Sudden Infant

CAIRO - first week first touch

2012-02-08T01:58:00.000-08:00

As an artist in residence I just spent my first week in Cairo:

This city is absolutely insane! All my senses go crazy!
I live Down Town just a few minutes away from Tahir Square. It's loud, dirty, dusty, noisy. The streets are overcrowded with people and traffic is sheer hell. To cross the street is almost like a suicide commando. Nevertheless I really enjoy this incredible chaos and slowly I start to walk like an Egyptian.

Tahir Square

Former Mubarak political headquarters building

Egyptian beer, wine, whiskey

Egyptian beer (Stella) is quite OK and drinkable. So are some of the local wines. But Egyptian whiskey is definitely not to enjoy. It rather tastes of a mix of rum, cognac, caramel flavors and some chemical substances. Although it is forbidden in Islamic religion to consume alcohol beverages, many people do it privately. There are some special liqueur stores with no signs and narrow doors. It feels a bit like entering a strictly prohibited area where you get your bottles in deep black plastic bags.

Wallpaper city guide's introduction:

Cairo is hard to love at first sight. Loud, dusty and chaotic, Africa's largest city is a jumble of architectural styles bisected by the Nile and criss-crossed with Blade Runner-like flyovers. But take the time to look beyond the apparent anarchy and you will discover one of the world's most compelling metropolises, a cosmopolitan agglomeration of 20 million people that buzzes with life. Leading African capital, Arab cultural hub, strategic political centre - Cairo is many things to many people. A history incorporating occupation, cultural and political experimentation, and extremes of wealth and poverty has left its mark in the array of Cairene faces and in a uniquely diverse cityscape. Cairo is about looking beyond the obvious.

Another 17 weeks ahead!

Charles Moneypenny Part 3

2012-02-05T11:22:00.000-08:00

Once again Charles Moneypenny honoured Berlin with his third visit within two years and this time he even brought his lovely wife Margaret Moneypenny along: A big surprise for everybody!

Videoshots from Mr & Mrs Moneypenny's appearance at Staalplaat basement on January 28 2012:

Thanks to: Doreen Kutzke, Rinus van Alebeek, Guillaume Siffert, Daniel Löwenbrück, Jeff Surak, Ute Waldhausen, British Airways, HM Queen Elisabeth II

JOKE LANZ - Münster Bern

2012-02-04T20:23:00.000-08:00

Brand new CD on Swiss Avant-garde label 'Cubus Records' by Joke Lanz, solo turntables, recorded live at the Bern cathedral (Münster Bern) 22nd of October 2010.

Thanks to Christian Kobi & Fabio Oehrli

http://www.cubus-records.ch/

New Interview!

2012-02-03T04:19:00.000-08:00

There's a new Interview on Seven1878 Blog:

http://seven1878.blogspot.com/2012/01/interview-with-joke-lanz-sudden-infant.html

2012-01-18T13:10:00.000-08:00

26th January 2012 - 21h:

Joke Lanz (voice, noise) & Julian Bonequi (drums)
Mat Pogo (voice, cd player) & Olivier Di Placido (guitar, electronics)

Altes Finanzamt, Schönstedtstr. 7, Berlin - Neukölln

TOP TEN 2011

2011-12-19T08:07:00.000-08:00

Here are my personal Top Ten live experiences of 2011:

Bryan Lewis Saunders - live at 529 Atlanta
Damien Schultz - live at Festival Asso Cable Nantes
The Monsters - live at SO36 Berlin
Yellow Tears - live at Public Assembly New York
Lydia Lunch & Philippe Petit - live at Volksbühne Berlin
The Haters - live at West Germany Berlin
The Buzzcocks - live at KIFF Aarau
Sten Ove Toft & Lasse Marhaug - live at Betong Oslo
Zoviet France - live at Norberg Festival Norberg
Trio ESJ (Eva Reiter, Susanne Fröhlich, Jorge Sanchez-Chiong) - live at Radialsystem Berlin

Corps - Accords

2011-12-14T10:22:00.000-08:00

My french cousin Patrick Antczak (Tczak) just had a big exhibition with his fantastic paintings at the 'Moulin des Evêques' in Agde, France. At the private view he appeared in a nice blue Sudden Infant t-shirt.

http://www.patricktczak.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agde

Resonance FM - The Sound Projector Show

2011-12-13T06:09:00.000-08:00

Friday 2nd December 2011
Urbsounds Mix --- Music selected by Monika and Daniel of Jamka

Presented by Ed Pinsent / The Sound Projector:

http://www.thesoundprojector.com/2011/12/02/urbsounds-mix/

Thanks to Monika and Daniel of Jamka for playing Sudden Infant.

Playlist:

Eric Boros: “Polar Bear” / concert download (2:45)
Sudden Infant: ‘Kopi’ / My life is a A Gunshot Retrospective 1989-2009 Vol. 1 LP (1:30)
Kites: “Something about America” / Peace Trial LP (3:30)
Dave Phillips track number 4 / Illusion is a natural condition CD (collaborations between dp and r.h.y. Yau (1:14)
rbnx, Jasna sprava (clear message)/ rbnx split cassette with hlukas, (1:23)
Wolf Eyes: Reaper Gong / Burned Mind LP (4:03)
Assück: State To State / State To State ep, (0:54)
Prurient: A Meal Can Be Made / Bermuda Drain LP (2:16)
Shangaan Electro: Ntombi Ya Mugaza / New Wave Dance Music From South Africa LP (5:32)
Group Bombino: Imuhar / Guitars From Agadez vol 2 LP (5:00)
Vialka: Petit Mot / La Poursuite de l’Excellence LP LP (3:34)
Coil: Main Title / The Unreleased Themes For Hellraiser (2:42)
Urbanfailure: Loading / Urbsounds Collective LP (1:12)
Rehberg & Bauer: Spat-fridge (gar mix) / 12” (4:35)
Mika Vainio: Open Up And Bleed / life (… it eats you up) LP (8:14)
Conrad Schnitzer: Silvester Anfang / on Mayhem’s Deathcrush LP (1:57)
Jamka: Sland / Pari Passu CD (6:03)
Urbsounds: Music Bus / Short Circuit – Mozaika Compilation CD (4:21)
Chris Corsano: How will you learn more successfully from your coach than just looking and listening? / The Young Cricketer LP (2:46

http://urbsounds.sk
http://resonancefm.com/

SI live at Slaughterhouse Berlin 3rd Dec 2011

2011-12-11T02:34:00.000-08:00

SUDDEN INFANT live at DTDBIN
at Slaughterhouse Moabit Berlin
3rd December 2011

Thanks to: Holger, Agnes, Mike, Mario, Raubbau Crew

http://www.raubbau.org/

2011-11-27T04:28:00.000-08:00

SUDDEN INFANT book 'Noise In My Head'

2011-09-28T19:25:00.000-07:00

US-Tour!

