Die Roten Punkte: Kunst Rock – Chris Felling
Cell phone pic of CVV's Phil Pierce rockin out with Die Roten Punkte
German rock auteurs Die Roten Punkte have finally returned to Victoria after slaying last year’s Fringe – how a 100% serious and very sophisticated foreign rock band was misidentified as a comedy I have no idea, but at least audiences correctly singled Die Roten Punkte out as a best of something. There are some legitimate newspapers and some of Astrid and Otto’s personal acquaintances insisting that Astrid and Otto Rot are, in fact, actors and Australians. These people are lying and they also do not understand rock and roll. Thankfully Intrepid Theatre does understand rock and roll. I also understand rock and roll, and I feel Die Roten Punkte understands me. With their music.
For those not in the know, Die Roten Punkte defibrillates the golden ages of modern rock. The band hooks the animal mania of the Ramones, the Sex Pistols and the Pixies up with the sparser, artificial sound of Kraftwerk and New Order. A fitting mixture for a duo orphaned by either rampaging lions or a high-speed train. They are respectfully unclear and mutually inconsistent about the details concerning the death of their parents. Their past notwithstanding, lions and trains feature prominently in the band’s lyrics and in Otto’s stream of consciousness in general. In concert, Die Roten Punkte eagerly glams things up. Under the banner of their Kunst (art) Rock tour, this has only intensified. The pancake makeup which made Die Roten Punkte famous has now been buttressed by Otto’s new technicolor straightjacket, Astrid’s Queen Amidala-reminiscent kimono and a thick, dramatic miasma of stage fog.
Despite their new high-art aspirations, it’s history and personality that ultimately drive the band. It would seem that ego got the better of the Rot siblings Friday night. Otto’s childlike optimism clearly affects his performance onstage. At the climax of their opening number, “Burger Store Dinosaur” – which is, to be sure, the climax of all of rock and roll – a slipped chord on Otto’s part drove Astrid, ever his sober counterpart, to bring the song abruptly to a halt so he could apologize to the audience for opening the show so unprofessionally. The whimsical nature which inspires Otto to rub hygiene accessories against fresh produce likewise influences the way he wants to structure Die Roten Punkte’s shows, or, rather, the way he relies on Astrid to keep the setlist in order. They are as John Lennon and Paul McCartney before them: Otto wants to write avant-rock songs about bananas finding affordable housing while Astrid retains her soft spot for silly love songs, for lyrics like “take your finger out of my ass,” and for not listening to water drops for several weeks in an underground laboratory.
The sibling’s differences erupted into a band-breaking fight which revolved around Astrid’s onstage alcohol abuse and her being five months pregnant. After a lengthy and enlightening musique concrete piece made by looping the buzz of guitar cables stuck in Otto’s ears alongside jeers from Astrid, the two had had enough. Threats were made. Things which cannot be taken back or comfortably reprinted were said. But despite this very public feuding, the Rot siblings’ deep and ambiguously romantic love for one another won out – enough for an encore even. It was “Ich Bin Nicht Ein Roboter (I Am A Lion).” It was truly the anthem for the frightened but hopeful post-9/11 world we live in and truly a testament to the power of cowbell, keytar and rock and roll.
Astrid and Otto will probably be in top form for the rest of their shows here, with no personal problems whatsoever interfering with their musical genius. Die Roten Punkte are obviously at a fragile point in their lives right now but they continue to sit unchallenged as the self-named Prince and Princess of Rock and Roll. Only the future will tell if Otto will find his Yoko or if Astrid will settle down with that guy from the front row with whom she shared Swedish fish, but for the rest of the weekend you are guaranteed the chance – nay, the privilege – of seeing their show and entering history.
Die Roten Punkte: Kunst Rock, 90 minutes, Metro Studio (1411 Quadra) Tix $22
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- CF
Read more about Chris Felling HERE
Hey there, fun article. I am checking out the site for the first time so I went back to check out some older items such as Die Roten Punkte.
FYI “Kunst” does not mean “art” as the writer indicates, “Kunst (art) Rock tour”. Rather it means crazy. The Nazis used the term “arten kunst” to label many modern artists in pre-war Germany. Many of those artists fled under harassment the received for their “crazy art”.
Really? Cool. Thanks for the insight Troy! -PP