Lektrogirl's Birthday - Gameboy Camera Diary Images taken on 1st Dec 2002

Lektrogirl called me one night when I was outside in the rain near Liverpool Street station. This was nice and she asked me, amongst other things, if I would like to perform at her birthday party (at the Golden Pudel, Hamburg) as a live or DJ set. For me doing a live set is actually easier, not to mention a lot more fun, so we instantly agreed on a live show. As it was such a special occassion I put some extra work into my show... but more about this later!

The London Dungeon
First job was to actually get to Hamburg. This turned out to be pretty stressful. My flights were booked so that I would arrive just in time for the show. I thought this was pretty cool, especially as I was to fly with Ralf from the Pudel club.

I worked out the train I'd have to catch to get to the airport. But the tube service in London was delayed to various strike actions. In the end I arrived a couple of minutes late to catch the express to Stanstead airport.

Totally stressing out I called a minicab. The driver was a Yugoslavian guy, who turned out to be pretty safe. The problem was he was a little bit /too/ chilled out. Travelling at 10mph less than the motorway speed limit when I had a had a plane to catch did little to relax me. In the event I arrived just 5 minutes late for check in, but they let me on to the flight anyway. I walked straight through the security checks and on to the plane. Actually it was good not to be bored waiting for boarding, but this small luxury wasn't really worth the stressy first part of my journey. Anyway - it was rock'n'roll!

Night flight
As I walked on to the plane Ralf from the Pudel recognised me. We had meant to travel together, but it turned out we both had problems - which Ralf would letter tell me about several times, with liberal use of the word 'fuck' ;-> I agree with him though - at times London really is 3rd World.

I had been booked on the cheapest possible flights to Hamburg, by coincidence they also happened to be the best. Air Berlin, who I was flying with, operate a great shuttle service to most major cities in German. Although a low-cost airline they have higher cost features such as TVs and a little bit of food. The air hostesses were very helpful, and I was even allowed to put my guitar on the empty seat next to me. The flight landed 10 minutes early.

Check the roof TVs which also double up as info screens!

On Air Berlin even your guitar gets a seat.

At passport control in Hamburg there was 2 queues - a short one and a long one. Of course I picked the short one...Bad move ;-> The guy doing that kiosk was old and strict and spent ages checking everyones details. I was just hoping Ralf would not get too pissed off waiting for me. Perhaps it was my speeding brain, but he definately seemed to spend longer over my passport, but a young guy with a black leather jacket probably does look a little suspicious. Looking back it was pretty comedy how I got so stressed about every possible part of the journey, but at the time it seemed as if everything I did slowed me down even more.

I can't slow down
As soon as I walked through customs I was greeted by Ralf and his girl. They certainly made a very odd couple, but they were obviously great for each other. A friend gave us all a lift into town. Ralf told us about his trip to London, and how the rave he was playing at was targetted by a gang and the party stopped. Apparantly he was only able to play 2 records.... but in the end it turned out ok because they paid him extra. I listened to Ralf disrespect London in various ways until we arrive at his apartment. I wish I could have defended my home city - but I agreed with everything he said ;-> I told Ralf to be glad he didn't live there.

"London sucks man, its like a fucking 3rd world country!"

The flat was very tidy considering its small size and large number of possessions. The whole place had a very homely atmosphere. I met birthday girl Lektro, who had just woken up, but looked remarkably together. Superdefekt has his room and studio in the upper part of the flat and I was introduced. Superdefekt is a total g33k, with a great taste in fast food. I tried to relax with him for a minute until everyone was ready, but it was impossible, my brain had spun up to maximum in the slow taxi ride going to Stanstead and it just wouldn't slow down - even with Superdefekt's most chilling trax.

Seeing my energy Lektrogirl suggested I occupy my time by using Ralf's toilet, as apparantly she and Drx (from Bodenstandig 2000) though it was incredibly hilarious. Well of course I did not want to miss out on this great joke. In the end it was a total anticlimax - the joke was just pure logic. In the corner of the bathroom, opposite the human toilet, was the toilet for cats. This proves only that rephlex stars have a bizarre sense of humour. I could not force a piss, but I flushed the toilet before leaving the bathroom anyway not to seem weird.

