christoph Kunze counted the time synth-pop artists such as Depeche Mode , Fad Gadget and Gary Numan or avant-garde musicians like coil to Favorites while Achim diaper especially hardcore punk , but also post-punk between Joy Division and The Cure , preferred and At the beginning of the 1980s he was active as a guitarist in a punk band (including in the group Void , which played in the opening act for Rotzkotz ). Closely linked to this was the choice of the band name, which Windel borrowed from one of his earlier groups and which comes from the song of the same name by Siouxsie and the Banshees . Despite these influences, the music remained free from the use of guitars and was mainly based on the sound of the Canadian electro scene (Skinny Puppy, Front Line Assembly, Numb etc.). Ecki Stieg later remarked that the band's concern was not "to copy the sounds of the role models cheaply, but rather to study their methodology" .

The first demo "First Tape" was released in April 1990. On May 6, 1990 Placebo Effect gave their first live performance in the Göttingen Ballhaus. Due to the participation in the Zillo youth promotion campaign, which started in June 1990 , the band was given the opportunity to record the second demo "Gargoyles" in the Bayreuth Danse Macabre Studios. The cassette was featured in the October issue of Zillo.

On November 2nd of that year the band performed together with The Invincible Spirit and Project Pitchfork at the Hildesheim “Techno Festival” in the “Vier Linden” discotheque. Further appearances, including on June 14, 1991 in the Bochum incident , followed. The success of pieces like Move and Gallery of Pain led the band to a contract with Danse Macabre Records , which they signed on July 20, 1991. Several exclusive sampler contributions, u. a. Last Day , Sacrifice and the original version of Devoid of Soul appeared on the compilations “Re / Beat”, “Danse Macabre Part I” and “Electronic Techno Music”.

1992–1993: creative climax

On January 4, 1992, Placebo Effect performed together with Le Coup Sauvage, Relatives Menschsein , Operating Strategies and The Red Badge of Courage on the “I. Danse Macabre Festival "in the" CAT Café "in Ulm. On February 22, 1992 the band acted as the opener for the “II. Night of Darkness ”in the Kulturfabrik Krefeld . Other contributors to the festival organized by Alfred Kaenders (Celtic Circle Concerts) were X Marks the Pedwalk, Deine Lakaien , Sigillum S and Die Krupps .

After six months of production, the debut album "Galleries of Pain" was released in May 1992. The album was produced by Bruno Kramm ( Das Ich ) and received mostly positive reviews. Martin von Arndt , who worked for the magazine Sub Line at the time , described the album as an "excellently produced underground dance work" and awarded seven out of ten possible points. The Glasnost Wave magazine , said that the "diversity of Sounds" was "amazing" . It quickly becomes apparent that “there is much more to this work” and that the music “can hardly be simplified more than typical EBM” . Placebo Effect impress with “transparent spheres that create a melodic balance to the powerful beat” . “Very skillfully and well thought-out” mingled “with the basic pattern of electronic rhythms and sequences of sounds from completely different genres” . It was u. a. referred to a neoclassical influence . Martin Irmscher from the music magazine Vertigo wrote that the album contained “monumental-mystical soundscapes that alternated with danceable numbers” . Songs like "Move" and "Agony of Mind" are "compulsory in a number of underground discos." "Galleries of Pain" sold around 10,000 times in the following years. A remix of the song "Mystress" appeared on the compilation "Celtic Circle Sampler Part 1".

On August 23, 1992, Placebo Effect performed together with Project Pitchfork and Trial at the “Documenta Dance” festival as part of documenta IX in Kassel. The stage show developed especially for this purpose met with sharp criticism and culminated in a discussion about the glorification of violence. In addition to Das Ich , Relatives Menschsein, Le Coup Sauvage and Printed at Bismarck's Death , the band took part on October 31, 1992 on “II. Danse Macabre Festival ”at Werk II in Leipzig. Another appearance on the “1. Voice of Time Festival ”at the Chemnitz power plant followed on December 20, 1992. The evening's fellow campaigners were Dive and Think About Mutation .

