Fatal Shore

THE FATAL SHORE www.myspace.com/fatalshore www.fatal-shore.de.
The Fatal Shore is a Berlin-based band formed in 1996, by the getting together of two unique but complimentary Singer/songwriters - Phil Shoenfelt and Bruno Adams - for a hectic tour of war-ravaged Bosnia- Herzegovina. While en-route to Gorazde, they came under fire from Serbian snipers and were attacked by axe wielding mujahadeen in delnice. Under the motto, “what doesn’t killer you makes you stronger” they expanded the partnership into a full band with the adding of Chris Hughes on drums, and later, bass player Yoyo Röhm in 2001.
The first Fatal Shore self-titled CD (1999 Moloko + D) was recorded in Lucanec, Slovakia, during the hight of the Moravian floods. On route to the studio the band were held hostage in their train cabin by pistol waving Ukrainian guest workers, insisting on “one more song”. The resulting self-titled album comprises a set of traditionally based cover and original songs, performed in the Fatal Shore’s corrosive style of very dark, psychedelic blues.
On the invitation of American record producer Dan May in April 2001, the band flew to Covington, Kentucky, to record the follow-up Fatal Shore CD, Free Fall, (2003 Moloko + PLUS 067). May had heard the group’s first CD by chance, and within a few weeks the Fatal Shore were flying out of Berlin. The bizarre events continued after they arrived at The Church, a converted nineteenth century catholic church, filled with strange vibrations and May’s collection of automatic weapons, war memorabilia and strange hangers-on. The recording was finally completed two hours before the group’s flight left for Berlin. The result is a collection of classic songs, ringing with the eerie environs of “The Church”.
The Fatal Shore’s latest album, Real World, was released on the new Hamburg label Amboss Recordings, in March 2007. It is the first Fatal Shore album to be recorded in the relative calm of Berlin. With Local wunderkind Baxter Wilderbeast’s production and arrangement’s, Adams and Shoenfelt’s Classic Songs are taken to a new level. With strong string arrangements, and melodic, rhythmic and textural overdubs, Wilderbeast’s vision is brilliantly realized - from the eerie Singing Saw on “The Looking Glass Song”, to the rousing stings and circular Xylophone motif on “Faithless”.What makes the Fatal Shore unique is the canyon deep voices and monumental song writing of Adams and Shoenfelt; The enigmatic patterns and wild syncopations of Hughes’s drums, back by Röhm’s steadfast bass lines; The interweaving of Schoenfelt’s lilting rytham Guitar and Adams’s panoramic lead lines; And the band's ability to fit seemingly effortlessly together a wide range of influences, from the Delta Blues of Robert Johnson, to songwriters such as Jacques Brel, Leonard Cohn, Nick Cave and Townes Van Zandt, to the sound scapes of Einstürzende Neubauten and Can.
Real World is now available through mail order from www.Glitterhouse.com.
The Fatal Shore will be touring: Germany, Austria, Denmark, Czech Republic and Hungry, in May 2008.
Contact: [email protected]
Fatal Shore Preachin' Blues