Still fucking angry

Yesterday, my work stopped at 8:15pm and I knew my time would be tight tonight. Right at finishing time, I just jumped out of my working clothes, entered my car and drove as fast as my small and slow car could get me to Bergisch Gladbach, a small town nearby Cologne.

Arriving in darkness is always a struggle for me, because I am night-blind, have a problem with left and right and surely I first missed the spot.
After parking the car, I entered the youth centre and wow, I felt young again. My first punkrock show was 1991, where I saw the German punk-band Molotow Soda from the former German capital Bonn. Today, almost 15 years later, I was about to see another band from the same city F*cking Angry.

The evening was supposed to be the record release gig for another band Pogendroblem (something like prugdroblem in English), who is a local act and who had organised the whole thing.
When I arrived, the first band was suprisingly sitting almost entirely on the stage and I felt like being transported back in the beginning of the 90’s, when punks were still punks and I was younger and with more energy and less worries in my mind.

They were called Unterstaat and the singer had a police hat on his head and the guitar player looked like he came from this other dimension, which I call „back in the punk-days“. This was the way punk-bands looked like back in the days. And still are like this, which always brings a smile into my face. Unterstaat plaid rough German punk and I took a few photos.
The audience was pretty young and me in my old age (hahaha) felt younger too. In the corner, some people older than me were obviously waiting for their maybe teenaged kids in the crowd to bring them back home. Or something similar, I was just guessing.

The first band just plaid a few songs and then finished. So, I did not get much of what they plaid and they rushed from stage.
Time for me to discover the room and the audience. It was a wide and long, but properly equitted concert room, typically for youth centres. Three doors, where people could enter and the audience consisted of many punk clothed people and some ordinary styled. A great mixture.

Unterstaat at Ufo in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany playing live on 30. January 2016.

The second band Pogendroblem changed the equipment and I was a little confused, because it was their release gig and they did not play as main act.
Their music was German punkrock and had good lyrics and the singer was full of high energy.
One of their songs was against the rascist party AfD (Alternative for Germany), who is unfortunately getting a great support during these days full of fears and anger against the arriving refugees from countries, where our very own government delivered the weapons to: „You are in the fist of fear, you have no perspective, because you can not go alone, you are looking convulsively for an alternative.“

Another song was rather more explicit: „Milk products make you dumb!“

Pogendroblem at Ufo in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany playing live on 30. January 2016.

The last band this evening, I had seen almost two weeks ago. This time, the location was nicer and not a dangerous former swimming pool, where people hit their back on the stairs. F*cking Angry plaid their angry and high energy punk-hardcore again and this time I was better prepared, because I had their vinyl in home since two weeks and knew many of the songs.

Their energy was sheerly hitting in my back and stomach and my legs started to move uncontrollable. Gabo, the drummer had to work a lot, I can see the hard parts of the songs in his face, but this gave a rather stronger energy to the already existing wall of guitar, the grumbling bass and the deep and straight voice of Beckx.

Unfortuntely the people had decreased since the last band and the place to dance was now huge and the guys could pogo and jump as hell. They all knew the band very well and could sing their lyrics.
As usual, they started off with their title song Fucking Angry and they finished their set with the song Born Angry. Does this say enough?

Thanks to all the bands for the nice evening and also the lovely audience. Hope to see you all again soon.

F.cking Angry – live at Ufo in Bergisch Gladbach on 30. January 2016

A video of F*cking Angry during that show:

And a video of Pogendroblem during that show:

Setlist Pogendroblem
Moschen für Groschen
Schnöselpunx
Viktoria
AfD Motherfucker
Öffis
Kotzen
Milchprodukte
Nipster
Putin
Flucht
Schales Bier
Steiner Kids are Stoner Kids

Setlist F*cking Angry
Intro & F.cking Angry
Unterwegs
Lone Wolf
Destroy
Doin‘ Alright
Hashtag
Myanmar
Blackout
Hardcore
Battle the Bottle
Bad Neuenahr
Fuck Off
Atomstrom
Skatesong
Born Angry
………………
Was übrig bleibt

Two completely different concerts – or not? Klaus der Geiger and f*cking angry

On 16. January 2016 I had the chance to see two completely different concerts in their music style. But somehow they were not really different in their basics.

We can also call this night „my search for snow“, because the weather forecast proclaimed heavy snowfall and ice on the streets, but let’s see.

I first started to drive with my car the 45 minutes ride to Cologne, where I wanted to see Klaus der Geiger (Claus the fiddler), who is the most famous street musician in Germany. I knew him from the mid-90’s when he plaid a song with a local punk-left wing-comedy troupe, where he sung the remarkable slogan: „We don’t want your power and we don’t want you money. We don’t want to listen to your lies, we want to destroy your lies.“

The more remarkable it was, that he was supposed to record a live CD during this night, playing songs by Astor Piazzolla together with Marius Peters, who plaid the guitar. Piazzolla is known for this unique Tango music, where he included elements of Jazz.

