As early as 2004, and without having ever listened to a single song FP had written, you offered to release the first FP songs. Why did you do that? The songs could have been total crap, or worse: emo-screamo stuff, haha.
Hey Felix, what can I say? I’ve been knowing you and Pascal (drums) from your time in Disrespect and Pascal from drumming for Shortage. Both were great bands. Furthermore we had been friends for a while, so for me the whole thing was a no-brainer from the beginning. You guys were up for it and so was I, simple as that. I can still remember the first time we talked about your new band and you said „it sounds a bit like Death Threat“, haha – that was a long time ago. And it’s true: I had never heard anything of FP before the demo came out, but I knew given the guys who were in the band that it couldn’t be anything but good stuff. Besides that there is the whole Berlin-Stuttgart bortherhood/ sisterhood thing going out for years now. The bonds of friendship between the two cities and their scenes are so strong, and that’s such a great thing, that we had to do a split CD with one band from Berlin and one from Stuttgart. I have no clue how it all started, all I know is that I found myself in the middle of it all. These fiendships hold true til today, that’s real HC spirit. That being said, even if you guys had written some emo-songs, it wouldn’t have mattered – I would have released the record anyway. Hardcore is hardocre if it comes from the heart, right?
Where you satisfied after you received the recordings in the mail?
Of course, dude. I still am today.
How did Crisis Never Ends into play? Who had the idea for the split CD?
CNE had a new vocalist, Heiko took over the microphone, and nobody in Stuttgart knew what to expect and if CNE were actually still a band. But in my opinion getting Heiko to sing for CNE and doing the split CD with FP was the best thing that could have happened to the band at the time. And I actually know Heiko for more than 15 years, he is one of my oldest and best friends. So when CNE approached me to release some of their new songs to introduce their singer to their audience, I did not hesitate to get involved. To be honest I don’t remember who acutallly had the idea to release the split CD, but whoever came up with it – it was a great idea.
Where you annoyed that FP went to Let it Burn rec for the first album?
Haha, why would I? I am totally satisfied with what I did with FP. FP had a release out, introduced themselves to new people and CNE got to introduce their new singer through the release as well. We sold loads of copies of split the CD. And most importantly the split CD forged new and long-lasting friendships – I couldn’t ask for more. My aim with the record label was never to make money or sell a million records – fuck it! I had fun putting out records and that’s all I wanted. In addition to that, I think Let it burn records did a great job with the first album!
Punchline Productions ceased to exist shortly afterwards. Give us an overview on the labels history, the motivation behind it, and what you think about it in retrospective?
Where to start? Punchline was run by two friends - me and my good old friend Boris. We started with a little record distro at shows, which consisted of maybe 5 CD’s and a couple of fanzines that we sold at local shows. The little money we made we put back into the distro buying new records – the usual thing, you know. At one point a friend asked us to distribute the demo-tape of his band, 711 Mayhem. We said yes and started the whole thing. We got the master-tape from him and made 250 copies with a simple tape deck, haha. Old school as fuck. In the meantime the distro grew and grew and we also started booking shows and getting more and more involved in the scene. It was only a logical consequence to finally start releasing records. All in all we did five releases with Punchline Productions:
Behind the Sun – targeting my greatest weakness CD
Physical Challenge – I quit LP (CD on Rival Rec.)
One Million Thoughts – still MCD
Final Prayer/CNE – Split CD
Agents of Man – count your blessings LP (CD on Century Media)
Sadly during the Agents of Man LP Boris felt that he had not enough time to continue with the label and I didn’t wanna do it on my own, so we decided to stop the label. We were actually supposed to release the Sidekick farewell DVD, but that thing never materialized, haha. This is how it sometimes goes here in Stuttgart....
All in all I had a great time doing the label. I learned a lot, actually mainly positive things in retrospective, because we drew positive lessons from negative experiences. I personally also forged many friendships through the label that go far beyond the usual HC/ subculture thing. We did everything completely DIY, how it should be! HC should never become something to be exploited by big bussines!
Would you do something like Punchline again in 2010?
No, it was too much of a thing based around a certain period of time. For that it was a very unique experience that I simply couldn’t repeat that easily. These were different times back then and HC-Punk has changed quite a bit since then – for better and for worse. We were just two kids starting to run a label without a “business-plan“ or something like that. Yet it was a success. If I’d ever do a label again is a whole different question. I’ve asked myself this question many times and I think I could imagine myself putting out records again in the future. What’s important for me about it, is that it should be done for the right reasons – no big attitudes, no business-plans, but DIY with a lot of heart put into it. And I certainly wouldn’t sacrifice so much of my leisure time for the label. Sadly enough for the time being I do lack the time and money to do it. I have a wonderful family that I love a lot, and I try to spend as much time as possible together with my family. I also work way too much... But who knows what the future holds – if a band totall blows me away musically and consists of great people, I might start a new label.
Part 2 of the interview will be up on this blog next week, so check back soon!
