BOMBS AWAY!

2010 draws its last few breaths and as it is the habit you turn your head to recall what has happened during the year. In my case that´s quite a lot and I think that 2010 stands out as one of the most nerve-wracking, exciting, incisive and inspiring so far. This year I went from the known into the unknown, I said goodbye to Germany and hello to Finland. I said goodbye to family and friends in my home country which was a hard thing to do. This is only eased by the fact that it was no goodbye for good. We had our first visitor this year and if all are coming over in the next who have announced themselves so far it´s getting pretty busy here - Cool! Then I´m planning on a trip to Germany next year, hopefully two but let´s see what the future holds and let´s not lick before it drops. I´m happy to realize that I can keep close contact to my people in Germany and this blog is one of the tools which come in handy. Just recently had my first conference call via Skype, pretty funny, more of that, please!

I had to let go of something else when leaving Germany in July and the odds are that this was a goodbye for good, something that still saddens me. I am talking about the mighty BOMBODROM, the hardcore/punk sensation that stirred up the scene in Düsseldorf for two hot summers and this shall be their (rather short) history!

I had known Andi A. and Fränkie Disco for a long time already before actually starting the band in March/April 2009. We weren´t close friends but we met often whenever something cool was happening in town, and sometimes it was even them who made it happen. They had a band together called Bratseth and organized punk gigs and movie nights in local cinemas as the Celluloid Suckers. Especially the movie nights were pretty memorable because they always had a certain theme and you didn´t only see one or two funny flicks. Quite often a band was playing fitting to the theme and everybody was dressed up as if they were coming directly from the silver screen. When the Suckers showed surf movies you had an instro band, Hawaii shirts everywhere and a cold cocktail in your hand. Satisfaction guaranteed!

Andi and me had already spoken a couple of times about making music together but we were somehow busy with other projects all of the time. I remember that in 2008 also Fränkie asked if we should just try to get something started. Back then Andi was still in Karateclub, Fränkie played (and plays) in Sonic Dolls and I fought the last battle with myself wether or not I should start the Noctunes again, my old band from the 90ties.

Andi A. Great pic, don´t care it´s crooked.

Fränkie Disco. Always a flash of lightning.

After a difficult end of 2008 I had to suffer a great personal loss in the beginning of 2009. All the frustration and anger inside me needed an outlet badly, so I made the call(s) and in spring 2009 I met both guys in their rehearsal room with two riffs and a lyric in my pocket and we almost completed our first song right on the spot. It was fucking great and raised the appetite for more. In retrospect I think that the timing couldn´t have been any better. Everybody involved was longing for something new and exciting and there it was! I kept the songs coming, after a long time it felt so easy for me to write new material. Soon Andi began contributing with his compositions and we had a flow!

What we needed was of course a bass player and we had a ridiculously precise idea about how this guy should be like. I just list the really important requirements here that the potential candidate had to meet:
1. Cool guy you want to spend time with also before and after the rehearsal
2. Understanding for our music, we don´t have to explain what´s punk
3. In our age, no teens or twens
4. The certain, unexplainable something.

Andi S. behind the knobs and buttons

After a few auditions it was Andi S. who brought the certain, unexplainable something to the band. Plus he´s a multi-instrumentalist and a certified sound technician but only vicious tongues would claim that these features got him the gig, hahaha...Mr. S is a real nice guy and maybe what you could call the Ying to the Yang of the rest of us. When we had some creative catfights he was the one to cool off the hotheads. And I definetely was one.

Hey, we were a punk band, not the fucking Bee Gees! Although it wasn´t always easy-peasy I am still proud of every member´s input and we decided everything together, we made it happen! Funny example for certain quarrels in the camp was the necessary evil, the horrid process of finding a band name everybody could live with. We met several times when we were still a trio to discuss the matter and come up with ideas. The scenario was always the same, we would just pass around our roles in the play. One would burst out "I have the best band name e-v-e-r!" and tell it to the others, one would say "Well, doesn´t really knock my socks off, but I could cope with it." Then the critical last third in the band would always go like: "Over my cold, dead body!" Time passed on, in the meantime we had a bass player and the first show to play but still there was no name in sight, goddamnit! We had to come up with something before opening the 10th anniversary show of swamp-a-billy trashpunks Hack Mack Jackson which was about to take place in Düsseldorf´s highly prolific AK 47 club, the address for live punk in town!

