I wrote about the German band Viola Crayfish some months ago. And guess what, I got in touch with them! And what’s even better they were up to answering my questions! So why not discover this terrific indiepop band from the Bremen area who didn’t release any proper records but left a handful of very strong songs!
++ Hi Lars, Folker and Bernd! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? Still making music?
Lars: Thank you for having us. I am fine and still making music.
Folker: I play guitar on my own, and also as a teacher in special educa1on with handicapped pupils. 1-2 1mes a year i teach a friend of mine guitar tricks in song playing (not in a commercial way).
++ Let’s go back in time. What are your first music memories? Do you remember what was your first instrument? How did you learn to play it? What sort of music did you listen at home while growing up?
Lars: We had to learn “Blockflöte”, a flute maybe you call it “recorder”. I was talentless. My Mother was always listening to radio and I figured out that some songs are better than others.
The best radio station in Western Germany was BFBS (British Forces Broadcasting Service), in the early eighties they played all the hits from UK. When I was older I realised they had John Peel later in the evening.
I became a fan of Queen when I was 12 and bought a final record 1982. They lead me to Sparks, David Bowie and Roxy Music.
Folker: I played a wooden flute as a kid, later i started playing on a classical guitar. Luckily my guitar teacher was never interested in classical playing. He teached me to understand chords and melodies. Not only in Theory of musical harmonies, also in an emo1onal way.
Bernd: That’s an easy one. I first and foremost listened to what my brother listened to, no thinking needed. The few times I bought my own stuff, it was on the embarrassing schmaltzy side. Probably all about melodies, I rarely listen to lyrics. Still a habit today, hence I like Greek and Hawaiian music. Just sounds great and soothing.
++ Had you been in other bands before Viola Crayfish? What about the rest of the members? If so, how did all of these bands sound like? Are there any recordings?
Lars: No, before Viola Crayfish we called us Kissing Razorblades – Stefan, Bernd, me and Rennig Winter. This was a real DIY Postpunk startup. We did not know how to play the instruments but got something out. Sometimes learned.
Stefan was into the Nuggets Sampler and we tried 60s garage songs like “Velvet Illusions” . We did this from the day I was able to drive a car (mothers R4) put bass and drums in it, drove 30 km through the country, pick bass and guitar amp up somewhere deeper in the country and then stopped at a place called “Jugendhaus Bruchhausen-Vilsen”. That was the place to practice. When finished a band called MK-ULTRA came in. We have recordings on tape, but I’m not quite sure about them.
Folker: I played in a classical rock band in my hometown from the age of 15 to 17. Looking back, it was not crea1ve music. I hope that there are no recordings left.
++ Where were you from originally, the Oldenburg area?
Lars: I was born in Bremen and grew up in Weyhe which is a community south of Bremen and not well known for Post-Punk, more for Aldi “Albrecht” coffee.
Folker: i originally come from Syke, a small town in the south of Bremen.
++ How was your town at the time of Viola Crayfish? Were there any bands that you liked? Were there any good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?
Lars: We went to school in a town called Syke, which was and still is a town with 25k people living there. My parents-in-law live there.
The good record stores were in Bremen “Überschall” and “Ear” both closed now. I went there by train in the afternoons to check the second hand sections for interesting records.
To see new bands you had to go to the Roemer, the Schlachthof, the Modernes or – and that was strange, to the HTF-Mensa which belongs to kind of a college. I saw The Fall there (Bremen Nacht).
Folker: There was a scene with a few guys who played in cool punk, rockabilly or postpunk bands, and there were many people who liked individual music. No one there wanted to hear mainstream. A few nice record stores helped us getting the “cool stuff”.
++ When and how did the band start? How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?
Lars: We all met at school in Syke, despite Folker, who was always in Syke but not in the local school system – better ask him.
First there were Kissing Razorblades they later became a three-piece band and we tried to write songs in 60s style because Stefan and I discovered the TVP ́s and the TIMES. That did not went too well and we needed help.
