Ner\Ogris has been set up by Kai Neugebauer who you probably remember from Les Berrtas. He got company from singer Tino Claus who’s involved with Amnistia, TC75, MRDTC. They early this year released the debut album “I Am The Shadow – I Am The Light” on Dependent. The work is driven by retro-like EBM & Dark-Electro influences reminding legendary bands like Skinny Puppy and Yelworc… The power of the production emerges from bombastic drum sections, Industrial sound treatments and dark atmospheres. I talked with the German duo about this promising debut.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Both of you are experienced artists active in Electronic music for years. How did you get in touch with each other and where did the need come from to set up a new project? What does Ner/Ogris stands for by the way?

tinoC: We met the first time in 2014 at a Tommi Stumpff show. We talked about the ‘good-old days’ and had some fun. We have been in contact since then and did remixes for each other. In 2021 Kai sent a couple of instrumental tracks to get some feedback. His idea was to release an instrumental album. I had an idea of one of the tracks, asked if I should try something, got a GO and 90 minutes later I sent a vocal demo for “Shadowlight” to Kai.

kaiN: I was blown away, because I never thought that vocals fit into that song. And of course I asked Tino if he might want to try some more songs. At the end we had 6 songs. It was more than obvious that we could not call it a ‘featuring’… Ner\Ogris was born. This was in February 2022. The meaning of Ner\Ogris is simply Nero for black and Gris for grey. That’s it –no mystical meaning.

Q: I noticed you speak about Ner/Ogris as ‘always about contrasts and opposites’. What are these contrasts all about and how do you reflect it in your sound and lyrical content?

tinoC: First of all the contrast is that we both have our own ‘playground’ in the project. kaiN is the music and I am the voice. We don’t have the same age so our influences are different. We like the same artists but we have some addictions to artists the other will never listen too. So the base is quiet interesting and a great seed for creativity.

kaiN: The second point is that the album was not planed to the songs where there and tinoC added his vocals to an almost finished painting in some ways. We did not change anything on the tracks. This is (maybe) a bit unusual but this was a great challenge for us.

Q: The theme of contrast is clearly related in the album title “I Am The Shadow – I Am The Light” but what is the deeper significance of the title? And how did this album took shape?

tinoC: The name of the album is one line from the track “Shadowlight”. We called the album like the track but the label asked to name it “I Am The Shadow – I Am The Light”. And they were right. A strong name that reflects our philosophy. Sometimes the label guys have good ideas 😉

Q: I noticed a very strong, powerful, and overwhelming, ‘dark atmospheric’ side running through the composition which sometimes remind me a bit of early Canadian EBM formations. Can you give us more insight about the sound properly speaking and eventually influences/references?

kaiN: My influence is of course Skinny Puppy, Front Line Assembly, The Tear Garden, Schnitt 8 and all the other Belgian, American or European bands of the 90s. That’s what I grew up with. I absorbed all those songs and it’s obvious that it has to come out again. Maybe the sound is like that because I’ve been collecting studio equipment since the 90s and of course I use it. That makes for this exciting mixture of old, perhaps familiar sounds and fresh sounds from modern DAWs.

Q: The album is also available as a special edition featuring an extra disc. What is the bonus of this extra disc all about and how did the selection of the songs for this bonus disc happened?

tinoC: To be honest… the label deal came very fast and was a big surprise. We did not think about the possibility of a release at Dependent. But when Dependent asked for songs for a special edition we had not so much material… ok we had a bunch of instrumentals but we thought that an instrumental bonus disc is maybe not sexy for most of the people. So we decided to record vocals for at least 2 songs. And here we are now with a bonus disc. Our label says that the tracks of the bonus disc are very good, so you guys should give it a try.

Q: I noticed you played your first concerts so what have been your experiences and reactions? How does it feel to go on stage with a ‘new’ project and what brings the future considering live shows, new songs, remixes, clips etc..? 

tinoC: We both are active in other bands so it is exciting to bring Ner\Ogris on stage. We are a bit nervous of course but we are no newbies. We believe that the concert will be as good as possible for us. And we hope and believe that all will work properly.

kaiN: Playing live and having a direct line to the fans is the greatest thing. We really want to do that. Besides the concert on 18.3.2023 in Naumburg/Saale, the NCN Festival in Deutzen on 31.8.2023 is also confirmed for this year. I’m currently working on a few remixes for a few bands I’m friends with, and of course I’m already working on more material.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

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Out now from the German industrial veteran Rüdiger Schuster is “Material”: The second music video off his new album “Schuster III – Final Ten Industrial Tracks” and one of three songs sung in German. A new music video for each song will be released in chronological order on a regular basis. All music videos have been produced by Nihil Media.

