December news

 

Rainbirds are playing at #Lieblingsplatte Festival in Düsseldorf on 15 December.

And also in December: I’m delighted that my acoustically ambitious radio play Alles aber anders about the artist Eva Hesse, was rebroadcast by Deutschlandfunk. Eva Hesse (1936–1970) is one of the most significant visual artists of the 20th century. Born in Hamburg to Jewish parents, she fled with her family to the U.S. in 1939 and later studied art in New York. Her short, intense life — marked by profound trauma — could fill several biographies. The radio play traces Hesse’s fascination with materials and translates the sensuous, fragile energy of her sculptures directly into sound. Please enjoy!

In 1989 I joined the Rainbirds on keys
for the tour of “call me easy say I am strong love me my way it ain’t wrong.”

And now, 37 years later 
we return to this beloved album,
the same line-up, plus two new Birds,
live at the Lieblingsplatte Festival @zakk.

A once-in-a-lifetime moment.
History returning and taking flight again.

I’m truly excited to bring this chapter back to life with the Rainbirds — with all the energy and emotion woven into these songs. Playing this music live again feels like a dialogue with my younger self :: full of strength, joy, and depth.

„Rainbirds made pop music, but with the ambition to create art and not just cater to mainstream radio. This is even more true of “Call Me Easy, Say I’m Strong, Love Me My Way, It Ain’t Wrong” (1989) than of their debut, this is Rainbirds for advanced listeners. The fact that the ten-minute “Sea Of Time” was the central song on the album and also the most popular with fans speaks for itself. For the Lieblingsplatte concert, Rainbirds reunite in a unique line-up: alongside Katharina Franck are founding members Michael Beckmann and Wolfgang Glum. Also present is Die Ärzte bassist Rod González and pianist and composer Ulrike Haage, who joined the Rainbirds for the release of “Call Me Easy…” in early 1989 and accompanied them during their second major tour. She remained co-writer and keyboardist for the Rainbirds until 1999.“ (Press text by ZAKK, Düsseldorf.)