After the most worst gig ever played, which Folker said it was ok , we asked him to come in. He was a Bassist in his former Band and now had to play guitar. Compared to us we could not see it as a problem.
Folker: These postpunkbands prac1ced in a cellar in Syke, where many of the guys met and talked. At a small prac1ce gig of Kissing Razorblades I tested a cheap strat an Lars picked me up: “We need someone who can play guitar.”
++ And there has been a few lineup changes through the years, right? Why?
Lars: When Stefan left the Band for studying in Düsseldorf – I think it was in 1990 – it was a break in the structure of the band. We found Frank as a substitute but the system was now different. Stefan and I alternated in writing songs (Stefan) or having a concept for a song (Lars). When he left I had to write all the texts and the songwriting was completely left to the band.
Not much later Bernd left for studying in Hannover and we found Gregor as drummer. It was a good line-up but in 1993 Folker – meanwhile studying in Oldenburg – and I closed the whole thing down because the feeling of friends making music together was lost.
Folker: It was never easy to find musicians who had the same taste of individual postpunk melodies and fit in by character.
Bernd: I moved away, first inside Germany then abroad. So I was replaced with a machine I guess which as probably for the better anyway…
++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?
Lars: First was “Jugendhaus Bruchhausen Vilsen”, then an industrial cellar in Syke, next parents cellar, then let ́s say a barn far out in the country, finally a bunker in Bremen Findorff.
Folker: A6er the cellar of Syke-subculture, In the first years, we met in the private houses of our parents. Later, we had to pay for prac1ce rooms in the Bremen area.
++ What’s the story behind the band’s name?
Lars: We had an english dictionary. The idea was to cut up something like “Steely Dan”, “Prefab Sprout” or “Aztec Camera”.
Folker: The former guitarist Stefan Klauner, a genius in philosophy and literature, found this name which sounded like a female name, remembers exo1c food and other things at the same 1me.
++ And who would you say were influences in the sound of the band?
Lars: I think Velvet Underground, Scottish Postpunk including the Go-Betweens, June Brides, Felt but we were listening to all kinds of music.
Folker: Velvet Underground, Felt, June Brides, Scottish postpunk, everything that added beau1ful melodies to a rough amateurish punksound.
++ Do you have say, like a top 5 German bands? Maybe some obscure ones that you played with perhaps that could recommend me?
Lars: I remember an obscure night in Nienburg where we played or let’s say performed as Kissing Razorblades. There were Bands like “The Perc Meets the Hidden Gentleman” , “Hard Boiled Man Goes“ and “PLO”. Nienburg is near Hannover and from Hannover came a real german cult outfit the “39 Clocks” – still great music. Never saw them myself, they played width TRIO in Bremen in the early eighties and called their music “Psycho Beat” Some say it was “Neo Psychedelic”. It was kind of Lou Reed with a Beat Box. Follow ups were “Kastrierte Philosophen” and “The Beauty Contest”. One of my favourite german Bands was and still is “F.S.K.” (Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle) but there where other remarkable ones like “Foyer des Arts” and “Palais Schaumburg”. Today I would say one of the best german bands was NEU! but did not know them at the time.
Folker: Throw that beat in the garbagecan, Kastrierte Philosophen, a few new wave bands…
++ Something that caught my attention was that you didn’t release anything back in the 80s. Why was that? Was there no interest from labels? No money?
Lars: I think we were too stupid. I can not even remember to have asked someone to release our music. We still have the same behaviour pattern.
++ I am aware of at least one demo tape, one called “Nordsee”. But are there any other demo tapes? If so, care listing them for me?
Lars: The tape which know is called “Nordsee” back then had no name but was not only a demo tape. It should have been distributed by “EQ-Vertrieb” a kind of tape label of our area, they were present in some record stores. But it did not really happen, we gave them some tapes and never heard of them again. The tape has been recorded by Ha-Jo Korn who had a Band “The Tremor Sense” on the tape label and Andreas Götz did the connections for us.
