Tim Hackemack - HIT THE STAGE

Holger: Da stört es uns auch nicht, wenn wir bei einer solchen Veranstaltung 50 Euro draufzahlen. Wir zeigen unsere Politik auch nicht durch einfaches Phrasendreschen, es ist eher unser Tun und Lassen, was das ausdrückt.

Carsten: Und eine Sache, die wir zum Beispiel grundsätzlich ablehnen, ich würde fast „hassen“ sagen, ist mitklatschen. Da kriege ich zumindest sofort schlechte Laune.

Nico: Und wir bringen niemals den Spruch: „Seid ihr gut drauf?“

Carsten: Ich finde es wichtig, dass eine Band auf der Bühne Präsenz und eine gewisse Dynamik hat. Wer das drauf hat, braucht keine Animation.

When did you start C4Service ?

Holger: We founded the band in 2013 and played the first shows. We have been playing and arguing in the current line-up with Verena, Carsten, Nico, Jan and me since 2015.

Is C4Service a dictatorship or a democracy?

Holger: Basically, we are a grassroots democratic kindergarten. That means we try to agree first. If that doesn’t work, we’ll vote. Before that we like to argue a lot.

Does that happen often?

Carsten: We had a very special situation recently. We got a request to play with The Exploited in Osnabrück. We agreed and then a friend wrote to us to ask if we didn’t have a bad feeling about the show. It was about strange stories and photos of Wattie that were taken with Nazis.

Verena: We see ourselves as a political band and have no interest in being placed in any right wing or grey zone category, so we weighed up the situation seriously.

Holger: As far as the Nazi accusation is concerned, after extensive internet research, we went as far as to speak to people who really know the band personally. They credibly refuted the allegations. Overall, however, we already put a lot of energy into the research and the internal consultation. They are certainly not the intellectual spearhead of punk, but they are also no fascists. The vote was then three to two for playing the concert.

Verena: The gig was totally relaxed; the band was very nice and the show was very good.

Carsten: It was totally packed out because the weather was bad. Later we also sold a lot of records.

Nico: Actually that evening the promoter told us that we weren’t allowed to use the backstage and the catering only after Exploited had eaten. That was kind of anti-social. That never happened to us in a social project.

Who does the booking for you?

Holger: I do almost everything. It’s a lot of cold calling. I constantly write to clubs and promoters and concert groups. In 10 % of the cases I get an answer, in 2 % it’s a positive one. But of course, we also have personal contacts and sometimes get invited.

Nico: A lot of contacts also come out of our concerts. We also did gig swaps with bands. We organized a show for friends in Münster and in return they did one for us for example in Leipzig.

Holger: In October 2019 we went on tour with Dead Idle from England. I started in March and wrote to a total of 222 organizers individually. Five shows and two private shows came out of that exercise.

Nico: But usually we play single concerts or a weekend. Three times so far we have been on a mini tour for more than two days.

Up until now you have recorded a demo and an album.

Holger: Exactly, and we are currently working on making new recordings. Carsten is responsible for this.

Carsten: The first demos of the songs are created in our rehearsal room as a kind of pre-production. Then we decide whether we want to record on our own or go to a professional studio.

You published the demo and the record yourself. Have you tried contacting labels before?

Holger: No, I knew beforehand how to get an album pressed onto vinyl and so we did it ourselves. The only difficulty is how to get rid of the records without proper sales. I wrote to all the mailorders, but that doesn’t work very well either. The album is now three years old and we have sold about 250 copies.

In which locations do you prefer to play?

Nico: It varies. All of them have advantages and disadvantages, and it also depends on the audience and promoter. We have already played in social projects where people were forbidden to undress on stage. That wasn’t a problem for us either.

Holger: In the left-wing clubs, however, we were often treated better and mostly even paid better. We all have jobs, so we don’t care about the money, but you still don’t want to pay to play. But even the shows in social projects with hat donations usually bring in more than in commercial clubs. And they treat us with respect.

Carsten: It’s important that people really want to go to the concert and see the bands. If that’s the case, you can basically play in any rotten corner pub.

What was the worst thing you ever experienced?

Carsten: There were shows where we were supposed to sleep on three mattresses with several bands, a total of 20 people. We decided to rather drive home after the gig.

You call your style of music “Female Fronted Hardcore Punk”. Is Verena your unique selling point?

Holger: Without her we would simply be a band full of old farts, with her we are a band full of old farts and a not-so-old singer. She is our flagship. That’s the difference. We have been criticized that “female-fronted” is a sexist statement and that this term is not a genre. So we announced on 1st April 2019, that we are no longer “female fronted”, but “male backed”. That was accepted.

What are your demands on yourself as a band?

Carsten: As far as music is concerned, we rehearse once a week if we can find the time.

Jan: We have a technical mindset. For example, I would like to put new songs on stage as soon as possible. But it is an unwritten rule of the band that we only play new songs live when we are really sure that we can play them.

Holger: We are sometimes poles apart. We noticed that when we wanted to record our new record last year. For some, the recording quality of an old ITT cassette recorder is enough, some just want to have it recorded accurately and the third group always wants to recreate The Dark Side of the Moon . Ultimately, this resulted in breaking off recording and having to try it again soon.

Carsten: Concerning shows, I make sure that I don’t drink too much beforehand. Some in the band can have a few beers and then play properly. I can’t do that and that’s why I hold back. I don’t want to be the reason why we sound bad on stage.

How do you finance your recordings?

Holger: For the first record, the three economically best positioned in the band filled up the band budget. The money is still in there and we pay T-shirts, fuel and everything else from it. In addition, of course, there is always money coming in from shows and sales.

How many records did you press from the first album?

Nico: That was a first edition of 500 LPs.

Are they sold out now?

Nico: No, we sold about half of them

Carsten: We would have to play every other week, then we would probably have sold out by now. But we don’t work enough on our internet presence for that. For example, we would have to make a really good video. That would help. When you see how professional the DIY scene has become, we are lagging behind. Our big factor is time. We all work and the band is and remains a hobby.

You orientate yourself more to the old hardcore and not to new bands.

Carsten: The whole thing is somewhere between old school hardcore, punk and post punk, so nowhere. But that’s our music and the focus, at least for me, is to meet cool people, have a good time, do something together and advance a little bit what we stand for. We mostly play in alternative venues, so the organizer often supports a good cause with his profit. We want to pass on the right attitude.