Muff Potter (Posted Date: 20 Dec 2009, 14:52)

Muff Potter / Chris Wollard & The Ship Thieves / Drag The River

08.12.09 Zakk, Düsseldorf

Die Muff Potter-Abschiedssause ging weiter, nach dem Auftritt im Vorprogramm von Hot Water Music in Köln nun mein allerletztes Konzert mit ihnen, diesmal im Gegenzug mit Chris Wollard als Support.
Aber der eigentliche Hauptgrund für mein Erscheinen stand als allererstes auf der Bühne, um mit seinen folkigen Countrysongs kaum Reaktionen beim Publikum hervorzurufen: Drag The River. Zum ersten Mal waren sie überhaupt in Deutschland, dabei nur als Duo, nämlich Jon Snodgrass an der elektrischen und Chad Price von ALL an der akustischen Gitarre. Mit ihren markanten Stimmen jagten sie mir dabei wohlige Schauer den Rücken herunter.
Danach wurde es dann lauter. Chris Wollard macht ja neben seiner Hauptband nun auch solo Musik, die allerdings eher klassisch indierockig klingt. Passend dazu setzte er auch direkt zu beginn sein Baseball-Cap, das er bei den HWM-Shows durchgehend truf, ab und trug außerdem Brille. Beim letzten Song No Exception gesellte sich auch noch Jon Snodgrass hinzu und sang etwas mit.
Muff Potter spielten anschließend eines ihrer wohl längsten Konzerte mit fast zwei Stunden Spielzeit, aber wie schon so oft bei ihnen wollte bei mir der Funke nicht so recht überspringen, obwohl sie sogar recht viele Bordsteinkantengeschichten erzählten. Richtig ärgerlich wurde es dann, als sie EA 80 coverten, denn ihre Version von Auf Wiedersehen war einfach nur schlecht. Aber wieder einmal riss 100 Kilo alles raus als grandioser Schlusspunkt.

Hot Water Music (Posted Date: 07 Dec 2009, 02:56)

Hot Water Music / Muff Potter / Strike Anywhere

29.11.09 Essigfabrik, Köln

Ich bin ja lernfähig. Also plante ich die Anreise nach Köln so, dass Strike Anywhere fast komplett verpasst wurden. Muff Potter führte ich mir dann doch zu Gemüte, schließlich ist die Band ja auf Abschiedstournee. Der Auftritt war durchwachsen, was hauptsächlich mal wieder an ihrer Setlist lag, die neueren Songs sind mir einfach zu durchschnittlich. Aber da 100 Kilo gespielt wurde, will ich nicht zu sehr meckern.
Bei Hot Water Music merkte man sofort, dass heute Abend im Gegensatz zu Dortmund alles gut sein würde. Das Publikum in der rappelvollen Essigfabrik ging sofort steil und sang sich die Lunge aus dem Leib und auch Chris Wollard war wieder der Strahlemann, der damals bei The Draft selbst meine Freundin sofort zum Fan werden ließ.
Das Set war nahezu identisch mit dem vom Freitag, doch als nach It's Hard To Know die Lichter angingen, blieben die Leute dennoch da und verlangten noch eine Zugabe. Und tatsächlich kam die Band noch einmal zurück und spielte No Division.
Köln schlug Dortmund deutlich, das gibts sonst ja nicht so oft.

Vainstream Beastfest (Posted Date: 05 Jul 2009, 20:49)

Vainstream Beastfest

w/ Ignite / Broilers / The Gaslight Anthem / The Dillinger Escape Plan / Cro-Mags / Comeback Kid / Muff Potter

04.07.09 Schlachthof, Wiesbaden

I'm not really a festival type anymore, I dislike bad weather, overpriced drinks and camping. Vainstream was different: the weather was excellent and even if it had rained: the bands played indoors at the Schlachthof; drinks were cheap and you got one day tickets in case you didn't want to stay the whole two days which we didn't.

Muff Potter
We arrived quite late so we only heard some of their songs from outside the venue and just got in to see the final moments of 100 Kilo. As I've seen them quite often now I didn't really care to have missd them.

Comeback Kid
Really good hardcore though not exactly my cup of tea but better than expected.

Cro-Mags
A NYC hardcore legend with quite an all-star line-up: John Joseph on vocals being the only original members, AJ Novello from Leeway on guitar and Craig Setari from Sick Of It All on bass.
But that was not enough to really impress me. As mentioned above, hardcore is not really my music. The fast songs were nice but the rest including a Leeway cover were boring.

The Dillinger Escape Plan
Crazy shit, the math core outfit was a spectacular of their own. The brawling vocals sounded annoying, the freaky mix of metal and hardcore rhythms seemed too complex to grasp them live but the pure energy and stage acting including acrobatic stunts like speaker climbing were great.