On April 23, 1993 Placebo Effect performed together with Dive, Aurora and Armageddon Dildos at the "Electro Shock Festival" in Hildesheim (Vier Linden). Due to contractual problems and dissatisfaction with the way Danse Macabres worked, he switched to the record label Ausfahrt Records in the same year . The release date of the album "Bad Dreams", which had already been announced for April 1993, was initially postponed to August for time and legal reasons and a quarter of a year later to late autumn, but was then discarded entirely. The upcoming Germany tour also had to be canceled and individual appearances postponed until autumn. Meanwhile, the band selected six of the best songs in their repertoire and on September 15, 1993 released the mini album Slashed Open, which was self-produced within two months in the Out-O-Space Studio Göttingen and co-produced by Andreas Krüger (Ice Cold Guests, The Third Room ) . Placebo Effect showed itself to be much more atmospheric, the danceability of its predecessor took a back seat in favor of film music elements. In terms of production, the band returned to their roots, working increasingly with analog sounds and largely forgoing the use of digital synthesizers and samplers .

“ At the beginning of the 1990s people were busy with samplers and focused on them - we too. The result was hard 'noise' samples that shaped the songs and made everything sound very percussive. Today this topic has become dead and there is inevitably a return. "

- Axel Machens, Intro Music Magazine , September 1994

At the same time, the closest possible rapprochement with Canadian models such as Skinny Puppy took place. Svenjoy, journalist for the music magazine Zillo , wrote that the group slammed “one perfectly knitted electro piece after the next, sometimes heroically pulling, sometimes Canadian-driving hard” . He described Slashed Open as "a dynamic maturity that is one of the better electro releases these days" . Stefan Herwig ( Sub Line Music Magazine; Kugelblitz, Off Beat, Dependent ) emphasized the melodiousness of the work, but criticized the lack of club suitability. He awarded six points in his review. A video clip for the title track appeared in 1994 on the video compilation "Delta O". It addresses violence as part of social life and contains film material from war and Nazi documentaries (bombings, concentration camps), physical confrontations in hot spots, animal experiments ( vivisection ), mass killings (e.g. seals, sharks), but also scenes from horror films ( e.g. from body parts ).

From October 1993 Placebo Effect gave concerts abroad for the first time, including on October 8 in Prague, on October 9 in Bratislava and on December 4 in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium.

1994–1999: failure and dissolution process

In addition to Dive and Insekt, the band took part on February 5, 1994 on “4 Voice of Time Festival ”in the Kraftwerk, Chemnitz. On April 14, 1994 she performed together with Black Rose, Phallus Dei, Sixth Comm and Sielwolf at the “Dark Easter Festival” in Anker, Leipzig. In June the 1994 tour of Germany started, which took the band through Duderstadt, Berlin, Erfurt, Großörner, Würzburg and Bochum and on which the second full-time work "Manipulated Mind Control" was presented.

On this album, released in August 1994, Placebo Effect broke new ground. Instead of a continuation of the usual multi-layered and soundtrack-like compositions, the band now concentrated on minimal, danceable song structures. Fans and press were equally disappointed with the new path they have chosen. Only the tracks Last Walk (Through My Life) and No Man's Land were able to build on old qualities. The Glasnost Wave magazine wrote that the work "disappoints over long distances" . It “remained with a laboratory test” . "Manipulated Mind Control" is a "boring, unstructured hodgepodge of fragments that do not make a meaningful album in the class that Placebo Effect is used to" . The band had "obviously got caught in their experiments" and " missed the target" . Zillo employee Dirk Hoffmann described the album as "catastrophic" . The bottom line is that “Axel Machens, Christoph Kunze and Achim Windel fell short of the high expectations” .

On October 22nd, 1994 the band performed together with Die Form , Mortal Constraint , Notstandskomitee, Garden of Delight and Allerseelen at the “Diabolus Cantus Festival” in the Karlsruhe-Durlacher Festhalle. Another appearance followed on November 12th at the “Electro Festival” in the Lucerne concert hall Schüür. In addition to Placebo Effect, amGod , Suicide Commando , Sleepwalk, Lescure 13 and Fuze Box Machine completed the line-up there.

In the spring of 1995 the band gave occasional concerts in Berlin, Leipzig and Hamburg. In March of that year the video “Live @ Bochum Zeche” appeared, which contains an appearance from June 12, 1994 in the Bochum mine as part of the “Manipulated Mind Control” tour. In July 1995 the band toured the Netherlands and Belgium. On July 29, she performed with Mortal Constraint, Corpus Delicti , Der Prager Handgriff and Still Patient? on the "2. Dark Wave Meeting ”at“ La Laiterie ”in Strasbourg, France.