You might know Schuster for both “Trauma” and “Drown” which were featured on “Face The Beat: Session 7” and “Face The Beat: Session 5”, as he’s been around the scene for 40 years with bands like Stumpff, ULAA, Die Guten Deutschen and also starred in cult movies like “Kinder der Nacht” I and II.

Here’s the video for “Material”.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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(Photo by Nihil Media / artwork by Pixelbreed) Out now from the German industrial veteran Rüdiger Schuster is his third and final solo album in the ‘industrial tracks’ trilogy, “Schuster III – Final Ten Industrial Tracks” on Bandcamp.

You will know Schuster for both “Trauma” and “Drown” which were featured on “Face The Beat: Session 7” and “Face The Beat: Session 5”, but he’s been around the scene for 40 years with bands like Stumpff, ULAA, Die Guten Deutschen and also starred in cult movies like “Kinder der Nacht” I and II.

This new album offers raw and heavy Industrial / EBM in the spirit of Youth Code or Revolting Cocks. 7 tracks are sung in English and 3 tracks in German.

Rüdiger: “It´s a concept album about my near death experience and brain damage I suffered from a cerebral haemorrhage.” And his producer Nihil adds: “We created a stripped-down record, designed as a tour-de-force experience for the audience. Raw, live and authentic.”

All instruments on this record were recorded live and intentionally produced without the use of quantization or copy & paste. No synthesizers and no keyboards were used, either. Next to Schuster on vocals, we find Nihil on sample duties and Flexxxis Maschine on noise. The record was mixed by Nihil Media and mastered by Ben Blutzukker.

The artwork was delivered by German designer Pixelbreed (Deadcibel, SITD, Funkervogt). All interior art is based on Schuster´s authentic medical scans visualizing his injuries. The full booklet includes all lyrics and is includes as a ready to print PDF.

The first music video for “Trauma” was already released on YouTube with one music video for each song on the record soon to come.

Here is the full album to check out.

About Rüdiger Schuster

Rüdiger has been active in some of the best-known scene bands over the past 40 years.

He started his career working with Die Guten Deutschen (1979 – 1986), a band which gained a cult following in the alternative scene of Düsseldorf.

You also find him back with Garden Of Delight (1991 – 1992) where he recorded all bass tracks on their debut album.

A few years later he joined U.L.A.A (1994 – 1998) with whom he released three albums and toured in Germany and Benelux countries supporting acts like Suicide Commando, Thumb and Dance or Die.

Schuster was also a live-musician on synthesizers in EBM-pioneer Tommi Stumpff´s live band during their comeback period (2015 – 2021).

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Belgian born Thomas Peters better known as Tommi Stumpff became a true reference in the world of 80s EBM. Albums like “Terror II” (1988) and “Ultra” (1989) became successful productions featuring hits like the legendary “Massaker”, but also “Lobotomie” and “Meine Sklavin”. Nearly twenty years after his last studio production, there’s a new (mini)-album hitting the streets. “Alles Idioten” released on Danse Macabre Records features six songs mixing solid Electronic bass lines together with the Industrial power of the guitar play and enraged vocals. The production is getting us back to the powerful- and rough sound of the artist. Stumpff is now a true band already working on new songs.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: “Alles Idioten” is your first new work in years. What have been the triggers to start composing music again and what are the most significant changes/evolutions compared to your early years? 

Tommi: I was seeing bands with guys of my age, and that gave me the idea to start jamming again. I met up with Rüdiger Schuster at the Amphitheater back in 2014 and we decided to give it a shot. The big difference from my solo career is that this time, we’re hitting the stage as a band –with guitars. The sound became harder and more metallic. The baritone guitar from Sam H. Hunt is also part of our sound now.

Q: Are you nostalgic? I mean how do you look back at the songs and albums you released in between 1982 and 1993? And how did you perceive the evolution of music (and the scene) after you stopped yourself making music? 

Tommi: No, I’m not that nostalgic, but the music from that era –especially what I had been doing back then –well, I like it more than ever before. After all, it wasn’t long ago that I re-released my old albums “Zu Spät Ihr Scheißer”, “Terror II” and “Ultra”. Songs like “La Lueur”, “Lobotomie” and “Creve Petit Con” in particular –those are ones we still play live nowadays. It’s as much fun for me listening to them as it ever was.

