Enjoy the story of Oeli:
The flyer said that the festival would start at 12 o'clock and as I did not want to miss the first bands I got up early, tried to get the dirt out of my face and alcohol and nicotine out of my breath, kicked my buddies out of their beds and we entered the 11 o'clock (am!) train to Moenchen- gladbach. After three quarters of an houer (which means 5 beer) we reached the chief terminus from where it was quite a problem to get to the Rock Babylon. Moenchengladbach seems to be a ghost town on sunday morning. After some time and some more beers we finally reacheed the hall about half past 12 - and there was nothing! It was cold, it was raining, two other guys stood in front of the hall and there was yet no admission. But it seemed we had a guardian angel: some guys came out, saw us standing in the rain and said: "OK, there's no admission yet because we still do the soundcheck, but never mind; come in!" We must have been a really poor sight!
At about two o'clock the event really started and the Pitmen entered the stage. They are a new band from Essen and they play a fine mix of psychobilly, country and folk music. The crowd (meanwhile the hall had filled a bit) enjoyed their show and even demanded an encore. Not bad for an opener; I guess we will hear more from those guys! The next band were the Evil Daltons.I already had seen them at some gigs and I like their fast and loud Meteors- and early Coffin Nails-alike (they also play with an electric bass) sound. Unfortunately they had some problems with their sound equipment that day and the crowd did not seem to give them the apriciation they deserved IMHO, so nobody danced to songs like "Fireball" and "Nymphomaniac". As there was no encore we missed their killer-version of "Fever". Don't look back, there will be better gigs. As singer Gunnar told me, maybe they play this summer in Munich. If this is true, check them out when you're there. They really ROCK! A little disapointed by the Evil Daltons' bad luck, I decided to have a few beers outside instead of watching the Percolators as I don't always like their "galaxian garage rock'n'roll". As I returned to the hall to see the Pyromanix I saw the Percolators carry their equipment back to the car - all dressed as mexicans whith sombreros and capes. Maybe I should have checked this out...
The Pyromanix had played before at the Rock Babylon in october, so I already knew what would await me: A band that gets the crowd to party! They play some kind of desperate R'n'R/Rockabilly with a quite unusual line-up: They are one of the few bands who use a saxophone. I like that. (Unlike many others I also like the new ska-billy-sound of the Long Tall Texans.) Some songs are even played with an electric piano! That band really got the audience boppin'. If you want an impression of their sound, they will release their first record in march on Crazy Love Records. The Cat'o'Nine Tails, who played next, describe their music as "Raw Power" and this is the right name for their mix of Psychobilly, Punk Garage and even Ska. I had seen them before in Munich two years ago and from what I had seen there I was in doubt if I should check them out once more as they were IMHO boring, but it was true what some freinds told me: They hadn't had their best day in Munich and they can do better than that. That night they were really good.
The Bad Dooleys played their already well known mix of Rockabilly and Psycho stuff with an IMHO strong Long-Tall-Texans-influence. They even played a Texans song or a song that was covered by the Texans, but I can't remember which one. Goddamn' Alzheimer! As the audience meanwhile had warmed up a bit, there even was a little wreckin' finally.The next band to play that night were Disturbance. Just like the Pitmen they are from Essen, the town where the german Psychobilly scene is still most alive and so they also had a lot of local fans who had a good party at their gig. They played all the songs from their EP "Betty Page" and their album "We call it Disturbance", that was produced by P.Paul Fenech. As encores they did a lot of funny stuff like german carnival songs and a cover-version of Depeché Mode's "I just can't get enough".
I can't say much about the next band, Lota Red, except that they are one of the few bands with a woman (on double bass). After two songs I decided to have a bit of fresh air and a few beers outside. Their neo-Rockabilly set sounds very good on record, but they are - hmmm.., let's say it polite - not my favourite live band.
After Lota Red there was a long pause, so everybody had time to refresh at the bar before Mad Sin would turn the Rock Babylon into an inferno of fire and Rock'n'Roll. At about 12 o' clock you could hear the classic music (Tschaykovsky I guess) that showed everybody that Mad Sin were just about to enter the stage. The whole stage was covered with soke, you could only spot single things: a double bass, some people rushing across the stage and something very big with a pink quiff... Then the smoke cleared and they started to play. Well, what shall I say about the gig? I guess everybody knows their show with Holly slapping his bass at an unbilievable speed, Frankenstein getting his Gretsch to scream like hell and Koefte dancing, running and jumping all across the stage. They played all their hits like "Brainstorm", "Acid Train", "Psychothic Night", "Deep Black Zone" and "Meattrain at Midnight" (my favourite). They also played two brand new songs, one was a very fast and loud instrumental with Koefte only shouting the refrain "Human Animal", the other one was some kind of HC/crossover, which I didn't like so much. On "Human Animal" Koefte also played Guitar. The show was again supported by firespitters who completed the athmosphere. Unfortunatly some of the spit out oil didn't inflame and made the dancefloor fucking slippery. Nevertheless there was a lot of wrecking and after the show everybody was satisfied. A lot of the people still kept the party going on at the psycho-disco after the concert, but I was too tired and drunk, so I was glad that in the meantime my girlfreind had arrived with her car so I didn't have to catch a train back home.
Thanks for the story Oeli!