2011-09-28T13:29:00.000-07:00

I'm back in Berlin! The tour was great!
I want to thank all the lovely people who helped setting up shows, who invited me to their homes, who gave me food and beer, who came to the nights, who bought my stuff and who gave me a smile!
Huge THANKS to: Graham Moore, Bobbie, Bryan Lewis Saunders, John Sharp, Nathan, Eric Blevins, Tony, Ellen, Mat, The Clermont Lounge, Waffle House, Jeff Surak, Chester Hawkins, Alessandra Eramo, Rinus Van Alebeek, GX Jupitter-Larsen, Valentina Vuksic, Rachal & Roxanne Spikula, Mary, Drew Daniel, Martin Schmidt, Aaron Hipps, Twig Harper, Carly Ptak, Max, Chloe, Mat Rademan, Jonny, Greg, Isaac, Ironing, Amanda, Kevin, Lizza Pendley, Joseph, Nina, Peter Kaemmerer, Egan Budd, Marie, Stagger Thorax, Lionel Friedli, Greg Kelley, Keith Fullerton Whitman, Bob Bellerue, Matthew, Carlos Giffoni, C Spencer Yeh, Okkyung Lee, Yellow Tears, Dominick Fernow, Narine Atamian, MV Carbon, Aki Onda, Maria Chavez, Daniel Neumann, Shelley Hirsch, Larry 7, Ryan Martin, Andrea Parkins and all the many others I forgot to mention, sorry, it's been an intense tour!
Here some impressions from Atlanta, DC, Baltimore, Philly, Boston, New York:

Post-Punk, No Wave, Indus & Noise

2011-09-07T04:18:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Key Ransone, who sent me a text message the other day, saying that Sudden Infant is mentioned in a french book about Post-Punk, I bought this chronology of some of my favourite records of all time. And yes, holy moly, Sudden Infant is a part of it, alongside with PIL, Swans, The Haters, Whitehouse, John Wiese, The New Blockaders, Butthole Surfers, Godflesh, Merzbow, 23 Skidoo, Coil, Lasse Marhaug and tons of others!
It's all written in french by Philippe Robert, but for those who can slightly understand and read this language, this book is definitely a nice addition for all Industrial-Noise-Punk lovers.

Charles Moneypenny is back!

2011-09-01T10:25:00.000-07:00

Charles Moneypenny appeared unexpectedly last Saturday at the Staalplaat Shop in Neukölln. Some of you saw him already not so long ago, when he first came to Berlin. Now, on his second visit, he told us that he might move to Berlin and buy a flat or a house. Obviously Berlin hast left a strong impression to Mr. Moneypenny especially the lovely people of this city.
His speech covered all breaking news from the London riots to the Royal Wedding to sexuality in music.
We can only be curious when he'll be back with more of his exciting talks!

Oslo - The Art of Hugging

2011-08-25T09:23:00.000-07:00

Norwegian people like to hug each other! Wonderful! "There are different ways of hugging" tells Lasse Marhaug. "A 'bye bye hug' should be more intimate than a 'hello hug'". I try to do my job well. Also for the two shows I'm playing in Oslo, but lets start from the beginning.

After an intense and packed Berlin duo with Julian Sartorius on drums and me on turntables at -able gallery in Neukölln I find myself the other morning totally bleary-eyed and hangovered at the check-in counter of Norwegian Airlines at Schönefeld airport. A hand grabs my shoulder and I look into a familiar face. It's Clayton Thomas who also flies to Oslo together with Tony Buck and Johannes Bauer. We all play at Blow Out Festival on Saturday. But first I'll have to deliver my noise for the Student Festival at Oslo University.

It was a great weekend, with a delicious slow cooked salmon, some nice oolong tea and an extraordinary duo with Lasse at cafe Mir. But the main reason for my Oslo trip was to finish a book about SI that will soon be published on Marhaug Forlag. I'm super-excited about it! More details and announcement very soon.

Sudden Infant @ Student Festival Klubbscenen Betong Oslo

Sten Ove Toft & Lasse Marhaug @ Klubbscenen Betong Oslo

Photos by Synne Tonil

http://www.lassemarhaug.no/

https://www.facebook.com/stenovetoft

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/debunking-myths-the-mind/201007/the-art-hugging

White trash camp side holidays in Norbergia!

2011-08-12T04:00:00.000-07:00

Norberg Festival Sweden August 29-31 2011

Sweden, the land of lakes, deers, starköl, knäckebrot, blonde individuals, systembolaget and home of Joachim Nordwall, chairman of iDeal Recordings, who invited Sudden Infant & Raionbashi to perform at Norberg Festival in the middle of nowhere two hours outside of Stockholm.

I can't remember the last time I spent two nights on a camp side hanging at a festival in between Breakcore-Hippies, Electro-Nerds and Avantgarde-Punks. Thanks god Joachim inaugurated me into the rituals of Swedish hardcore enjoyment: Beer, wine, whiskey, crisps! And all in category 3!

Thanks for the great time! It was absolutely fantastic! Joachim you are the best! Cheers to all the good friends and nice people who made my time unforgettable: Daniel, Thomas, Leif, Roberto, Chinaski, Petter, Stephen, Zbigniew, Camilla, Grete, Helena, Jan, Richard, Ben, Anastasia and all the others I forgot or can't remember their names.

http://www.norbergfestival.com/
http://idealrecordings.com/

Shelley HIrsch & Joke Lanz

2011-07-18T05:30:00.000-07:00

Shelley Hirsch: voice // Joke Lanz: turntables

live at NK Berlin, July 1 2011

camera: Ursula Peer, Ute Waldhausen
cut: Ursula Peer
thanks: Farahnaz Hatam, Julian Percy, Mauro Martinuz

http://www.shelleyhirsch.com
http://www.suddeninfant.com
http://www.nkprojekt.de

Pictures by Aniana Heras!

Memories part 6

2011-07-10T14:43:00.000-07:00

SUDDEN INFANT live in Taipei 2000:

Sudden Infant (Joke Lanz & Franz Lieberherr) live at Theatre Cafe Neruda, Taipei Taiwan 7th October 2000. Other acts were: Dino/Stan/Mr. Cheng, Chin-Shen-Ching Fujei, Z.S.L.O.

Memories part 5

2011-07-09T03:25:00.000-07:00

SUDDEN INFANT live at Schlagstrom Festival 2010 Berlin:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2y8eXATkpI

Filmed by Ute Waldhausen.

Sonic Circuits Festival 2011 Washington DC

2011-07-04T07:18:00.000-07:00

photo by Martin Holtkamp

http://dc-soniccircuits.org

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/soniccircuits/sonic-circuits-festival-2011

http://www.ma-ho.com/

Sonic Circuits Festival 2011 promo video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mlr4T1_SkJ4&feature=youtu.be

All Sudden Infant east coast tour dates on:

http://www.suddeninfant.com

Duo with Shelley Hirsch!

2011-06-24T05:14:00.000-07:00

I'm extremely proud to announce this duo concert with Shelley Hirsch on Friday 1st July 2011 at NK in Berlin.

'A woman of thousand voices... She offers an enthralling demonstration of the way songs, vocal styles and language might have evolved out of more primal musical impulses.'

New York Times

She has performed hundreds of concerts of improvised music with many musicians i.e. Anthony Coleman, Christian Marclay, Ikue Mori, Toshio Kajiwara, Hans Reichel, Min Xiao Fen, Paul Lovens, DJ Olive, Joey Baron, Marc Ribot, Butch Morris, Elliot Sharp etc.

She recorded for such labels as Tzadik, No Mans Land, Apollo, Innocence Records, FMP etc, with the likes of John Zorn, David Weinstein, Nicolas Collins, Jon Rose, Sven Ake Johannson, Alexander von Schlippenbach and many more.

http://www.shelleyhirsch.com/shelley/

Second act will be Bogan Ghost (Anthea Caddy & Liz Allbee):

Back from Switzerland!

