Exactly 10 years ago, in May 1999, the FEINDFLUG album "Feindflug [4.Version]" was released as regular album for the first time. For this special reason, the album will be rereleased on Black Rain as exclusive double picture vinyl, strictly limited to 500 copies. It will come up with the complete track list of the demo tape "Feindflug [3.Version]" and one special bonus track. This great double picture vinyl will be available in our webshop www.emmo.biz and at FEINDFLUG concerts. Street date is 29th May!
Attention: As you already know, FEINDFLUG will perform at Wave-Gotik-Treffen. Be sure to check out the limited T-Shirt and Hoody for this gig - see a preview here.
New cool shirts from Feindflug & Black Rain:
The project FEINDFLUG was founded between the years 1995 and 1996. The two creative heads Banane and Felix met by accident. Banane was doing DJ jobs together with Beam but had his own musical imaginations and Felix had the required equipment to realise their musical wishes in form of danceable industrial music. So the first steps were taken. At this time, Nico was part of FEINDFLUG, but due to musical differences FEINDFLUG and Nico quickly went different ways. For quite a long time Beam had been supporting Feindflug as a live drummer but due to several incidents FEINDFLUG split up with him.
"Machtwechsel" was to be the first output by Felix as an intro for Banane's DJ activities. After this, the first joint song "Feindflug" was made, which was played in local clubs - and the project was born. Later on, this song also delivered the name for the project. But be careful, "FEINDFLUG" was never considered to be the band's name, but the title of a project. This would make it possible to interpret different topics under a different name. (Thoughts vary from Stalin up to religious fanaticism.) According to this, one also has to know, that the banner of the project is written in old American letters, and not in old German letters, like lots of prejudices tell.
In 1997, the first CD "FEINDFLUG" was released as an self produced CD-R in three different editions (30+30+100). The first edition additionally included two other tracks. Of course there were interests from record companies, but only with the condition to change things like name of the project, song titles and so on. So in 1998 the maxi CD "I. / St. G. 3" was released by a very controversial label, but in exactly the way the project wanted it to.
Concerning musical aspects it is obvious that FEINDFLUG went it's own stylistic way by mixing Electro/EBM and Industrial and therefore created an own genre: Electro-Industrial. This new term often is referred to as reference for other projects. Especially MARITA SCHRECK and FEINDFLUG are considered to be the founders of this special genre because hardly any other bands or projects could manage such a perfect symbiosis of these two genres. Many tried to copy, none of them had such quality.
Due to the continuous discussions about FEINDFLUG among the music scene the label "Black Rain" was founded in 1999 by friends to create an official platform for the project's work. This meant re-releases of the first album. At this point of time, the most hilarious rumours, lies and gossip about the work, the content and the project itself were circulating. None of the critics knew either the complete work of FEINDFLUG or tried to deal with the content or even tried to talk to the project itself.
Several weeks late, the CD was released in June in 1999 with the title "FEINDFLUG |Vierte Version|" (It is wrong to only say "Vierte Version"!) and included two new tracks in exchange. The Digipak of the CD told: "each form of glorification and or minmization of World War II is against the project's intention. It has rather the aim to make plain that this period of time is the beginning of a new technological warfare, in which the individual was the victim a million times. Relations towards current happenings are there each new day...". In addition to this an excerpt from a magazine's text from 1999: "Here nothing is flirted with, but the first album of the project is a cycle about the rise / motives / actions / fall of the Nazis between 1933 and 1945. concerning this, music / samples / pictures strictly have to be regarded as a thematic symbiosis. A project quite similar was made by Ammer & Einheit [Einstürzende Neubauten] with the title "Deutsche Krieger" (German Warriors) - by the way, nobody seems to care about this!
For months, songs like "Leitbild" and "Kahle Bedrohung" have become club hits, but "Stukas im Visier" turned out to be the ultimate FEINDFLUG evergreen.
The Maxi CD "Im Visier" was released in November 1999. According to the thematic treatment of FEINDFLUG releases, "Im Visier", using the thematic gap "aeroplane", is unofficially dedicated to Prof. Hugo Junkers, one of the greatest designing engineers. By mistake, a lot of people draw a connection between his name and the arming of the German air force in World War II. Unfortunately only a few people know, that he has been a convinced pacifist throughout his whole life. In 1933 he was expropriated and arrested by the Nazis. Deprived of his life's work he died in 1935 near Munich. The JU-87 (Stuka) had not been designed by him too, only parts of his construction plans for a sports plane were used. Not to forget great achievements and inventions of this brilliant designing engineer, especially in civil aviation.
