For many years, the duo Jan Plewka and Marco Schmedtje have been a guarantee for intense musical moments. With Zinoba, they had a joint band from 2003 to 2005. With the now two-part series "Jan Plewka sings Rio Reiser," they paid tribute to the band Ton Steine Scherben and the songs of their late frontman Rio Reiser live and on record with an extraordinary memorial, complemented by a great live band and an audiovisual interpretation that is both modern theater and captivating live concert. They then approached two other artists whom they equally respected, Simon & Garfunkel.
With all these encounters with these great artists from the past, they have also gone on tour several times, leading to another program titled "Between the Bars." In this program, they not only presented their finely crafted, subtle, and acoustically reduced yet urgently intense cover versions, but also their own songs from the Zinoba catalog, as well as from Plewka's and Schmedtje's respective solo albums. Occasionally, another cover version would be added to the program, usually songs that told stories of the youth and musical socialization of both musicians. This led to the idea of another cover album: "Between the 80’s", a collection of highly successful songs - or classics - of that decade, completely reinterpreted in their very own way.
From "Smalltown Boy" to "Billy Jean," from "Wild Boys" to "The Power of Love," from "Hello" to "Material Girl," from "Africa" to "Ain’t Nobody" - just mention the titles, and the melody instantly comes to mind. But then you listen to these new versions - and you discover a brand new song within them, in between and behind. "I just wanted to finally make an album with a few hits," laughs Marco, but Jan, who usually laughs as much, remains serious at this point: "These are all songs from our very personal past, with a lot of emotion attached to these pieces. Our respective lists of potential songs for this album were accordingly long." Marco adds, "Of course, then you have to see if a song functions in our sound world. Some songs can be broken down superbly into this minimalist arrangement of one guitar and two voices, but with others, something is just missing."
It is remarkable that many songs, when transformed into the Plewka/Schmedtje world, not only gained a different vibe and a fresh, highly authentic atmosphere but also a completely new groove. "This was an important part of the process, making these songs 'our' songs, not just copying them, but interpreting them in our own way. Or perhaps as they were originally written before being loaded with typical 80s sound aesthetics of kitsch and pomp. When you break down these songs to the bare minimum, you quickly notice how much substance is in these compositions," says Marco.
And this is partly true in terms of content as well. Of course, there are the songs that, in their personal memory, stand for long car rides with canned beer, for the first kiss on the bumper cars, or on the other hand, the first heartbreak - and generally for what Jan describes as "a very colorful youth in the 80s, which we are now painting anew with golden brushes." Yet, others gained a whole new form of timelessness when they engaged with them. "Just take 'Forever Young' by Alphaville, this seemingly cheesy song, but its content deals with atomic war. I think many people are not even aware of that."
The recordings themselves were intense for the two old hands who have recorded countless albums together and separately. The entire album was produced last winter in Marco Schmedtje's kitchen: a small space, minimal but high-quality recording equipment, with the two musicians, physically and emotionally close to each other. A process that further bonded these two friends, already deeply connected through music for a long time.
Now that this intimate and personal album is here, it moves from the inside back out into the world: "We want to take these songs to the stage," says Jan. "And exactly like this: just the two of us, with one guitar and our two voices." On these evenings, there will be many song surprises that are not heard on this record. Just as they have surprised themselves during the recording of these songs: "That I would record a song by Toto with such dedication and enthusiasm is pretty much the last thing I would have expected," laughs Marco. There will certainly be much laughter at the live evenings that will follow this album, as they unpack many stories from their own youth, providing beautiful images to the music. And one can already feel that these two accomplished musicians have found a new, wonderful playground after their cycles with Ton Steine Scherben/Rio Reiser and Simon & Garfunkel, a musical framework where the way they make these songs their own seems to have no limits.
Doors open at: 7:00 PM
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