I arrived in time and needed to go upstairs for almost five floors to reach the venue. Chairs were seated on the floor, which is an unusual sight to me, because I am used to standing, dancing and pushing during concerts. But this is a classical concert, so people had to relax.

Right in time, Klaus and Marius entered the stage, gave a few instructions to switch off the mobile phones, to not disturb the recording and they started with the „Four Seasons“ by Piazzolla. They were followed by a song, where Klaus was singing for this new-born granddaughter, a Jazz song and one last song, that both musicians brought together.

Klaus der Geiger – Loft, Cologne, Germany – 16. January 2016

During the break I left the venue, because I had to drive for one more hour to the next show. I stepped into my car, gave the directions to my electronical navigation system (not auto-pilot) and drove to Schwerte in the East. During this ride, they announced constantly on the radio that there was heavy snow fall and ice on the roads. I did not see any of this. Not one single snowflake. But I was to experience it later.

I wanted to see f*cking angry in Schwerte, a German hardcore punk band, that I just knew by listening to a few of their songs online, but these songs hit me immediately. They hit me so much, that I needed to see them playing. It is always risky to visit a show, where you do not know the band, but this band was a blast! Klaus and f*cking angry agreed to let me photograph during their shows, so I had to take the chances and not disappoint them.

I arrived right in time. The last band just unloaded their equipment and the next band to play was f*cking angry. I grabbed a beer, drank it quickly to have two free hands to photograph and waited for the things to come.

My love are female-fronted bands, either punk, hardcore or rock. I love the mixture of electric guitars with female voices. Beckx, the singer of f*cking angry had an amazing voice, with which I already fell in love just listening to their online songs. Such a raw power with politically motivated lyrics are always appealing to me.

They just started their show and it directly blasted my ears and body. The energy was encroaching to me and I needed to move my legs and feet, while trying to take good photos. Beckx’s voice was raw and deep and fitted so perfectly to what a hardcore, punk band should sound like.

The Rattenloch is a very unique and strange venue, that I never saw before. It must have been a former swimming pool or so, because in the concert hall were steep steps and the dancing ground was two metres below. It had the disadvantage, that the people who were dancing pogo and fell down, sometimes crashed on the sharp edges of the stairs.

F*cking Angry are real kind and nice people and worried for these people who crashed on the stairs and I even saw Beckx cleaning up the stage from empty beer bottles, so that they won’t break. How sweet is that?

They were fast, angry, threw their lyrical stones against the injustice of our society and political system, the informed about the fascist Hooligan gangs roaming around in Dortmund to „protect“ the people against foreigners and they even had a song about Burma or Myanmar. This was another reason why immediately I fell in love with them, because I spent a long time in this country, documenting the civil war and the effects of the military dictatorship with my camera: „I wish I was a punk in Myanmar, so I really had something to rebel against … I would rebel against the war, I would rebel against the law, I would rebel against the German tourists looking to score.“ Great!!

f*cking angry live at Rattenloch in Schwerte, Germany on 16. January 2016.

I bought their vinyl at the end and made my way home, because snow might be coming. And right after I entered the highway and wanted to speed home, snow begang to fall. The Autobahn was covered with snowflakes within a short time and the speed and energy from the show almost disappeared, even though I tried to keep the mood alive while listening to early Bad Religion songs. When you drive through falling snow in night time, it seems like small stones are flying towards you, because of the reflections of the car-lights on the flakes. I had to drive slowly and arrived late at night in my home.

I wish to see f*cking angry again to get back this mood and energy from such a kind and lovely band, that I have rarely seen. Thanks a lot to all the musicians during this night!!!

One song from the f*cking angry show as video:

Setlist f*cking angry:
intro & f+cking angry
Unterwegs
Lone Wolf
Destroy
Doin Alright
Hashtag
Myanmar
Blackout
Hardcore
Battle the Bottle
Bad Neuenahr
Fuck off
Atomstrom
Skatesong
Born Angry
……….
Was übrig bleibt

The globalisation of graffiti

Finally, my essay about the globalisation of graffiti is published in the Very Nearly Almost magazine.
Thanks a lot to Roly for realising it.

Please read it here: http://verynearlyalmost.com/dev/2016/01/nicholas-ganz-global-graffiti-the-globalisation-of-an-artform/#more-30345

Traveller graffiti by Leonardo at Ramesseum temple. – Luxor-Egypt_2014

Sometimes

sometimes you know
which direction you go
sometimes you don’t even know
where you actually are
and what you actually feel
just stumbling around
in a fog of illusions
bumping into other people
standing in the same fog
but holding a torch
to see more clearly
their way
out of this diffusing day
full of confusing thoughts
and contradicting feelings

to love someone
requires a heart
and not an agreement
with your mind
when your heart
and your mind
walk into different directions
you only create confusion
for yourself and also
for the one who loves you
but it means to loose this person
who you like
but not deeply love
once and for all
because love with mind
and heart bloomed
on the other side
but not on yours