The Apemen
The Apemen is a mod band from Saarbrücken . They are still considered one of the most famous German mod bands in the scene and made a name for themselves primarily through their sometimes destructive live performances and their comparatively harder musical pace.
Band history
Before the founding of the Apemen, guitarist JB John, bassist “Nuss” and drummer Jean-Marc played in a 60s garage rock band, albeit with only moderate success. Before Apemen was founded, singer Tom Platte was a local star in Saarbrücken with his sixties garage rock band “The Biting Butterflies”.
In 1991 they jointly decided to found a mod band and thus a musical style change, away from garage rock and towards the rhythm & blues , soul and beat of the 60s. The Apemen never saw themselves as a pure retro cover band, but also incorporated punk rock and power pop influences into their music. From the beginning, The Apemen, led by the charismatic singer Tom Platte, defined themselves more as a live band than a studio band.
The name "The Apemen" was based on the famous song "Apeman" by the English beat band The Kinks .
The band had their first appearance under the name “The Apemen” in the Saarbrücken scene club “Hades” in October 1992. The Apemen had their first appearance in front of a pure mod audience in November 1992 at the second “Smart Mod Weekender” in Unkel .
In 1993, numerous appearances followed, including in Saarbrücken , Berlin , Hamburg , Cologne and Antwerp , with which they made a name for themselves within the Mod and Sixtie scene.
In March 1993 the still self-produced single "I Got Soul" / "Somebody Help Me" was released.
At the end of 1993 The Apemen signed a contract with the English independent label "Detour Records".
In 1994 a two-week European tour was planned together with the English mod band “The Clique” and the Saarbrücken sixties girl band “Thee Cherylinas”. The tour was to be followed by a sampler by the three bands in the same year.
The tour led from Germany to Italy , Austria and Belgium . The Apemen played a concert with The Clique on Antwerp's city radio station “Radio Centraal”, which was broadcast live. The sampler was released under the title "Shout & Scream" and was recorded and produced by Liam Watson in the London "Toe Rag Studios". In the same year a mini tour of England followed with concerts in Folkestone , Brighton , Bournemouth , Nottingham , Edinburgh and London . The second single "Love Train" / "Let the Good Times Surround You" was also released in 1994. In contrast to the first single "I Got Soul", "Love Train" sounded much harder and the power pop elements predominated.
In 1996 the first and only album "Phantacity" was released, also on the independent label "Detour Records". The musical spectrum of the album ranged from Powerpop ("Tell the Truth"), Freakbeat ("Someone Like Me") to pieces with a psychedelic touch ("Mary-Anne"). The last track on the album is a live recording of a cover version of the Jimi Hendrix classic "Fire", recorded at the 1995 Beat O Mania Festival in Munich.
From 1994 to 1996 The Apemen were a regular guest at the annual Beat-O-Mania festival in Munich.
The Apemen gave their last concert in 1997 as part of a mod weekender on the Isle of Wight . Guitarist JB John and drummer Jean-Marc left the band. The line-up changed several times in the following years until the line-up with guitarist Brix (Markus Brixius) and drummer Thommy Rau, which has existed since 1999.
In the years after the move, The Apemen continued to play successfully many concerts at home and abroad.
In 1999 her last single "Lucky in Love" / "The Sun Doesn't Shine Anymore Without Happiness" was released.
The band paused from 2004 to December 2012. Since January 2013 The Apemen are active again.
The Apemen is the only band that has performed at all previous Modstock festivals (1994, 2004, 2014), the booking for 2024 has already been made.
In 2014 “Emily's Gone” was released on the “Modstock - 21st Century Club Classics” sampler, and in January 2015 The Apemen released their first live album “Live at Das Modul”.
Discography.
- 7 " I Got Soul (All About Music, 1993) - Germany
- 7 " Love Train (Detour Records, 1994) - UK
- LP / CD Phantacity (Detour Records, 1996) - UK
- 7 " Lucky in love (Detour Records, 2000) - UK
- CD Live at Das Modul (Paisley Archive Records, 2015) - UK
Sampler
- Shout & Scream (Detour Records, 1994) - UK (CD / LP)
- Modstock 94 (Detour Records, 1994) - UK (CD / LP)
- Hi Numbers (Flavor Of Sound, 1995) - Japan (CD)
- Beat-O-Mania at Its Best Vol. 1 (Fortune Records, 1995) - Germany (LP)
- Beat-O-Mania at Its Best Vol. 2 (Fortune Records, 1996) - Germany (CD)
- a fever! comp. , (Bip bip Records, 1998) - Spain (CD)
- Takin 'a Detour Vol. 2 , (Detour Records, 2001) - UK (CD)
- Modstock - 21st Century Club Classics (Detour Records, 2014) - UK (CD / LP)
Video albums
- VHS: Beat-O-Mania at Its Best (V / A), 1996
Web links
- The album “Phantacity” at last.fm