Then, all of a sudden, it was there: BOMBODROM. Only one week before we took the name I had heard it for the first time due to a marginal note on the news. Turned out there was a military base in East Germany trying for 17 (seventeen!) years to turn their terrain into a test center for bombs. Bombs from the sky, bombs from the ground, bombs from the left and right (no pun intended), bombs everywhere 24/7. The people living in that area of Brandenburg were very pleased! The region is quite dependent on tourism, bombs and tourists don´t mix! They gave the army a hard time and won the battle against the so-called Bombodrom after almost two decades! We figured the moniker is somehow punk as it transports the positive idea of fighting against whoever tries to piss in your punchbowl. It sounded tough and silly at the same time - Perfect! Now we could hit the stage with a proper name and coincidence had it that we even got to play at a AntiFa meeting before the actual show with the Jacksons. It was some kind of baptism by fire before what we all concider our first real gig. Both shows went great and the crowd really liked us so much they didn´t mind our (and especially my) constant babbling between the songs, we had to play for time a bit since the set list was rather short back then.

Next project was the recording of our songs which was an easy task. Bombodrom shared the rehearsal space with Sonic Dolls and Oiro, who had attached a little recording control room to the place. So with the help of our very own recording engineer Andi S. we were able to comfortably take care of business for free! The mixing took a while cause some of us where busy in their jobs. Well, what can you do? Punk doesn´t pay the rent, punk doesn´t put bread on the table. Something´s gotta give and time (or the lack of it) was slowly becoming an issue. Two more gigs followed before the year was over. The first was again in AK 47. We opened the whole shebang, next up were Oiro who played a farewell gig for their parting bass player. Then came the initiators of the evening who took the stage by storm one last time: Karateclub with our Andi A. on vocal duties had announced to call it quits and they gave everybody in AK 47 reason to miss them a lot! Both Karateclub and Oiro were great, unfortunately we had not been in the best shape that night. But we had already the next gig coming two weeks later, this time supporting Düsseldorf´s recently regrouped NDW legends Nichts in a cool punkrock joint in Köln called Sonic Ballroom. That night we felt we had something to prove and played a very energetic show, much to the delight of both us and the crowd. 

When things started to look promising and people began to take notice of us we actually should have taken action and play live as much as possible. The busy schedule outside of the band however just didn´t allow anything like that, which was sometimes frustrating yet very understandable. I mentioned it before and I say it again: this, our beloved type of music, which is universes away from billboard charts and Emmy Awards, will never pay our bills. It´s a matter close to our hearts but here comes the bitter pill that I swallowed already years ago: Either you sell out and play soulless bullshit or your music has to come second to a dayjob with which you can make a living. People like us will always choose the last option so we have to live with the obvious consequences. But I digress and don´t want to forget that it was me who dropped the biggest bomb on Bombodrom. When I told the guys in spring 2010 that I will emigrate to Finland in July our fate was sealed. But it spawned some very cool things, too!

We immediately decided to have a big farewell party and release the six songs of our recording session by ourselves. On vinyl, of course! There was also a real cool gig offer from Endless Grind, an anual oldschool skateboard contest held in Bremen. It´s also linked to our jacks of all trades Andi A. and Fränkie since they were part of the crew that founded the whole thing.

Our 7" is D.I.Y. as fuck, limited as hell (100 copies) and I´m damn proud of it! What we could do on our own we did and only close comrades and likewise minds helped us where it was needed. So a big thanks again to Arno from CHUD, Ralf / Graphica, Günter at Slowboy, Flight 13 Duplication and of course Dirk for the pics. We designed the whole thing, we cutted, folded and glued every single sleeve and cover, we printed the stickers that came with each copy, we stamped the labels, we...well, you get the point. All happened in a terrible hurry and around 30 degrees every day since summer had arrived to D´dorf. But we had the final package ready in time to sell it at our farewell show for a ridiculous price.

Cut-out & gatefold cover, band pic inside, sleeve w/ lyrics and print, sticker incl. 

...and green vinyl!

