Blechreiz
Encyclopedia
Blechreiz is a German ska
band founded in 1983 in southern Berlin.
Along with Skaos from Bavarian Krumbach, No Sports, The Braces from Jülich, El Bosso & die Ping-Pongs from Munster and The Busters
from Wiesloch, Blechreiz was one of the pioneers of the German ska scene at the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s. The band mostly plays songs it writes and arranges itself. A number of changes in the lineup has meant that Blechreiz’s style has varied over the years. Blechreiz allies itself with anti-racist and anti-fascist skinhead
s such as Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice
(SHARP).
In 1993, Berlin’s concertgoers picked Blechreiz as the Best Live Band in Berlin. A concert featuring many guest stars in the Tempodrom concert hall in Berlin generated acclaim from the press.
Together with ‘volxmusic’ band Apparatschik, Blechreiz initiated the SKASDROWJE project in 1994. As a big band formation, they played Russian folk music in ska rhythm at a variety of festivals. In 1995, Blechreiz was featured in TV film „Which Side Are You On – Ska in Berlin“. It contained film portraits of ska bands Blechreiz West-Berlin) and Michele Baresi.
1996 saw the band's farewell tour in Germany. Their last concert was held in SO36
in Berlin Kreuzberg. Blechreiz reformed in its original lineup in 2008. The kick-off concert was held in the Red Salon in Berlin Mitte on 29 February 2008. Since then, the band has recorded one new album and played gigs in various places in Germany and in the Czech Republik.
Ska
Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
band founded in 1983 in southern Berlin.
Along with Skaos from Bavarian Krumbach, No Sports, The Braces from Jülich, El Bosso & die Ping-Pongs from Munster and The Busters
The Busters
The Busters are a German third wave ska revival band, established as a side project in 1987. Playing 2 Tone-influenced ska, they became one of the best-known German ska bands, having a minor hit single in Germany with a ska cover of Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry Be Happy" They signed to Sony Music...
from Wiesloch, Blechreiz was one of the pioneers of the German ska scene at the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s. The band mostly plays songs it writes and arranges itself. A number of changes in the lineup has meant that Blechreiz’s style has varied over the years. Blechreiz allies itself with anti-racist and anti-fascist skinhead
Skinhead
A skinhead is a member of a subculture that originated among working class youths in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, and then spread to other parts of the world. Named for their close-cropped or shaven heads, the first skinheads were greatly influenced by West Indian rude boys and British mods,...
s such as Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice
Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice
Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice are anti-racist skinheads who oppose neo-Nazis and other political racists, particularly if those racists identify themselves as skinheads....
(SHARP).
Career
In summer 1989, Blechreiz planned a joint tour of the still-securely-walled-in GDR with Michele Baresi, then the only ska band in East Berlin. Although the tour was initially a victim of pre-reunification administrative chaos, it took place when the wall came down in the spring of 1990. Many of the concert venues Blechreiz played in had never before hosted a band from the West. In the next few years, many concerts and tours in Germany and guest appearances in France, London, northern Italy, Belgium, Austria and Poland built the band and its stage show’s reputation.In 1993, Berlin’s concertgoers picked Blechreiz as the Best Live Band in Berlin. A concert featuring many guest stars in the Tempodrom concert hall in Berlin generated acclaim from the press.
Together with ‘volxmusic’ band Apparatschik, Blechreiz initiated the SKASDROWJE project in 1994. As a big band formation, they played Russian folk music in ska rhythm at a variety of festivals. In 1995, Blechreiz was featured in TV film „Which Side Are You On – Ska in Berlin“. It contained film portraits of ska bands Blechreiz West-Berlin) and Michele Baresi.
1996 saw the band's farewell tour in Germany. Their last concert was held in SO36
SO36
The SO36 club, is a music club on Oranienstrasse near Heinrichplatz in the district of Kreuzberg in Berlin, Germany.It takes its name from the historic postcode of that area SO36, in which the SO stands for Südost...
in Berlin Kreuzberg. Blechreiz reformed in its original lineup in 2008. The kick-off concert was held in the Red Salon in Berlin Mitte on 29 February 2008. Since then, the band has recorded one new album and played gigs in various places in Germany and in the Czech Republik.
Albums
- 1988: Out Tonight (Tape-Recording/Blechreiz)
- 1990: Who Napped JB (Rude Records)
- 1991: Who Napped JB – CD inkl. Bonus Tracks (Rude Records)
- 1993: Which Side Are You On? (Traumton / Zensor)
- 1994: Rude Gangsters – LP-CD (Traumton / Zensor)
- 1995: Schnaps oder Suppe – Live-LP-CD (Traumton / Zensor)
- 2009: Those
wereare the Days – Live-CD (Blechreiz)
EPs
- 1993: Loving Couple – EP-CD (Traumton / Zensor)
- 1994: Rude Gangsters – EP-CD (Traumton / Zensor)
- 1996: Die Jungs sind wieder da – EP-CD (Blechreiz)
Filmography
- „Out Tonight“ – Video-clip (Adrian)
- „Winner Of Senats-Rockwettbewerb“ – Live video
- „Live im KOB“ – 10-minute-feature (Fishfinger-Productions)
- „1199“ – Guest appearance on former GDR television
- “Ska in Berlin” – ORB (Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg television station) – Report on Blechreiz’s 10th anniversary
- „Berlin-Warzawa“ – Live video of the Friendship Concert in Warsaw, Poland filmed by Polish TV 1 television station
- „Which Side Are You On?“ – Television documentary (Arte/Yildiz Film)