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A: The album is more than important to us. I never thought I could make this album. That would not have been possible without the last 10 years. I have given my whole life to the band over the last 10 years, and the band has given me a lot in return. And that’s not some romanticized bullshit, but a fact.
The album “X“ represents all our influences and perfectly defines the sound of The Offenders. It is more than just the standard 2Tone sound we played on our first album. Our sound has become faster, more intense, and more danceable. It shows influences from street punk, soul, and mod revival sound. Someone once said we play “hooligan reggae“. That’s not quite true, because we neither play reggae nor are we hooligans, but our first “hit“ had exactly that title, and we are proud of that song for having developed the band’s style further.
Q: You have been touring continuously for the last 10 years. And when you weren't on tour, you were in the studio. Where is your home?
A: In Kreuzberg, I believe.
Would it surprise you if I told you that I want to tour even more than we currently do? So, dear promoters around the world, book us, it’s not true that we already play so many shows, we want to play even more!
Of course, the “Out of Space“ studio in Göttingen is also our home, because we have been recording our records there since 2010. Tom, the producer and master of the mixing desk, is like a big brother to us.
In every club where we play, we are at home for one evening. There are some clubs in Germany where we feel very comfortable and even more abroad.
Let’s not forget our blue tour bus, where we spend a lot of time, our home. Unfortunately, it’s not as comfortable as we would like it to be, but maybe in a few years we will be rich and then we will travel as comfortably as U2. Everyone in their own private jet...
Q: You played a tour in China. How did you organize the tour and how was it?
A: Our old tour manager and friend Frank Keil came up with this idea when we were at the airport to fly to Russia for the first time to play there. He said, “Hey guys, why Russia? Why not China? I know a few people there. I can organize something.”
Whether it was the allure of playing in a communist country or something else. In any case, there is a small booking agency in China called “Fortune Chookie“. The guy who runs this agency has worked in the USA for the “Vans Tour“ and offered us a very good deal. That’s when we decided to do it. The tour lasted 2 weeks. For the tour, we made a kind of “Best Of“. Actually more of an official bootleg than a real CD. Maybe it will be worth a fortune someday, but for now it’s just a piece of plastic.
Our tour started as well as a tour can start. We played the first concert in Beijing, in a sold-out club. The audience sang our songs loudly along. I must say, that was moving.
However, I have to say that the rest of the tour was not as good as the concert in Beijing. There is hardly any scene outside of Beijing and a few big cities, let alone a subculture.
And, you have to know that the word “freedom“ has a different meaning there than the one we know.
Q: In which country would you like to tour next?
A: Let’s put it this way, we are planning something really big, but with our luck, I can’t really say if it will happen. Let’s say it could be the fulfillment of a big wish.
I hope it doesn’t sound too cliché when I say that I would like to play everywhere. Life is too short not to play all over the world. But I want to get to know as many places in this world as possible with the band. It’s the greatest thing to be in a band that tours a lot.
I must admit, I would really like to play in Japan and Mexico. We might even be able to realize Mexico, at least we have fans there.
Q: How did you come up with the “St. Pauli Swing Youth“ that you sing about on your current album “X“?
A: I wanted to sing about something different. About something like a “forgotten story“. About a person or a group born in this country where I have lived for years. I saw the film “Swing Kids“ (info about the film at https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swing_Kids). The film is set in Hamburg during the Nazi era. I found the story great, even though it is of course very romanticized. There was a group of young people who danced to this music and had fun, which the Nazis had banned. These people were labeled as enemies of the state. The young people were not connected to any political group or party. Just listening to swing or jazz was enough to see them as subversive elements that needed to be persecuted. Of course, the people who listened to swing or jazz were not racists; they didn’t listen to Wagner and didn’t believe the things that the Nazi regime told them.
As far as I know, none of these people were imprisoned for a long time, but they were repeatedly arrested, beaten, and tortured just for being different. The Nazis were particularly annoyed that these young people shouted “Swing Heil” instead of “Sieg Heil”.
These people were rebels in their own way. That should not be forgotten, especially by the younger generation. If younger people continue to listen to such crap music, some bad ghetto reggae or hipster techno, then one can only say “Thank you”.
And “Thank you” for the people who stood up against censorship and the ruling regime, yes against every regime that wanted to dominate them. Then “Thank you” for behaving the way the regime wants you to.
Q: Is the “St. Pauli Swing Youth“ comparable to today’s subculture?
A: I don’t want to compare the past with the present. Everything is always changing. Time does not stand still.
But it would be nice if we could develop a similar energy that motivated people back then to say “No”. “No” to what society and the media sell us as ideals.
Q: How do you assess the situation in Berlin at the moment, with the changes in the city and the displacements or gentrification?
A: It’s terrible. It’s terrible how all kinds of speculation, all kinds of plans made by businessmen, private investors, or large corporations, and not by the people affected, are taking place.
But apparently, it doesn’t bother people. Give them a dull show on television, a shopping mall, a new flat-screen TV, and the new iPhone, and they are happy, without realizing that they are selling their soul for it. They feel comfortable as they submit to consumption.
The freedom of consumption is not the freedom we mean!
Q: What plans do you have for 2016?
A: To play as much live as possible, within the EU and maybe even outside, and of course to promote our record. And of course, the work on a new album is coming up. Isn’t it said that a band has to release a new record every year?
