Oxymoron

OXYMORON was called into being in late 1992 actually, although the roots of the band go back further to the fall of 1989.Formed by Sucker and his drumming cousin Bjoern and completed by their mates Martin on the guitar and Filzlaus on the bass the original line-up needed a couple of years and various efforts to see the light of the day under the name OXYMORON. The main intention behind it all was to have a laugh and to get the kind of music across they were into, and since the early Nineties didn't seem to have a lot of punk let alone skinhead bands being around anymore they felt an urge to get out and do it themselves to keep it going. Mostly influenced by early Eighties' punk and Oi! stuff it was quite obvious what it would sound like in general, but it was a long way until they finally made it on stage.Originally coming from Erlangen / Nuernberg - Germany their first real appearence was at the annual punk festival in their home town along with other local bands. After this show they got offered some gigs as support for more established acts all over Germany.Practising in a mouldy former beer cellar which they called the Oxyfactory the time was right in the summer of '93 for recording their debut-ep "Beware, poisonous!" which they produced and released off their own bat (on the provisional "Oxyfactory Records" label, that never put out any further records). This single finally came out in early '94 and was subsequently reissued by Bob Burridge from Helen Of Oi! Records, who had picked it up and apparently liked it since he offered the band a record deal for a full-length album as well."Fuck the Nineties - Here's our Noize", as it was eventually called, had to be recorded as a three-piece because Filzlaus left after one tour and couldn't be replaced immediately. The band paid the studio from their own money that they somehow managed to raise, but it was well worth it. The response and reviews Oxymoron received for this album were more than anyone ever had expected and lots of fanzines and indie music mags became attentive all over the place. With their pal Arne joining in a few weeks later and taking over the bass, they seized the opportunity and started gigging abroad, too, as well as in Germany, where they had been touring twice in the company of Braindance (with whom a split-single was released at the same time, named "Mohican Melodies").Since OXYMORON always were a mixed band and stood for unity between the tribes both punks and skins attended their shows from the very beginning. Thus they played a lot at the Oi! festivals that were taking place again more and more often in the meantime, with the likes of Cock Sparrer, Angelic Upstarts, Major Accident, Test Tube Babies etc. In the spring of 1996 the "Crisis Identity" single was released on Arne's and his wife's short-lived label Rough Beat Records, followed by the band's first trip to the USA. This was a chaotic two odd weeks affair along the East Coast together with Braindance and the Casualties, which went down very well for them after all. Mosch from Knock Out Records had become an ever-present companion of the band, who was running his label for some years already and had done much good for the streetpunk scene with his publications, so they decided to sign to him. Roughly one year later their second long-player "The Pack is back" was consequently released by Knock Out, and it smoothed the way for the band when they hit the road in various countries of Europe again. The most exciting tour however was to come in summer of '97, when they had the chance to play in Japan for almost three weeks (along with the Discocks), and certainly went for it.1998 didn't mean it good with the Oxy's and they had to take few blows, because some tours planned for a long time were cancelled just weeks before or had be called off for some reasons. Besides Sucker had to go to hospital for a while due to a nervous damage and everything slowed down. And last but not least Arne left the band just weeks before the recording sessions for the "Westworld" mini-album were supposed to be. So without further ado Chrissy stepped in, who temporarily had been a second guitarist and used to play bass on the first US tour already. As a four-piece again the Oxy's set out in '99 on a full scale attack on various countries of Europe, playing more gigs than ever before as well as touring the whole USA. This seven weeks coast-to-coast affair in the company of the Dropkick Murphys (with whom another split-single had been done) and the Ducky Boys turned out to be a great success and should become one of the best things they had done so far. Chrissy left the band after the tour to have more time for his own project and fortunately Morpheus showed up.In the fall of 2000 the compilation "Best before 2000" was released by Knock Out Records (and Cyclone Records in the States) because of the demand for the sold out 7"es and rare material - including all the singles and stuff from various comps. But the time was also right for the OXY's to put out a "real" new album as well. So they withdrew for a couple of months in order to work on it, and recorded what was going to be called "Feed the breed" in the summer of 2001 (which is available in Europe since november already and will be out on GMM Records in the USA this april), just before returning to the States again. Six weeks on the road from coast to coast, this "Pure Punk" tour was played side by side with Dead Empty, The Boils and The Forgotten. Europe- and especially Germany - was recently toured as well, with a different line-up though. Unfortunately Martin, an original member, had left the band having offspring, and so Chrissy once again stepped in temporarily. In the meantime the headquarters had been moved to Berlin, where everybody lived now. But the guitarist who was finally found there left again while the "Chaos across the Nation" US-Tour was going on, leaving the band stranded overseas... Davey, actually the driver, offered to do the job and saved the day. He was playing on the following tour through Europe ("Spirit of the Streets" - with Pistol Grip and the Beltones) as well, which was to be the last one so far.This profile was edited with Thomas' myspace editor™ V2.5