The Gaslight Anthem
They are everyone's darlings and deservedly so. "Bruce" Fallon is smiling all the time obviously enjoing their constantly growing popularity and the band still kicks ass and wins everyone over with their music. They played nearly the same set as opening for Social Distortion but included Wooderson to my delight.

Broilers
A German punk band with ska and Oi influences, again not my cup of tea but they got a great response from the audience and were really good.

Ignite
My judgment from last year's show in Essen still holds: the music is ok but I can't really stand the band live. Their movement on stage looks choreographed like a boy band's dance moves and the singer's announcements are embarassing. We left after only five songs so at least I couldn't get pissed off by Sunday Bloody Sunday.

Muff Potter (Posted Date: 01 Mar 2009, 23:11)

Muff Potter / Ghost Of Tom Joad / Videoclub

28.02.09 FZW, Dortmund

The FZW closed down after over 40 years and three bands from Münster had the honour of playing the last gig at that wonderful venue.
First up were Videoclub, Bloc Party epigones who came so close to the original that the lack of originality didn't really matter as their playing was really awesome.
Then came Ghost Of Tom Joad. while the old songs from No Sleep Until Ostkreuz really rocked the new tracks from their current album Matterhorn were a bit too poppy.
The FZW had always been a sweatbox and tonight made no difference. The sold out club was packed and Muff Potter got the crowd going. Unfortunately, they focused on their newer output, especially tracks from Steady Fremdkörper and also some tunes from the forthcoming album Gute Aussicht. As I prefer their old hits (like 100 Kilo from Bordsteinkantengeschichten) it wasn't their best show for me but a good one nonetheless.
Anyway, thanks to the FZW for hosting so many great concerts. Here's a list of the shows I've seen there:

22.05.1991 Moving Targets
19.05.1994 Green Day / Selig
12.01.1995 Gum / Hip Young Things / The Birdy Num Nums
20.02.1995 No Fun At All
09.05.1997 Ten Foot Pole / Goober Patrol
03.07.1999 Man Or Astroman?
08.06.2000 The Get Up Kids / The Anniversary
08.09.2000 The (International) Noise Conspiracy / Air 6
07.07.2001 Dead Moon
14.05.2002 Hanson Brothers / Born As A Joke
17.01.2003 Oma Hans / The Devil In Miss Jones
13.03.2003 Supersuckers / Roughtones / Weak
12.12.2003 Angelika Express / Jona
06.02.2004 Angelika Express / Maxeen
27.02.2004 Smoke Blow / Enojado
30.04.2004 Dead Moon
08.05.2004 Leatherface
26.11.2004 Matt Sharp & Goldenboy
05.02.2005 Kettcar
07.01.2006 Muff Potter / Voltaire / Junges Glück
04.02.2006 Cave In / Pelican / Disco Ensemble
01.02.2007 Sophia / Malcolm Middleton
29.04.2008 Blood Red Shoes / Dr. Norton
27.06.2008 The Gaslight Anthem / The Escape Artist / Whisk
28.02.2009 Muff Potter / Ghost Of Tom Joad / Videoclub

Hot Water Music (Posted Date: 11 May 2008, 07:55)

Hot Water Music / Muff Potter / Walter Schreifels / Pepstalkers

10.05.08 Skater's Palace, Münster

Can you expect too much from an evening? Yes, you can. Gainesville legends Hot Water Music returned to Europe for four shows only, one of them taking place in Münster to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Green Hell record store.
It's been eight years ago since I first saw them live. I was blown away by their energy and passion. They played a small basement club in Bochum, support came from a German band called Muff Potter who also won my heart that night.
Both bands also starred in Green Hell's 10th anniversary festival at the Skater's Palace five years ago, one of the sweatiest shows I've ever been to. Could this even be surpassed this time?
First band of the night were the Pepstalkers, a Münster rock outfit playing more or less traditional garage rock and who were boring.
But then Walter Schreifels came on to play an acoustic set spanning his whole career. He played songs from Gorilla Biscuits, Rival Schools and Walking Concert plus an homage to the Sauerland and the worst Austrian song ever, Life Is Life and got the people to sing along to it.
After showing a strange home video Muff Potter played their 15th anniversary show and I wasn't too impressed. Best song was a new one with Chuck Ragan on vocals and too many old faves were missing (no Placebo Domingo, no 100 Kilo) and the sound was crap, too.
I guess many people will have loved the Hot Water Music show, but I thought there was something missing. Their energy on stage seemed to have faded away, you could feel that Chuck Ragan had separated from the rest, especially when you had the chance to see The Draft, the other HWM spin off apart from Chuck's solo work, live when they supported Samiam two years ago.
They played loads of hits like Turnstile, Free Radio Gainesville, It's Hard To Know, Paper Thin, Remedy and, especially, Our Own Way and Rooftops, but I felt the difference, the lack of spirit compared to eight years ago, when No Division touched my soul.
So, I guess, it would have been a good show if the band meant less to me and I didn't have seen so many fantastic gigs of theirs to compare it to.