We sold more than 100 copies ourselves in the schoolyard and the weekends. I’m still wondering who got No. 57 which is the one you can see on tape attack.
Then we did “proper” recordings in a studio you know as “Love ist more than weather” and “Sweet Soul Decay” – the third song was a rerecording of “June Field” – these recordings were considered to become a record. But it never happened. Later when Frank came in we had a “Second Tape” and a “Third Tape” which were Demo-Tapes recorded on a 4-track tape recorder again like the “First Tape”. “Besser Scheitern” is from the “Second Tape”
Folker an I did a “Forth Tape” in the 90s and some songs recorded new became the “First CD” in 1998. On this CD was a song “Daimler Chrysler” which become little popular in a webpage called ticktack.net, which was a pre-mp3-era music service.
Folker: I think the tape was called “Viola Crayfish”, but I dont remember well…
++ I got introduced to your music through the 1989 compilation “Diamonds and Porcupines”. How did you end up on it? How was your relationship with the Beat All the Tambourines label?
Lars: In 1988 a I bought a fanzine called „Hedgehogs and Porcupines“ at the Überschall record store. It had interesting articles and references to Josef K. a band of which I was and still are a massive fan.
So I wrote and send them our “First Tape”. The fanzine was done by Markus Wilhelms and Klaus Smit and they were from Emden. When they planned the compilation they asked as for a track. So we had to go for the proper recordings and finally had “Love is more than weather”.
In the late 80s it happened that in Oldenburg, were I live now, and which is between Bremen and Emden geographically, was a venue “Kulturzentrum Rennplatz” that had some remarkable shows. TVP ́s, Wedding Present, McCarthy, Close Lobsters, Happy Mondays and so on.
We tried to get in as opener but did not happen. They took someone from Hamburg. In that case we (more Stefan than I) really were asking for it.
++ Then you appeared on the latest compilation of Firestation Records featuring bands from the late 80s, early 90s in Germany. On the small bio it mentions that at some point you decided to start writing songs in German. What made you take that decision? Did you stop singing in English? Or was it a mix of both?
Lars: Singing englisch is ok, but if your are not from US or UK or Australia or New Zealand and you have done your schoolwork, and you think german language can do it too – and your local band with local listeners who are able to understand the German language – it became a challenge to German texts. A friend of the time – Mario – helped me. He was good in words. In case of Bessern Scheitern it is a Samuel Becket thing. Always try always miss. There are some quotations “Ist das der Blues den ich singe” – “Is this the Blues I’m singing” (Echo and the Bunnymen) and so on. The idea was to be more variable.
++ On Discogs I found about a 2011 CD called “Far Out”. How was this one available? And are these newer songs? What can you tell me about this release?
Lars: Yo, is attic the right word? – the space under the roof? I can deliver, just ask me. We did re-recordings of “Love is more than weather” and “June Field”, “Best Before” was from the late 80s. The rest is fresh material we wrote after 2006.
++ On Soundcloud there are even more unreleased songs by the band. I was wondering if there are any plans at some point to make them all of them available in some way?
Lars: Yes, there are not. I’m thinking about digitizing and remastering all the tapes but haven’t told Folker about it yet. There are other songs than “Besser Scheitern” that maybe will find some friends.
++ My favourite song so far, maybe because it is the first I ever heard, is “Love is More than Weather”. Was wondering if you could tell me the story behind it?
Lars: After the “First Tape” we wrote new songs. I can not remember why I wrote this text. Maybe because of the “Love is …” Cartoons of the 70s and Red Lorry Yellow Lorries “Talk About The Weather”.
The music was developed by the band.
++ If you were to choose your favorite Viola Crayfish song, which one would that be and why?
Lars: A difficult question, but I was glad when Firestation decided to put “Besser Scheitern” on the sampler, I’m ok with the text and I like the part with Folkers wah- wah and Franks riffs in this part.
This should have been a proper recording and a single.
Bernd: “Besser scheitern” is probably up there. More so because when we recently listened to the song in the car, it also got the nod from my kids.