2011-06-21T03:31:00.000-07:00

Turntablism & other things!

photo by Fabrice Nobs

Back from the Swiss mountains where I recorded with Lindha Kallerdahl, Lionel Friedli and Lionel Gafner aka The Gaf for a new project called 'The Deer Detective'. Full album and tour in spring 2012.

http://www.ohmy.ch/the_deer_detective

Played three CD release shows with OZMO in Zurich, Bern and Biel:

OZMO - ozmo - CD (Unit Records UTR4286)

Vincent Membrez: piano

Joke Lanz: turntables

Christian Weber: double bass

Lionel Friedli: drums

Pedro Lenz: spoken words

http://ozmo.vincentmembrez.ch/

Spent a lovely time with my son Céleste for his 22nd b-day:

And met my good old friend and former SI member Franz:

Last but not least I joined Tetras (Christian Weber, Jason Kahn, Jeroen Visser) and duQtuc (Antoine Läng, Lionel Friedli, Vincent Membrez) for a show in Zurich and Geneva.

http://tetras.jasonkahn.net/index.html

http://www.myspace.com/duqtuc

Thanks a lot to Ramsay, Bettina, Marion, Sixto, Ehfa, Stibu, Christian, Vincent, Gaf, Lionel, Lindha, Sam, Julien, Pedro, Sara, Franz, Bruno and all the others for your time and great hospitality! Cheers!

Hamburg / Blurred Edges Festival

2011-05-27T11:52:00.000-07:00

St. Pauli / Reeperbahn / Red Light District:

On my way to the Hörbar in Hamburg...

On my way to throat land...

Pix by Ute Waldhausen! Thanks to Asmus for the great stories during our nice breakfast the other morning. Huge thanks to Stefan & Heiko for being such great hosts and to Pollo for organising, playing and releasing and of course to the whole Hörbar crew! Hamburg rules!

OUT NOW!

New live LP on Hamburg based label 'Reduktive Musiken':

SUDDEN INFANT - Things That Happened - LP (Redukt 016)

Girl Side: Termite Club Leeds 2004.

Boy Side: Rote Flora Hamburg 2007.

Limited edition of 300 copies in coloured 180g vinyl:

Red, green and blue vinyl available!

Artwork by St. Martin. Thanks to Mike Dando, Thomas Beck, Asmus Tietchens, Pollo.

16 Euro exclusive postage/shipment.

http://www.suddeninfant.com/

http://www.reduktivemusiken.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reeperbahn

http://www.fcstpauli.com/

Sonic Traces: From Switzerland

2011-05-03T19:52:00.000-07:00

The interview was held at Nash Carlton Hotel in Lausanne Switzerland on the 11th March 2011 by Dr. Thomas Burkhalter for Norient Magazine. Live excerpts from this year's EarWeAre Festival Biel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dc-Ic1lMfts&NR=1

http://norient.com/

http://www.earweare.ch/

New SI cassette coming soon!

2011-04-30T10:08:00.001-07:00

Coming very soon:

SUDDEN INFANT 'skin' C-20 Tape (Rape013)

Another brand new SI cassette release, this time on Norwegian Tape Rape Records.

Artwork by JL.

http://www.ambolthue.com/taperaperecords/

Berlin - Paris - Taipei

2011-04-20T04:08:00.000-07:00

Back in stock:

SUDDEN INFANT - Berlin, Paris, Taipei - DVDr (Tochnit Aleph 082)

Eminent DVD release of three seminal Sudden Infant performances from three different time periods:
2007 Berlin, 2002 Paris and 1996 Taipei. All actions composed and performed by Joke Lanz.
Pure classic noise-actionism and physical sound-poetry! Includes four inserts with photo and detailed informations about each performance. Direct mailorder copies (from Sudden Infant or Tochnit Aleph) are signed by the artist!
'An inner motivation causes the sound to find its way out of the body and into the space. Gestural pantomime explains more about this music, coming as it does from a feeling for the body, than words could ever do.'

Order now! 14 Euro exclusive postage/shipment.

Please send an email to: suddeninfant@gmx.net

Lanz - Sala - Rocchetti

2011-04-11T01:22:00.000-07:00

http://lullcec.org/en/2011/concerts/joke-lanz-arnau-sala-claudio-rocchetti/

Lowell 2008

2011-04-10T00:47:00.000-07:00

Sudden Infant at the Gallery 119 in Lowell Massachusetts 15th May 2008:

Thanks to Statutory Tape!

Tel Aviv beach in my shoes!

2011-04-04T13:40:00.000-07:00

Purim & Hummus in the name of God!!

Played three shows at the Zimmer Tape Festival in Israel: 16th March in Jerusalem at Bass Club, 18th and 19th March in Tel Aviv at Zimmer and Pit/Kit. My first time in Israel started with loads of pleasant moments: warm and sunny weather, excellent food, good beer, the smell of the sea and the sand in my shoes.

Tel Aviv is surprisingly vibrant, dirty, sexy, full of street-art, dog-shit and lovely bars. Exactly my cup of tea!

Massive THANKS to Marion and Sixto of Cave12 for making this all possible and bringing me over. You are both such lovely ghosts; great memories in my mind especially the car-drive back from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv ;) Also big thanks to Ron and Guy who organised the Zimmer Tape Festival, to Grisha who was my host (have a walk in the park!), Mia, Rani, Alma, Eran, Ali and Malcy of Usurper, Yves, Benjamin and Bruno of Blanktapes and all the others (sorry couldn't remember all the names).

http://www.cave12.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hummus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purim

Line-up

JL live in Tel Aviv (photo by Aleks Urdas)

Street Art in Jerusalem

Marion & Sixto

Israel fashion!

SI on SA radio

2011-03-27T01:58:00.000-07:00

Sudden Infant on South Africa radio ------

Bush Radio 89.5FM, Cape Town, South Africa:

http://www.mixcloud.com/wrongrockshow/the-wrong-rock-show-45-14-march-2011/

Thanks to Botha Kruger!

Japan / Taiwan 2011 - CANCELLED!

2011-03-21T23:49:00.000-07:00

TOUR CANCELLED!

I'm very sad to announce that the whole Sudden Infant / Pain Infant dates in Japan and Taiwan (26th March - 15th April) are cancelled.

After thoughtful consideration and consultation with my close friends in Japan and the Swiss and German embassies, I decided to cancel the whole Sudden Infant / Pain Infant tour including the one off show in Taipei and to postpone it for an indefinite period of time.

Major transportation problems, power cuts and an insecure course of life caused by the terrible earthquake, tsunami and the damaged nuclear plant in Fukushima wouldn't guarantee a proper tour and an easygoing stay in Japan especially in the greater area of Tokyo.

Furthermore I think with due respect for the victims and their relatives it is not appropriate to tour Japan right now in its worst crisis since 65 years.

My thoughts are with my friends and colleagues and everybody in Japan. I really hope, from the bottom of my heart, that you all can recover from this traumatic event and that the crisis will be overcome.

Special thanks go to Kohei Gomi aka Pain Jerk for his great work and effort in preparing the whole tour.

Joke Lanz / Sudden Infant

11 / unstablesystems

2011-03-13T09:59:00.000-07:00

11 March 11 @ Ausland Berlin

Joke Lanz vs Ute Waldhausen

Ute Waldhausen vs Joke Lanz

photos by Sara Lehn

Thanks to Mario de Vega, Martin Kuenz, Sara Lehn, Clara Bausch & the team of Ausland

http://www.1111111111111111111111.com/

Japan / Taiwan 2011

2011-03-13T05:47:00.001-07:00

click on flyer to enlarge (thanks to Ute Waldhausen)

My thoughts are with everybody in Japan especially all my friends and colleagues.

Just finished preparations for my upcoming tour through Japan and Taiwan and now I feel shaken to the core about this incredible crisis. Really hope things will settle down and everybody's able to recover. I'm still very much looking forward to perform and meet my friends: Kohei, Martin, Rudolf, Hiroshi and many others.

