WIZO
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WIZO (pronounced "Vee-Zoh") is a Punk Rock band from Sindelfingen, Germany. The band was formed in 1985. Their messages run from political to funny, but they are strongly against Nazism, Fascism, Racism, and "all of that dreck."
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Lineup
- Axel Kurth on Guitar
- Jörn Genserowski on Bass
- Herr Guhl on drums
Biography
Jochen Bix founded the band "Wieso" (meaning "how come?") with friends in Sindelfingen, a town in the vicinity of Stuttgart. In 1986 they altered their name to "WIZO" and got their first gig in 1987. In 1988 WIZO released their first demo tape, "Keiner ist Kleiner." In 1990, they released another demo, "Gute Freunde." Jochen only sang a few songs, including the Judas Priest cover, "Breaking the Law." He then left and Axel Kurth became the front man.
Later that year, they founded their own label, Hulk Räckorz and released the "Klebstoff" EP, their first vinyl record.
In 1991, "Für'n Arsch" was released.
In 1992, their first CD, "Bleib Tapfer" was released. The song "Kein Gerede" was censored by the government for containing "terroristic messages" and several hundred copies were confiscated. In response, they re-released the CD "Bleib Tapfer/für'n Arsch" after recording an instrumental "karaoke" version of the song, blacking out the lyrics in the liner notes, and labeling it as "Child Safe" out of spite.
They then released the single "Roy Black ist tot" as a dubious tribute to the German pop-star Roy Black on the one year anniversary of his death. The tribute in question was a punk cover of a children's song with the lyrics altered to a German version of "Roy Black is dead, Roy Black is dead." It was named the worst CD of the year by the Bild-Zeitung, a major German yellow-press newspaper.
In 1993, during the Chaos Days in Hannover, they played a concert from the back of a truck in the middle of the crowd of rioting punks. They received national media attention following the concert. Later that year, they also recorded a music video of a cover they performed of the song "All that she wants" by Ace of Base. It received a surprising amount of airplay in Europe and was the only licensed cover.
In 1994, their next CD, "UUAARRGH!" was released, and was very popular for an independent group. Fat Mike, bassist for NOFX and founder of Fat Wreck Chords became interested a year later in 1995, after coming in contact on the Warped Tour. He signed them onto his label for international releases, but they remained with Hulk Räckorz for releases to the German speaking world. They also released "Herrénhandtasche" and played on a tour with Die Ärzte.
In 1996, WIZO's lineup changed; Ingo Hahn replaced their current drummer, Charly Zasko, and he and Axel "are fortunately no longer in contact." With Ingo, "Doof wie Scheiße" was also recorded.
In 1997, they released the "Weihnachten stinkt" Split EP with the Japanese punk band Hi Standard.
In 1998, Wizo released "Kraut and Rüben" EP on Fatwreck, being the songs that were already popular in Germany, but unknown to the rest of the world. That year, Herr Guhl replaced Ingo as drummer.
September, 2004, WIZO made a first in the music industry by releasing a single on USB keydrive, titled as the "WIZO Stick EP." In addition to five high bitrate MP3's, it also included a video, pictures, lyrics, and tabs. In November of 2004, coinciding with the release of their final album, "Anderster," they announced their intent to dissolve in March of 2005, upon the conclusion of their farewell tour. Axel Kurth stated "After 18 years of fun, stress and scandals with WIZO, the concept of a 'punkrockband' finally became too reactionary and too boring for me. Punk stays my way of life; time for new things." On March 4th, 2005, Wizo played their final concert in Stuttgart.
Discography
- Für'n Arsch (1991)
- Bleib Tapfer (1992)
- UUAARRGH! (1994)
- Herrénhandtasche (1995)
- Kraut & Rüben (1998)
- Stick-EP (2004)
- Anderster (2004)
Songs of note
- Kein Gerede
- Raum der Zeit
- Kopfschuss
- Quadrat im Kreis
- R. A. F.
- Goldenes Stück
- Nix + Niemant
- Gute Freunde
- Klebstoff
- Hey Thomas
External links
- Official Page (mostly in German) (http://www.wizo.de)
- Hulk Räckorz (also mostly in German) (http://www.punk.de)
- Fat Wreck Chords' WIZO page (http://www.fatwreck.com/banddetail.php3?sd=QCsA@dHRMXIAAFCxBbc&code=WIZO)
- A fansite (German as well) (http://www.wizo.rockz.de)
- English translations of many of their songs (http://www.texasdex.com/wizo/)
WIZO is not to be confused with the Women's International Zionist Organization.de:Wizo fr:Wizo