AUTOBAHN – Kinky Star – Ghent, Belgium – 11 February 2018
I know it’s early in the year, but this rip-roaring post-punk fireball out of Leeds will, without a shadow of a doubt, end up way high in my end-of-the-year-2018 list of most impressive concerts. AUTOBAHN is a 5-headed unit formed back in 2015. They released their second, self-produced, mind-bending LP THE MORAL CROSSING last November. A dark colored and gloominess filled triumph, inspired here and there by ideas charismatic frontman Craig Johnson got after seeing the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra doing Beethoven’s Ninth. Regarding the band’s state of mind on the new record, Johnson stated earlier that “our negative episodes don’t last long. Actually, as a band, we’re more optimists. I don’t mind talking about stuff people don’t usually want to talk about: execution, rising from the dead, depression,
feeling utterly lost and unsure where to go.” Fascinating stuff, I hear you think. Absolutely! Something like this…
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And live, this thunderous squad turns into a whizz-bang turbojet as they demonstrated brilliantly in my hometown Ghent yesterday. The decibels go up, the intensity goes up
and the pace goes up. In the middle there’s Craig Johson, with a natural born scary stare Liam Gallagher would pay hard cash for. The man bites blusteringly like a haunted man
who just escaped from reality’s horror. Like a boiling volcano that can explode any time while his ear-splitting complices provide the matching soundtrack. A vivid avalanche of hyperkinetic riff salvos and rambunctious drums/bass energy to pump it all up. You hear agitated echoes of early Joy Division paranoia (circa ‘Digital’: I feel it closing in / Day in / Day out ) and monumental goth flashes. No stops, no unnecessary blah-blah stories between two eruptions, no bullshit. Just forty rabid minutes of sonic neurism and hair-raising fury.
A trance-like Erlebnis created by a blazing British collective that loves to perform in Europe (5th time in Belgium) in order to escape the narrow-mindedness of the UK music business. Thanks for coming! Any time! This footage will give you an idea of their startling impact…
You can stream/purchase newest album
THE MORAL CROSSING right here…
.
Picture this…
Anger is an energy…
Riff machine…
And on drums… Jim Morrison
European tour…
AUTOBAHN: Website – Facebook – Twitter
(All concert pics: JL/Turn Up The Volume!)
“a blazing British collective that loves to perform in Europe (5th time in Belgium) in order to escape the narrow-mindedness of the UK music business”. LOL. Who writes this crap? Do bands play in the music industry or in venues? What a dumb comment. The fact is, the band have failed to build up a fanbase even in their hometown of Leeds (they released played to a less than half full unenthusiastic Brudenell) and Europe is just somewhere else to play. And lots of bands like playing the arse end of nowhere in Europe because the venues are often full of local kids who get pissed and dance around to bands they’ve never heard before because rock music is an exotic thing for Europeans.
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear
I’m going for 30 years now to concerts in Europe, mostly Belgium but also France, The Netherlands and Germany and it’s clear you have no clue at all about what happens in Europe. Never heard such a pathetic bullshit/lie . And yes the band is fed up with the British “Me Myself and I” mentality. It’s their opinion and experience and I went to England enough to agree totally with them. Rule Brittania. OMG…