Memories part 4

2011-03-13T05:14:00.000-07:00

SCHNÄBI GAGGI PISSI GAGGI:

Joke, Céleste, Rudolf - Zurich 1992

Rudolf, Céleste, Joke - Zurich 2010

Lausanne!

2011-03-08T07:12:00.000-08:00

I'm DJ'ing at a fashion show this coming Thursday in Lausanne Switzerland.

Do fashion addicts believe in Noise?

Festival Cable#4 - Nantes

2011-03-07T10:12:00.000-08:00

Played for the very first time in Nantes at Festival Cable#4 (17th - 19th Feb).

Really nice venue (Les Ateliers de Bitche), great soundsystem, cool audience and an amazing team will definitely stay in my memory department for a very long time.

Met some good old friends and familiar faces: Luke Younger, Thomas Ankersmit, eRikm.

Big thanks to Will Guthrie and his mates for the fantastic organisation.

One of my personal highlights on the night was Damien Schultz' spoken word performance. Absolutely breathtaking! Just him with a microphone and his lyric sheets turning into some trancelike speech-monster pacing an incredible speed with his mouth. No effects, no sampling!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/remigouletconcerts/sets/72157626061736689/with/5493728859/

Damien Schultz (photo by Rémi Goulet)

Sudden Infant (photo by Rémi Goulet)

Instants Chavirés

2011-03-01T04:41:00.000-08:00

SUDDEN INFANT & JOHN DUNCAN

live in Montreuil/Paris 17th February 2011

Instants Chavirés in Montreuil, a suburb in the east of Paris, is definitely one of the best places to perform in Europe. The venue is located on a side street behind the main office and exhibition space of Instants Chavirés, just around the corner of many north african shops and restaurants, where you can eat the best cous-cous on the continent.

Review of the night (in French):

http://www.lesinrocks.com/musique/musique-article/t/60393/date/2011-02-18/article/on-y-etait-sudden-infant-et-john-ducan-aux-instants-chavires

Thanks again to the fantastic team of Instants: Florence, jf, Thierry, Damien, Benjamin. Had a great time, once again.

http://www.instantschavires.com/

http://www.johnduncan.org/

http://schoolofmeatcutting.free.fr/

Andy Bolus in front of Instants Chavirés

Memories part 3

2011-02-26T08:26:00.001-08:00

Joke Lanz 1986 at the Berlin wall (west side)

Brown Door!

2011-02-11T05:04:00.000-08:00

SUDDEN INFANT headquarters:

Midnight, one more night without sleeping
Watching, 'til the morning comes creeping
Brown door, what's that secret you're keeping

There's an old piano and they play it hot
Behind the brown door
Don't know what they're doing but they laugh alot
Behind the brown door
I wish they'd let me in so I could find out what's
Behind the brown door

Adapted after Bob Davie & The Cramps (Green Door)

Oslo - All Ears Festival

2011-01-18T05:29:00.000-08:00

Har du sett Sverdrup?

Had a great weekend in Oslo. Played two shows at All Ears festival, visited the Emanuel Vigeland mausoleum, Frogner park, Neseblod record shop and tried not to spend too much money in one of the most expensive cities in the world!
Thanks to Guro Moe, Lasse Marhaug and Paal Nilssen-Love for organizing this fantastic festival.

Photos by Ute Waldhausen!

Joke Lanz & Christian Weber

with Christian Weber, Lasse Marhaug and Fred Lonberg-Holm

Frogner park

Have you seen Sverdrup?

http://www.all-ears.no/2011/2011.html
http://www.emanuelvigeland.museum.no/mausoleum.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frogner_Park
http://www.neseblodrecords.com/cd.php

Memories part 2

2011-01-11T11:22:00.000-08:00

SUDDEN INFANT live at Maschinenfest,
Weststadthalle Essen, 9th October 2009:

Performing 'Putrefied Puppet Master'

Thanks to: Bagmannoise, Thomas, Grit, Mario, Roger, Holger, René, Til, Francesca, Babsi, Phil and all the rest of the MF crew...

Turntablism at the cathedral of Bern

2010-12-28T01:42:00.000-08:00

Swiss radio DRS2 will broadcast my turntable solo set at the cathedral of Bern (Berner Münster) from 22nd October 2010 during 'zoom in' festival.

Wednesday 29th December 2010 - 22.30 CET:
http://www.drs2.ch/www/de/drs2/sendungen/neue-musik-im-konzert/2718.sh10159917.html

Thanks to Christian Kobi, Fabio Oehrli

http://www.zoominfestival.ch/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%BCnster_of_Bern

TOP TEN 2010!

2010-12-26T06:30:00.000-08:00

A busy year draws to a close!
I don't want to say goodbye to 2010 without listing my personal top ten live experiences. I've seen many shows throughout the year, but these here are definitely the ones I enjoyed most:

01 Daniel Menche - live at The Holocene Portland
02 Sixes - live at The Lab San Francisco
03 Parabelles (Ute & Doreen ) - live at Tentstation Berlin
04 Charles Moneypenny - live at Staalplaat Berlin
05 The Haters - live at Luna Playhouse Glendale
06 Lasse Marhaug - live at The Smell Los Angeles
07 The Residents - live at Huxley's Berlin
08 Merzbow & Balazs Pandi - live at Berghain Berlin
09 Leif Elggren - live at NK Berlin
10 Alexandre Babel - live at Sound Forest Festival Riga

http://www.intransitiverecordings.com/music/best-of-2010-part-1/

Bye Bye Butterfly!

2010-12-09T14:07:00.000-08:00

Bye bye butterfly, good morning red wine!
Had a great time in the beautiful town of Xanthi in the north of Greece during 'absurd' festival with Leif Elggren, Balinese Beast, Socrates Martinis, Kostis Kilymis, DJ Bwana, Thanasis Chondros and Alexandra Katsiani. Huge thanks to Nicolas 'The Burgermeister' Malevitsis and everybody else involved. Fantastic food, delicious wine, amazing landscape!

SI live at absurd festival Xanthi 4th Dec 2010

Nicolas Malevitsis, Joke Lanz, Leif Elggren

http://blog.noise-below.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xanthi

The Charles Moneypenny Report!

2010-10-12T02:19:00.000-07:00

Charles Moneypenny is back!

CM live at Staalplaat Berlin 14th August 2010 (photos by Ute Waldhausen)

Listen to The Charles Moneypenny Report exclusively on Entr'acte:

http://www.entracte.co.uk/mixes/

---

Psychotic Einzelkind

2010-09-23T07:19:00.000-07:00

Psychotic Einzelkind is the title of a Noise/Dance performance created by Joke Lanz (Berlin) and Brigitte Wilfing (Vienna).

The principal theme of the piece is affective and manic-depressive behaviour of 'only children'. To grow up as only child can cause significant social problems. They may have difficulties coping with situations such as a loss in friends, failure in employment, failure with personal relationships, uncontrollable anger, and girlfriends or boyfriends refusing to engage in sexual activity. Children who have experienced a stressful event, such as the separation of the parents or the birth or death of a close family relative, may also exhibit some or all of the symptoms.

Psychotic Einzelkind, named after Sudden Infant's CD album released 2008 on Blossoming Noise, was already shown at WUK Vienna in 2009 and at Transart/Underground City Festival in Labin (Croatia) in 2010. The next presentation of the piece will be at Fluc Vienna on October 5th, opening the night for FM Einheit.

