Hall 2
Saal 2 is a Hamburg NDW formation that was founded in 1980 by Jens Kraft (vocals, guitar, bass), Thomas Meins (percussion) and Godeke Ilse (vocals, synth.). Strengthened by various changing musicians, the group began their career as an electronic new wave formation in the style of The Residents , Der Plan and DAF . Accordingly, their debut single "Angst vorm Tanzen" was still rather weird and experimental.
With the sampler contribution "Beach Feelings", however, the group increasingly began to mix NDW and Schlager with one another - similar to Ede & Die Zimmermann and Mythen In Tüten . They continued this on the follow-up single "Die U-Bahn rollst", which appeared under the name Saal 3 .
Although an LP had been announced for a long time, the date was constantly being postponed. Instead, the group confused their fans with appearances as hall 4 , hall 5 , hall 6 etc. Although the first long player was definitely announced for the end of 1983, the bankruptcy of the Eigelstein sales put an end to these plans.
In 1994, the group actually surprised their fans with their no longer expected debut album. With the support of Detlef Diederichsen ( Die Zimmermänner ) and Folke Jensen ( Ledernacken ) a correspondingly nostalgic-looking NDW album was created under the title “In search of happiness”. Many of the titles represented on it actually came from the early 1980s. However, the band also contributed some new tracks.
In 2005, Saal 2 released the LP, limited to 500 copies, because the system doesn't work! on Vinyl On Demand. Here the band presented their old original tapes on vinyl for the first time. These include ten previously unpublished pieces, original versions of songs from the early 1980s, which Jens Kraft and Godeke Ilse produced in one of their teenagers' rooms in the early 1980s. In addition, there are all four pieces from the first Zigzag EP from 1980 - including “Angst vorm Tanzen”, which WESTBAM in Spex 9/2005 voted for the eleventh best song of all time before Johann Sebastian Bach's A Firm Castle is Our God 1981 on the zigzag sampler Lieber Zuviel Than Too Little published summer piece "Beach feelings". As an encore, the former support act of THE FALL gives the brutal punk-funk rehearsal cellar version of “Kleine blonde Mädchen 2”.
In 2010, Saal 2 released the EP Johann Sebastian Kraft with six pieces composed by Jens Kraft.
2015 appeared from Hall 2 album What makes the music? ( Wallpaper Records ).
Discography
as room 2:
- Fear Of Dancing - Single (1980)
- Beach Feelings - on Sampler: Better Too Much Than Too Little (1981)
- In Search of Happiness Album (1994)
- Because the system doesn't work! - Album (2005)
- Johann Sebastian Kraft - EP (2010)
- What is the music doing? - Album (2015)
as room 3:
- The Subway Is Rolling - Single (1982)
as room 4:
- I love you - on sampler: Miracles always exist (1983)
Solo single by Jens Kraft as Rex Dildo:
- You're So Kind To Me - Single (1981)