Beta Evers (Pervers / Deutscher Abschaum)

“The Godhead. Reminds me of Teddy and the Fratgirls or the Foams in the sense that one gets the notion that these must have been fun gals to hang out with or date. The timeless splendor of the arty urban misfit girl: Her goofy charm and no-holds-barred enthusiasm for all that she found weird, interesting or sexually appetizing. A toast to the art school weirdo outcast girls of the world: May they forever paint their room black or read Hermann Hesse to you in bed! The music is wild, out of control amateuristic slop goes from Electric Eels fuzzed out haterock to drumkits thrown down the stairs to minimal teen-angst and then back. Beautiful stuff. Got this in trade from Thurston Snore for some boring free jazz records back in the day. What a chump!” Johan Kugelberg

 Pervers: arty urban misfit girls.
From left to right: Vanessa Violence, Gaby R, GitZe

“Around my 15th birthday I founded my first band called Pervers. It was a punk/new wave/noise band in the tradition of those female German avant-garde bands existing between 1978-1982 like Malaria, Östro 430, Carambolage and X-mal Deutschland. We were a girl trio and we used a guitar, drums, metal cans, electronic instruments and lots of distortion. I also appeared under the name Deutscher Abschaum (duo with one of the Pervers girls). With Pervers we had two releases on my own tape-label and two record releases on a punk and new wave label from Frankfurt called Zweckfrei.” Beta Evers

Beta Evers

“The first EP was really rough stuff, recorded in bad quality in a cellar, but it found some attention after a positive review in the well-known US-punk fanzine “Maximum Rock ‘n’ Roll”. In 1989 both bands ended for various reasons. During the 1990’s I didn’t make music, but started and finished two studies at the university, I wrote articles for the German Trust fanzine and organized some parties. After I had founded Kommando 6 (aka K6) in 2000, the wish became stronger and stronger to make music again. In 2001 I bought some equipment and began to produce as Beta Evers then.” Beta Evers

“Gaby "R", GitZe and Vanessa Violence (aka Flizzer), were three very young and defiant girls from the area Augsburg (Bavaria), when they started to play together. In the beginning their band was called "Deutscher Abschaum", but soon they re-named to "Pervers". First they had also a male member, Ingo Riedl, but he left the band soon due to permanent fights with Vanessa Violence. They titled themselves "Punkband", but their music sounded not like the typical german punk sound of the 80's. They were quite inspired by german experimental DIY bands (e.g. Hirnheimer, Familie Hesselbach, Einstuerzende Neubauten, Toedliche Doris, Geile Tiere, MDK). Apart from e-guitar, bass guitar and a snare drum they often used objects which weren't very usual for punk music those days (cans, metal objects, distortion/noise modules and an e-organ). Their lyrics mostly dealed with the "shady sites of human existence". They recorded two longplayer tapes, which GitZe distributed to underground recordshops in and out of Germany. They also appeared on various compilations (on different german labels). An offer for a release on the well-known german punk-label "Muelleimer"-Records they rejected, cause of the sexistic attitudes of the label owners. After two years they released their first record, an 7inch EP with 5 tracks (at Zweckfrei Records, Frankfurt - in co-operation with GitZe's label S.U.F.F. - edition: 500 copies). After a positive review of that EP in the US Fanzine "Maximum Rock'n Roll" they got some attraction in the US and were invited to come to New York for some gigs, but since they still hadn't the full age, it didn't happen. Vanessa left the band then, but Gaby "R" and GitZe continued. After a while they did their second deal with Zweckfrei Records and recorded 5 new tracks, - co-produced by Vill Love & Friends (Cem Oral, Can Oral, Roger Kobernuss) from Frankfurt - these tracks were published on CD-R after a while (title: "We live in a cesspool"). In 1989 they stopped, cause their musical preferences developed into different directions.” Joseffa Aggressiv

Read the full article here and visit the official Beta Evers website here. For more info click here.

Pervers – Asozial


Deutscher Abschaum – The German Superman
Get it here.

Cash Not Clash

“Punk died the day The Clash signed to CBS.” Mark Perry

Anti-Clash Flyer. Source: Shit-Fi

“The Boffo track was from a spoof of the 'Clash On 45' thing which I recorded onto cassette. I'd been a big Clash fan and was sad to see them getting into the whole cocaine/USA rock'n'roll lifestyle. The full recording I did went through a series of parodies of Clash songs where I vented my bitter spleen in a very angsty way against these rotters who seemed to be selling out my dream.” Allan 'Boff' Whalley, Chumbawamba


Boffo – Garageland

“A rant against the commercialism of punk and the audience who where falling for it.” Messthetics #105 liner notes


Vertical Smiles – The New Clash Single
Get it here.