Psychotic Einzelkind

Joke Lanz: composition, concept, performance, noise
Brigitte Wilfing: concept, performance, noise
Thomas Jelinek / Thomas Wagensommerer: light design
Alfred Reiter: sound engineering

Pictures at an Exhibition!

2010-09-14T07:21:00.000-07:00

Opening of my exhibition 'Ins Gesicht' at Rumpsti Pumsti Gallery Berlin 4th September 2010. Thanks to all the nice individuals, all the kids and dogs who came to see my paintings. It was a wonderful and long Saturday.
Big THANKS to Daniel Löwenbrück and Ed Benndorf for giving me this chance to show my work and to be the first artist at the new Rumpsti Pumsti music & gallery space. Also many thanks to Bill Kouligas and Ute Waldhausen. Not to forget Marcelo Aguirre and Peter Pure who woke me up later on at a local bar further down the street.

The exhibition runs until Tuesday 28th September. Paintings are still available for 250 Euro each (31cm x 31cm, acrylic on cardboard). Please contact the gallery for further details.

INS GESICHT!

2010-08-21T10:53:00.000-07:00

JOKE LANZ - INS GESICHT:
paintings (acrylic on cardboard 1992-1995)

4. September 2010 - 28. September 2010

Opening: 4. September 2010 16-22h

Rumpsti Pumsti Music & Gallery
Weserstrasse 165
12045 Berlin - Neukölln

www.rumpsti-pumsti.com

I'm very happy to announce an exhibition of my early paintings from 1992-1995 titled: Ins Gesicht (engl: in the face).
In the early 90's I started to work on paintings and sound installations, collages and objects. It was the time when my son Céleste was a small child, when Sudden Infant was making the first big moves, when I learned about separations and new beginnings, when I drunk my first beer before breakfast and when Audrey Hepburn, Anthony Burgess and Frank Zappa died.
Childhood experiences, sexual eruptions, autoaggression and psycho mechanisms became major themes of my musical and artistic works.

This series of 27 head/face paintings (acrylic on cardboard/31cm x 31cm) created between 1992 and 1995 are now shown for the very first time at the Rumpsti Pumsti Gallery in Berlin.

Back then at the studio from left to right: Tobia, Céleste, Joke, Zeno

Memories part 1

2010-08-09T14:04:00.000-07:00

Los Angeles, The Smell, 14th February 2010:

Damion Romero, GX Jupitter-Larsen, Joke Lanz, Lasse Marhaug

Working on Sudden Infant

2010-07-29T02:40:00.000-07:00

International Summer Course for New Music at the International Music Institute Darmstadt (IMD):

Please don’t kid yourself that things used to be better, that’s all utopian talk!”
Karlheinz Stockhausen, 1970

Presenter and network, center for documentation and information, operational center and initiator for new music since 1946 – the International Music Institute Darmstadt (IMD) is all of these things. With its International Summer Courses for New Music, its Archive, and its Library the IMD continues to make and document cultural history as a constant interplay of invention, performance, listening, reflection, and retention.

The Summer Courses are a meeting place for music makers and listeners. Creativity takes wing, ideas are passed along, and artistic positions are debated; they provide opportunities for interaction between cultures, and between the younger generation and internationally recognized composers, interpreters, and scholars. The extensive and extremely valuable holdings of the archive and library illustrate the ideas and creations of artists and scholars of the 20th and 21st centuries, made available for research in the form of scores, writings, correspondence, photos, press articles, and recorded media.

Working on Sudden Infant
Noise Music Lecture & Rehearsal - Jorge Sánchez-Chiong (JSX) & Collective (OS2)

Working - Improvising
Exploring and Instant Composing with records by the Noise artist Sudden Infant aka Joke Lanz

Jorge Sánchez-Chiong

was born in Caracas, Venezuela, to Cuban and Chinese parents, in 1969. He studied in Vienna under Francis Burt and Michael Jarrell. Sánchez-Chiong is a member of the NewTonEnsemble and co-founder of the composer group „Gegenklang“. His works, which take the vitality and spontaneity of improvisation as their point of departure, often transcend the bounds of the concert hall and find their continuation in the realms of experimental theater, video art, dance, and electronics. An emphasis of his work is close collaboration with artists from different disciplines and stylistic directions, including Joke Lanz, Christian Weber and Michaela Grill. He has also appeared as turntablist in various formations in the free improvisation scene. His stylistic openness shows in his oeuvre, which includes solo, ensemble, and orchestra works, chamber music and electronic music, multimedia projects and improvisation guidelines – using everything from classical instrumentations to formations such as electric bass and turntable. In 2009 he directed the multidisciplinary project „New Air“ at the University of Vienna.

2010 will be Jorge Sánchez-Chiong’s first stint as guest lecturer at the International Summer Course.

www.internationales-musikinstitut.de/index.php
http://edition21.at/Sanchez-Chiong.htm

The Phone People

2010-07-28T02:49:00.001-07:00

Today I received a wonderful package from Ukraine. I had to go and collect it from my post office next to my house. Didn't really know what was waiting for me, but my presentiment between Ireland, Ukraine and Taiwan was not so wrong:

New release:

SUDDEN INFANT - The Phone People
C30 Tape (Quasi Pop / Ukraine)

Yet another cassette release in Sudden Infant's long crusade to save the world of tapes. Recorded May/June 2010 at SI studio Berlin, this cassette consists of 19 short compositions with/about answering machine messages from friends and relatives i.e. Christian Marclay, Daniel Löwenbrück, Donna Klemm, Céleste Urech, Allon Kaye, Christine Streuli a.o.

Artwork by Edward Solomykin.

Dedicated to Donna Klemm (1948-2008).

Limited and numbered edition of 100 copies!

www.quasipop.org

For tape/cassette lovers:

www.myspace.com/ssbtapes

Ireland!

2010-07-17T14:09:00.000-07:00

Sudden Infant & Family Battle Snake // Ireland shows:

22nd June 2010 - Cork / Shandon Church Tower (private afternoon performance)
22nd June 2010 - Cork / The Pavillion
23rd June 2010 - Dublin / The Joinery

Some unforgettable impressions from my very first Ireland trip w/ Bill Kouligas.
All photos by JL except where noted:

On the road between Dublin and Cork

Shadowplay at the Pavillion

The Black Sun family: Dave, Sionnach & Vicky

FBS & SI with new band member Sionnach the fox

Joke & Bill at Shandon Church Tower (pic by Vicky Langan)

Drinking Beamish with Kev

Vicky & Joke

Sudden Infant live in Dublin (pic by John Kealy)

Are we not men?

Family Battle Snake live in Cork (pic by Titsh)

Meg, Mog & Owl

Sudden Infant live in Cork (pic by Titsh)

A huge THANK YOU to Vicky Langan for have made this all possible and for your incredible hospitality! We had a fantastic time! Felt like beeing a part of your family... Thanks Dave and Sionnach, you are such lovely ghosts.
Also many thanks to: Paul Hegarty, Aonghus & his girl friend, Kieran, Chloe, Patricia, Mick, Kev, Gavin & Andy of Toymonger, Max (great films), the cake Ladies, Joan Jett, Beamish, The Joinery crew, Eric, John Kealy, Dolorosa, Julia Shnappy Healy, The Pavillion crew and everybody who came to the shows in Dublin and Cork - you were a fantastic audience. THANKS!!

Of Mice and Men

2010-07-15T08:09:00.000-07:00

Photos by Philipp Hennig

Of Mice and Men

A performance by Joke Lanz based on fragments of John Steinbecks novel Of Mice and Men, held at Zwielicht/Farbfernseher Berlin on 20^th June 2010.

