Album Review: Crashing carrier pigeons - stupid people live longer

Finally they fly again! On September 23rd, the new album by the fun punk band "Abfallende Brieftauben" was released with "Doofsagete LebenLONger". fun punk? At that time, the term was more than just frowned upon by the strict and orthodox punks. Even Michael "Olga" Algar, singer of the Toy Dolls, who are internationally regarded as the inventors of the genre, still rejects the term. On the other hand, the crashing letter pigeons, which Mirco "Micro" Bogumil founded together with Konrad Kittner in 1983, carried the name with pride. The deaf heard a reaction to this right at the beginning of their career: "You're not punks at all!" Of the strict and orthodox. To those who know little of real freedom...

From my point of view, the "fun" of the crashing carrier pigeon was the real liberation, the air to breathe, the mischievous smile with a clenched fist, the flower in the buttonhole with the rivet belt and red-laced boots. They always played fast, catchy and stage diving and fraternizing on the stage without bars and barriers, even at larger events, they cultivated earlier than most. They opened up to the music industry and refused at the same time. When they even got chart success and BRAVO stories in the 150s with albums like "Imzeichen des Blöden" and "The Last Makes the Door Shut", they wrote a satire on their record company with "EMI" and almost made it to the song to smuggle onto the album unnoticed. "The record was practically in print," says Micro, "only at some point someone actually listened to the tape to the end." The single from the album consists mostly of original calls on Konrads AB. In Hape Kerkeling's film "Kein Pardon" they play cable helpers. The tours through the new federal states, which had just joined the FRG after reunification, became "self-defense tours" through territory occupied by belligerent fascists. Once, XNUMX neo-Nazi hooligans followed them by train.

Album Review: Crashing carrier pigeons - stupid people live longer

Around 25 years later, some parts of East Germany look the same as they did back then. So it's only logical that the pigeons unpack a catchy tune called "Never Again Pegida" as the first single of the new record. The band was dissolved in 1997, with the exception of two small reunion concerts in 2002. In 2006, Micro had to bury his best friend and comrade-in-arms Konrad at the age of only 44 after suffering a cardiac arrest. Konrad's tombstone reads "pacem et circenses", an allusive mixture of the Roman "bread and games" and the band's 1993 album title, "war and games". An attitude that Micro's new and current comrade Olli has absorbed throughout his life as a fan of the band, until he finally became a member himself in 2013. "It took a long time before we could make music together that really sounds like pigeons again," says Micro, "but it worked." Now everything is done the way it used to be: Recorded in their own studio, self-produced, toured through the dangerous East. "Most of us advised us: don't make a new album, just play the old stuff. That's enough." When you hear “Those who say stupid things live longer”, you can only exclaim with a big grin on your face: Thank you, Micro and Olli! Thanks for not listening! Because THAT, dear critics, organizers and journalists, who are reading this text right now, THAT is the air that punk needs to breathe and that gives you the feeling of being alive! Neither long manifestos nor profane drunk hits, but the essence of a lot of joy in playing and the few clear limits that you set yourself for a dignified, resistant life. Against fascists. Against surveillance. Against early aging. For freedom, for joy, for the life in which you just give a shit! The strict and orthodox? Sit in parties today or have built their own home. Because they have never understood that the best way to break your chains is to take very simple measures.

I always liked the fun punk of the two because it was the antipole to the deadly serious riot punk of the strict and orthodox. The pigeons were just refreshing and you could just party. Now they are back - and the classic carrier pigeon vibes can be heard again. 16 songs, just over half an hour, perfect! It doesn't have to be more. Well produced and a cover very much in the style of the old records. Perfect! You can immediately see who is at work here - especially in the opener «Das Grauen Teil 3». Here you immediately feel transported back to the 80s or early 90s. Of course some things are rather flat-funny and silly - but that's the way they are. And of course there are still serious issues. The pigeons have always positioned themselves clearly against the right and unfortunately they have to do that again because of the AfD and the like. And the rest of the songs are quite entertaining without of course having any depth, but that was always the core competence of the two anyway. Funny to silly, but always quick and fresh on the go without hurting. At the concerts that the pigeons have been playing again since 2013, Micro experiences how much their kind of punk has actually achieved. "There are people from the former East Zone who say: You saved our lives." Or closets, "three years in prison under their belt, tattooed, rings on their face", hug Micro and say: "You were the greatest for me as a boy." Great for all the young people today who can now have this experience all over again with the pigeons. Konrad would be proud of this work, you kings of funpunk!

tracklist

• The horror part 3
• Sleep in
• Prick punk
• Linden Girls
• Freedom dies
• Never again Pegida
• No future was yesterday
• No event
• The roadie job is not as easy as you might think
• Tim Buktu
• Break
• The flowers are for her, Mr. Policeman
• Do you know what you can do with me
• There are murderers in the garden
• The pigeons are coming
• vorbei

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