Frustrated by the disadvantageous label policy and the negative response to the 1994 work “Manipulated Mind Control”, Placebo Effect gradually restricted their activities in the following years. In addition, there were more and more differences within the band regarding the musical direction Placebo Effects, as a result of which newly composed songs - for example for the album "Shatter" announced in 1996 - were discarded after a short time. Only two pieces, Chlorid and Alien , found their way onto the 1996 retrospective collection “MCMLXXXIX – MCMXCV: Past ... Present (1989–1995)”. On October 5, 1996, the band last appeared at a major festival. In addition to Blind Passengers , Oomph! , Think About Mutation and Umbra et Imago , she took part in the “Energy & Harmony / Man & Machine” festival in the Chemnitz power plant.

On April 3, 1999 - ten years after the project was founded - Placebo Effect gave their farewell concert in Riesa . The last album "Shatter" remained unreleased to this day. When asked about the breakup, Axel Machens replied that he could no longer identify with the style of the band.

“ I noticed that it was heading into a dead end. The album we made with Bruno Kramm was the best placebo effect album. "Manipulated Mind Control" was [...] no longer a placebo effect. I wanted to be more layered, make dark music and above all express it more. I wanted to make albums that had an overall concept and had a deeper effect than mere dance music. "

- Axel Machens, April 2001

2003–2004: Recent activities

On June 7, 2003 the band gave an exclusive special appearance at the 12th Wave-Gotik-Treffen in Leipzig's Agrahalle. The live program included a. Slashed Open , No Man's Land and Move . An appearance under the title “Placebo Effect vs. Breathe ”followed on February 14, 2004 as part of the“ Bodybeats ”series of events in Werk 9, Berlin, together with TANK Only Axel Machens took part with his project Breathe , which performed some placebo-effect pieces live, together with Rinaldo Bite (ribi) from the Destroid project as a live keyboardist. Christoph Kunze and Achim Windel stayed away from the performance.

Content and appearance

Placebo Effect showed splatter and gore videos in their early appearances , wore medical work clothing and handled skulls, crucifixes, deformed plastic dolls, meat and fake blood, as well as utility and industrial objects such as steel barrels and angle grinders. The lyrics were mostly about death and apocalyptic scenarios. Because of the theming of violence and madness, the band was repeatedly confronted with the accusation of glorifying violence. The stage shows and the identification with horror topics were in part heavily criticized by the press and perceived as tasteless and disturbing, but on the other hand they were also ridiculed and perceived as excessive and affected. For example, an employee of the music magazine Hysterika said , surprised after an appearance at the first “Danse Macabre Festival” in Ulm in January 1992:

" " Matching their brute sounds, they showed brute videos. Many people were surprised that the musicians didn't have to puke themselves all the time during rehearsals. " "

- Hysterika music magazine, spring 1992

The band felt misunderstood and after the release of the mini album "Slashed Open" made the decision to break away from their image and the "drastic representation of violence" . For the subsequent appearances on the 1994 studio album “Manipulated Mind Control”, Placebo Effect worked together with the Leipzig photographer and slide artist Hagen Steffen. Conceptually, the album is dedicated to the “manipulation of the senses” (e.g. through the use of placebos ).

Side and follow-up projects

Axel Machens and Thomas Köhler, keyboard player in the band Operating Strategies , cooperated in 1994 under the name Ecclesia . Together with Ecki Stieg , Machens founded the Ya'sher project , which was later renamed Accessories . In 1995 the album "Vendetta" was released under this name. Machens started another project with The 37th Chamber . Under this name he composed the soundtrack for the 1996 independent film "Strangeways" by Christian Rzechak. In 1998 Axel Machens formed the Breathe project , with which he released the 6-track mini album “Box” in 1999 and the accompanying album “The Laughing Dolls” two years later. Breathe now appear under the last mentioned album name.

Wave Gothic meeting

After the band had already shown their show at the 12th Wave-Gotik-Treffen on June 7th, 2003, the 23rd Wave-Gotik-Treffen held a unique concert on June 7th, 2014, which attracted thousands of old and new fans enthusiastic.

