Sidewalk Poets
| Sidewalk Poets | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Alternative folk rock |
| founding | 1986 |
| resolution | 1996 |
| Last occupation | |
| Frank "El" Schneider | |
Bass , vocals |
Christopher Blenkinsop |
Drums , vocals |
Reinhard "Koma" Lüderitz |
| Other members | |
guitar |
Mark Bertelmann (until 1990) |
bass |
Olli Hund (until 1990) |
Drums |
Eike Dierks (until 1989) |
Drums |
Piet Bendtsen (1989–1990) |
guitar |
Andy Wancke (1991-1992) |
bass |
John Barry (1991-1992) |
guitar |
Markus W (1991-1992) |
Drums |
Dieter X (1991-1992) |
The Sidewalk Poets were a Berlin rock band of the late 1980s and early 1990s that played English-influenced alternative and later experimental rock pop. At first they sang in English, later increasingly in German.
history
1st phase - 1987 to 1990
The singer and songwriter Frank Schneider founded the band in 1987 with Mark Bertelmann. With Olli Hund on bass and Eike Dierks on drums, they played their first concerts around the KOB and Café Swing . Dierks left the band in 1989 to play at Blechreiz and was replaced by Piet Bendtsen . Until 1990 they played concerts mainly in Berlin, u. a. with Crime & the City Solution , Plan B and Yo La Tengo . In 1989 they went on their first tour through Germany a. a. in the opening act for Trilobites . In early 1990, Bertelmann left the band to join Die Seuche . After a tour of Denmark with the guitarist Steffen Häfelinger in April, the band fell apart.
2nd phase - 1991 to 1992
In the summer of 1991 Schneider put together a new band with Andy Wancke (guitar), Markus W (A-guitar), John Barry (bass) and Dieter X (drums). The line-up changed quickly in the period that followed. Markus W's quick exit was followed by a change in the line-up on drums by Arthur von Blomberg, while Jan Mohr played guitar for Andy Wancke. After the last concerts (including in SO 36 ) the band broke up in autumn 1992.
3rd phase - 1992 to 1996
For the already booked tour Schneider hired the arranger Christopher Blenkinsop (bass, accordion, vocals). He brought Reinhard "Koma" Lüderitz (drums, sampler, vocals) with him and radically changed the band's sound. The trademark was the special standing drums from Lüderitz, which also played the sampler bass. This allowed Schneider a very free and expressive stage show. The income from the concerts was used to finance a vinyl double single as the first album. In the following heyday of the band, concerts took them through Germany, Spain, the Ukraine and in 1994 to the USA, where they a. a. performed at SXSW in Austin, Texas. At a concert in the opening act of Element of Crime in the same year, they met their guitarist Jakob Ilja , who produced their album Lüderitz . A tour in the opening act for Element of Crime followed. At the same time they arranged the music for a production of the Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Brandenburg Theater , in which they also appeared as a live band and actors. In 1996 they started work on another album, which was supposed to be called "Über Phoenix in die Uckermark", but was never finished.
Side projects
- The Lizard : 1993 | Commissioned composition for the Akademie der Künste
- Adolf Wölfi : 1994 | Co-composition and performance of a short opera by Gösta Neuwirth with the Oriol Ensemble
- Sidewalkwalkers : 1995 | Concerts with brass section (arranged by Joachim Litty ). Concerts and a. as part of the Kreuzberg Jazz Days with Albert Mangelsdorff
- Rocky Horror : 1995 | Arrangement and theater band at the Brandenburg Theater
Discography
- 1993: Sidewalk Poets (double single, Rent a Poet )
- 1994: Uffta (Maxi-CD, Rent a Poet)
- 1995: Lüderitz (CD, Rent a Poet)