Since 1979 Australian music pioneers Severed Heads has thumped out a noisy disco sound that's inspired dance styles from EBM to Chicago House. Back in '79 there were no samplers, no computers, and the Severed Heads style grew around the same tape recorders and oscillators that fuelled the avant garde music of the 20th century. Their exact genre is impossible to define - club singles like Dead Eyes Opened and Greater Reward jostle with aggressive noise-scapes and psychedelic virtual reality installations. Although contemporaries with ‘old school’ acts like Kraftwerk and Yello, Severed Heads continue to create and mutate ‘new school’ sounds.
A 2015 USA tour was a welcome shock for American fans - as is the European visit just announced, where most cities have not seen a Severed Heads show in thirty years. Some of the audience might even be children of the last audience. The catalyst is the Unsound Festival held in Krakow this October, where Severed Heads are launching a computer game called Treasure Map 2. Of course there had to be a live show as well, and from that came more shows.
A Severed Heads show is somewhere between an arcade game and a live gig. The big screen and the big sound combine the cinematic and the ecstatic.
"We are a balance between the old and new", explains head Head, Tom Ellard. "Too much nostalgia will make you fat, but too much newness frightens people. For us it's OK - we've reached the point where ten years or ten minutes doesn't matter anymore - we're timeless".
Although that could mean another thirty years before Severed Heads visit again.
+ Severed Heads
+ Novo Line
+ Alessandro Adriani
+ Unhuman
+ special secret guest...
Abendkasse: 15€