Germans know how to hide their bars. Bei Ruth is hidden on the top floor at the back of a warehouse complex with no signs or sound to be heard from the street. The only way that i made it in was by spotting a couple of people lugging guitars and amps, so I let them lead the way. I felt for the guy lugging the amp up the four flights of dimly lit stairs.
The room is smoke choked, simple and small, with a basic stage and straight up PA.
Tonight was part of the “Nothing Nice to Say” punk festival, so of course, punk music was blaring while I waited for the bands. Clubs and bars opened late & tend to stay open till dawn, so stage times are loose.
The Staches
The Staches were Post punk, or if not that, a little bit pre-post punk. They area a four piece from Sweden with dirty chorus guitar, bass drums and keyboard squeally noises. The sounds were a real mash up of early 80’s punk all the way to the B52s. Lots of energy on stage with an ADHD singer stabbing at her keyboard and surprisingly tight for the loose punk they played. Lots of fun but not brown.
Stratocaster
This quirky French four piece exploded on to the stage blasting out euro electro pop punk. There was lots of instrument swapping with everyone having a go at drums, keyboard, bass and guitar. The band moved from staccato stabs of noise through to full dirge with lots of theatrics both on and off the stage through the set. As a support act, they stole the show and even snuck in an encore song at the end of the set – definitely a crowd pleaser.
The keyboards were definitely set to Brown, toying with a brown launch, but it was all a tease, pulling back at the last moment.
Bikes
And then there was bikes. These German guys are a straight up five piece basically playing prescriptive 12 bar blues tracks with a garage edge.
No brown.
Searching for the Brown Note 