OOMPH!
Constant reinvention embracing styles beyond the scene – only one German band has such a rigorously ambitious and artistic approach. We’re talking about Oomph!. For almost 15 years now, the musical creations of the threesome from Lower Saxony have been shaped by their pioneering spirit. Critics, fans as well as colleagues unanimously say that these three guys rank among “the most revolutionary figures of the German scene”. Rammstein, for instance, openly confess that they have been massively inspired by this band. Their songs have nothing to do with what became known as “Neue Deutsche Härte” – staccato riffs and military march rhythms – towards the end of the Nineties.
Oomph! know how to combine the cool electronic world with earthy Rock: a kind of human music machine with powerful and extremely varied arrangements.
Since the band was founded in 1989, Dero (vocals, drums), Crap (guitar, keyboards) and Flux (guitar, sampling) have been scouting the musical landscape never coming up against limiting factors. Their self-titled, very electronic debut album was released in 1992; for their following records SPERM (1993) as well as DEFEKT (1995), the industry tried to find new categorizations which alternated between “Electro Metal”, “Industrial” and “Metal Dance” – though no term could completely explain what this band was about. Since the success of the concept album WUNSCHKIND (1996) at the latest, together with extensive tours and festivals all over Europe, major companies began to take an interest in this extraordinary combination of styles. UNREIN (199 cool featured a real club hit (“Gekreuzigt”) smoothing the way for PLASTIK in 1999 (including hit singles “Das weisse Licht” and “Fieber” feat. Nina Hagen) which finally took their vision up the German charts and which caused Skunk Anansie to invite Oomph! as support on their European tour. The seventh and latest opus ERGO released in 2001 was Oomph!’s career highlight so far: the album entered the German Top 20, which was followed by extensive touring throughout Europe along with Finnish Rock grandmasters HIM. The response of the concert audience and the reactions in the forums of the band’s own homepage are proof of the enormous popularity that Oomph! enjoy by now. In 2002, they played festivals such as Ozzfest, With Full Force and Mera Luna.
While other bands try to stay alive in the shadow of successful acts OOMPH! follow new ways. “If you just follow in footsteps of others you won’t leave any traces!” According to this credo, they have submitted themselves to the principle of change even in 2003. At the end of this year, OOMPH! are part of GUN RECORDS. The reason for this choice according to the band: “We have been looking for a strong and competent partner who understands OOMPH!’s music, who has a well-functioning distribution department and who – over the last few years – has offered proof that good results can be achieved in Germany and in Europe with this kind of music. GUN have been interested in us since 1996 and therefore know OOMPH! like the back of their hand!”
There’s a shape of things to come on the current compilation SCHATTENREICH: OOMPH!’s brand-new song “Dein Feuer” shows a new facet of the threesome which is very straight featuring superb hooklines as well as OOMPH!’s well-known gloominess. “The song shows one side of OOMPH!, but it’s certainly not our only side”, Flux describes the musical orientation for the future. “Once again, it’s going to be a very complex and varied material: rough, tuneful, atmospheric, and with Dero’s distinctive lyrics and unique singing, a little bit more rock and filth, but it also has its gentle and soft moments and a few fiddly sounds.” With the working title WAHRHEIT ODER PFLICHT, OOMPH! are currently working on new visions for the future of Rock music in their own studio – at the beginning of next year, the current product of their world of thought will be released as the EP – ‚Augen Auf‘ , which will be followed by the complete album in springtime. The reinvention is taking its course ...
*taken from the English side of OOMPH!.de
