Are you fed up with being exposed to all the tedious world hits produced by one-shot hype bands from Scandinavia, overseas or the United Kingdom? Are you irritated by the next Norwegian top 40 band that is promoted as the next big thing over here?
Just to make one thing clear: we’ve got nothing against good music. But why not check the local scene once in a while? Sometimes your new favourite band is closer than you think. Things have started to change in Germany. MARIANNENPLATZ is one of those newly emerging German bands who prove that German pop music is alive and kicking. Their debut album “Keine Zeichen” (including the hit singles “Nicht Wichtig” and “Weisses Boot”) caused a buzz – not only in their native Berlin. Early believers like Berlin’s radio station “Fritz”, where MARIANNENPLATZ got a daily A rotation, helped to attract the attention of a wider audience. And by the way, the Fritz A rotation has also been the starting point for a young band called Wir Sind Helden who are one of the country’s most loved pop groups today.
But MARIANNENPLATZ singer, songwriter and front-person Pete Schulz won’t rest on his laurels. Only one year after the release of the MARIANNENPLATZ debut, the second album is finished and it contains a dozen songs to dance, to dream, to contemplate, to celebrate, to cry and to find yourself. This is Deutsch Pop at its best, complete with witty and authentic lyrics. It’s not easy to touch heart and mind, but Pete succeeds. He draws his inspiration from the lives and experiences of others, but also from his own. “I go through life with my eyes wide open,” says Pete. “Lots of things I experience end up becoming a lyric. Sometimes it turns into a whole song, sometimes not. But I always feel better afterwards. It’s like throwing off ballast.” What moves you might move millions of others. With “Besser als”, Schulz has proved that he has the potential to become a spokesman for a generation.
Be honest with yourself and with others, that’s Pete’s motto. And this is made clear in every single song on his album. Most listeners can connect to Pete’s songs easily, because there’s a universal truth in them. These songs comfort you and they tell you what life is about. “Grenzgänger” or “Parallele Welten” are such songs, but also “Endstation Freundschaft”:
"Wir haben das so gewollt / Denn ein Rückwärts gibt es nicht / Wer braucht schon einen Plan / Wenn alles auseinander bricht / Das war die letzte Hoffnung / Nach uns Kapitulation / Wir sind die zwei Prozent / Alles raus hier / Endstation". (That’s how we wanted it to be/ there’s no way back/ who needs a plan anyway/when everything is falling apart/ this was our last hope/ this is surrender/ we are the two percent/ all exit/ last stop)
Most listeners can relate to this as everybody knows what it feels like when a relationship has come to its end.
MARIANNENPLATZ cover a wide range of styles. Guitar pop dominates, sometimes rough, sometimes crystal clear, but always clearly inspired by rock. Here’s a piano, there’s a whole orchestra. Pete Schulz goes for the huge emotion. When listening to the ballad “Jeder kriegt was er verdient” you might shed a tear. Think football stadium, think a hundred thousand lighters and you get the picture. The new record “Besser als” sounds more mature and more modern than its predecessor. What stayed the same is the prevailing mood which is always melancholy. “Songwriting is like a pressure-relief valve for me. Whoever annoys me turns into a subject for one of my songs faster than they might imagine,” Pete says.
The man is every inch a musician, and when needed, a proper revolutionist. Back in the days when the GDR still existed, he provoked the ruling elite with his first band. “My intention was full blast, provocation, opposition.” The apparatchiks’ reaction: Pete was blacklisted. Fortunately, the Berlin wall came down soon after. Pete decided to live with some West Berlin squatters for some time, but then he realized that first, he needed time to find his place in this new world where everything had turned upside down and so he started travelling around. His only companion was his guitar – and the songs he wrote. “I’m still searching,” says Pete. “I’ve never lived in one place for more than four years. I’m always on the run. I feel hunted, in music and in life.”
Magic, poetry, beautiful arrangements, catchy tunes, inspiring lyrics, chart potential – MARIANNENPLATZ has it all. With the release of “Besser als”, 2006 could become the year of Pete Schulz and his band. In the meantime, Schulz sits back and waits. If people could just stop pigeonholing! “Why do we always need to compare a new band to existing bands?” aks Pete. “It doesn’t make sense to me.” The German press has compared MARIANNENPLATZ to Wir sind Helden, Beatsteaks, Selig und Einstürzende Neubauten. The pop appeal of Wir sind Helden is fine, the boisterous charms of the Beatsteaks, too. But Einstürzende Neubauten? „Quite absurd,“ laughs Pete.
MARIANNENPLATZ - DATES
MARIANNENPLATZ
Currently not on tour
MARIANNENPLATZ - PHOTOS
Great song, great guy:
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Rafael Weber - Es tut mir leid