I can’t think of any big jump that I’ve made from the music I was doing back around 1993. But I hadn’t spent that much time with it, either. 

Q: I think it’s nearly impossible comparing the 80s with the music of today and yet, I get the impression listening to “Alles Idioten” brings the good-old Tommi Stumpff sound alive. Tell us a bit more about the writing- and recording process of the album? What are the main points of satisfaction and what have been the main difficulties/challenges you encountered? 

Tommi: It all begins when I start working on an idea I’ve in mind, and then I start putting the Electronic parts into place. Either I start with a melody, or I’ve already got a line in my head. The lyrics always come last. 

Being able to switch to digital instruments in Linux was a great opportunity, giving me more control over the sounds I was creating than I ever had before. The analog parts –guitar and vocals, are recorded in a conventional manner at Dungeon Studio, Rhenania, with the help of Marcel P. 

Q: Because of the ongoing pandemic it’s rather strange to unleash a new album in such hard times. “Alles Idioten” however sounds as an appropriated title to reflect the world we’re living in. But what is it really all about and what did you try to express by this title and the lyrical themes? 

Tommi: It will take more than a pandemic to keep me quiet. The songs were already done and had to get out there. What’s interesting is that 90% of everybody thinks that 90% of everybody else are a bunch of idiots – which may very well reflect reality. 

Our new album “Alles Idioten” is. When the situation calls for it, it feels good to shout “Geh Sterben” ([fuck off and] “Go Die”) or “Alles Idioten” ([you’re all just] “A Bunch of Idiots”).

Q: Your music has been often connected with EBM, but I always experienced your sound as ‘atypical’. It’s not that different for the new work. How important for you is it to always have had this particular sound, kind of sound DNA? 

Tommi: Sounding different from everything else has always been very important to me. Needless to say, the new songs have the personal Tommi Stumpff touch too. I always tried creating distinctive sounds from the very outset, and that hasn’t changed, although I do make most of my sounds with Yoshimi and Linux. Whenever a certain sound captures my attention, I’m quick to record it and use it in one of my pieces. 

Q: You lived in Brussels (Belgium), Paris (France) and of course Düsseldorf (Germany). How important has been the impact of the places you lived on your music? And what did you keep in mind from you stay in Belgium and France? 

Tommi: None of that really influenced me that much. I started playing guitar when I lived in Brussels, and when I came back to Düsseldorf at the age of 16, I wanted to launch a career in music. We played in a schoolboy band back then. 

The things I remember most about Belgium and France were the schools –and the smells. Brigitte Bardot lived near our place in Paris. 

Q: Do we have to see “Alles Idioten” as a ‘one shot’ experience or do you’ve concrete further plans?

Tommi: We’re not calling it quits. We’re working on new songs. 

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: EBM, Crossover, Industrial.

Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl.

Background/Info: Belgian born Thomas Peters better known as Tommi Stumpff became one of the leading artists of the 80s Electronic underground scene. His biggest hit “Massaker” is part of our collective memory. Nearly twenty years after his last work Stumpff is back with a new (mini)-album featuring six songs.

Content: “Alles Idioten” is a cynical wink to the world we live in. Five songs have been sung in German, which remains one of the artist’s characteristics, but the last track features English vocals. Sound-wise the new songs are bringing us back to some of his early success tracks, “Massaker” remaining the reference. The compositions are mixing solid Electronic bass lines and sound treatments on one side and the typical guitar riffs on the other side.

+ + + : Stumpff hasn’t lost his early magic and this new work sounds even better than some ‘old’ albums. There’s a constant power running through the tracks while the balance between Electronics and the great guitar riffs remains a unique experience. The title track is a great piece, but I prefer the more powerful and EBM-driven “Geh Sterben”. This work smells like pure nostalgia!

– – – : The single regret is the album only features six songs.

Conclusion: Stumpff strikes back with power and style; it sounds like time has no impact on the new songs. This is a cool comeback!

Best songs: “Geh Sterben”, “Alles Idioten”, “Frohes Fest”.

Rate: 7½.

Artist: www.facebook.com/tommi.stumpff

Label: www.dansemacabre-group.de / www.facebook.com/dansemacabrerec

About Tommi Stumpff

Thomas Peters, known as Tommi Stumpff, was born in Belgium, spent his childhood in Paris and Brussels and moved back to his birthplace Düsseldorf. In the late 1970s he sang in the punk band Der KFC before starting a solo career. His debut album “Zu spät Ihr Scheisser” came out on the Düsseldorf label Schallmauer Records; the single “Contergan Punk” followed on Giftplatten in 1983, produced by Conny Plank. The album “Ultra” (1989) holds “Massaker”. After stepping back from music in the 1990s and working in IT, he returned to the stage in 2007. Side-Line reviewed Terror II on Danse Macabre in April 2018.

