KEIMZEIT. – „Primeln & Elefanten Tour 2025“
In the mid-90s, bands like Talking Heads, Nirvana, or the legendary Wu-Tang Clan were popular. Punk and grunge ruled, the hip-hop and techno wave took off, and experimental bands like Portishead, Faithless, or The Prodigy ventured into new musical paths. For the band Keimzeit, all of that was irrelevant, and they surprised everyone in 1995 with the album „Primeln & Elefanten“, which, despite the zeitgeist, presented a sound equipped with natural instruments from the 70s and 80s. It happened without any real intention. The band swam with verve and love against the powerful current of the punky and electronic sound that was trending at the time.
„Primeln & Elefanten“ – the fourth album by Keimzeit – was recorded in 1994 and released on April 18, 1995. This 30th-anniversary album celebration will be marked by an extensive tour in 2025. Sixteen songs were recorded, fourteen of them in the Audioton Studio in Berlin, with the songs „Windstill“ and „Schone nicht meine Nerven“ recorded in another studio in Lütte. The album was produced by Michael Beckmann. “For us, working on the album was paradise,” recalls Norbert Leisegang. “Everything was allowed, no one interfered with the band.” Thus, every creative idea was pursued and lived out. The band perfected their stylistic mix into a consistently coherent reflection of affection and partnership. The lyrics are sharply observed, life-like, and playful in tone, which is further underscored by the musical mix from blues and chanson to jazz, folk, and waltz or Latin American elements. For many fans of the band, this album is still regarded as a masterpiece.
The style of the group from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s has been retrospectively and somewhat whimsically described by frontman Norbert Leisegang as “muesli pop” or “shaped by hippie feeling.” “Primeln & Elefanten” illustrates quite well what he means. The songs are catchy and stick in your mind, pulling you in and being fun. Experiments with South American rhythms from the predecessor album „Bunte Scherben“ are continued in the title track „Primeln & Elefanten“, but bluesy and rocky sounds also come to the fore. Examples of this are songs like „Verlorengegangen“. Waltz and Klezmer sounds definitely stand out in tracks like „Schone nicht meine Nerven“ and the cryptic „Die Achse“. With the instrumental piece „Lisa“, saxophonist Ralf Benschu contributed an instrumental piece that is rather rare for Keimzeit.
The album is surrounded by a lot of quirky stories. Leisegang recalls: “A topic surely hotly debated with the record company was the video shoot for the song „Windstill“ with the then certainly most expensive video company DORO. A company that almost guaranteed playlists on VIVA and MTV. Unfortunately, at the already fixed time for the shoot, almost the entire band was on vacation, which is why Ralf Benschu and I ended up going alone after much back and forth. The mood in the record company was at rock bottom, and even the atmospheric video shot at the Baltic Sea beach couldn’t win the expected playlists afterward.” The band, however, took it all in stride. It was not important …
This wonderful “easy-living feeling” is now also to shape the live program of the “Primeln & Elefanten” tour 2025. Songs such as the introspective „Windstill“, „Donauangler“, „Näher mein Herz“, „Primeln & Elefanten“, „Mit dem Regen“, and „Gott will“ – all favorite tracks of Keimzeit fans – will be celebrated in the program. Additionally, other well-known songs from the band that fit in character and style with the mentioned titles will be included. Thus, a concert formation is created that will surely make not only die-hard Keimzeit fans click their tongues.
„Primeln & Elefanten“ thrives on diverse and playful songs that were quite groundbreaking for the band. It includes a plethora of songs that have shaped and continue to shape the German rock and singer-songwriter scene.
Doors open: 19:00 Uhr