The ska-punks from Wisecräcker recently had to cancel their entire USA tour. Neither internal band disputes nor financial reasons were responsible for this. On the contrary, they were already in the States full of anticipation, only to be sent back home by the local authorities. In the meantime, there is an official statement from drummer Hannes, in which he describes how a missing document led to an hour and a half of interrogation worthy of a crime thriller.
Hey!
This is Hannes, the drummer of the ska-punk band WISECRÄCKER from Hannover. We actually wanted to set off on July 7, 2010, for our USA and Mexico "The Pact" CD release tour 2010. Unfortunately, the Homeland Security of the USA threw a wrench in our plans. But let's start from the beginning...
Our trip began on Wednesday morning at 5 AM at the Langenhagen airport in Hannover. Despite the inhumane and punk-unfriendly hour, we boarded the plane to Amsterdam in good spirits because, hey, after 2 years we were going back on tour in the States and Mexico – a tour that had required a lot of work, time, and money in preparation, but was also correspondingly well organized and for which many people had poured their heart and soul into – on both sides. Oh, by the way, there will soon be a video for the single "The Pact." The accompanying album was released by Übersee Records on February 10 in Europe and on June 29 in the States.
So what could possibly stop us?!?! The answer came quickly... In Amsterdam, we boarded the flight to Minneapolis and had to endure the usual somewhat awkward questions in the famously friendly manner of Americans. ("Who packed the bags? Did someone give you something? Answer the questions! No stories!") But you know how it goes: first, everyone is a potential enemy, and if you're lucky, you get to pass through. After a nine-hour flight, we arrived in Minneapolis (our stopover on the way to San Francisco) and were somewhat surprised that we were intercepted right after getting off the plane and received markings in our passports. At Homeland Security, the misfortune began to unfold...
The fact that everyone before us was treated with complete disrespect and indignity already irritated me a bit, but when the officer in charge immediately questioned me like a serious criminal about what we wanted in his country, I was quite surprised. They had seen our instruments and didn't believe us that we were mainly here for the love of the music.
Just to clarify: When a German punk rock band of our size goes on tour in the USA, you burn (even if things go well) money, a hell of a lot of money! But we all have our jobs and do these trips because for us it’s somehow "punk rock" (as ridiculous as that may sound) to get to know the world this way. It really isn't about the money.
Anyway... The mustachioed officer decided that I was due for a one-on-one interrogation!
I was put through the wringer for an hour and a half in a windowless, 4 m² room. In between, I sat (locked from the outside) alone for 30 minutes without a word. I had to swear with my fingers on my heart and my hand raised on something (probably the American Constitution) that I was telling the truth. I was sworn in. All my statements were recorded. (Interestingly, only I was properly interrogated, but we were all deported later...) Suddenly, they knew everything about us! Even things that, to our knowledge, had only come up in emails between us. During the entire time, none of us had our passports. I was interrogated like you see in Clint Eastwood movies. The aggressive and undignified manner of most of the officers was simply unbelievable...
After we were all photographed and our fingerprints taken, we were allowed to be together again in one room. I was personally threatened that they could lock me up, but in their exceedingly generous manner, they would not do so. We were informed that we now had a lifelong visa requirement for the USA! Together, we sat for another three hours in no man's land until two officers brought us directly back to the plane to Amsterdam. The pilot received our passports. We would only get them back once we were far enough away to not be able to "force" the plane back into the USA! Well...
You might be wondering what the actual problem was? We would have needed a work visa (180-400 US dollars per person) to play a few shows, on a tour where we would have left several thousand euros in the country. That we didn't have these visas is absolutely our fault, there are no excuses. But even if you take that into account, we, and I personally especially, were treated inappropriately – like the last cocaine smugglers and serious criminals. And this was by officers who, in their sadistic and fascistic manner, certainly do not fit into any reasonably civilized country...
Best regards,
Hannes Wisecräcker
http://www.wisecracker.de
http://www.myspace.com/wisecrackerband
