Description

SLIME SLIME ZWEI (Slime Tonträger/Hulk Räckorz) NEW SINGER, NEW ALBUM, OLD RAGE! Those who already have something like legend status during their lifetime are usually quickly caught napping on their own laurels or making big barroom gestures to the same old stories from back in the day. Some of them just seem strained and dogged, others self-absorbed and toothless. Few of them, however, give the impression of being at home in the here and now even after years and, above all, of still being driven – no matter how rocky the road (may have been). In other words, no one would have held it against the reunited German punk institution SLIME if the Hamburg band had thrown in the towel for a second and very last time after the split with singer Dirk Diggen Jora in mid-2020. After all, no one who has significantly influenced an entire scene for eternity with milestones like Schweineherbst or Alle Gegen Alle should have to end up as a cover band of their own, touring the country with a half-baked B-team 41 years after their formation. SLIME, however, were and are beautifully only ever backward-looking when it comes to invoking their own strengths and reflecting on the subcultural ideals and mission statement of the band. The energy, anger and attitude of the remaining Nici, Alex, Elf and Christian are still unbroken four decades later. And that completely relaxed, with impressive ease AND focus. So it is then hardly surprising that the remaining four do not simply sit sated on their own tribute throne or with red eyes on a pile of broken pieces, but unceremoniously open the chapter Slime Zwei in the year 2022 with the new album Slime Zwei in their exciting band biography. Read correctly: SLIME are back. With a new album. AND a new singer. So it’s only logical and fitting that Tex Brasket, the new man at the mic, is not a washed-up old rock star, but someone who can tell real curb stories, was a SLIME fan himself for years, and whose own music has always kept him afloat and driven him forward. On a walk, Elf picked up the uber-talented, homeless, mid-30s street musician (with roots in a Texas blues musician family) at a Berlin subway station and talked him into a rehearsal together. Five old SLIME classics later, it’s clear to the band in the rehearsal room: Gänsehaut doesn’t lie and this is the perfect new constellation and exactly the kind of fresh cell treatment that blows the dust out of the parka of the veteran German punkers. So in a way Tex saved the band and the band in turn saved Tex. Either way, the drive of Tex’s vocals, his personal and yet very political lyrics and his eventful life allow only one conclusion. SLIME don’t just want to go on tour with their old hits. A new album MUST come. And this has it damn in itself. SLIME haven’t sounded this fresh, aggressive, purposeful and at the same time standing firmly on both feet for a long time. Tex recorded 15 great songs with SLIME at Studio Salon Berlin and had them mixed by Jörg Umbreit at Principal Studios in Senden. Slime Zwei” will be released in May 2022 on the band’s own label Slime Tonträger in cooperation with Hulk Räckorz. After all, DIY obliges. And the own history anyway. Welcome back, SLIME! Or rather: Nice that you still exist! Or maybe even: Hooray, finally a new old favorite band!