For our last show in our hometown we had picked a superb location! Bei Moni im Fortuna Eck! This traditional corner bar had dedicated itself to the football team Fortuna Düsseldorf and was mostly frequented by locals from the district - until we came. We all love these kind of bars and to do something different and memorable, we planned our final gig there with immensely cooperative owner Moni. She suggested that since it´s summer, we should start early and the band could sell some BBQ food in front of the bar where she had some benches and tables. Right on! When we tried to tenderly prepare her for the outrageous volume of Bombodrom, she just chuckled and said: "Oh, that´s no problem. I had bands play here before." Well, we knew that she had had some singer/songwriter acts perform there but that´s comparing a bee to a F-14! "We are really loud.", we said. Moni: "If it´s getting too loud we can close the windows." As if that would help. "But we are really, really loud!" "Ah, don´t worry! When am I ever doing something like this over here? The neighbors will have to live with it." Ok, case closed, we had a deal. The day came and I will never forget it. We had so much fun! The place was packed like crazy, I had even family from North Germany coming down, we played a truely great show (did I already mention that we were veeery loud?), the cops didn´t show up, the only bathrobed neighbor who complained sat down at the bar and had a beer, Moni and her crew sold drinks like never before and the topping of the night was Der dicke Olli, a good friend of ours, giving us the DJ set of his life! Everybody involved was happy about the event and I´m glad to hear that Olli and Moni have developed some kind of business relationship. Olli throws well-attended parties there now and Moni has the money rolling in!

Only one week after the Fortuna Eck show we went to Bremen for Endless Grind and our absolutely last show. I had stayed at Andi A.´s already for a couple of days (thanks again, man!) because all my belongings were on their way to Finland, my flat belonged to someone else by now. A very strange feeling! We managed to concentrate rather on the fun than on the melancholy that the knowledge of impending doom brought with it. Everything worked out like planned, after the big party with friends, comrades and family in D´dorf it was great to celebrate us, our friendship and our band in a setting that made it very personal and a band matter only. Nothing to organize and just us to enjoy the final moments. The setting couldn´t have been cooler, skaters everywhere competing in various categories and we played directly at the pool while the contest was on! Later that evening we went into town to party. Again this was so much fun and a really worthy ending to the Bombodrom chapter. Next day we went back to Düsseldorf and a few days later I was on the plane to Finland.

Our very last setlist.

In all this hectic time between the last shows, my personal moving stress and yet again temperatures around 30 degrees we even recorded all the songs we made after the first recording session so we have a recorded legacy of 14 songs. I haven´t heard all of them yet, but what I´ve heard so far really "kicks ass"! When they are mixed and ready I will figure out how to upload them here for free download. That stuff should be heard!

That´s the story of Bombodrom in a nutshell and I treasure the memories. I hear that both Andis and Fränkie will maybe continue to make music together and I think that would be cool, keep me posted, guys! I have bonded with a great drummer over here and got something in the works but it´s still too early to be more precise about it. Let´s see what 2011 has in stock for all of us! I hear it knocking already...

Bombodrom was: Andi S. (bass/bvox), JottEff (git/vox), Andi A. (git/vox), Fränkie Disco (drums)

Make sure to check out:
bombodrom.com (all songs of 1st session)
sonicdolls.de (Fränkie´s other band)
Hack Mack Jackson (Comrades & countrypunks)
endlessgrind.eu (video of Endless Grind 2010)
Oiro (rehearsal room buddies)
AK 47 (punk club Düsseldorf)
Sonic Ballroom (punk club Köln)
CHUD (Cool clothes)
slowboy.de (art & vinyl)
Grafica (pimp up your shop)
...if I forgot someone and you want the link, let me know...

                                     UND JETZT : GUTEN RUTSCH!

Christmas Chronicles

Yet another christmas behind and this time it was the first in Finland after four years. It was really about time! As mentioned before we spent it in Pori and I can say that we enjoyed every minute of it. Perfect mix of family visits, leisure time, good traditional food and beverages in a setting that emphasized the christmas spirit with lots of snow and temperatures peaking at minus 23. This might be so far the lowest I have ever experienced and now I finally came behind the meaning of the "nostril hair test". It´s a funny thing: below minus fifteen the nostril hair somehow reacts as if it would freeze, quite a strange feeling. Nothing you couldn´t cure with some vodka fuelled glögi, though. Here are some pics from a chilling walk to the cemetery on the 24th:

