Our Band of the Month for April are a quintet hailing from Germany, Smile And Burn. This is the first time a band from the Germany has been given the converted award, it may have happened earlier but since they beat England in the World Cup some of us have been sulking.
Smile And Burn released their debut album at the end of 2010 and received some pretty great reviews including from our own Kate Rees who gave it a whopping 12 out of 13 saying "Serving up a succulent selection of pop-punk tunes, Berlin-based Smile And Burn are set to give their musical peers a run for their money with their delicious debut effort 'Flight Attempt Of The Kiwi'." If it is good enough for Kate, it is good enough for the rest of us too.
The boys from Berlin are just about to head to these shores, with a tour of the UK, details are below and you would be crazy to miss them if you had the chance!
Finally, Christoph from the band was kind enough to answer our questions and introduce themselves:
Bio:
We are Smile And Burn from Berlin/Germany. We know each other for ages and made music in different bands before. We took the chance to join forces with both hands in late 2008. After writing and recording some songs we put out a demo on ourselves which was released by Lost Tape Collective a few weeks later. The start as a band went well so we played more shows and wrote new stuff. In 2010 we were able to release our first album on Fond Of Life Records.
Members:
Smile And Burn are Philipp (Vocals), Wolli (Drums), Soren (Guitar and Vocals), Sascha (Guitar and Vocals) and Christoph (Bass and Vocals).
Influences:
Obviously Punk Rock had a huge impact on us. Latterman, Belvedere, NoFX or newer stuff like The Riot Before are bands we all dig and shaped us somehow. But we don't put restrictions on ourselves and listen to every stuff we like and want. Wolli sometimes listen to crazy Jazz stuff were Philipp prefers a fine breeze of Motown Soul. You can't grow as band only listen to the same stuff over and over again. You have to broaden your horizon.
Sounds Like:
Ha, you couldn't know this but we are a casualty of extreme name dropping in reviews. We were blessed getting some really god ones from fanzines we love but according to the reviewing writers it seems we sound like the whole "Pop Punk Rock Top 100". From A Day To Remember to Zebrahead. We actually made a sticker about that topic. But to answer that question, I think all people who like good Punk Rock would like what they hear.
Current release and where it's available:
Our debut album "Flight Attempt Of The Kiwi" is out since autumn 2010. I think you can buy it almost everywhere on the internet, at the FOND OF LIFE website or directly from us at shows or online.
Up and coming artists you would recommend:
We definitely fell in love with All Aboard from Monchengladbach, Germany during the last months. This band is just great and definitely worth checking out.
The same could be said for The Driftwood Fairytales from our home town Berlin. They will release a new album this summer which is just stunning.
From England I personally love Mike TV and All Or Nothing. Two great bands from the millions and thousands of awesome bands from the UK.
Future Plans:
We all are very exited about our UK Tour starting this weekend. We just can't wait to hop in the van and play those shows. After that we'll keep on working as hard as possible in case of playing concerts and writing new material. In July we'll tour with The Driftwood Fairytales through Germany which will be a blast, too.
Tour Dates:
Our UK Tour is starting this weekend! Come to the shows and say "hi"!
02. April Cologne (GER) - Aetherblissement
03. April Eindhoven (NL) - Cafe Aloys
04. April Brighton (UK) - The Jam
05. April Reading (UK) - The Facebar
06. April Swindon (UK) - The 12 Bar
07. April Liverpool (UK) - Bumper
08. April Macclesfield (UK) - The Swan With Two Necks
09. April Petersfield (UK) - Foggy's Bar
10. April Sheerness (UK) - The Ivy Leaf Club
If you were Chancellor Merkel for one day, what would you do:
Nude pictures or a hidden porn video named "yes she can". Of course, no one would like to see this but it would force her to recede and everyone else would have a blast.
If you could go back to any time in history, where would you go and why:
I would go back to the summer of 2005 when I tried to play an audition for Philipps old band and find the lower tone "E" on my bass guitar right away. That would erase a long lasting running gag.
Want a sneak peak of what they sound like, well look no further