Discography

Demos

  • 1990: First Tape (MC, in-house production)
  • 1990: Gargoyles (MC, Danse Macabre Records)

Albums

  • 1992: Galleries of Pain (LP / CD / MC, Danse Macabre Records)
  • 1993: Slashed Open (CD, mini album, Ausfahrt Records)
  • 1994: Manipulated Mind Control (pre-release with sticker and placebo tablet, Ausfahrt Records)
  • 1994: Manipulated Mind Control (CD, Ausfahrt Records)

Compilations

  • 1996: MCMLXXXIX – MCMXCV: Past ... Present (1989–1995) (multimedia CD compilation with demos, sampler contributions, two new songs + videos, photos, biography, discography, concert dates, packed in a limited metal box, Ausfahrt Records)
  • 2011: Gargoyles & Galleries (CD, republication of the works Galleries of Pain and Gargoyles , Infacted Recordings)

Exclusive sampler contributions

  • 1990: Face (on VA - Turtles, Flying Around , TecDance)
  • 1990: Respect and Emotion (on VA - Turtles, Flying Around , TecDance)
  • 1990: Human Flesh (Extended Version) (on VA - Turtles, Flying Around , TecDance; incorrectly listed as Devil's Hand )
  • 1991: The Gift (on VA - Technical Terms , TecDance)
  • 1991: War (on VA - Technical Terms , TecDance)
  • 1991: Devoid of Soul (on VA - Danse Macabre Sampler Part I , Danse Macabre Records)
  • 1991: The Deadly Pour (on VA - Electronic Techno Music , Impuls Records)
  • 1991: The Suggestiv Sleep ['Dawn and Death' demo] (on VA - Electronic Techno Music , Impuls Records)
  • 1991: Torture (on VA - Electronic Techno Music , Impuls Records)
  • 1991: Last Day (Trauma Mix) (on VA - Re / Beat , Noise Zone / KM-Musik)
  • 1991: Sacrifice (Remix) (on VA - Re / Beat , Noise Zone / KM-Musik)
  • 1993: Mystress (Remix) (on VA - Celtic Circle Sampler Part I , Celtic Circle Productions)

