After our “summer break”, we’re finally back to playing gigs tomorrow, starting with the Reitplatz Rodeo in Crottendorf. We can’t wait!
Two weeks later, we’ll be welcoming the Bovver Boys – who have recently added “MK. I” to their name – to Wild At Heart. I played my very first proper gig with them almost exactly 30 years ago, and our friendship goes back even further.
The following day, it’s off to Wuppertal for Axel’s 20 Years of Mods & Kekse, where we’ll be playing with Teenage Faces from Cologne/Bonn. They’re definitely a band to keep on your radar – their debut album is absolutely brilliant.
At the start of October, we head via Stuttgart towards Switzerland. First up is the All My Friends Are In Bands Fest at Rössli in Bern, where we have the pleasure of playing with an absolute killer line-up. Alvilda, Nasty Rumours, Kate Clover – need we say more?! Then it’s on to Horst Klub on Lake Constance, where we’ll meet our good friends Escala … erm, Lovey Haters. We’ll also be playing with them again at Demian and Alfredo at Wurlitzer Ballroom in Madrid in January. Quite a lot going on.
We were convinced we’d be lugging our new album around to all these shows, but it wasn’t to be. The first test pressings were so quiet that we had to have the record recut. That new cut then arrived at the pressing plant scratched – and naturally, nobody had anything to do with that.
But enough moaning. The new test pressing is now being made, and since everything that could possibly go wrong with this release already has, we’re cautiously optimistic that it’ll all come good in the end!
Right, we’re off to throw ourselves into Kreuzberg’s pub life and staple a few more posters for the Bovver Boys show to some loo doors.
… but our test pressings are finally on their way! Wanda Records had to place the order with a different pressing plant after the first one went bankrupt. Since everything had to be fully analogue – please don’t ask who came up with that nutty idea – we also had to get a second analogue lacquer cut done at Emil Berliner Studios, as we couldn’t get our hands on the first one.
Many thanks to the Private Dicks, who chipped in towards the cost of the second lacquer cut and thus saved us from having to sell even more of our scruffy undies.
We’ve just set up a pre-order page, so you can now pre-order your copy directly from our merch table.
with BOVVER BOYS MK.I
Wild At Heart, Berlin
with TEENAGE FACES
Beats und Kekse, Wuppertal
Gasparitsch, Stuttgart
with ALVILDA, MILLIE MANDERS & THE SHUTUP, NASTY RUMOURS & KATE CLOVER (ALL MY FRIENDS ARE IN BANDS FESTIVAL)
Rössli, Bern
Tickets →with THE LOVELY HATERS
Horst Klub, Kreuzlingen
with THE ESCALATOR HATERS
Wurlitzer Ballroom, Madrid
Schokoladen, Berlin
with THE MELMACS
Oettinger Villa, Darmstadt
Influenced by obscure power pop and punk bands of the late 1970s, the band got together in 2005, consisting of Sir Harris XLV of Dresden on vocals and comb, Hans Durst on bass, Kidnap on guitar, and Bugs on drums. Bugs left after just a few rehearsals and was replaced by the one and only Baroness, aka Rosa Riot, who jumped in just in time to play the band's first gig, supporting Kathy X at Berlin's White Trash Fast Food, followed by a 10-day tour with The Carpettes (no money, no place to sleep, but lots of booze, beer and fun).
Hans Durst left the band because they played too badly, too fast, and weren't interested in rehearsals on Sunday morning. A replacement was found in Lord Scrotum, who had moved to Berlin only a month earlier.
In 2007, their first release saw the light of day: a lathe-cut 12" limited to 10 copies on the band's own label, Queen Mum Records. At first it was produced as a birthday present for Stan of Escalator Haters/Wicked, who instantly decided to make it an official pressing on his label, Sprinter Records, in co-production with QMR. Two years later, a second album followed. After half of the edition had been sold, it turned out that the remaining half was mispressed and could hardly be played. The band tried to flatten them in the oven, but with little luck.
Lord Scrotum left the band at a petrol station on the way back from a gig in Kassel, only to rejoin The Not Amused many years later for a short period as second guitarist. On bass now was Jasper Hood, who had moved to Berlin shortly before, but left again two years later to focus on The About Blanks and the Black Jaspers.
In early 2012, the search for a permanent bass player ended when a young punk rocker asked Kidnap if he'd be up for founding a new band. He wasn't interested, but instantly hired Shockhead, aka Schoki, who is still with the band today.
The following years brought another album and many gigs all over Europe.
Living his life much faster than the rest of his mates, Sir Harris XLV sadly passed away at the age of only 50, and Kidnap had to take over vocals.
After 10 years, The Not Amused entered the studio again in 2025 to record their fourth album, which will be released this May on Wanda Records!