Introduce yourself…
I'm Tilo, founding member and one of the guitarist of Fifty50.
How did the band start?
Holly (guit), Sash (voc) and Marcus (dr) had been snowboard buddies since the early 90ies and also started jamming together in the mid 90ies in the basement of Baumwollspinnerei, which is an abandon cotton mill in Leipzig. Holly and Sash had been friends since they where kids when they played classical guitar together in the Bach music school. After years of being forced to play classical music, they hadn't touched the guitars for long time until they started using the guitar again (this time electric) in the basement of the mill. This time it was purely for fun to make noise. I meet Sash in 1998 and he asked me to join them to start a proper band. We started with Eddy on bass, who was replaced by Benne a year later and the line-up has been the same ever since.
The building where I rented the basement room in, was turned into Lofts at the same time. For 3 years, Sash, Holly and me lived there together as some of the first tenants until we realized that electric and heating bills were killing us. Soon the management also informed us that the rehearsal rooms in the basement would need to be closed and they offered us to rent a former recording studio in the another building (basement again) of the mill. This was like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and we happily took the offer. From then on we had the privilege of having plenty of space to hang and practice. Later Sash, as he learned how to record, started recording bands and use it as a small underground studio (Fifty50 Records).
Around 2005, friends started using one unused room in the studio for jamming. This is how the bands bands Etschmoilkröte and Sick Sinus formed. I played with Etschmoilkröte for a while (2008-2009) and Holly joined Sick Sinus in 2008. The people in and around these 2 bands, turned an unused area just outside the studio into a small underground venue, where they have been hosting free shows every couple of months for local and international bands.
How did you come up with the name?
I can't really recall any meaning that comes with the name. I just remember that we all went to a club in fall 1998 and we said to ourselves, we don't leave this place until we decide on a name. Marcus come up with the name Fifty50. It sounded good and catchy and we stuck with it.
Who would you say are your influences?
When we all started to pick up the electric guitar it was the time when the California style punkrock become successful so bands like like The Offspring, Green Day, No Use for a Name and Rancid had an impact. Then were also swedish bands like Millencollin and No Fun at All, which were the soundtrack to their snowboarding trips. Benne comes from a Rock'n'Roll background, so his influence is Guns'n'Roses.
What was the punk scene like in 1998?
Even though we played at a lot of underground punk venues over time, we were never actually part of the punk scene or any scene for that matter. We never really fitted into just one sub-culture, which was good and bad. Good, because we didn't have to follow any standards, also we could pretty much connect with any audience and have a good time with them, bad, because we were pretty much on our own the whole time.
How do you feel it has changed?
I didn't really see any changes over the years. We met a lot of dedicated DIY people running venue and setting up shows. For example, we always got the best food when we played small punk-style venues in Eastern Germany. Small bands really get spoiled here sometimes with free food and drinks and sometimes even places to sleep. That experience was totally different from the 2 tours we played in UK and the US, where basically didn't get anything from the venue except the right to play.
What is the song writing process?
The majority of the songs were built together piece by
piece with everybody contributing. It usually starts with a riff that somebody brings in, then it develops from there. That's why some of the songs might feel a bit fragmented at time, since it didn't come from a classical songwriting process where one person writes the core structure of the song.
In 2000, you guys won a contest and were named ‘Band of the Year’, tell us about the contest…
At that time there was organization called IG Pop, which was financed by the city hall, whose purpose it was to support new bands and get them started. They approached us to apply for the contest at a time when we only had a few songs and played a hand full of shows. Somehow, we ended at the studio of a Techno producer to record our demo, which he manged to polish enough to impress the judges to add us to the finalists of Band of the Year contents. We are talking here about the Leipzig, by the way, so nothing major and still a big thing for a starting band.
The contest itself was a huge thing for us as we got to play in front of 1000 people and it was only our 10th concert. We were hugely nervous but somehow managed to pull it off decently. We got the audience award, meaning the we got the majority of votes from the crowd (not the actual band of the year title, which was voted by the judge). This was huge for us, that we won over the a mostly non-punk-rock-crowd with punk rock. This gave us a nice kick start for the time to come.
In 2001, you guys appeared on the ‘More Than Soccer’ compilation, tell us about the compilation…
Roter Stern Leipzig is a football club in Leipzig founded in 1999 with a left-alternative political background. They asked us to contribute to a tribute compilation and a few tribute concerts, which we gladly did. We recorded the song "to our leaders" for the compilation.
