For the first time since 2009, there is a new album from Muff Potter. With the release of "Bei aller Liebe" on August 26, 2022, the legendary indie band has rediscovered themselves and their love for music. With emphasis, urgency, and a biting diagnosis of the times, Muff Potter achieves an overwhelming repositioning. Today, the new single "Ich will nicht mehr mein Sklave sein" along with its music video is released.
When singer, guitarist, and writer Thorsten Nagelschmidt was looking for a few musicians for the premiere reading of his novel "Der Abfall der Herzen" in February 2018, two names immediately came to mind: Dominic Laurenz and Thorsten Brameier, known to old fans of the band Muff Potter as Shredder (bass) and Brami (drums).
Since Muff Potter's farewell tour in December 2009, the three had not made music together in this constellation; their shared time had become a shared past. But now they stood on stage at the Festsaal Kreuzberg in Berlin with guitarist Felix Gebhard (ZAHN, live musician for Einstürzende Neubauten) – and suddenly that inspiring collective spirit was back.
You don't have to be a dedicated band romantic to know: There are constellations where the sum is greater than its proverbial parts. Such a special twist of fate had already been granted to Thorsten Nagelschmidt, Dominic Laurenz, and Thorsten Brameier a long time ago. Together with guitarist Dennis Scheider, they shaped the defining part of Muff Potter's 16-year, seven-album career. When people have known each other for so long and understand each other musically without words, it is a precious gift.
The dirty word reunion was initially not mentioned by anyone, as everyone had long been living fulfilling lives without Muff Potter. For instance, Thorsten Nagelschmidt was already working on his next book, the 2019 published, enthusiastically received social novel "Arbeit". In a rather playful way, they still wanted to give it a try: In August 2018, Muff Potter surprisingly played at the antifascist festival Jamel rockt den Förster, and afterwards announced a few tour dates. Seven shows in January 2019, hardly any advertising, no big deal.
The link to the video of “Ich will nicht mehr mein Sklave sein“ can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVPNLNM-dXA&cbrd=1
At least they thought so, because then all hell broke loose: All shows sold out within minutes and had to be moved to larger venues. There were no interviews, no active social media channels, no new music, but apparently a great longing for Muff Potter out there. This was becoming increasingly clear even among the musicians themselves. However, it was also clear to them that Muff Potter was too important to "milk the nostalgia cow forever," as Nagelschmidt says. If this story was really to continue, they needed a real reason. Ideally, an artistic one.
The crucial question - "How can a band that has not existed for nine years continue meaningfully?" - resolved itself when the musicians stood in a room with their instruments for the first time to work on new songs. Suddenly, the break created a space of possibility: to think of the beloved band in a new way and thus reinvent it.
Since December 2019, Muff Potter have retreated to the cultural site Haus Nottbeck in Oelde for the following one and a half years and experienced music in these sessions in a way that was probably only possible due to the pandemic-induced isolation of that time. The resulting urgency automatically transferred to the songs. "These new songs made me want to be part of it," says Felix Gebhard. They have known and appreciated each other for years; Gebhard had already toured with Muff Potter as an additional guitarist, and in spring 2021, he permanently took over the role of second guitarist after Dennis Scheider's departure.
Again and again, it is about musical and thematic opposition to self-optimization and isolation, as is also the case in the first single "Ich will nicht mehr mein Sklave sein," a life-affirming power-pop anthem of a different kind. "Most of the songs were recorded live," says Nagelschmidt, "very classically: four people in a room making music together." You can hear it very clearly: "Bei aller Liebe" is infused with overwhelming live energy; you can feel in every moment the wildly beating heart of a band that has rediscovered itself and its love for their shared cause.
"Bei aller Liebe" by Muff Potter will be released on August 26, 2022, on the band's own label Hucks Plattenkiste.
Bei aller Liebe Tour 2022:
05.10.2022 Cologne, Gloria Theater
06.10.2022 Wiesbaden, Schlachthof
07.10.2022 Jena, Kassablanca
14.10.2022 Hamburg, Uebel & Gefährlich
15.10.2022 Berlin, Festsaal Kreuzberg
02.11.2022 Leipzig, Conne Island
03.11.2022 Nuremberg, Z-Bau
04.11.2022 Munich, Freiheiz
05.11.2022 AT-Vienna, Flex
09.11.2022 Saarbrücken, Garage
10.11.2022 Düsseldorf, Zakk
11.11.2022 Münster, Skaters Palace
12.11.2022 Bremen, Schlachthof
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