Hi, I'm Max. I was born in 1965 and was raised in a rural area somewhere in East Germany. At school I never was into music, instead I loved sciences, technology and drawing.
Just after finishing school our family moved to a town where I found a place to learn a profession in the industry (chemistry). Later I even studied this subject at university.
I got an old radio from my parents in my teenage years and with the time I discovered some interesting channels. Most important, after moving to town then I got some new
channels broadcasting from West Berlin including BFBS. I had lots of regulars to listen to, including chart shows. For a long time I wrote down what I could get concerning the UK Singles Top 40
and other charts. My enthusiasm for machinery, science fiction etc. let me find an appropriate soundtrack in the delight of synth/wave bands. When I heard Visage's "Fade
to grey" for the first time it blew me away like no other song before or after, no question it is still my allt ime favourite track. In the beginning of the 80s I was totally focused to the new sounds delivered weekly by my favourite radio DJs like John Peel, Jürgen Jürgens,
Alan Bangs, Christine Heise, Paul Baskerville, Barry Graves, Lord Knut and Burghard Rausch, to name a few. But they also taught me that there were interesting bands
before that time, particularly I fell in love with Velvet Underground and the works of Andy Warhol. The only source of my favourite tunes in the 80s was the radio. Additionally, in the second half of that decade I was able
to buy some records during my summer holidays in Hungary. But my first records I got for free if I remember right. It was while I served the East German army in the mid 80s.
I was something like a housekeeper for an officers' residence outside a fenced barracks area, which allowed me to listen to my favourite radio stations almost the whole time. I had
to care about guests sometimes and the craziest guy ever being hosted was a DJ (nickname: Disko Resi), who originally served officially for some weeks in our barracks,
but later he asked me for several times whether I could give him and his girlfriend a room since he had gigs somewhere near. So I did but it had to be kept completely secret, and
even girls were not allowed at all. He was the one who gave me my first 7" singles including Talk Talk's "Dum dum girl", The Piranhas "Tom Hark" and General Public
"General Public". By chance I even got my first vinyl album out of his hands too, it was a live album by Tangerine Dream ("Quichotte"). During the 80s I mainly fancied the New Romantic thing and welcomed the rise of Gothic and the so-called C86 bands.
Sounds excellent to me:
That Great Love Sound by The Raveonettes
9th Nov. 1989 - the Berlin Wall is no more and life is about to change completely. Meanwhile, in America the House sound of Chicago and Detroit came to light, England had
it's Madchester and Germany faced reunification. Unfortunately, the ongoing privatisation of our radio stations and the withdraw of British troups made it increasingly impossible for
me to stay with my old listening habits. For a certain time during the 90s MTV became a good source for new music, but that's history too. At least from then on I could get many of those
records physically to which I enjoyed to listen to through radio during the 80s and there was more to discover. Through House and Dance tracks I got into Soul and other genres, too. I was
amazed by young British singers like Tasmin Archer, Lena Fiagbe or Jhelisa (had recorded there at least). I also started to go to live gigs. When I remember right the first big open air
one I attended was The Cure in Leipzig at the time they released their "Never enough" single. I don't know who played when I first went to a club, but as one of the earliest experiences I still remember
Judy Bailey. Leipzig band Love Is Colder Than Death I have seen twice in the early 90s, the second time supported by the brilliant Italians Ordo Equitum Solis. Another unforgettable
live event was when Anne Clark performed in Halle. Not owning a car yet, I had to leave for the railway station to get my last train home, before she had finished - I missed it nevertheless.
I felt sad not having stayed up to the end, but more than a consolation was her support act, which I knew briefly for some years already, but broke through to a 90s top act on my
personal list: Canadian band Psyche, perhaps known for their hits "Uncivilised", "Angel lies sleeping", "Unveiling the secret" etc. My favourite club for the mid 90s in London/UK became Bass Clef near Hoxton Square, originally
a random choice of my friend Heiko when checking Time Out once to have a good dance somewhere in town. I saw Des'ree and Alison Limerick at the Jazz Cafe in Camden,
The Shamen first in Berlin and then at The Forum in Camden, M-People at Brixton Academy etc. My last 90s gig attended was Billy Bragg while the ticket was a birthday present of my youngest sister.
I did also some record spinning with my friend Heiko at one of Berlin's open radio channels where we played mainly world music.
The new millenium brought new challenges. I moved for several times, lived temporarily at a campus, got married, worked under bad conditions etc. I still watch the music scene but become
increasingly disappointed of the output of contemporary artists in comparison to that what e.g. the 80s spawned. Possibly it is only that special feeling someone can have when socialised
in a certain decade when certain styles of music were more or less popular around that time ... Now I have arrived at MySpace.com were I can meet my old (and new?) heroes in the biz.
4 May, 2008: Today I reached the number of 500 friends, many of them bands or solo artists, others are simply music fans like me. Let me say to you all "thanks a lot" for your friendship!
New website and new MySpace profile after reunion!
See some of my favourite records below (random choice):