After such a walk you realize that the best Finnish invention by far is the sauna but due to a frozen plumbing system in the outdoor sauna we had to let this option pass and so it was back to glögi. As soon as we could feel our toes again we prepared everything for the christmas evening. I already mentioned the traditional food and some of you might wonder what traditional finnish christmas food actually is. Well, I would say that most importantly you have joulukinkku, the christmas ham, which is baked for hours depending on its weight (1h per kilo) and is eaten warm or cold. You´ll find salmon and potatoes on the table, maybe meatballs as well. Then you have different casseroles, for example with carrots or rutabaga.Yes, rutabaga! Since my blog is read to over 90 % by people (like me) whose mother tongue is NOT English I want to share this small anecdote with you. Some christmases ago, also in Finland, we sat at the table about to eat. Back then I didn´t know all the goodies on the table, so my polite Finnish family wanted to explain to me what is inside this one casserole. But what is lanttu in English? They described the contained vegetable to me and I had a hunch it might be Steckrübe in German. But I didn´t have a clue what that translates to in English either. We did the next best thing and checked the dictionary. I think it was my girlfriend´s sister who victoriously read the answer to our question out loud: "It´s Rutabaga!" We all looked at her like cows seeing a lightning, not understanding how this could be the solution to our problem. The word didn´t sound English at all, rather like some language from Africa.
But the dictionary´s cover read Suomi - Englanti, so it was official. All bursted into laughter and we started to imitate tribal chants like Rutabaga - Rutabaga - Ruta - Ruta - RUTABAGA! and transformed the last words of Elvis´ Burning Love (I´m just a hunk, a hunk of burning love...) into Rutabaga Burning Love! 
It´s a running gag ever since.

I would like to use this opportunity to thank everybody once more for the nice christmas cards, messages and gifts. Some of them came very surprising, as they were totally unexpected (a terrible word in this context since you should not expect anything). It´s just heartwarming to see who has you on their list in a time which is meant to remember the ones who are somehow important to you. The presents were all great and I don´t really want to highlight one in particular. But I received a gift that means a lot to me in a special way because it has to do with the foundations of my taste in music.
The Sex Pistols Never mind the Bullocks! On Tape! I think I was 13 when I bought it as a vinyl re-issue in a meanwhile defunct departement store chain. This here was bought and sold in Finland round 1980. Now it´s mine, yeah! And by the way: when Johnny Rotten sang I was waiting for the communist call in 1977, it sent shivers up some Finnish spines! For real!

Feast your eyes on this!

SONGS FOR TODAY:

Sex Pistols - 1. Holidays In The Sun 2. Bodies 3. No Feelings
Sex Pistols - 4. Liar 5. God Save The Queen 6. Problems
Sex Pistols - 7. Seventeen 8. Anarchy In The U.K. 9. Submission
Sex Pistols - 10. Pretty Vacant 11. New York 12. E.M.I.
Elvis Presley - Burning Love
                    (Karaoke version, sing RUTABAGA as loud as you can!)

Hyvää joulua kaikille!

Let´s all sit on his lap and tell him that we were kind kids this year!

The best way to get through this experience is to listen to the...

SONX FOR THE DAY:

Fear - Fuck Christmas

Die Toten Hosen - Schöne Bescherung

Ramones - Merry Christmas, I don´t want to fight tonight
The Sonics - Don´t believe in Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of you!

Message from the Underworld

Hey boys and girls, sorry for the long time of silence here on this blog. Some of you expressed their worries I might have died a sudden death caused by a lethal overdose of gingerbread and vodka or simply complained about the shortage of new material. There is only one reason for my writing hiatus and it is pretty simple: I just didn´t have the time to sit down and type it away. The annual christmas hassle took its toll and some personal obligations had to be taken care of. I was in Pori for a couple of days last week, went back to Helsinki only to get ill and returned to Pori now again, fit enough to spend Xmas. Most of what went on during this time has no place on this blog but worry not, dear friends, as I have quite a lot of stuff on my mind that will find its way here in the near future. You will have to stay tuned for that. I know your patience is already strained beyond limits waiting for Santa Clause / Joulupukki / den Weihnachtsmann but isn´t Vorfreude die schönste Freude? Good things come to those who wait and I promise that it won´t be long!

SONG FOR THE DAY:

The Weirdos - Message from the Underworld

Grmph...

