#GIGsoupinHamburg

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GIGsoup in Hamburg-Saturday: 'Molotow and The Golden Pudel'

Header photo by Christian Spahrbier. This article is part of our GIGsoup in Hamburg series! Make sure to check Zoe Anderson’s page for more coverage!

Wohlwillstraßenfest St. Pauli. Photo by Andy Xu. After an electrifying Beatles Tour with local expert Steffi Hempel (read about that here), we stopped for a quick bite at Mr Kebab, a local hotspot that brought together both the protesters and police involved in the G20 protests of 2017. Is the road to world peace paved with doner wraps? It’s likely we’ll never know. Passing back through the Wohlwillstraßenfest street party, we find ourselves at the end of the Reeperbahn, making for the red doors of indie rock club Molotow. This multi-storeyed club—more warren than a venue—oozes character with tiny tucked-away bars and stages just waiting to be found. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLk5wIdCz4s On this night, the St. Pauli venue played host to the annual Burger Invasion Festival that brings together twelve rock bands from all over Germany, squeezes them into the caverns of Molotow and lets them loose. Die Cigaretten brought a sheen of local grease to the occasion, whilst Berlin natives, Odd Couple, filled their room with smoky synth sounds. With an atmosphere so close and intense, many patrons opted for the sprawling outdoor area that was (thankfully) mostly undercover of the day’s heavy rain.! Red-lit and winding, Molotow is a haunted house made of rock; the spooky characters that dwell within providing thrills, spills and plenty of sweat. After a few bottles of Jever, GIGsoup ventured out into the thrumming Reeperbahn streets and down to our final destination of the evening—the legendary Golden Pudel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re4l-wutKhc After our record store tour with Booty Carrell (you can read about that here), we were looking forward to a night of dancing at this local dancing hot spot. Affectionately dubbed, “the Elbphilharmonie of the hearts”, the club has recently been refurbished after a mysterious fire destroyed much of the venue in 2016. Now the building looks shiny and new, sporting a pastel-colour palette and a familiar view of Hamburg’s historic dock area. Be sure to check out local author Gereon Klug’s beautiful stream-of-consciousness account of an evening at the Pudel (available here). It’s incredibly funny and includes such genius ponderings as: “And they`re really back in, all of them. Auntin Tina, the lighthouse keeper, Lumpy, the Fairy-without-Vaseline, the Piggy Boys and the rest of the individualised crowd.” Humour and individuality are the bread-and-butter of the Pudel. Down on the club’s ground-floor level, most patrons find themselves outside, smoking and chatting as the night turns into morning. What sets the Pudel apart from most clubs is its willingness to take a chance on an artist, rather than booking in line with a particular genre or trend. “The variety at the Pudel is so huge,” said Booty Carrell earlier in the day over a light lunch in the café upstairs. “If they like you, they’ll let you play". Late into the evening, an appreciative crowd were treated to an evening of techno by resident DJ Saturnine. Joining her were Snow and Zapata, who alternated through the night, thumbing through vinyl, and bobbing their heads respectfully along to the music. Sound artist Andi Otto (who GIGsoup interviewed earlier in the week) even played a gig here recently. “If you get big at the Pudel, they’ll let you play whatever you want. There is no door to style”. They played old English music, like William Bird”.

The Fish Market. Photo by Escape Filmproduktion. If you really want to experience a night out in Hamburg, then you have to wait until 5 am for the city’s famous Fish Market to come to life. Food trucks stuffed with sandwiches line cobbled streets, and the mixture of night owls and early birds makes for an interesting scene. As patrons waited impatiently for the doors of the Fish Market’s main hall to open, they nursed cheap cigarettes and sang the songs they’d heard in the clubs and bars on the Reeperbahn. Amongst the beer stalls and picnic tables, Grooveline (a local cover band) energetically delivered a string of hits. From Robbie Williams ‘Let Me Entertain You’ to Bruno Mars’ ‘Uptown Funk,’ the bleary-eyed crowd was up and moving as the sun rose over the harbour. Stay tuned for more of #gigsoupinhamburg this week! Read the full article

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Gigsoup in Hamburg- Saturday: 'Stefanie Hempel's Beatles' Tour'

Pictures by Andy Xu. This article is part of our GIGsoup in Hamburg series! Make sure to check Zoe Anderson’s page for more coverage!

Steffi outside the Davidwache Police Station After our meeting with sound artist Andi Otto and David-Maria Gramse of the Ensemble Resonanz, we made our way from St. Pauli’s imposing WW2 Bunker towards the infamous Reeperbahn. This strip of strip clubs, bars and sex shops is many things to many people. Stray dogs prowl the streets while German tourists drift in and out of small theatres. Perhaps the most interesting part of this lively area, though, is the huge role it played in The Beatles’ early career as a rock and roll cover band in the sixties. This history is so tucked away, and oftentimes entirely lost, that you really need to know where to look in order to find it. And really, there is only one person you should trust to show you around the mean streets of the Reeperbahn: Steffi Hempel (who GIGsoup interviewed last year, you can read about it here). Steffi is widely regarded as one of the most-knowledgeable Beatles experts, and has been running her comprehensive musical tour of the area for over 15 years.