That same year you released your first album ‘1’, tell us about the album…
After we recorded the demo for the Band of the year contest and were very happy with the outcome, we decided to return to Maiwald Recordings to record more songs to fill a full albums. There is very unusual background story here, which we never really told publicly at that time, being afraid to lose credibility. At that time, some of our skills as musicians were still limited. After Jens Maiwald, who produced the record, saw us during rehearsing, he told us there is no way to do a professional recording with us. He said, the songs were very good but the execution was not. Jens only produced Techno and Dance tracks at that time and worked as a DJ. So he had a completely and totally different background. However, he liked us and the songs and took this as challenge to learn new things or something. He offered us a solution. He just set up with a new studio with new equipment and software, where he was able to program drums that actually sound real using real samples. We thought about that for a while and then agreed to this, knowing this was the only way to a professional recording. We liked our songs too much to "spoil" them with a bad recording and executing. So we first recorded the drums the conventional way as a demo recording (as blue print for the programming). After that Marcus and Jens' assistant sat down for 3 days and exactly reproduced his drumming on the computer. Only after that, we came in with the instruments and the vocals.
This method of recording was certainly unique and even though it may not be something to be proud of, it did produce an impressive record. You couldn't possible produce a better record with a group of guys with our skills at that time. So Jens did a great job there.
In 2005, you released your second album ‘2’, how do you feel it differed from the first album?
The second albums followed a totally different path. It was 5 years later, we played about 100 shows by now and we could play our instruments a bit better. Sash learn how to record himself and set up small recording studio. So this album was recorded in our own studio, fully DIY. So you can really hear the difference in the sound as everything was properly recorded with mics. So this album so more real, more earthy, more like we sound like live. In the end we hurrying to finish the recording as we set up 2 week tour in the states that year, so we wanted to have something new to sell at the shows.
Who are some of the bands you have done shows with?
Some of the more known bands we played with were The Beatsteak, Donots, 59 Times the Pain and Think About Mutation.
Think About Mutation was one of the most successful bands (and unique with their Heavy Metal/Techno mix) to ever come out of Leipzig. They were signed by a major, had their latest album produced in San Francisco and had a video in rotation on MTV. That's pretty much as big as it gets when you come out of Leipzig. However, despite the heavy promotion they received for their last record, the record sales didn't meet expectation and they decided to split and do a farewell tour in 2002. We had the honor to be their support band for that tour, which was a huge experience for us and we learned a lot what it means to be a good live band.
Do you prefer to do shows at large venues or small clubs?
I wish we had a lot more large venue shows to make the claim that we preferred small venues ;)
We only had a handful of large venue shows, like at the With Full Force and Force Attack Festival. Here, the experience was to be able to have a big stage to move around and have good sound. Also, being able to hang out backstage at a big festival is not to be missed.
The best venues however would be small venues with a good sound system (and a good sound engineer) and almost most importantly a good light system. We always have been suckers for good lighting. That really adds up to the live experience. If then the audience also picks up on your performance that you have moments of magic. We had a few of those magic moments, which is what is all about...
Where have you toured?
Most of our concert where single shows at small venues in Eastern Germany. We only did 2 actual tours where we hit the road with the van. That was a tour through Texas, Lousiana and Mississippi in 2005 and a tour to UK in 2006. Both tours were financial disasters but the highlights in our "career" and great experiences.
Is there a favorite place you like to do shows at?
The best shows were always at Conne Island in Leipzig, where we managed to play 5 times over the years. It is a great venue with a nice stage and a great sound and light system. It was also the place were all watched our first live shows in the early 90ies like Biohazard and Sick of it All. So it was always special to be on that stage.
Do you see a future for Fifty50?
Even though we never formally separated or anything, we haven't done anything for the past few years. After almost 10 years, we had reached a stage, where it felt like that is this all we can accomplish under the circumstances. We never managed to attract the support of a record label or dedicated enough time to bring the band to the next level. So it kinda it felt, this is all we could do, from here on we would just doing to the things over and over again, playing the same places etc. We, during the time we are active as Fifty50, (as most bands, I guess) always had to dream to travel the world with Fifty50, to create something special, something meaningful. But it was harder and harder to get going as we were approaching 30, the commitment of life (jobs, family) catching on. So it just naturally faded out, I guess nobody of us wanted to be just a weekend band.
Nevertheless, even though Fifty50 rest peacefully for a few years now, it still feels like unfinished business. It would be great to play another show, whether it is a belated farewell show or just for fun. To me however, most importantly, it somewhat bother me that we never recorded the "real" Fifty50 album. The first one too "electronic", the second one too "DIY". Furthermore, it think it takes at least one more record to fully mature as songwriters as well. So never did the proper Fifty50 record. I still have some hope (or call it a dream), that we one day can all take a couple of months off to record "3" - to finish what we started. You never know...
How can people contact the band?
Just contact us through the webpage www.fifty50.de. You can also find out stuff of the usual places like last.fm (all our songs can be downloaded here), facebook and Myspace.
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