Blackmail (band)

This article relies excessively on references to primary sources. Please improve this article by adding secondary or tertiary sources. Find sources: "Blackmail" band – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (October 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Blackmail
Mario Matthias Mathias Reetz
Past members	Aydo Abay
Website	www.blackmail-music.com

Blackmail is a German

. It is also known for its harsh and high-pitched guitar melodies.

Career history

Formation (1993–1996)

The band is said to be greatly influenced by sounds of the 1960s and the 1980s, particularly artists such as The Beatles, The Who and Depeche Mode. The band was initially formed through a local magazine known as "Visions" that had a contact advertisement for new musicians. As a demo recording, they initially recorded a number of songs in an old 8-Track studio that belonged to Kurt. They sent the demo tape to multiple recording studios.

The response from the studios was quite shaky, but they were able to engage in the services of recording legend, Stuart Bruce, who had just moved into the area of Koblenz. Stuart owned a very advanced recording studio in his house. With some luck they were able to record eight songs in three months. After that, they went ahead to search for a recording studio, and this time, responses were much more positive. Their first live performance was in a club located in Bonn known as Carpe Noctem as a sample for a scout from Virgin Records who had come there to judge their performance. Due to an "unpredictable incident" that occurred, however, they were not taken into Virgin Records. As Abay explained on the biography section of the site:

Prior to the show, one good-humoured and extremely drunk black guy took great pleasure in presenting his genitals to everyone in the crowd. The scout from Virgin was disgusted and left early. When we met him after the concert, he apologised for doing so. He also announced that he wasn't going to take us in.^[1]

Blackmail and Science Fiction (1997–1999)

Instead they managed to approach Guido Lucas, who had started his own label "bluNoise Records". They recorded their first album, Blackmail, late in 1996. After presenting it to Guido, he decided to release it the fall of 1997. Stuart Bruce, who currently works at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios, produced the band's first demo recordings from this album.

In October 1997, they went on their first ever tour, that was in conjunction with the album release alongside Swedish rock band B-Thong. Unfortunately the first album release did not go that smoothly. During the tour, however, they played various one-off shows in numerous places, including Austria.

Two years later, they released their second album

under this label.

Bliss, Please, Friend or Foe? and Summer Sonic (2001–2004)

Following a continuous tour throughout Germany, they started recording Bliss, Please in the summer of 2000. After its release in 2001, songs such as "Same Sane", "A Reptile For The Saint" and "Ken I Die" became exceptionally popular. Blackmail also gained recognition worldwide due to this album release. The first single, "Same Sane", came out in February 2001. It was extremely popular in Germany. Their first music video release, "Same Sane", as well as the other videos from Bliss, Please first aired on VIVA 2 (VIVA Zwei), a subsidiary of popular German music video channel,

. At the end of 2001, they were informed that Speicherstadt was going to close down.

From this point on they signed their further contracts with the mother-label: The Warner/Elektra/Atlantic recording group, now known as the

in which they packed four other songs.

Following this release, the band went on a tour to

Festival in 2004. They also released an export version of Bliss, Please in Japan in 2005.

During this time, they released a special version of Friend or Foe? with bonus tracks, as well as an album entitled The Lost Summer (a.k.a. The Ventricular EP). Both albums, which were released exclusively in

.

Kammerflimmern and Aerial View

In 2005, they met with producer Hendrik Hölzemann and German techno artist, Lee Buddah to compose the soundtrack for the German film "Kammerflimmern" (Off Beat) which starred

to promote it. One track, "Never Forever", which originally appeared on Kammerflimmern's soundtrack was also re-released in Aerial View.

Tempo Tempo (2008–present)

In 2008, Blackmail released their album Tempo Tempo. On December 11, 2008 Blackmail announced the separation from lead singer Aydo Abay for personal reasons and aborted their tour.

In 2010, Mathias Reetz joined the band and they started recording a new album with the working title Judas Love in March 2010.^[2]

In March 2011 the song "Deborah" was released as a free download. The album now titled Anima Now! was released April 29, 2011 on their own label "45 Records".^[3] on February 22, 2013, the second album without Abay, II, was released.^[4]

Band members

• Aydo Abay — vocals, synthesizers, guitars (1997–2008)
• Kurt Ebelhäuser — guitars, additional vocals, sampling (1997–present)
• Carlos Ebelhäuser — bass, additional vocals (1997–present)
• Mario Matthias — drums (1997–present)
• Mathias Reetz — vocals, guitars (2010–present)

Discography

Studio albums

• Blackmail (October 10, 1997) bluNoise Records
• Science Fiction (January 29, 1999) bluNoise Records
• Bliss, Please (May 25, 2001) Speicherstadt
• Friend or Foe? (May 26, 2003) Warner Music Group
• Aerial View
  (January 13, 2006) City Slang Records
• Tempo Tempo (March 28, 2008) City Slang Records
• Anima Now! (April 29, 2011) 45 Records (Soulfood)
• II (February 22, 2013) 45 Records (Unter Schafen/Alive)

Singles and EPs

• "Nostra" (Single from Science Fiction) - (1998)
• "
  Same Sane
  " (single from Bliss, Please) - (2001)
• "Ken I Die" (single from Bliss, Please) - (2001)
• "A Reptile for the Saint" (single from Bliss, Please) - (2002)
• The Light of the Son Is the Son of the Light
  (EP) - (2002)
• It Could Be Yours
  (EP) - (2003)
• Foe (EP) - (2003)
• The Ventricular EP (a.k.a. The Lost Summer) (EP) - (2005) (Japan-only release)
• "
  Soulblind
  " (single from Aerial View) - (2005)
• "Moonpigs" (single from Aerial View) - (2006)
• "Never forever" (Single from Aerial View) - (2006)
• The Mad Luv EP - (2008)
• "Shshshame" (Single from Tempo Tempo) - (2008)
• "The Good Part/Feel It Day by Day" (Single from Tempo Tempo) - (2008)
• "Night School" - (2011)
• "Bugs" - (2011)
• "Deborah" - (2011)

Remix albums

• Do Robots Dream of Electric Sheep? (remix of Science Fiction) - February 4, 2000 (Speicherstadt)

Soundtracks

• Off Beat OST/Kammerflimmern OST (movie soundtrack - music by Lee Buddah and Blackmail) - January 31, 2005 (Rough Trade Records)

References

External links

• Official website