Side-Line announced the new album in February 2021 in Tommi Stumpff returns with all new album after 16 years of silence. Danse Macabre released “Alles Idioten” on 19 March 2021 as a CD in a digipak, as a 12″ on green vinyl and as a download, credited on the sleeve to Stumpff. The six tracks are “Alles Idioten”, “Geh Sterben”, “300 Tote – Teil 2”, “Frohes Fest”, “Gnade Dir Gott” and “Stranglehold”. Stumpff wrote the music and lyrics, sang, played lead guitar, programmed and produced; Rüdiger Schuster played keyboards and sang, Marcel P. played bass, sang backing vocals and co-produced, Sam H. Hunt played baritone guitar and Estella Plunkett added backing vocals. In the October 2021 ‘Click Interview’ with Tommi Stumpff he described the live band with Schuster as harder and more metallic than his solo years.

Schuster announced his final solo album Schuster III – Final Ten Industrial Tracks in July 2022. Tommi Stumpff died on 28 July 2023 at the age of 65; Side-Line published RIP Tommi Stumpff, dies aged 65. “Alles Idioten” is his last album covered on Side-Line.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

At last, after more than 16 years, the album “Alles Idioten” is due for release this Spring. Included on the album is also a cover of Ted Nugent’s “Stranglehold”. The album is the first new material since 2005’s “Festival of Darkness” and counts 6 tracks.

1. Alles Idioten
2. Geh sterben
3. 300 Tote – Teil 2
4. Frohes Fest
5. Gnade dir Gott
6. Stranglehold

About Tommi Stumpff

Thomas Peters, known professionally as Tommi Stumpff, is a German musician who started his music career in the late 1970s. In the beginning of the 80’s, Tommi Stumpff was the singer of the Düsseldorf-based punk band Der KFC, one of the most hated punkbands around. Born in Belgium, he got in contact with Belgian industrial and proto-EBM soon and started a solo-career in this field after Der KFC went defunct.

His solo debut album “Zu spät Ihr Scheisser” was released on the Düsseldorf independent label Schallmauer Records selling 3,000 units. The following single “Contergan Punk” was released on the Giftplatten label in 1983 and was produced by sound engineer Conny Plank and featured a heavy electropunk sound that would become characteristic of EBM.

His famous hit “Massaker” released on the “Ultra” album (1989) rapidly became an EBM-hymn.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: EBM, electro-wave, cinematographic.

Background/Info: German artist Tommi Stumpff (real name Thomas Peters) got some fame in the 80s. His famous hit “Massaker” released on the “Ultra”-album rapidly became an EBM-hymn. “Terror II” was the second full length by Tommi Stumpff originally released in 1988 on No Dance. The album has been now re-edited and for this occasion remastered.

Content: Re-discovering an album 20 years after his original release always is something tricky. But “Terror II” hasn’t really lost of its original magic. The harder cuts dealing with EBM are still very efficient. Other cuts reveal a softer and ambient-like side although accomplished with some epic- and cinematographic arrangements. Tommi Stumpff composed his music without real compromises, which resulted in a varied composition. The lyrics are sung in German, but also in French (the artist seems to have lived in Brussels and Paris) and English.

+ + + : Stumpff had his own sound approach, which was clearly different from other 80s bands. His work was driven by eclecticism and hasn’t lost (except a few tracks) the original impact. “Eliminator”, “The German beat” and “Meine Sklavin” are still pretty kicking. “Terror II” is a fascinating release composed by an artist we maybe sometimes forget to mention when it comes to mention 80s idols and legends. It could be interesting to see more releases from this artist getting remastered and re-released.  

– – – : As I already said there are a few cuts on this album, which suffer from the weight of time, but globally speaking it consists of a very few exceptions.

Conclusion: Tommi Stumpff remains an enigmatic artist who however belongs to the collective memory of 80s electro-underground music. It’s a real good thing this album has been recovered from dust. Some songs will again hit the dancefloors and make new ‘younger’ victims who maybe weren’t born in 1988… but maybe conceived by their parents when listening to “Meine Sklavin”…

Best songs: “The German Beat”, “Eliminator”, “Terror II”, “Robots Kill The Japanese”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www.facebook.com/tommi.stumpff

Label: www.dansemacabre–group.de / www.facebook.com/dansemacabrerec

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com