German Angry Youth Elite have done a new record
some months ago. Here have Markus answered some
questions for an interview. July 2023
Tell me the short or the long story how you did
come together as a band?
-We are friends who made music together way back
in our youth. After we all have played the game
job, family, children get through, we have
brought in 2017 the band back to the start. Only
a year later our first album "Ready! Set! No!"
came out. And with that, the journey could
begin. After we released our charity single "Say
Anything" featuring The Bombpops in 2018, Marius
- an old friend - joined the band.
How is the punkscene living on in Germany right
now?
-The punk scene in Germany is already doing
extremely well. There are a lot of really really
good bands here that bring the sound of the 90s
to life. In general, there are more bands that
sing in German than there are English-speaking
skatepunk bands in Germany. We think it's really
good that there are so many different kinds of
punk rock bands and we really like to listen to
both. We are always asked if we want to sing in
German, but we haven't tried that yet. Another
thing we noticed is that there are a lot of cool
bands in English punk rock in Germany, the scene
is really alive.
I understand that it have been up and downs in
your musiclife, when was the punk as lowest down
for your band?
-In
fact, our new album is totally honest and
authentic. The songs are about many things and
situations in our lives that we had to cope
with. One thing that especially influenced the
band and also the writing of the album was an
illness of our guitarist. He had to fight
his way out of a very deep hole. We as a band
have supported him again and again, so that he
is now fully back in the game. This whole thing
we have processed within or songs and we find
that it has made us as friends and as a band
even stronger. We just see what's important to
life and what you don't really have to get upset
about.
I hear that you have influences both in USHC and
the usual hardcore it feels like? Am I right?
-That's
a really exciting question. Actually, we come
from the whole melodic punk of the 90s. There's
all the FatWreck and Epitaph stuff to mention.
US Hardcore wasn't really our influence before.
But with the time we found one or the other
pearl in the field of hardcore so we like to try
it a bit rougher and harder. We just love the
mix of good melodies, punk rock and also
extremely hard and short fast interjections. The
short hardcore songs are mostly created in the
rehearsal room, especially after work where we
just want to play together.
Is Bakraufarfita a good label? You have done one
more record from 2018, am I right. Is there any
chance to get that too?
-We are now brand new to the label "Bakraufarfita"
arrived. The colleagues who run the label are
all good old acquaintances with whom we like to
work very much. They have an extremely exciting
mix of punk bands from all over Germany and we
feel really comfortable with them. Besides our
latest album "All Riot", which came out on June
16th, our label also released our debut album
"Ready! Set! No!" on vinyl again. So this album,
which we are still extremely proud of, is
available on CD, tape, vinyl and stream.
What does punk mean to you , is it only music or
is it a life style? How have your thought about
punk changed through all the years you have been
in the movement?
-For
me, punk rock means self-determination and
freedom. I can be creative in punk rock and try
things out. In addition, we have become more and
more political and honest over the years and now
call a lot of things in our songs by name. what
I'm particularly excited about is the fact that
through music and especially punk rock you
always meet new great people. The people behind
the music are actually the special and it really
makes no difference whether I'm a teenager with
blue hair or a family man who likes to go to
punk concerts. Even if I sit in a shirt at work,
I still feel like a punk.
Is there any good punkbands around in Germany
right now?
-I´d say there were more bands in in the late
90s/early 2000s, some of them are still active
nowadays. Some of them wrote their own verse for
our single „it´s gonna be bad“, make sure you
check them out on our instagram profile.
Just as we're about to put out another album and
play a lot of shows, you get to meet so many
cool new punk bands. There are always people
getting together and putting out new music. It's
a lot of fun to socialize here It's a lot of fun
to socialize here and get to know people.
Do you have any Swedish favorites?
-I think all of us started listening to
Millencolin and Satanic Surfers in the mid 90s
and discovered great bands like Adhesive, Randy,
Stoned, or old, fast Raised Fist Stuff.
Personally I dig a band called Steamboat Rally,
great melodies at about 210 bpm, maybe like the
Beatles on speed?
We also love "No Fun At All". We listened to
their albums as kids up and down and now we have
already played several Weekender in Germany with
them. They are just wonderful people who still
make great music.
Have you been here and played anytime?
-No, unfortunateley not until now. We would love
to play in Sweden one day. Maybe there is a
possibility to travel here for 4-5 shows
in the north. We would be there in any case and
like to bring a few jokes about Germans.
But we played shows with cool Swedish bands like
No Fun At All, Millencolin, Satanic Surfers and
Venerea.
Could you feel that you have released a record
if you only put it out digitally?
-Well no, that´s why we also put All Riot out
physically on vinyl, CD and even tape.
Do you buy much records yourself? Do you have
any recordstore left in your hometown?
-I have many classics in my CD collection,
missed the vinyl train in the 90, maybe I´ll
jump on it someday, I think the others have
vinyls as they´re two years older than me. Vinyl
is definitely becoming more and more important
and there are a lot of very cool record stores
here in the region. We like to support them and
buy there. But also at shows we like to buy and
trade with the other bands to expand the record
collection. We already notice that vinyl has
much more demand than a CD.
You have get in some reggae/ska in Give it
up…how come?
