Music Memories Tag (Zoe London)

I found this tag on Zoe London´s channel. I rarely watch her, but this tag is definitely for me!
Let´s talk about music, cause what else is there?


1. Your worst gig experience?
In terms of music, probably any kind of crust punk gig I ended up in at one of the local Berlin squats. Crust punk just makes life so much worse...
Anyway - if to not mention the incredibly disappointing Agalloch gig I went to with my Danish boyfriend last Summer, it would be one recent Totenwald gig.
Not because Totenwald played badly, hell no - they were great, but because of the crowd.

The setting - Köpi, the local squat.
The bands - Totenwald are warming up an old Russian post punk band (отдел самоискоренения/ Department of Selferadication).
The crowd - consisting mainly of old drunk Polish punks. And unless you are one, you would know how annoying old drunk Polish punks are. They were all over the place, pushing and jumping around everyone and basically having the time of their lives, only that it triggered my Anxiety and I felt very unsafe. The evening was ruined.


2. A music video that blew your mind?
Has to be Street Spirit by Radiohead. It´s the ultimate music video, makes me want to cry each time I see it and I sometimes wish I could live in it:

3. Gig that made you lose your shit?
My first ever Opeth gig.
I was 18 and really excited to see my (still) favorite band. It felt like we were waiting 3 hours until they went on stage, it was hot and stuffy even though it was winter but no way I was going to give away my spot in the 3rd row (sound was a lot better from the middle of the hall, tbh).
When they played all the songs I longed to hear, I felt like I was praying while singing with them. It still felt so in the second gig.
There´s a Blast From The Past post about it, too.

18 going on 12

4. The band you wished you could join?
Well, I am very happy about our Girls Like Us so far ;) but my recent crush are Mystified. Just listen to this:

Otherwise: A Perfect Circle, Placebo, Portishead and basically any band that makes a song I love would make me want to join on all instruments.


5. A song that reminds you of your partner/friend?
Wintertime Love by The Doors will always remind me of my first year with Boris. He has burned me a CD for our first date including all the good bands I´ve been at the time oblivious to - Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath.

6. Best gig ever?
Probably that Opeth one. But there have been so many gigs in recent years that it´s too hard to name only one. And they all have been best in different ways. Some of the classical music concerts I´ve been to in my teenage years have made a huge impact on me as well, especially listening to Musorgsky´s Pictures At An Exhibition by the Haifa philharmonic orchestra.


7. The last song you listened to?
Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me by The Smiths. I´ve been discovering their first and last albums lately and it´s amazing.


8. A song that sums you up?
Ok, so I can go all Opeth on you with yet another self-pitying song about sadness and dismay, but composition-wise that would be In The Night by Bauhaus.
Just because this is the kind of music I would love to play/ compose, its energy and diversity (yes- diversity because it has dub elements with goth vocals and punk rhythm in the fast second half).
Bauhaus have shaped my musical expectations quite a bit.
I could have named 10 more songs but I will restrain myself.

9. What music era do you wish you were around in?
The early 80s, before things began to get cheesy and stereotypical, and just when punk began expanding into post punk.


10. Surprising music fact about you?
I wonder if there is something you don´t know yet? That my music tastes are incredibly diverse but still I will listen to 2-3 bands from each genre and will pour shit all over the rest? That I am incredibly critical when it comes to music I love and hate? That I have a love-hate-relationship with anything goth related but still identify with it strongly? That music is something so personal and vulnerable to me that I will dismiss anything that does not touch me 100%? That with all my love for bands I will still not purchase records?

 Here´s something regarding band matters, that Boris has taught me to believe: people play their instrument the way they first heard it in their first ever conscious encounter with music.
Example: you are 13 years old and just started to learn the guitar, and you have been listening to 70s rock for a while. Big chance you will play (or want to play) your guitar the same way you heard it in your headphones.
The music we listened to in the beginning of our "musical path" delivers strongly into the music we later on would want to create.
And I still find a lot of Baroque music from my recorder playing days transfer into the way I play bass. Because there´s no bass like the independent Baroque counterpoint.


I had fun, and welcome you all to do this tag!

Maria