I seen hundreds of men come by on the road and on the ranches, with their bindles on their back and that same damn thing in their heads… every damn one of them’s got a little piece of land in his head. And never a God damn one of them ever gets it. Just like heaven. Everybody wants a little piece of land. I read plenty of books out here. Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land.
-Crooks to Lennie

The predatory nature of human existence.
The destructive imbalance of social power structures in society.
Strength and weakness.
Loneliness and companionship.
Big things and little things.
Dreams and despair.

Thanks to Mareike Lee, Marc Sabat, Hans W. Koch

white witch way

2010-07-04T07:51:00.000-07:00

Photos by Aniana Heras Cosín

white witch way!?

A performance by Joke Lanz held at NK Berlin on April 30th 2010.

Walpurgis has its roots in ancient pagan customs, superstitions and festivals. At this time of year, the Vikings participated in a ritual that they hoped would hasten the arrival of Spring weather and ensure fertility for their crops and livestock. They would light huge bonfires in hopes of scaring away evil spirits.
According to the ancient legends, this night was the last chance for witches and their nefarious cohorts to stir up trouble before Spring reawakened the land. They were said to congregate on Brocken, the highest peak in the Harz Mountains – a tradition that comes from Goethe's Faust. In the story, the demon Mephistopheles brings Faust to Brocken to consort with the coven of witches.

Many thanks to Rashad Becker, Julian Percy, Farah Hatam, Ute Waldhausen

Back in Blogland!

2010-07-02T11:45:00.000-07:00

Dear friends,

After a long time of no time, of no internet, of no beer, of no here, of no jobs, of no knobs, of no warmth, of no kiss, of no miss, I’m finally back on my blog. At least I try to be back, to write down my experiences and adventures, to express and name all those little things which make this life so sweet, so sad, so happy, so dangerous, so exciting, so thoughtful, so beautiful. Things that normally disappear in the depths of my heart and the labyrinth of my mind.

Coming very soon: Ireland report of SI & Family Battle Snake shows in Cork and Dublin!

My Life's a Gunshot!

2010-03-25T02:48:00.000-07:00

Just as a reminder:

The ultimate SI retrospective 4LP album is out since a little while and has already been sent out to many corners of this planet. Everybody is enjoying it so far and the album got some very interesting and positive reviews (see below).

Sudden Infant

My Life's a Gunshot (Retrospective 1989-2009)

hr8909 2x2LP, 2010

Limited edition of 500

Paintings by Joke Lanz

Essay by GX Jupitter-Larsen

Mastered by Rashad Becker

Design by Bill Kouligas

Compiled & selected by Joke Lanz and Ed Benndorf

These two double LP's combine 49 rare and unreleased tracks as well as some of Sudden Infant's most essential and radical work from the last twenty years. Beautifully housed in two fold-out double LP's with original cover paintings by Joke Lanz and an exclusive 4-page essay by GX Jupitter-Larsen. No CD or download releases planned.

This set runs the gamut of ritual action, early new wave/metal-on-metal punkers, organic noise eviscerations, dark drone works and hysterical body horror. Highly recommended!

-Volcanic Tongue

If more than two hours of worth of music doesn't knock you out, a blow to the head with this mighty package will certainly do the trick.

-The Wire

Ohne Wenn und Aber ein Landmark-Release.

-De:Bug

For those whos tastes run to the furthest edges of the bizarre, this compilation is essential listening. It's not just a basketload of savage and severe racket (although there's probably a good portion of that), but a very twisted alienating and unsettling listening, with plenty of unexplained gaps and musical brain-bafflers.

-The Sound Projector

http://www.hronir.de/

Vienna Calling!

2010-03-16T23:19:00.000-07:00

Jorge Sanchez-Chiong & Joke Lanz at Echoraum Vienna (photo by Laura Gaetano)

After my trip to Charleroi and Nijmegen the line of transitions continues with another visit in Vienna. As temporary artist in residence at the University of Music and Performing Arts I spent two days in supervising student projects (NeW_AiR) in the field of Noise, Turntablism and Sonic Arts.

Schnitzel, Zweigelt, Käsekrainer. I love Vienna... My favourite place to eat and drink is Cafe Anzengruber: No arty farty hipsters, no music, bright light and the best Wiener Schnitzel.

On my last day I played a turntable duo with my good friend Jorge Sanchez-Chiong (JSX) at Echoraum. It was an intense and inspiring show with two sets in changing positions. Frenetic applause forced us to give an encore.

Thanks to all the friends who came to the show and especially Werner of Echoraum who was a great host.

Jorge Sanchez-Chiong
NeW_AiR

Echoraum

Lausanne

2010-03-16T22:41:00.000-07:00

Photo by Marcel D. Ramsay

Absolutely nice time at Rue du Nord Festival in Lausanne. Played a Duo w/ Ariel Garcia and deejayed some tunes for the final party on Saturday night. Even the weather was friendly and despite my jetlag I managed to catch some daylight. Well, this all happened already in late February but who cares... I m slowly catching up on time.

Rue du Nord

Art Brut Collection

Bye-bye L.A.!

2010-03-09T04:38:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm back in Europe since almost three weeks, but for several reasons I couldn't update my blog during that time. I already played shows in Switzerland (Lausanne, Aarau), Belgium (Charleroi) and The Netherlands (Nijmegen). Off to Vienna in two days.

But one important thing I need to do here is finally say good-bye to L.A. A bit late but somehow I feel that my soul is still wandering around in East Los Angeles somewhere in between Little Tokyo, Chinatown and the Arts District. It was a great time and I met some very interesting people and I have been to many very special places. A piece of my heart is still there! Come home soon! I wait for you!

Clifton's

2010-03-09T04:19:00.000-08:00

When you are in Los Angeles you have to go to Clifton's cafeteria on Broadway at 7th Street. It's an absolute must and a unique experience! It's definitely the place where L.A. finds itself.

On Broadway downtown -- amid a jumble of shops selling gold necklaces and sports socks and electric guitars, amid exhaust and noise and has-been theaters, amid hipsters, the down and out and the just plain out of it -- an authentic piece of history goes about the business it began during the Great Depression, feeding everyone who walks through the glass doors. Wander into Clifton's and it might seem obvious what makes it unique. Perhaps the waterfall that cascades over several ledges. Or the huge moose head hanging on a wall overlooking one of the dining rooms and the bear holding a fishing pole. Maybe the tiny -- and popular -- tree trunk chapel with its neon cross and inspirational recorded message. But it's more than these. Walk the winding cafeteria line and choose tiny red and green cubes of Jell-O (or three or four other kinds), liver (beef or chicken) and onions. Or stuffed peppers, pot roast, deviled salmon or Vienna loaf. Coleslaw, corn bread. Or, all of the above.

Los Angeles Times

http://www.cliftonscafeteria.com/

The ZOMBIES of Rocklin!!

2010-02-12T23:05:00.000-08:00

After the tour we spent some beautiful days in San Francisco, hanging around at Mission and Castro district. We had some great food at a Japanese Spaghetti place (thanks to Randy, Libby and Charlie) and a yummy thai restaurant. We crashed for an additional night at 7hz, Scott's amazing living space in the heart of the docks and I found a very special hat (more of this later..).

Then we visited my aunt Michelle who lives in Rocklin, a residential area outside of Sacramento. There's no center, no old town, no bars, no pavements, no cinema, no nothing. It's just a big conglomerate of shopping malls, gas stations and fast food restaurants. This is total Zombie town!! No Joke, we even got lost after we went to the mall to check out some native rituals. But nevertheless inside Michelle's house it was nice and comfy and we had a lovely time. Thanks Michelle!!

We need flesh...

