Brigade Fozzy started in January
1983, founded by members of the former bands Plastic Porno Band and Calling Dr. Pink, in Westfalia/West-Germany. A first tape was recorded under disastrous technical conditions, some of the songs were written, rehearsed and recorded within 10 minutes. Nevertheless one of their "classics" resulted
from this first session: 3953
Further rehearsals and recordings followed (in the drummer's bedroom), instruments and amplifiers were borrowed from friends and in early 1984 the final line-up took shape: |
From left to right: Heini (drums), Börned (voice), Mani (guitar), Hermann (bass). Their musical direction and credo: uncompromising
Fun-Pogo.
In February 1984 Brigade Fozzy had its first appearance in the O. J. C. Babylon (Hengelo/NL). One song of this first gig ("T4") was published one year later on the 12" Babylon-Live-Sampler Babylon: Bleibt Fahren. Because bass-player Hermann couldn't play all the songs by that time, he enjoyed most of the gig pogoing with the audience. |
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Further concerts followed (like in March 1984 at the punk festival in the Stokvishal/Arnhem/NL) and in October the first 7" with 4 songs was recorded: Lebenslang - EP. Recording, mixing and mastering took place in one day, the songs were recorded live and without dubs. The cover was foto-copied and self-folded. The EP was released with 500 copies under their own label: Punk Anderson Records (named after the oil-baron and best friend of Jock Ewing from "Dallas") The californian fanzine Maximum Rock'n'Roll wrote: "There's a decidedly '77 feel to this. Enjoyable, old- fashioned punk with verve." |
On it went in a chaotic and amateurish way: Because they had no room, the Brigade had to rehearse in the parish-youth club, where guitar-player Mani was doing his non-military community service, and they took advantage of the P. A. of the parish- weekend-disco. Some concerts couldn't take place (because Hermann put Diesel in the petrol engine or Mani broke his arm during a pillow fight just before a hardcore festival in Belgium), others took place without rehearsals (as supporting act for Peter & the Test Tube Babies or in July '84 at the open air festival at the "Prins Bernhard Plantsoen"- Hengelo ). When the Babylon/Hengelo had to close at the end of December '84 and the club was devastated by the punks at the last concert, the Brigade Fozzy was part of the party on stage. |
In February 1985 the guys from Eisbein-Film/Bochum went on tour with a collection of super 8 live- cuts and music clips (among other places in Blockschock/Berlin, AJZ/ Bielefeld, Schlachthof/Bremen). Apart from live-recordings by Black Flag, D.O.A., Chelsea or Toy Dolls a super 8 film by Brigade Fozzy was to be gaped at. It was a burlesque clip of the song Lebenslang, filmed in winter on a playground near the pastorate. The originally planned version, very dark-punk kind of style (to be shot on the cemetery or a former train station) couldn't be filmed, because the storage battery of the camera didn't work (due to the frost). Unfortunately the super 8 film is lost and missing ... |
In 1985 the tape Das Lied von der Macht
was recorded. The better the members of the Brigade Fozzy could handle their instruments, the faster the tempo got. The early fun pogo with polka rhythm had become furious hardcore. The lyrics also changed: instead of songs about wearing glasses, failing the driver's licence or having hangovers the lyrics now became angry pamphlets against the catholic church, chancler Kohl (who was still fresh) or princess Diana (who was still among the living). Maximum Rock'n'Roll wrote: "Very raw, rough and harsh. A lot of variety in speed and power, but overall very straight-forward gutsy thrash!" |
In February 1986 finally the second 7" with five songs was recorded: Krieg dem Kriege -
EP. Again all the material was recorded, mixed and engineered in one day, but this time there were guitar dubs and backing-vocals, so it was an almost professional production, which was again released on their own label Punk Anderson Records with 600
copies. The Maximum Rock'n'Roll fanzine wrote: "Good, driving hardcore with sharp drumming and cutting guitar. Cool." A few months later Mani went to Berlin and the Brigade split up in March 1986. The final gig took place in "Attack" Enschede/NL, thoughtfully on a Good Friday, so that they could celebrate their decease in a proper and solemn way. The 5 songs of the Krieg dem Kriege - EP were re-released in 1999 by Loud, Proud & Punk Records on the 12" sampler "Die Deutschen kommen zurück - Vol. 2" |
In December 1987 it came to a reunion of the band with a slightly different line-up and a new name: Resident Mockery (named after a song
by Brigade Fozzy). Börned was no longer with the band, Hermann took over the singing (after he admitted, that he would never learn to play the bass),and the band existed a short while as a trio. In 1988 Hennes (photo, r.) joined the band and played the bass. Together they recorded a studio-tape with 10 songs in April 1989 and two songs of this session were released on the french 7"-sampler Panx Vinyl Zine The German Aardvark fanzine was enthusiastic about the Resident Mockery tape: "Unbelievably good demo, 10 pieces of crystal hardcore with critical lyrics. Very complex and fat, without any rock- or metal-touch. Original hardcore so to speak, with some melodious hits. Good songs." And Maximum Rock'n'Roll wrote: "Pretty good hardcore of all speeds, with some guitar a la Black Flag." |
The German zine ZAP was also full of praise: "Aggressive, loud and honest sounding hardcore with charming psycho-touch and good singer."
The nineties came, Brigade Fozzy vanished again and this time for real. While Mani gave up playing the guitar and took pencil and ink for his crime stories, Hermann became singer in the dutch band Fierce, and Hennes and Heini founded the band Monday Comes. Both Fierce and Monday Comes released one EP on Hermann's new label Amusement Records, which by the time has disappeared into musical heaven (or hell). May they all rest in peace ... |