popfest

The Gore Gore Boys

Wo kann sich eine Band im Zeitalter der endlosen Erhältlichkeit noch rar und unsichtbar machen? The Gore Gore Boys haben die Antwort. Sie haben sich ihr Versteck in den vergessenen Tiefen von myspace.com eingerichtet. Da finden sich zwei kaum mehr als eine Minute lange Songs namens „Congratulations, You Landed on the Moon“ und „(Like to be Around Those) Yellow Girls.“ Halb verborgen unter der Matratze ihres Lo-Fi-Sounds erspähen wir den Rädelsführer, nämlich Al Bird Dirt, der „Schnitzelbeat“-Kompilierer, Pop-Historiker, Sammler, der gemeinsam mit Popfest-Ko-Kuratorin Ana Threat einst die Happy Kids bildete (und als solches einen der heißesten Gigs ablieferte, die der Prechtl-Saal je gesehen hat). Hier produziert er seinen elektrisch-mechanischen Trash Garagenrock gemeinsam mit Donald Schweigbraten, hinter dessen Pseudonym sich der Schlagzeuger vieler guter musikalischer Kräfte dieser Stadt verbirgt.

Es wäre nicht Al Bird Dirt, wenn es dazu nicht auch eine gute Geschichte gäbe. Hier für Liebhaber (und die werden wir alle bald sein) ungekürzt im Original:

 

THE STORY OF GORE-GORE-BOYS

by Elwis Presslmayer

 

The story of the infamous Viennese Punk-band The Gore-Gore-Boys starts in 1990 when ambitious Wrestling-promoter Adalbert Dirtovicz (organ and vocals) and sadly impoverished art collector Donald Schweigbraten (drums) meet each other at the ‚Wiener Hundetage ’90‘-convention in Krieau. Spurred by finding out about their mutual interest in music and performative art they form a band, König Dirtovicz und seine lustigen Dirtovicz-Buam. Initially rooted in Polka music, their repertoire quickly develops into a rough 2-Chord-based mixture of Rock-N-Roll- and Punk Rock-cover-versions as the duo realizes that their rather amateurish technical skills are not elaborate enough for Polka music. „We didn’t plan that. At the outset we wanted to do traditional stuff like good ole‘ Walt Groller – only with the whole devil-worshipper-thing.“ – recalls Schweigbraten later in an interview. „But suddenly we were banging out tracks like ‚C’mon everybody‘ by Eddie Cochran and couldn’t stop it.“ In January 1991 the duo debuts as die Dirtovicz-Dirtovicz-Buam at Autohaus Penzing wearing identical blue overalls and white skiing masks to mock the developments of Austrian politics of the day. As many of you might know, that performance reaches sad notoriety as Schweigbraten deviously hurts his band-mate with a semi-automatic pistol leading to the sudden halt of the show and heavy injuries of Dirtovicz’s brain regions. (However, the recording of this now-legendary concert later got bootlegged by Italian ‚Asphyxiation‘-record label as „Shot in the head – The lost Autohaus-Tapes“ in a small run of 150 copies making it possibly the most talked about record amongst the youth of today…) The rest is well-reported: After overcoming the cranial trauma Dirtovicz (now under the monicker ‚Al Bird Dirt’) tries to compensate the premature retirement as a home recording artist perpetuating hundreds of self-penned songs for children, most notable for their usage of vintage combo-organs and the recurring theme of worshipping satan. In October 2010 Schweigbraten gets released ahead of schedule from Justizanstalt Garsten leading to the unexpected reunion of the initial band-line-up at the Wasted Days-festival a month later in Vienna. Now calling themselves the Gore-Gore-Boys and dubbing their style ‚Lo-Fi-Disko-Punk‚ the duo extensively plays Austrian prisons and mental hospitals. Refusing to talk to the press or making proper recordings, they instead keep releasing annual art manifestos since then. However, if you ever get the chance to see them live, then better go for it as the Gore-Gore-Boys are surely responsible for some of the most offbeat live shows the world has ever seen – inside or outside the nuthouse.