Videos

  • 1994: Slashed Open - video clip on the "Delta O" video compilation
  • 1995: Live @ Zeche Bochum 12-06-1994 + Slashed Open (video clip)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Martin von Arndt : Placebo Effect - Brief Portrait, Sub Line Musikmagazin, issue 7/8/92, p. 22, July / August 1992
  2. ↑ a b Dirk Hoffmann: Placebo Effect - Band Portrait , Zillo Musikmagazin, issue 5/92, p. 32, May 1992
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i MCMLXXXIX – MCMXCV Past ... Present (1989-1995): Multimedia-Biographie , 1996
  4. ↑ a b c d Danse Macabre Music Magazine: Interview with Placebo Effect , February / March 1991, p. 4
  5. ↑ a b c d e Diethard Tauschel: Interview with Placebo Effect , Glasnost Musikmagazin, issue 29/91, p. 7, September / October 1991
  6. ↑ a b Dirk Hoffmann: Placebo Effect - Band Portrait , Zillo Musikmagazin, issue 10/90, p. 6, October 1990
  7. ↑ a b c d Maik Euscher: Interview with Placebo Effect , New Life Soundmagazine , issue 6/94, p. 23, June 1994
  8. ↑ a b Udo Thiel: Interview with Placebo Effect , Vertigo Musikmagazin, edition 8/94, p. 23, autumn / winter 1994
  9. ↑ a b c Séba Dolimont: Interview with Placebo Effect , Side-Line Musikmagazin, issue 7/93, p. 15, July 1993
  10. ↑ a b c Diethard Tauschel: Interview with Placebo Effect , Glasnost Musikmagazin, issue 29/91, p. 6, September / October 1991
  11. ↑ a b c Revotnik music magazine: Interview with Placebo Effect , issue 3/94, p. 37, summer 1994
  12. ↑ Ecki Stieg: Interview with Breathe , Zillo Musikmagazin, issue 11/99, p. 23, November 1999
  13. ↑ a b c d Hysterika Musikmagazin: Report on the first Danse Macabre Festival , issue 1/92, p. 31, spring 1992
  14. ↑ a b c Martin von Arndt: Review of the album "Galleries of Pain" , Sub Line Musikmagazin, issue 5/6/92, p. 42, May / June 1992
  15. ↑ Dirk Hoffmann: Review of the album "Galleries of Pain" , Zillo Musikmagazin, issue 5/92, p. 54, May 1992
  16. ↑ a b c Martin Irmscher: Review of the album "Galleries of Pain" , Vertigo Musikmagazin, issue 4/93, p. 52, March / April / May 1993
  17. ↑ a b c d Glasnost Music Magazine: Review of the album "Galleries of Pain" , issue 34/92, p. 45, July / August 1992
  18. ↑ Glasnost Music Magazine: Advertisement for the album "Galleries of Pain" , issue 34/92, p. 48, July / August 1992
  19. ↑ a b c Martin Sprissler: Dead people live longer - Interview with Breathe , Gothic Musikmagazin, issue 28, p. 31, spring 1998
  20. ↑ a b c d Séba Dolimont: Interview with Placebo Effect , Side-Line Musikmagazin, edition 7/93, p. 14, July 1993
  21. ↑ a b Udo Thiel: Interview with Placebo Effect , Vertigo Musikmagazin, edition 8/94, p. 22, autumn / winter 1994
  22. ^ Sub Line Musikmagazin: German Underground News , issue 7/8/93, p. 6, July / August 1993
  23. ↑ a b Maik Euscher: Interview with Placebo Effect , New Life Soundmagazine, Edition 6/94, p. 22, June 1994
  24. ↑ a b Intro music magazine : The result of a maturation process - Interview with Placebo Effect , on http://www.intro.de ( Memento of the original from May 26, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked . Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , September 1994 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.intro.de
  25. ^ A b c Sven Happy: Review of the mini album "Slashed Open" , Zillo Musikmagazin, issue 11/93, p. 56, November 1993
  26. ^ Stefan Herwig: Review of "Slashed Open" , Sub Line Musikmagazin, issue 10/93, p. 63, October 1993
  27. ↑ Video clip for "Slashed Open": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Fe1-z75wAg ( Memento from April 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  28. ↑ a b c d Revotnik music magazine: Interview with Placebo Effect , issue 3/94, p. 39, summer 1994
  29. ↑ a b Dirk Hoffmann: Review of the album "Manipulated Mind Control" , Zillo Musikmagazin, issue 9/94, p. 51, September 1994
  30. ↑ a b c Glasnost Music Magazine: Review of the album "Manipulated Mind Control" , issue 44/94, p. 31, November / December 1994
  31. ↑ a b Dirk Hoffmann: Review of the album "Past ... Present" , Zillo Musikmagazin, issue 7/8/96, p. 74, July / August 1996
  32. ↑ a b c Julia Beyer: Dolls don't cry - Interview with Breathe , Sonic Seducer, issue 5/01, p. 21, May 2001
  33. ↑ a b Fred Brilatus: Placebo Effect is dead. Long live Breathe! - Interview with Breathe , Graeffnis Musikmagazin, issue 3/1999, p. 75
  34. ↑ Thomas Manegold : Angels, Puppen and the good old days - Interview with Breathe , on http://www.subkultur.de/ , April 2001
  35. ↑ Mark Urban: Report on the 12th Wave-Gotik-Treffen , Zillo Musikmagazin, issue 8/03, p. 40, August 2003
  36. ↑ Bodybeats News (2004–2006): http://www.bodybeats.de/news/news.htm
  37. ↑ a b c Dirk Hoffmann: II. Night of Darkness - Festival Review, Zillo Musikmagazin, issue 4/92, p. 36, April 1992
  38. ↑ Zone Musikmagazin: Interview with Placebo Effect , issue 11/91, p. 12, September 1991
  39. ↑ Zone Musikmagazin: Interview with Placebo Effect , issue 11/91, p. 11, September 1991
  40. ↑ Revotnik Musikmagazin: Interview with Placebo Effect , issue 3/94, p. 38, summer 1994
  41. ↑ Thorsten Stroht: Means without active ingredient! - Interview with Placebo Effect , Sub Line Musikmagazin, issue 10/1994, p. 23