The place where the legendary Star Club once. It was the last place the group played before the skyrocketed to fame. MTV UK called Hempel’s Beatles Tour “the greatest Beatles tour of all time,” and is incredibly popular with both native and international guests. This musical journey is completely unique, with fans travelling from all over the world to see Steffi do her thing. Ukulele in hand, Steffi gleefully covers a huge range of classic Beatles tracks including ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ and ‘In My Life (There Are Places I Remember)’, placing these famous tracks geographically amongst St. Pauli’s snaking streets and alleys. “When the Beatles came to the city, they were all so young,” Steffi says, showing us the smooth black and white faces of Paul and John; the lesser-known and handsome Pete Best and Stuart Sutcliffe posing alongside for a dower photoshoot in Hamburg’s DOM theme park. “Can you imagine being so young and coming to somewhere like St. Pauli?” It is in this simple question that Steffi provides an insight into Hamburg and this little-known part of the Beatles’ career. A time where they were exposed to the sleaze of local gangsters, and, as legend has it, were accompanied on-stage by a stripper because they didn’t have enough songs to fill out their (often) six-hour sets at the Indra Club.

The old walls of the 100 Club Steffi’s unabashed love of the Beatles comes across as so pure and wonderful, that she immediately sweeps you up in the stories that she’s gathered over her many years of research. Even if you’re not a Beatles fanatic, the tour provides a snapshot of the St. Pauli club scene of the early sixties and helps elevate the city via this corner of its musical past. Steffi’s tour concludes next to the John Lennon Rock ‘n’ Roll Doorway, which is now part of one of St. Pauli’s many squats. The location is famously featured on Lennon’s 1975 album ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll’, but it looks very different now. Steffi has, of course, charmed the residents, greeting them with smiles and open arms. She makes sure to remind us to be respectful when taking photos—another insight into Steffi’s love and respect for St. Pauli and its people. Outside, the street is humming with life as Wohlwillstraßenfest, a yearly street party that takes over the area, continues on despite the drizzle. Shop owners chat with friends and passers-by, and the air is alive with music.  Check out Steffis website here! #gigsoupinhamburg Read the full article

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GIGsoup In Hamburg - Friday: 'Vinyl in St Pauli with Booty Carrel'

Photography by Andy Xu. Header image features Hanseplatte Records. This article is part of our GIGsoup in Hamburg series! Make sure to check Zoe Anderson’s page for more coverage!

Booty Carrel and writer Zoe Anderson outside the Golden Pudel Club Waking up to a dance of cloudy, sunlit showers, it was time to see a different side of Hamburg’s music history: its infamous record stores. The city has a rich history of vinyl collectors and DJs digging through crates and spinning hidden gems in clubs such as St Pauli’s Golden Pudel Club. Our guide through the winding streets of St Pauli was Booty Carrel, a local legend who mans the counter at Groove City Records, and a spinner of a bewildering array of vinyl. If you’re looking to take a funky journey from Pakistan to Paris and back again, Booty is your guy.

The steps at the old meatpacking district Booty is an incredibly warm man. What’s apparent from the first steps out onto the street is how much he loves people and adores his neighbourhood. We jokingly dub him ‘The Mayor of St Pauli’ as he stops what seems like every few steps to hug or shake hands with passers-by. We travel under the walls of the historic meatpacking district and take a look at the outside of Kunst: an unassuming nightclub which played host to the likes of R.E.M (in their fledgeling days), and now hosts a variety of local Turkish bands. Our first stop is Hanseplatte, an airy space that specialises in music from Hamburg. Booty really looks like a kid in a candy shop here, thumbing gleefully through the plastic-bound records, spouting little facts about seemingly everything he touches. He grabs a red, white and green record and motions for it to be put on loudspeakers. The groove of Erobliques’s ‘Urlaub in Italien’ flows out into the street. The track is a crowd favourite but was never committed to a studio recording. Throughout the song, the whoops and cheers of the audience can be heard as they chime in with this beloved Hamburg local. Groove City Records As we walked past the meatpacking steps that colourfully proclaim ‘St Pauli’, Booty points out the dark shopfront of Smallville records. “They never open before 2 pm, even on Saturdays when they can get the best business. They’re proper night owls”. Next stop on our tour was Booty’s own Groove City Records, specializing in funk, soul, hip-hop and jazz. Upon entering we’re greeted by owner Marga Glanz, who has run Groove City for 14 years. “10 years ago the 12-inch business was gone” she relates, “the hip-hop musicians all started using Serato”. Groove City is more internationally inclined than Hanseplatte with the recognizable faces of Anderson .Paak, Curtis Mayfield and MF Doom all staring out of neatly arranged piles of vinyl. One record that appears constantly on this winding journey is the colourful Derya Yildrim and Grup Şimşek a “modern super quintet” who have just released their self-titled debut album. Booty is very proud of this record and points it out multiple times on the tour.

