Beatsteaks
are an alternative/punk rock band from Berlin, Germany, formed in 1995.
|
BEATSTEAKS TICKETS
|
History
Peter Baumann, Stefan Hircher, Alexander Ross Waag and Bernd Kurtzke founded the Beatsteaks in 1995. Shortly after Arnim Teutoburg-Weiß joined the band as a singer and additional guitarist. In 1996 the band won a local music competition in
SO36
and played a concert in Berlin with the
Sex Pistols as opening act. This was also the tenth performance for the band.
In 1997 the band recorded its first album
48/49, named after the number of their rehearsal space. It contains several songs in German, while the more recent albums are in English. In 1999 their second album
Launched appeared on the American punk label
Epitaph Records. Thomas Götz already played the drums at that time. On bass, Torsten Scholz replaced Alexander in 2000. This was followed by tours with
Bad Religion,
Die Ärzte and
Die Toten Hosen, bringing the band to a wider audience.
In 2002, they released their third album
Living Targets from this album Beatsteaks would released their first two singles
Let Me In
and
Summer
. At the end of 2002, the band played a concert at the
Columbiahalle
in Berlin and recorded an EP "Wohnzimmer", each concert ticket holder received a copy of the EP.
Their breakthrough was achieved in
Berlin in 2004 with the album
Smack Smash, especially with the second single
I Don't Care As Long As You Sing
with which they won the
MTV European Music Awards 2004 in the category
Best German Act
. At the end of 2005 they released the double-DVD
B-Seite
, which included a self-produced documentary on the band's history, a compilation of several concerts and music videos of the band up to this time. In 2006 they played a short summer tour, consisting of 3 concerts and two festival performances. Following the publication of the preliminary single
Jane Became Insane
in March 9 2007 appeared the current album
.limbo messiah on 30 March 2007.
On the 7th of June 2007, the band played a concert for a charity foundation, as part of the
Deine Stimme gegen Armut
(Make Poverty History - literally "Your voice against poverty") campaign in Rostock in front of 70,000 spectators. One month later, on 7 July 2007, they played in the sold-out Kindl-Bühne Wuhlheide in Berlin, their then largest own concert in front of about 17,000 spectators.
In 2007 the Beatsteaks were again nominated in the category
Best German Act
on the EMAs and won the listeners price
1Live Krone
for the best LiveAct.
On May 2 2008 a live album was released, which includes two CDs and one DVD in the deluxe package or the first CD in an economy version.
Torsten Scholz said in an interview that the Beatsteaks would start writing new songs after the end of their Limbo Messiah tour in August 2008
[1].
Side projects
The drummer of the band, Thomas Goetz, and Marten Ebsen, guitarist of Turbostaat, started the project
NinaMarie
. Their first EP was released under the name
Scheiss. Taxi - Scheiss. Paris
in March 2006.
Another side project of the band, in which all the band members are involved, emerged during the recordings of the album Limbo Messiah, is the cover band
Die Roys
. With swapped roles for the instrument and under the direction of Roy Baumann (Peter Baumann) they cover known songs, which are, referring to their own statement, "
the best songs are already written.
" The first five songs can be found on the singles
Jane Became Insane
,
Cut Off the Top
and
Demons Galore
.
Miscellaneous
The Beatsteaks are mentioned by
Die Ärzte in their song
Unrockbar
, which helped increase the reputation of the Beatsteaks suddenly. The text reads:
"How can you keep sitting quietly to the Beatsteaks, when schlager singers let tears come to your eyes?"
Die Ärzte dedicated their song
Popstar
to the Beatsteaks at
Rock am Ring 2007. Singer Teutoburg-Weiß challenged
Die Ärzte
jokingly with calling the Beatsteaks the "best band in the universe" the day before, referring to ''Die Ärzte
s claim to be the
best band of the world''. Both bands are in a friendly rivalry in
Berlin.
The Beatsteaks are present on the 2005 sampler
On the Run
of the human rights group
Pro Asyl with a cover of
Opel Gang
from
Die Toten Hosen. They in return covered the song
Hand in Hand
from the album
Smack Smash and released it on their unplugged album. The Rock-'n'-Roll band
Boppin'B
also covered the song on their latest LP
Rock 'n' Roll Radio
.
In the film
Knallhart by
Detlev Buck the song
Fool
from the album
48/49 can be heard.
In the film
Extreme Ops the song
Not Ready To Rock
from the album
Living Targets can be heard.
After the singer in the Berlin bands
Seeed and
Boundzound,
Demba Nabé
, could be seen in the music videos to the Beatsteaks singles
I Don't Care As Long As You Sing
and, dressed as a ninja, in
Hello Joe
, Arnim returns the favour with a guest role in the video for the single
Boundzound Stay Alive
.
They also support the Germany based Fair-Trade T-shirt company, ArmedAngels, and can often be seen wearing their t-shirts.
[2]
The song
Hail To The Freaks
is featured on
Guitar Hero World Tour. However, this popular song is not available on iTunes.
Discography
Albums
- 1997: 48/49
- 2000: Launched
- 2002: Living Targets
- 2004: Smack Smash
- 2007: .limbo messiah
- 2008: Kanonen auf Spatzen (live album)
EPs
- 1998: 6-11-98 Knaack
, 6 november; Ticket for a concert in the "Knaack" (Berlin). The EPs (Vinyl) are limited.
- 2002: Wohnzimmer-EP
, 21 december; as well limited, Ticket for a concert in the "Columbiahalle" (Berlin).
- 2007: .demons galore
. 5 october; 10" vinyl and CD.
Singles
- 2002: "Summer"
- 2002: "Let Me In"
- 2004: "Hand In Hand"
- 2004: "I Don't Care As Long As You Sing"
- 2004: "Hello Joe"
- 2004: "Loyal To None" (Limited Vinyl-Single)
- 2007: "Jane Became Insane"
- 2007: "Cut Off the Top"
- 2007: "Demons Galore"
- 2007: "Meantime"
- 2008: "Hail to the Freaks"
- 2008: "Hey Du"
DVD
- 2004: Beatsteaks Live (Bonus-DVD, Limited Edition of Smack Smash enclosed)
- 2005: B-Seite
- 2007: .demons galore (Bonus-DVD, Limited Edition of .limbo messiah enclosed)
- 2008: Kanonen auf Spatzen