The title of the CD "Sterbehilfe", which was published in June 2000, is serious and sarcastic at the same time. While two tracks thematically connect to the first album, death penalty in the USA is the main point within the theme of "Dying". Before the production of this CD, there were several problems, but this time of different sort. The Dutch producer of the Digipak refused to carry out this production, because a picture of the CD design shows a man executed by electric chair. Even the intervention by our pressing plant service partner could not convince the Dutch printer, and finally a different producer of the Digipak had to be found. Well, sometimes truth hurts!
All these rumours and trouble around FEINDFLUG have shown that especially audiences from abroad deal with FEINDFLUG - stuff in a much more differentiated and sensitive way. In contrast to this, one has to remark, that audiences in Germany often use old prejudices and, referring to the ability philosophical thinking, give themselves the worst marks possible.
Then, July 3rd, 2002, the CD "Hirnschlacht" was to be released. But this time, the Austrian CD plant refused to carry out the production. All the rumours around FEINDFLUG, which were passed via Internet, were reason enough for the pressing plant to act this way. It was said that obviously everybody could conserve his "strange" opinion within in a medium like music and it does not matter whether this opinion is a lie or not. It was not considered to watch out for all the Internet pages, which discuss FEINDFLUG in a different, and mostly a more objective view. (Yes, there is irony within these sentences.) Although this problem caused a whole lot of trouble, this problem was solved rather quickly. Fans joining the FEINDFLUG tour were happy with the strictly limited [Red Edition] of the CD, while the Digipak edition was released three weeks later. Well, one gets used to problems... The title "Hirnschlacht" embodies the process of dealing with several topics like crime as well as religious belief and so on. It was the first time that a video clip was added, which contains parts of some FEINDFLUG gigs. The music on "Hirnschlacht" was not as rough and angry as the music on the first album but had high quality compositions. New hits like "Glaubenskrieg", "Kalte Unschuld" and "Kopfschuss" came up with partly modified sounds and showed a new musical variety within FEINDFLUG's work.
In March, 2003, the enhanced re-release of the Maxi CD "I. / St. G. 3 [Phase 2]" was published by Black Rain. The previously unreleased full time song "Outro" and, in exchange, "NSD" as original full version from 1997 were added as bonus tracks.
For more than one year one had been thinking about releasing a picture vinyl. This has finally been realised in August of 2004, which contained among exclusive remixes and one track from the forthcomming album the very rare Speed Mix of "Leitbild" from 1997.
Three years after "Hirnschlacht" "Volk und Armee..." was released in October 2005 and this again started some big FEINDFLUG hype. Critics said it to be a mixture of "Hirnschlacht" and "Feindflug [4.V]", but one has to draw special attention to the musical variety as well as to rhythm and sound issues. Some tracks even come up with an orchestral character. Again FEINDFLUG managed it to create an exciting piece of music without losing the typical FEINDFLUG sound and without copying themselves
In the last years one could recognize a constantly growing influence of FEINDFLUG on the dark-music scene. Numerous bands, even established ones (!), used samples of FEINDFLUG sounds, stole complete melodies, used the same word samples (how innovative!) and so on. It even became fashionable to use the famous FEINDFLUG strings. It is even more interesting that a lot of these bands were exactly the same bands which had always tried to defame FEINDFLUG or disassociated from the project before.
FEINDFLUG is not a regular live band. Due to job, studies, ..., each live gig has to be planned carefully. In addition to this, each musician knows, that it is quite impossible to reproduce this sound with 100% of quality on stage, so the involvement of the members of FEINDFLUG has to be seen in a different light. The new fulminant line up with Clemens, Patric, Matze, Soli and Kay, which was introduced in 2005, goes along with a new concept of live performances and the need for a change. Due to the familiar atmosphere, the tour with Aslan Faction was the one FEINDFLUG liked most of all, as well as the encounter with the Argentinian bands Lamia and Kutna Hora in 2004 (again with Aslan Faction). First of all, one has to say a big Thank You to all organisers that have prepared shows with FEINDFLUG, now and in former times, although there have been more than once harsh criticism and even threats from the outside.
The name FEINDFLUG consequently stands for the need, that people think about deplorable state of affairs in this world! And this is, of course, not bound to the fact, whether you produce music which is danceable or not. It is up to you to question everything instead of going along with everything that is said. With this in mind: Use your brain and think about it! (...although it seems that for a lot of contemporaries this phrase is too much to handle!)
...to be continued! [written by G.S.]
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