“I used to listen to the Clash
Now they suck like all the trash
The Ramones used to be a hit
Now they're just a pile of shit”


Government Issue – Rock'n'Roll Bullshit

Maestros And Dipsos

“Dual female vocals weren't heard much outside of folk circles and so the sound of Debbie and Ashley's close harmonies was bound to be memorable. However, the band were always a little tentative, seemingly a bit uncomfortable with themselves and each other, especially on stage. Their strong point will always be the direct, confessional lyrics which made a marvellous change from the bluster that other bands produced. In songs like Inertia and the gorgeous Backslide, simple guitar and drums, strong bass, floating melodies and emotional text combine perfectly.” No Night Sweats 

Maestros And Dipsos. Photo: Anne Kay

Discovered this lovely band thanks to the Detailed Twang post back in the day, and since then, I've been wanting to hear more stuff by them. Recently, (thanks again for this, Camille!) I was lucky to know there are more Maestros and Dipsos songs floating around the internet. So, thought it would be nice to spread the word.


Maestros and Dipsos – Sex and Pelt
Get it here.

Support the scene & Stand united!

Nah, just kidding… Here's an anti-Hardcore and Straight Edge parody post.

“You know me – there's nothing I like less than intolerant people, especially conservative Punks. Originally, every band sounded totally different. Nowadays it's been put into all these narrow parameters. A band picks a style, plays in nothing but that style, and puts the intelligent members of their audience to sleep. (…) in terms of independence and freedom quickly became such a formula and book of rules – how to dress, to sound, to act – it wasn't fun anymore. It was over and it was time to do something new.” Jello Biafra

“Most things needs criticism now and then, like most other subcultures in western society, punk has its own conformism which must be made fun of or even ridiculed if we are to be free individuals. Tons of kids with the right T-shirt or haircut doesn't mean much. Although it's fun to dress like your peers but differently from your parents. When I was in high school I was a hippy and dressed like others in my group. In the early 80's I still had long hair and punkers and new wavers will sneer at me. Now in the late 80's it's fashionable to have long hair again (in the punk world, not in mainstream society). I guess a lot of Bob’s lyrics were saying that we all look a certain way, but what's inside? What's your attitude? Punk and other rebellious movements have their silly sides and we attacked them.” Duff, Th’ Inbred [Read the full article here.]

“I thought bands who played straight-ahead Hardcore music missed the whole point. Playing Hardcore became like being in a Rockabilly band, aping a style that happened years ago. You're not creating anything original at all. The ritual became retarded.” King Koffee

 

Straight Edge glossary

“I had been listening to people sing about subjects as 'important' as scene unity, and beer drinking, and not drinking beer, and fighting each other, and friendship and vegetarianism. That shit made no sense to me. Why would I expend energy, time, and effort getting a band together to stand on a stage in front of 300 straight edge kids and say, 'This song is about straight edge' just to get a huge applause and a bunch of people jumping on stage to sing along? Nick and I wrote the lyrics and we wanted to have people read them and think. That's it, just think. Think about the shit going on around them. Think about the fact that all of this shit is happening and they 'Remain Sedate' because it is easier to just go see a band that tells them they are doing the right thing and everything will be okay.” Charles Maggio

Crucial Youth – Crucial Youth
Get it here.

Straight Youth – Positive Stand
Get it here.

Grudge – Cap'n Straightedge
Get it here.

Pleased Youth – I'd Rather Be An Asshole


Cyanamid – Support
Get it here.

Th'Inbred – Positive Song
Get it here.

Zwitschermaschine

“Punk for me was the cracking open of form. At the Dresden Art School where I studied, the professors were preparing for re-tirement and didn't have a clue about what was going on in our lives. So it wasn't surprising that Ralf Kerbach and me cranked up the amplifier at his studio (that reeked of turpentine) one morning to experience what we demanded from life – a thrill!” Cornelia Schleime

“Our aim was to irritate and to drift off into a world no longer interested in understanding. We didn't want to be there for anyone – apart from ourselves. Each singer wrote their own lyrics – reflecting our lack of expectations in a bizarre and melancholic manner.” Cornelia Schleime

Cornelia Schleime (right), 1982. Mita Schamal

“When I look back on Punk, the images hit me like the blows of an axe – memories of pogo and the soles of my feet cut by glass. When I fell asleep with black feet I never realized the state I was in. I wore a gas mask on my head walking through Prenzlauer Berg – to promote my case to be allowed to leave.” Cornelia Schleime

“Life only existed for the moment – there was no future in the country that I was imprisoned in.“ Cornelia Schleime

Zwitschermaschine – Geh über'n Fluß
Get it here.

Excerpts and photo taken from the book Too Much Future, Punk in der DDR.

Kleenex Pt. 2

Kleenex – Hedi's Head

Do I need to say anything else? For God's sake, go here and order a copy. And special thanks to Camille for this one. Merci beaucoup!