-Some
people don't like reggae or ska and would never
put that on a record. We already had a reggae
song on the debut album, so it wasn't really
unusual to put the song „give it up“ on the new
album. Somehow reggae is our "Guilty Pleasure",
so it was enough for such a song on the record.
We love the song as much as the hardcore punk
songs.
Which is your personal Angry Youth Police
favoritesong and which is the audience’s
choice?
-That´s a tough question, I´d say „Anger turns
to hate“ because of ist uptempo beat followed
and somehow highlighted by a shout part.
We always get the crowd singing with us when we
play Strong company, so I´d say that´s the
audience´s choice.
Which is….
the album which make you wanna do music and play
yourself?
-NOFX – So long and thanks…
the album which is the reason that Angry Youth
Elite sounds like you do?
-Good Riddance – My Republic
the
album you have been playing/singing on, I mean
any other bands classic record?
-I started playing guitar with Nirvana´s
Nevermind, trained my skills on hearing out
stuff with Green Day, Offspring, Millencolin,
Nofx, Lagwagon, Pennywise…Adhesive albums and
that Steamboat Rally s/t album are much fun to
play
the album you must have in the tourbus
-Abba
Super Trouper
the album you´re ashamed of that you own but you
like anyway?
-I´m proud of my MC HAMMER – Please Hammer don´t
hurt ´em record, which was my first record.
Pretty cool lyrics for a preacher by the way…
How is it to live in Germany right now,
political, bad economy, racists etc?
-Here
in Germany, we are actually doing quite well.
But if you look deeper, you can see the
fractures in society. The gap between rich and
poor is getting bigger and bigger and mostly
children are left behind. This makes us
especially as fathers really concerned. In
addition, there are those who do not want to see
the new problems and do not like change. Climate
change is a really good example here. There must
be no "business as usual". Politically, Germany
is also becoming more and more divided. With the
AFD, a right-wing party is already in the
Bundestag that keeps making stupid and racist
statements. We must fight against this
development together as a society. But this
development is certainly not only in Germany.
But that doesn't make it any better.
If you have the chance to rule Germany for a
week, which have been the first thing you have
been changed?
-That's a really difficult question. In fact, I
think it's not really easy in power. But if it
should happen that the AJE party should be
elected, I would fundamentally try to improve
education and equal opportunities. In our eyes,
education is the basis for equality of
opportunity, enlightenment and a better common
coexistence
Do you think that politics should be in music?
Which is your most political song?
-I
think that making music and playing in a band is
a good school for life. You get to know many
people and automatically deal with the problems
of this world. Music connects and making music
as a band only works as a team. In politics,
it's often about maintaining power and your own
EGO. In our experience, you can forget it in a
band.
On the current album we have a lot of political
songs. DIY is about the throwaway society and
your possibility to do something against it
yourself. Trash is about climate change and our
responsibility towards the youth.
You sing mostly in English, why don´t more in
german? Is it easier to write songs in English?
-In
previous bands we always sang in English and
actually feel it safest there. It's not that we
think German is bad as a language in punk rock,
but it's never really been an issue. Maybe it's
also that we have too high a demand on ourselves
if we were to sing in German, so we would always
discard lyrics and songs. With English we feel
comfortable and we find that it actually feels
quite good.
Do you have any new songs on it´s way?
-Although
our second album is just out, of course the
songs have been present for us for much longer.
For next year we are definitely planning a new
EP, because we had a lot of cool songs to choose
from when writing the album. So you can already
look forward to new material from Angry Youth
Elite in 2024. But now we take care of our fresh
album first.
Please tell me a little about the following
songs?
DIY
-This song is about the waste of resources and
the love of DIY. DIY has a high value in our
band because we try to do as many things
ourselves as possible. For example, we print our
T-shirts ourselves and also get sustainable
fabric that we then print ourselves with screen
printing. I think if you make things yourself
and also repair broken things then you
appreciate them better and of course take care
of them differently. Musically, the song goes
extremely forward and is a very good example of
fast and rough songs from us.
It´s gonna be bad
-With "It's gonna be Bad" we made an exciting
social media campaign. The song is about things
that you can do, but in the end they are simply
bad, the way you do them. Everybody knows these
situations and moments where you see or overhear
things that just go bad and where it's better to
open your mouth or to take action against it. As
an example in the song for that, if someone
spreads right-wing ideas and you only listen and
say nothing against it. In our campaign, many
bands from Germany have sung their own version
of the song and we have published these versions
on our Instagram channel. There are some really
cool versions. Be sure to check them out.
Give it up
-As a reggae song GIVE IT UP is the exotic on
the album. We just love this song. It just has
such a cool vibe and such a looseness to address
difficult issues but also celebrate the good
times together. It's meant to give hope that we
can overcome challenges together and show
respect for all those who are working for a good
cause. It is quite unusual that this song is
relatively long (for our standards). You have to
listen to it.
Future plans for the band?
-Right
now, of course, we're doing an extreme amount of
promo for the new album and we're playing a few
shows in the summer. From mid-September our tour
starts, where we stop in many cities in Germany.
We are totally excited about how our new album
will be received and look forward to meeting
many new people and making new friends. For next
year we are planning an EP and also many
festival shows. In any case, we want to continue
because it's fun and we think we have something
to say. Now that you mention it, maybe we will
make it to Sweden.