It was not long before everyone was ready and we caught a taxi to the famous Golden Pudel, Hamburg's premier night club.

The Pudel
I imagined the venue to be larger than it was. I knew it would be small, but it was half the size I imagined. The down-market decor gave a homely atmosphere, similar to Ralf's place. As I made my was around the club I ran in to Firestarter from micromusic. I had never met him before, and like the Pudel Firestarter was not as I imagined him... He was alot shorter and with nicer skin ;-> Firestarter was a total geezer (which I did expect) and he had made special micromusic badges for everyone. Mine was so good that I had to put it on rightaway! Unfortunately Firestarter had left his selfmade SIDsyn at home. This doesn't matter though as he told me he would bring it to the next micro_event in Brussels, it gives me one more reason to look forward to that event.

He's a trouble starter. Punkin' instigator!

Not to waste time I immediately started to setup my gear. The stage was just large enough for my setup. The sound guy was very helpful and had got ready a guitar amplifier for me to use as a monitor. Ralf seemed a little dubious about it, and questioned if I really needed it.... But of course what would I do without my expensive foot rest ;-> During my set I was able to make perfect guitar feedback effects with this amplifier, and I think he understood why it was so important in the end.

My foot rest (sorry about the wobbly image)

As I was setting up my good mates Ella and KingKas arrived. I had asked them if they would like to help with my set, to make it a bit special. KingKas had brought his electronic drum set all the way from New York. I was looking forward to playing with him again after the months since the London micromusic show. Firestarter kindly gave KingKas batteries for the drum set (which he had forgotten). The Pudel bar also supplied KingKas with drum sticks in the form of 2 metal spoons.

Electronic drum set with professional metal drum sticks (Wolfgang Flur style)

Pretty soon everything was setup and we sound checked with my usual track Shoot Out The Lights. I enjoy performing this song so much I did a special verion for the micromusic database which you can download online. The sound system was very loud, and way harsh! I found myself turning down the over-drive on my guitar. With a little help from Lektrogirl's ears I quickly got a nice balance of sound.

Unbelievable that the Golden Pudel's sound system is contained in just these few racks of specialist equipment

Satisfied that everything was ready it was time to de-stress. I looked around me and saw that the club had alot more people in than when I first arrived. Somehow Manou had arrived without me noticing, as well as some friends of Superdefekt. It was getting towards time for the gig so alot of us decided it was time to eat. KingKas, Manou, Ella and I went for dinner just around the corner in a popular seafood restaurant, whilst LektroLab and Firestarter had dinner in a less specialist restaurant (which was apparantly very nice). As I left the club I suddenly remembered something very important - Ralf had kindly organised for my hair to be cut before the gig. I cursed myself for forgetting, not just because my hair looks a mess now, but because I had disrespected Ralf's hospitality slightly. I hope he was not too offended. I considered returning to the club, but there was no time ;-<

I was the most happy I have ever been to see everything set up

Hamburg
Over dinner I caught up with everyones news. Ella and KingKas had been living in New York for 3 months and had lots of tales to tell. The restaurant was empty, but on the other hand it was pretty late on Sunday evening. I found the meal to be simple and excellent, just seafood cooked really well. KingKas thought that they could have introduced some more complex flavours - but he's French ;-> I enjoyed my butter fried plaice very much, and followed it up with some ice-cream and raspberries. Even though it was winter time the raspberries were as good as if it were summer. The restaurant must have had a good supplier.

An empty ice-cream bowl

There was still some time until the show so Manou offered to show us round some of the local sights. Apart from the Golden Pudel there were only two things within walking distance - a magnificent tunnel under the river and the 'Dom' fairground.

The tunnel was pretty impressive. The complex not only included the tunnel, but also the first car-lift in the world, some normal pedestrian lifts and a staircase which seemed to extend into the center of the earth itself.

Of course we had to take the stairs into the tunnel. I tried to get some GameBoy Camera shots, but it was too dark and vast to be represented well. If you imagine the set of a James Bond film, with many walkways and precarious dark green iron work... But the lighting much darker and with no gun battles.