Zardoz Records As we walk out into the overcast Hamburg morning, Booty praises St Pauli’s ability to never lose its character and the area’s determination to not give in to gentrification. Our next stop, the comparatively large Zardoz Records, moved some years ago because the rent in its previous location was simply too high for it to operate. But here in St Pauli, it has found a home. As Booty laughs and jokes with the owner, something that our guide said earlier begins to ring true; “It’s really great that fellow record store owners and workers feel like your friends and colleagues rather than your competitors. It really helps music flourish in the city”. Indeed, each shop proudly carries a full list of other vinyl proprietors in the area, in case they don’t have what their customer is looking for. Last but not least, we come to Freiheit & Roosen /HAFENSCHLAMMREKORDS which Booty describes as a crate-diggers paradise; if you’re willing to roll up your sleeves and do some real hunting. Amongst dusty hip-hop compilations, you’ll find a huge array of kick-knacks. Old postcards line the walls, and you can even pick up a version of Top Trumps that is based around oil spills. Weird, wonderful and cavernous, really adventurous diggers will no doubt find something special here.

Freiheit & Roosen /HAFENSCHLAMMREKORDS And so concluded our alternative take on music history in Hamburg. Booty hugged us both and warmly promised to visit us in London one day. Infected by his passion and positivity, we made our way back onto the winding streets of St Pauli, to continue our day in the late sunshine. Check out Booty Carrel's SoundCloud here for some of his amazing mixes.

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GIGsoup talks to techo marching band Meute at Hamburg's MS Docville Festival 2019.

This article is part of our GIGsoup in Hamburg Series! Make sure to check out Zoe Anderson's page for more coverage! Photos by Steffi Rettinger, Jennifer Schmid and shotbywozinak.

Photo by shotbywozinak GIGsoup sat down with Hamburg's Meute, an eleven piece marching band who cover massive dance hits. They came dressed in their signature red jackets, ready for their performance on the Vorschot Stage later that evening. You guys are from Hamburg. What was the inspiration for forming a techno marching band? I think there are many inspirations. Many people in our band like techno music, but also like many other different styles and different artists. As an artist, you are always searching for new things that don’t exist already. Combining stuff creates something new. That's what we do, it started as an experiment. And its still is an experiment. Do you have a system for choosing the songs you cover? We have a feeling about our tracks. If a song feels nice we’ll choose it. We don’t choose songs because they’re our favourite, we choose them for other reasons. Members of the band often bring tracks that we listen to on the bus, or in the middle of the night and we see where it goes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYtjttnp1Rs What is special about Hamburg for you as a musician? I think the scene is great. I come from this area but I live in Berlin. I always feel comfortable as a musician in Hamburg because the scene is not huge. So after some years, you get to know people and once you find your crowd. It’s very easy to get together to work. In Hamburg there feels like a nice homegrown scene and that’s why it was easy to put the band together in a way. Here if feels natural to put a band together and stick together for some years. Hamburg has a great tradition of live music. You have the harbour and the Reeperbahn where the Beatles started their career. So I think the music scene is very lively here. As a marching band, you perform traditionally in the street. When you take this into a club, how does the dynamic change? This is the most direct way to play music. There are no effects, and nothing people won't understand. They see all the elements right in front of them. You feel the bass drum, you feel the beat, the air is moving. We enjoy this way of playing a lot. We obviously enjoy the big live shows but its still very interesting to play face to face. It great also when the electricity goes off, we can still play. AT THIS POINT IN THE INTERVIEW ALL THE LIGHTS IN THE ROOM GO OUT Did you plan that? No! I swear we didn’t plan it! The production is very good here it seems! Do you prefer to perform amongst a crowd or are there times where a stage is better? We love both experiences. We always want to keep both. On a stage, we can reach 2000, or even 10,000 people at a time. There is a natural limit on what you can do amongst a crowd, so that changes the dynamic. A big live show is fun with big lights and big sound, but then there is the added pressure of that environment. We love the energy of all spaces. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdVpRvf-Vpc What new angle do you think live instrumentation brings to these songs? The people have to decide this. We just paint the picture. The people can decide what the new angle is. We just hope that we bring our personality to these songs. I think people like the fact that we do something that usually machines or robots do and we do it with our hands. We turn that around and bring a human element. We take the jobs from the robots! Also, everyone can pick their own focus. There are eleven people on stage and these roles change during the track or set. In our case people can follow elements visually, I think that is quite interesting for a lot of people. In electronic music, people follow particular lines or rhythms but in our case, you can pick out the exact person who is creating a certain thing. You’ve just been on a big international tour. Were there any shows in particular that stuck out for you? We can’t just name one. Honestly, it may sound over exaggerated but in some ways, every night is a highlight because its so crazy to play this music and basically people go crazy every night. So it’s really hard to choose. The only thing to mention I guess is that when you go to many different countries and cities you get different mentalities and different festivals. We have the opportunity to come into contact with so many different audiences. In fact, is all about energy really.

Photo by Steffi Rettinger How do you see the act evolving in the future? We will do some original tracks. The electronic music field is so broad that it is constantly evolving so it’s very exciting for us! Keep an eye out for the rest of our #gigsoupinhamburg articles! Read the full article