Infest band review - Saturday - Rotersand

[karohemd]

Where to start and how to write it so as not to sound like a complete fanboy? Let's start from the beginning.
I will never be able to understand why it took the UK so long (two years) to really catch on to this superb (for wont of a better word because their music is so much more) EBM band from Germany but they are finally here properly and as the Saturday headliner to boot, at the top where they belong. I wasn't at Infest last year but I'm sure they made a suitable impression on everyone there so that the organisers booked them as headliners.
Their more recent success is undoubtedly at least partly due to the superb track Exterminate Annihilate Destroy with the Dalek sample. The funny thing is that they actually didn't know the source of the sample (Dr Who is virtually unknown in Germany, I only heard about it when I moved over here) - as came to light in an interview on the MissJinny show where they were asked who their favourite Doctor was and they didn't understand the question. ;o)

I'm also glad they were headliner because the sound was perfectly mixed and there were no technical glitches except for the odd feedback or two when Rascal stepped in front of a speaker. I was standing right in front in the center so didn't get the brunt of the main speakers. In fact, psychokatuk's screeches and screams were harder on the ears than anything from the stage. ;oÞ
As with Unter Null, I wasn't sure how exciting the show would be as it's just three people: Rasc on vocals, Gun on keyboards/guitars and Krischan on decks/sequencers and other black boxes as well as backing vocals but they delivered everything I could possibly hope for and more.

Right, the gig: I'm really crap and can't actually remember what song they started with but it took off right away and the audience was up for it from the start, too. I didn't see much of the audience because I was in the front row but there were some serious vibes coming from behind me and much applause and screaming. I do remember they played a nice hard version of Almost Violent (one of my favourites) very early on and there was a really good mix of old and new. Many of the tracks had a remix quality to them so sounded quite different from the CD, even if it was just Rasc changing his singing style.
The frontman is a bit of an animal, anyway, jumping and running across the stage, throwing his furry microphone stand (*shudder*) about, stepping in front the stage and jumping from speaker to speaker (almost kicking kneeshooter in the head at one point) or jumping onto the step on the other side of the security barrier and even jumping the barrier altogether and wander around the audience during one track (argh, which one was it?). Rasc can sing and really connects with the audience and that's exactly what an electronic band needs to distract from the lack of "real musicians" on stage.
If someone asked me which song was the best, I couldn't really tell because they were all performed well indeed but I guess it has to be Storm as the live drumming by Rasc and Krischan added an entire level to the song. They had two electronic drum kits facing away from each other (so the drummers would face each other) and drummed away like mad, Koto style. That worked really well and was a bit reminiscent of Feindflug, although they use real drums. Hm, I wonder what Rotersand would sound like if they added a real drummer like FLA did on the Sunday? Would be cool, no doubt.

Another fine moment was this:
Rasc: "Do you like harsh, industrial music?"
Audience: YAY! *screams* *stomps*
Rasc: "Then this one isn't for you."
Rotersand: *play One Level Down*
which is one of the slow pieces I really like. :o)

Just two photos came out but then again, I didn't really try hard, I was far too busy singing along (literally at one point during Last Ship, when Rasc shoved his microphone into my face and I shouted a "Fiery Skies" for everone to hear - mine was the second as psychokatuk refused ;oÞ):

 

Comments

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Everybody seems to want to play at WGT/Leipzig, though and linguistically, there's little difference between goth and gothic...

Well, here's to you getting on the bill!

To be honest, I heard very little of the DJ sets as between the bands I wanted a drink and be outside to give my ears a bit of a rest and with exception of the Friday night, the headliners were just too good for their music to be watered down by canned stuff afterwards.