At the bottom of the stairs was the tunnel under Hamburg's river. It was not too long, so we decided to walk along and check out the other side.

This tunnel is a great feat of engineering, and has a phatt-ass reverb effect

At the other side we took the lift up. The district in that part of town was totally industrial with workshops, warehouses, cranes and empty carparks. The area had a quiet and nervy atmosphere. It would be the perfect place for a studio - no one would be around to care how loud you had your system. We found a good place to look at the centre of Hamburg, back across the river:

The temperature was even colder than it looks in this picture

Having seen all we needed to see we decided to visit the fairground, but when we eventually arrived it was closed ;-< To warm ourselves up a small bar was found. The bar owner was a Kim Wilde fan and we listened through a greatest hits compilation while he played a dice game with some regular customers. The whole atmosphere was pretty relaxed and we lost track of time. It was a nice drink to have with some good friends.

Back once again
When we got back to the Pudel there was just about enough time to change into my stage clothes ready to perform. I started to play at around 1.15, and finished at about 2am - making this quite a long show.

I wanted this to be a special performance, and I showcased 3 new tracks that night. 2 of them went down well, and the other needs more some work. I went for a darker kind of sound than my usual micro_style set and I think this was a good move.

Regular excercise meant that I at last did not lose my voice towards the end of my set, which was just as well, because even with a microphone and sound system, it was hard to get over the noise of the enthusiastic crowd. During the main part of my set I was helped by the vocal talents of Manou in one track, and by the drum skillz of KingKas in a couple of songs. Originally I was only going to do one track with KingKas, but the crowd liked him so much they wanted 2 songs. For my last track (a Sabrina cover version as a birthday present for Lektrogirl) Ella came on stage which really helped to stir up the crowd. Its OK for me to big up this track as I didn't write it, I think it got the best response of any song played that night - the work I put into covering it defiantely paid off. I didn't want to play FYMW this time, as I was aiming to debut a completely new sound from normal, but the crowd of the Pudel were having none of this and shouted at me for it. It was lucky I had it on my minidisc, or I think there could have been trouble... I had thought of delibrately not recording it so that there was no possibility for it to be played.

As it was I don't think I could successfully have played a much longer set without it becoming boring. The crowd response was better than excellent once I started to get Manou, KingKas and Ella on stage to help me. There is still room for improvement in my set. I think an extra cover version could come in handy for instance, and a couple of the songs I played have potential but need alot more work. Strange, because I thought they were ready.... it just goes to show that there is no subsitute for testing a track out in a live situation. For my next live gig in Brussels I will take all my previous gigs in to consideration and hopefully at last play the perfect live set I have been looking for.

The crowd at the Golden Pudel is the most open minded I have ever come across. This was evident during the MP3 battle of Firestarter and Superdefekt which followed Ralf's DJ set. The two tried to out do each other with crowd pleasing tracks from Scooter, Smart-Es, and several exclusives from themselves. They were certainly enjoying the competition, as was the crowd. Respect to them both!

I was pretty tired by this time and decided to retire to my hotel, but the party went on almost until dawn and included chocolate cake (which I missed out on ;-< ). I left my GameBoy camera in the safe-keeping of Ella after we left the tunnel and forgot to get it back. That is why this diary does not include all the cool things I saw the next day when I looked around the city (such as bakeries, fairgrounds, docks, guitar shops and more besides). Next time I am in town I will doument these things for you all. Hamburg is a pretty small town, but with a nice atmosphere (except for the areas where there are alot of sex shops). The inhabitants all seem to be interested in music in one way or another which is probably why great clubs like the Golden Pudel can so successful.

It is strange... Emma always told me that The Golden Pudel was the best night club in the world. I have not seen alot of night clubs, but I thought there must be a better club somewhere... But then I thought of them all and out of them all I would pick the Golden Pudel to go for a rave in. Its not an obvious choice, but when you consider carefully it turns out its the only choice. I think the success is down to the team running it, only a bunch of crazy Germans could do it, and I think I would like to talk to them somemore if our paths should cross again.

(c)gwem 2002
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