++ What about gigs? Did you play many? All over Germany?
Lars: The farthest we got was Emden I think. Which was not far.
++ And what were the best gigs you remember? Any anecdotes you can share?
Lars: We did good gigs in Emden in the late 80s and the final gig in Bremen was one of the best we ever played – weeks before we practiced for it – but not many people were there.
There was a good one in Bremen “Schlachthof Magazinkeller” – still with Stefan. We were support but had the most fans.
In 2008 Folker and I played the first time since the 90s in Oldenburg “Polyester” . A tiny venue. Markus has organised it for “FOUND” who made a record on his label „aufgeladen und bereit“.
We played as support, all our friends were there, the mood was fantastic and the best thing was that FOUND did one if the best gigs I have ever seen.
++ And were there any bad ones?
Lars: The worst ever gig was done in Oldenburg “Alhambra” in 1992 or so, really bad. The venue too big, the crowd not interested, the band could not hear themselves playing, bad mixing.
And there was one in “Bürgerhaus Weserterrassen”, Bremen. It was festival of local Bands which were allowed to play 3 songs. I think we only played one and a half because the successors were playing drums and guitars behind the stage. Real colleagues.
++ When and why did Viola Crayfish stop making music? Or you never stopped? I see that you’ve played at least up to 2008 or so?
Lars: We didn’t stop. We changed the system. I’m still learning how to record music myself and I like programming. Now there are two versions of the band. A live version as a compact three piece with Marco on drums.
And a studio version with some additional programming. But I have to admit that the live version is a difficult thing to do with Folker residing in Braunschweig, so it yet happened only twice the last years.
A year is nothing in what we do. Folker and Marco are real musicians, they are able to play in any band in the world from my point of view. I’m static, just thinking about songs, sound or text structures.
++ And had you been involved in any other bands aside from Viola Crayfish?
Lars: No, never thought about it. A colleague and friend Dan Penschuck sometimes needs remixes for his projekt “TI*TO – Trans Industrial Tanz Orchester” – I did two for him. You will find them on Bandcamp and Disccogs.
++ Did you get much attention from the radio?
Lars: Not easy to say, because we have no own recordings.. I knew that John Peel played “Love is ..” it once on his show for Radio Bremen 4 and heard that Pat Fish played it. Markus played us on radio FSK Hamburg occasionally.
++ What about the press? Did they give you any attention?
Lars: We had some local reviews that’s all I knew.
++ What about from fanzines?
Lars: I’m not sure, but we were no talents of communication.
++ Looking back in retrospective, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?
Lars: Not easy to say, but being on the “Diamonds and Porcupines” Sampler was a great thing, also recording the “First Tape”. There was always light and shadow.
Bernd: If you think about now, in hindsight, the highlight was actually finding the time to practice every week or more often, develop the ideas and songs, and just have fun with it. At time it was about playing in front of people. Nerve wrecking and exciting in equal measures. We once played in a staircase for a true fan’s birthday bash. You can’t make it up.
++ Aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?
Lars: I like gardening spending free time outside. Travelling to Greece is also a good thing to do. Other people I know make pins on a world map – I do it on a map of Greece.
++ So I will ask for some recommendations. If I was to visit your town and area what shouldn’t I miss? What are your favourite sights? And any particular food or drinks that you think one shouldn’t miss?
Lars: Oldenburg has an historic town center with castle, castle garden and neoclassic buildings, especially the Theatre. We have a Brewery “Ols” – and you should do some bikes tours along the Hunte which is a river, but not for american standards. Alternatively way Bad Zwischenahn which analog to Miami is made for Best Agers.
Bernd: I live in Henley-on-Thames in the UK. For someone from abroad it seems to epitomise what the English countryside is all about. It is also a complete bubble with all its pros and cons. A real treat is walk along the river in every weather which has to end in a nice pub, obviously.
++ Anything else you’d like to add?
Lars: I have to thank you Roque and I’m glad that we were able to make songs that people still like.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