Brains brains brains...

Scott Arford's favorite zombie movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U17MM05yYw4

The zombies of Rocklin:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocklin,_California

Big Depression!

2010-02-06T23:44:00.000-08:00

SUDDEN INFANT & SIXES west coast-tour 2010:

The tour is over. I'm depressed! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh....

All I can say is: It was a KILLER-TOUR!!! Totally AWESOME!!
And in proper language for my European friends: Sudden Infant / S6X6S west coast-tour 2010 was fantastic! We played 8 shows in 9 days, we drove 3'068 miles (4'937 km), we drunk 53 gallons of beer (200 liter), we fogged out 7 venues, we shredded one tire and we smashed one bar (Uptown San Francisco we'll come again!).

Team: Ryan Jencks/Sixes (you rule!!), Joke Lanz/SI (yeah that's me), Ute Waldhausen (merch & documentation), Rachal Spikula (merch & driver), 1973 metallic blue GMC VANDURA.

Big big big THANK YOU to everyone who helped and supported our tour, in particular: Frank Melendez, Damion Romero, Sarah Stinson, GX Jupitter-Larsen, Gerritt Wittmer, everybody at the Terminal including Catzilla, William Bloodsondrifter, Daniel Menche & Arrow, Judy, Magnus, Ximena, Pete Swanson, Stan Reed, AJ Lindner, everybody at Bike Hospital, Randy Yau, Libby & Charlie, Scott Arford & Critter, Luc Meier, Christine Metropoulos, Eilish Cullen, Daniel Blomquist, Jim Haynes, David Lim, Raub Roy, AAA, Swiss Arts Council PH, Swissnex, Les Schwab, Black Flag, Slayer, Paul Leary and the Eugene Police Department...

Sudden Infant & Sixes

Here's a short tour-report for your pleasure:

23th Jan: SAN DIEGO - Soda Bar
w/Riververb, Eli Pechman, Author & Punisher
Beautiful San Diego, here we are! Ryan's old neighborhood is our tour-kick-off!! El Cajon Blvd, home of the hookers and home of the brave! Many thanks to Frank Melendez (Riververb) and cheers to his house mate: Don't worry be happy! Thanks for crashing at your nice house!

Late night show: Ute & Joke at Soda Bar San Diego

24th Jan: Los Angeles / Glendale - Luna Playhouse
w/ The Haters, Damion Romero, John Wiese
Luna Playhouse is a small Armenian theater in the heart of Glendale / Los Angeles. And this place became witness of a fantastic noisy Sunday afternoon: THE HATERS, SUDDEN INFANT, SIXES, DAMION ROMERO & JOHN WIESE performed in front of a large and magnetized audience (including Debbie Jaffe of Master/Slave Relationship and Drew Daniel of Matmos and Shannon Walter of 16Bitch Pile-Up and Joseph Hammer and Laban Pheidias and Jessica King and Jordan Biren and and and... Thanks Damion, thanks Sarah for making all this possible!

Photo by GX Jupitter-Larsen

AMK, GX Jupitter-Larsen, Elden, Joke Lanz (pic by Jessica King)

Luna Playhouse filled with 'Sixes-fog'...

Joseph Hammer, Damion Romero, Joke Lanz

25th Jan: Day off - A trip along the Pacific Coast Highway
Ute and I decided to carry the VW driver from LA to Oakland and enjoy the fantastic view along the historic Pacific Coast Road (SR1). Unfortunately we underestimated the road condition, the weather and the crazy natives with their monster pick-up trucks.
In the middle of nowhere in total darkness and heavy rain (Pacific Ocean on our left and falling rocks on our right) we had to pass a closed land slided road to finally get ass-ridden by some local scumbags before arriving in Big Sur, which brought back the great Henry Miller to my mind. Thanks Henry for all your inspiration and the wonderful and essential books you wrote!

Henry Miller (left) during his Ping Pong meditations in Big Sur!
http://www.henrymiller.org/

26th Jan: Oakland - Terminal
w/ Deathroes, Scott Arford, Darksmith
Finally, the mothership of all premium noise venues! Back in Oakland! Two years ago it was my best show on the whole tour and this time it shouldn't be different! Great audience, great acts, great host, great night, great house!! Thanks Ryan, thanks Alexis, thanks Rachal, thanks Dave, thanks Angie, thanks Scott, thanks Tom, thanks Gerritt, thanks everybody...

VW driver, GMC Vandura, Ryan the Mariachi, Joke the Starter...

27th Jan: Eugene - Speak Easy
w/ Casu Marzu, Soulscythe
Around 11pm we arrive in Eugene, Oregon with a two hours delay due to a shredded tire and some ignition problems. Happy to have done it we get stopped by a police car just a few steps away from our final load-in door! Hallelujah! There's a ghost under my bed!
Nevertheless, the crowd is waiting for us and we deliver two very intense and uplifting sets. Tattooed faces scream into slot machines and drink beer out of exploding high heels.

Waiting for AAA on the Interstate 5 near Yreka, California
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yreka,_California

Yes, we sold some merch!

Big thanks to William Bloodsondrifter for bringing us to Eugene and for his great hospitality. Absolute amazing collection of bones and skeletons:

Invocation of my demon sister Ute!
http://www.subcin.com/anger.html

28th Jan: Portland - Holocene
w/ Daniel Menche, Pete Swanson
Portland, Oregon - Home of thee incredible Daniel Menche, home of a beautiful Japanese garden, home of the microbreweries and home of Poison Idea!
Portland is the most environmentally friendly and green city in the United States. Trees everywhere, green green green all over the place, green spinach, green cucumber, green dollar bills, green eyes, green peas, green lettuce, green grass, green pickles and green noise!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_Green

Pete Swanson (Yellow Swans) opens the night at the Holocene with a powerful set. Daniel Menche follows and leaves me totally stunned! His new set is phenomenal! I'm deeply impressed! Oh my godness!! So good! Portland is green, but Menche is RED!!

Daniel Menche - Aliens want blood!

Sudden Infant - Shadow play!

Sixes / R. Jencks - The Fog!

Daniel Menche, Arrow, Joke Lanz, Ryan Jencks

29th Jan: Seattle - The Josephine
w/ Dried Up Corpse, Scard T1 & ~Dyna*Girl
The Josephine is a so called DIY space right next to a sports bar. Stan Reed of Broken Penis Orchestra, Blue Sabbath Black Cheer, Dried Up Corpse etc, is the main man on the spot and he's truly a great guy. He set up a fantastic night and we had loads of fun.

What do you know about a good father?

30th Jan: Portland - Bike Hospital
w/ Winter in the Blood, Squalora
Our second show in Portland, this time at an old warehouse space with a complete different audience than the previous one. It was obvious not to play our solo-sets again. Instead we went for a world premier threesome collaboration between Daniel Menche, Ryan Jencks and Joke Lanz. Tons of fog, tons of noise, tons of waves and tons of screams! Yes dudes, it's all recorded and filmed! Thanks to the Bike Hospital team and hope to see you guys in Berlin one day... There's loads of bicycle routes!

31st Jan: San Francisco - The Lab
w/ Tralphaz, Horaflora
The final show on this tour was definitely one of the best. The Lab is a very cool art space located in the vivid Mission district of San Francisco. The night was organized by 23five and co-presented by Swissnex. A numerous and very interested audience arrived at The Lab to witness four suspenseful and diverse live acts. Thanks again to Randy Yau, Jim Haynes and Luc Meier for their great work and support

Sudden Infant live at The Lab (photo by Randy Yau)

Rachal Spikula!

