True Story.
SoulForce Records is our label.
Together with Tretti, we've built everything up and created a structure that allows us to produce and release records really well. #DIY, the KK album etc. etc. ... all by ourselves and with a lot of passion and ideas we released these things on our own label.
Now we wanted to find newcomers and expand the label's repertoire, so we started sending in our suggestions and looking for new artists.
As you can imagine, we started with hip hop and the like and checked out what we could find, as we do all the time anyway (after all, it's our job to know everything). The longer the research took, the more boring it became, because somehow 99% of the candidates gave you the feeling that you'd already heard the same or better.
Disappointment set in and so the search continued in a different direction.
"What's actually going on with punk rock in Germany these days?" was my question to our label manager Till, because I was simply fed up with listening to yet more junk, I needed something completely different. Punk rock was my introduction to music, so why not check out the oldest of all DIY cultures. No sooner said than done.
After about 2 hours, for some reason we ended up on Team Scheisse's Spotify profile, which had an outstanding 438 monthly listeners. At the top was a song called "Karstadtdetektiv", below that was one called "Hund" and then "Tag im Park".
All fucking direct hits. Lyrically on a level I hadn't heard for so long.
Each song had its own clever but totally bonkers punchline and was finished in about 2 minutes max. I called Till. "What do you think? Unbelievable, isn't it?" .... He was of the same opinion and was already singing the melody of "Karstadtdetektiv" into his phone. I asked him to get in touch with the band. We found a phone number via Bandcamp and I simply called them:
"Hi, Fizzle from KitschKrieg here. We would like to make a record with you on our label "SoulForce Records"!" After a short silence, I got the following answer: "Are you kidding me?" A good start.
I explained everything calmly. In my opinion, the songs on their album "Hobbies for social decline" were better and more valuable than anything else I had heard recently, and I was able to convince the man on the other line that this wasn't a joke and that we were serious.
"We just want to make a record with you, just do exactly what you did before and just tell us what you need and how we can help. Otherwise, please don't change anything!" That's how you imagine it as a band, isn't it? That's exactly what we did.
So the guys started writing and recording new songs. We helped where we could or where we were needed. But they didn't need much help. Six months later, "Ich habe dir Blumen von der Tanke mitgebracht (Jetzt wird geküsst)" was finished.
14 songs. 12 of them new and all of them great.
Coherent without stupid repetitions and with melodies that you can't get rid of. Whether you like it or not. Punk rockers or not. We had an album full of ideas and attitude that does so much more than the usual junk out there and is more appropriate than ever in times like these. Songs like "Erfurt", "Rein ins Loch" or the Bundeswehr anthem "Frank" are just the tip of the iceberg.
Plus a re-release of Karstadtdetektiv (the first single. Release on 22.10.) or "Faustgefühl". It's hard to pick favorites, because the quality of the record is frighteningly high.
When I listen to the album today and walk through the Görli to the studio, I'm just happy about this record. Thank God we got together and we can add this LP to the SoulForce Records discography.
Anyone asking themselves the question: "Does this record fit SoulForce Records?" Don't worry, because we've only ever been interested in good records. Nothing more and nothing less.
And this is a damn good record.
Price information:
plus advance booking fees