This, dear friends, is an angry post because something posted got me angry!
I´m just coming from the post office. Had a note in the mailbox that a parcel is waiting for me there. Turns out that my folks kept the Nikolaus tradition alive and sent a nice package containing some German chocolate and (since I´m a big boy now) a bottle of vodka. Some of you might wonder if sending vodka to Finland ain´t like bringing coals to Newcastle since a pretty popular prejudice has it that the Finns drink vodka all the time anyway. First of all that ain´t true, second and more important for me: alcohol is so damn expensive here that it is cheaper to have a bottle of decent liquor shipped from Germany than buying it in a local shop. Sad but true.

So I was happily coping with the christmas commotion at the post office, waiting for my turn, only to receive a wet mess in a transparent plastic bag. That poor old lady behind the counter tried to save the situation by saying: "Well, this is a pity but the packaging is inappropriate." She absolutely failed to save anything because the package even said Flasche. My folks are hypercareful with these things and chose a packaging especially designed for the safe shipping of bottles. Then they stuffed the whole thing with soft material TO AVOID what eventually happened. At home I still opened the box to see if I can rescue at least the chocolate. It was buried in the debris of broken glass from big pieces to microscopic particles. I figured I rather leave eating glass to trained professionals and don´t perforate my gullet. Four pieces of chocolate were in a plastic wrapping, so that´s the bottom line. Everything else went to the trash. Today I´m angry and there´s no one to blame. Grmph...

SONGS FOR TODAY:

Jay Reatard - Night of broken glass
Circle Jerks - World up my ass
Descendents - Everything sucks

Independence Day (not the movie!)

Ho, ho, ho...Finland might be the home of Santa Clause but the 6th of December has no meaning in the Finnish advent season at all. German kids have been eagerly waiting for Nikolaustag, shining their boots in advance. Today they expect to find lots of sweets and goodies in them.

The meaning in Finland however is entirely different and of a existential nature, literally. After belonging to first the Kingdom of Sweden and then the Russian empire, Finland declared itself independent on the 6th of December, 1917. This achievement didn´t come easy and it took a bit more blood, sweat and tears than it took me to wrap this long lasting process up in one sentence. Itsenäisyyspäivä is celebrated with lots of flag waving, parading and showing what you got, military-wise. Something that totally creeps me out, I´m German and we have a certain history with these things. Interesting enough that Germany and Finland share some of that history, but I don´t want to get into detail about this. These are my personal associations and I know that they are off-topic here. So let´s not compare apples to oranges.

One tradition on Independence Day is to light two white candles in each window of the house. Legend has it that this used to be a sign to inform young men on their way to Sweden and Germany to become Jägers that the house was ready to offer shelter and keep them hidden from the Russians. Today young Finns might be more fond of drinking Jägermeister than becoming a Jäger, but that´s just a wild guess. Anyway, Itsenäisyyspäivä is of course a holiday, everything is closed and people mostly celebrate at home, have good food and prepare for a television marathon:

What Dinner for One is in Germany on New Year´s Eve The Unknown Soldier is on the Finnish Independence Day. Tv station YLE doesn´t get tired to show it year after year, this year will be no exception. Then they show the centerpiece of the day: Linnan juhlat or the Castle´s Ball, held at the Presidential Palace. For the ones of you that didn´t know, Finland has a female president, namely Tarja Halonen. Finnish women have a long history in politics as Finland was the first (!) European country to establish women´s suffrage in 1906 (!!), 12 years (!!!) before Germany. But that only on a side note.

I wish Tarja strong wrists and hands because there are about 2000 hands to shake today. The guests list comprises the who is who in politics, clergy, military, sports, music and entertainment. Entertainment is the key word here: the whole extravaganza has become a crowd favorite with the highlight being the entrance of the guests. Who is wearing what? Who is coming with whom? Who is coming alone? And why? Who is not coming? (a huge insult!) Any scandals this years? People (not only women) spend hours to be able to answer all these questions from first-person perspective. Right on!

This may sound as if the glamor part has become the most important but deep down many Finns really remember that it was pretty damn close that history might have taken a different turn and there would be no Finland today at all. The Finns are jammed between two big powers. They are the underdogs that always had to stand up for themselves. And they did.
My heart beats for the underdogs.

Happy Independence Day, Finland!

SONGS FOR THE (Independance) DAY:

Porilaisten Marssi  
Monty Python - Finland
David Bowie - Suffragette City