Libby, Randy, Charlie, Ute

Videos:
Sudden Infant live at The Lab
Sixes live at The Lab

Tanz den Uber Alles!!

2010-01-20T17:55:00.000-08:00

click on flyer to enlarge!

23/January/2010
SUDDEN INFANT
RYAN JENCKS / S6X6S
RIVERVERB
ELI PECHMAN
AUTHOR & PUNISHER
@ Soda Bar, 3615 El Cajon Blvd, San Diego, CA (USA)
http://www.myspace.com/sodabarbooking

24/January/2010 // starts 3pm!!
SUDDEN INFANT
RYAN JENCKS / S6X6S
THE HATERS
DAMION ROMERO
JOHN WIESE
CLEANSE
@ Luna Playhouse, 3706 San Fernando Rd, Glendale, Los Angeles, CA (USA)
http://www.lunaplayhouse.org

26/January/2010
SUDDEN INFANT
DEATHROES
DARKSMITH
SCOTT ARFORD
@ The Terminal, 3957 San Leandro St, Oakland, CA (USA)
http://fierysummons.blogspot.com/

27/January/2010
SUDDEN INFANT
RYAN JENCKS / S6X6S
CASU MARZU
SOULSCYTHE
@ Speak Easy, 915 Oak St, Eugene, OR (USA)
http://www.myspace.com/oakstreetspeakeasy

28/January/2010
SUDDEN INFANT
RYAN JENCKS / S6X6S
DANIEL MENCHE
PETE SWANSON
@ Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St, Portland, OR (USA)
http://www.holocene.org/calendar/

29/January/2010
SUDDEN INFANT
RYAN JENCKS / S6X6S
DRIED UP CORPSE
SCARD T1 & ~DYNA*GIRL
@ The Josephine, 608 NW 65th St, Seattle, WA (USA)
http://www.myspace.com/thejosephine

30/January/2010
SUDDEN INFANT
RYAN JENCKS
WINTER IN THE BLOOD
SQUALORA
@ The Bike Hospital, 611 N Tillamook St, Portland, OR (USA)
http://www.myspace.com/thebikehospital

31/January/2010
SUDDEN INFANT
RYAN JENCKS / S6X6S
TRALPHAZ
HORAFLORA
@ The Lab, 2948 16th St, San Francisco, CA (USA)
http://www.thelab.org/events/421-suddeninfant.html
http://www.23five.org/
http://www.swissnexsanfrancisco.org/

SUDDEN INFANT US-Westcoast shows are kindly supported by Pro Helvetia Swiss Arts Council.

I want to thank everybody who made this tour possible in particular: Ryan Jencks, Damion Romero, GX Jupitter-Larsen, Daniel Menche, Randy Yau, Luc Meier, Swissnex, Pro Helvetia, Ute Waldhausen.

Manhole!?

2010-01-14T13:40:00.000-08:00

When I first read the term "Manhole", I said to myself: What the hell is a manhole? Well, as a non-english native speaker I was very much confused and carried this wrongly written note (manshole) with me in my jacket:

After a brief consultation with the internet my fears were confirmed and I now know what a manhole is. Strangely enough I found this one in the neighborhood:

Did you know that the city of Los Angeles was made in India? Anyway...

In German language you would say "Kanaldeckel" or "Gully".

In 1990, the city of Sacramento in California officially renamed all their manholes to "maintenance holes" out of concern for the equality of both genders. The name "maintenance hole" was selected because the term shares the same initials as the word "manhole", thereby eliminating the need to change the MH labels on the city's utility maps. (Wikipedia)

Integratron & Giant Rock

2010-01-12T14:02:00.000-08:00

We decided to drive out of Los Angeles and visit The Integratron in Landers, California. This historic dome, made entirely out of wood (built in the 50's by Georg Van Tassel) is located at the intersection of geomagnetic forces in the Mojave Desert. Its mysterious architect intended to use it to rejuvenate the human body. Energy and sound are focused and amplified by the geometry of this one-of-a-kind structure. Would be fantastic for a Noise show!

Its design was based on the writings of Nikola Tesla and telepathic directions from extraterrestrial intelligences, in particular an individual named Solganda from Saturn. The Integratron was supposed to prolong life, produce anti-gravity, and allow time travel.

So we decided to travel to Giant Rock, which is just a few miles away from The Integratron. And guess what? We got lost in the Mojave Desert!

But finally we found Giant Rock! It was surrounded by some local human beings (no aliens) on off-road motorbikes drinking bud light.

Georg Van Tassel began conducting weekly meditation sessions in 1953 in the rooms underneath Giant Rock which, he claimed, led to UFO contacts and finally to an actual encounter with extra-terrestrials when, in August of that year, a saucer landed, woke Van Tassel up and invited him onto the ship. There the aliens gave him the technique for rejuvenating living cell tissues

Giant Rock has been known world-wide for a long time for its unusual UFO activities and for the many unmatched annual Space Conventions which have been held here.

Sex Beat!

2010-01-02T19:28:00.000-08:00

On my way back from little Tokyo supermarket, where I bought plenty of vitamins, tiger balm, tea and fresh ginger to cure my flu, I passed the LA gun club building. This sign immediately evoked the voodoo-ish rhythms and guitars of The Gun Club and I heard Jeffrey Lee's voice loud and clearly in my head. Memories of the 1983 show at Rote Fabrik in Zurich came up. The show was like magic to me and alongside w/ The Cramps and The Birthday Party they totally ruled my late teenage years!
Jeffrey Lee Pierce R.I.P. (1958-1996)

Day one!

2010-01-01T17:03:00.000-08:00

It's 2010! Hooray! My head is pretty much autonomous today. Some call it hangover. Had a great time last night at NYE party at Sarah's house on Sunset Blvd with Ute, Shannon, Damion, John, Spencer, Meg, Amanda, Joseph, Nicole, Grant, Peter and many more. Loads of nice people, drunk'n'punk, broken glasses and the longest queue in front of the bathroom. Sonny's burning and human fly under a blue moon!
Just came back from Wurstküche, the famous sausage place here in the heart of downtown Los Angeles' historic arts district. Had a german bratwurst with belgium fries and plenty of mustard and curry ketchup, yeah! Feels like Berlin!

A new year will bring new action!
I'm totally happy and even a bit proud to announce the Sudden Infant retrospective 'My Life's a Gunshot' on two double LP's. Yes, you got it right! Four longplay vinyls housed in two full-colour gatefold covers(volume 1 & 2) with my own paintings from 1992 and a very personal and exclusive 4-page essay by GX Jupitter-Larsen.
It will be released on Berlin based Hrönir label and it's definitely the most important and most beautiful and most tasty SI release ever! This newborn SI child will be ready for the world by February 2010.
I want to thank Ed for his incredible support and energy and patience during the process of this release. Also I want to kiss Rashad Becker for mastering and cutting and Bill Kouligas for the graphic design. Not to forget Daniel Löwenbrück of Tochnit Aleph who's experience and knowledge will help to spread this fine piece of disturbance ;)

Pre-orders:
MAILER-DAEMON@tochnit-aleph.com

Welcome & Happy 2010!

2009-12-31T20:38:00.000-08:00

Dear friends!

Out here in the far west of the United States of North America I decided to write down my thoughts, ideas and brain activities into this Sudden Infant blog. Thanks to Daniel Menche for his inspiration and intuition to convince my own ghosts to go all the way! Daniel: Our collaboration will be born very soon! A scream is looking for a mouth! Time has no meaning. We have to destroy in order to go forward!

If you want blood you've got it!

Joke Lanz / Los Angeles 31/Dec/2009