Off With Their Heads (Posted Date: 21 Jun 2009, 19:12)

Off With Their Heads / Henri Parker

20.06.09 Schaubude, Kiel

I desided to travel the more than 400 km to Kiel as Off With Their Heads had decided to play nowhere near my place. I didn't know that it was the first weekend of the Kieler Woche which had masses of drunk people partying in the city. For a moment I was tempted to watch Matthias Reim on one of the various stages but, however, I squeezed myself through the crowds to get to the Schaubude and enjoy some real music.
It was already 10.45 pm when Henri Parker began his set. He's a singer/songwriter from Hamburg obviously influenced by such artists as Frank Turner or Mike Hale. But compared to them he can't sing too well und his English is worse. But he's an entertaining guy so I didn't really mind.
It's been eight months since Off With Their Heads' last German tour and again they played nearly the whole Hospitals ep and lots of tracks from From the Bottom, but also two new songs I've never heard before and the brilliant Nobodys' cover Scarred By Love, the only new release from a single since then.
It's still hard to tell what makes them so special for me: they are no spectacular stage act, they don't really interact or communicate with the audience, their music is not very innovative, but it's the overall mixture that catches me. There's no other band sounding so much like J Church but still having a distinguishable sound of their own and the despair and darkness of their lyrics never drag you down as the raw energy of the music is uplifting enough to outbalance them.

Scarred By Love

I had a friend, but he died
He committed suicide
Some bitch took him for a ride
And he believed all of her lies

He was scarred by love
He was scarred by love
He was scarred by love
And it made him end his life

I knew a girl who loved a boy
But she was just his sexual toy
She found out that he used her for thrills
And overdosed on a bottle of pills

She was scarred by love
She was scarred by love
She was scarred by love
And it made her wanna die

I loved a girl with all of my heart
Then she went and tore it apart
I found her in another's bed
So I kicked in her pretty head
I was scarred by love
I was scarred by love
I was scarred by love
And now I wanna die