A day in Orange
On October 14th there will be the launch of a new Synthpop event which is called SYNTHETIC ORANGE. Bands from all over Europe will perform electronic music live at the Substage Café. Living in Karlsruhe puts the rule to the test and watches the event from the front row. Organisator Bernd Welter introduces us into the new event format and the bands. We are curious about what we will get to hear from him.
What’s the story behind the event called SYNTHETIC ORANGE?
SYNTHETIC ORANGE is the kickoff of a series of events. On that day we want to provide some befriended bands the opportunity to perform live in Karlsruhe. They belong to the european synthpop scene and it will be the first time for them to play in our city.
The bands are from Sweden, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and last but not least from the Black Forrest and they are all very excited to get this chance to play their music in front of this new audience. The style of the music is compareable to Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys, OMD – bands who engraved many of us in their teenager years and this is why we want to approach those 40+ adults who enjoy those songs even today. Of course the bands have their own individual touch but they make use of the classical setup of the bands of the 90ies. One or two voices and lots of synthesizers. And also computers.
How did you come up with the name SYNTHETIC ORANGE?
You had to ask this question. Artificial orange flavour? No. Well, there would have been enough attributes like Electronic, Electric, etc. Synthetic naturally fits very well with the musicians and their synthesizers. Even though there will also be harder music later on. That with orange came by the fact that for years it is said that I have a tendency towards the colour orange. Also, I used to travel a lot to techno events, where I put on my orange trash collection pants. The deal with orange in relation with the event is that my helpers bear the title Orange at the event. My brother is the Chief Cashier Orange, Jose makes the Chief Orange Press (he will be the concert photographer) and so on. BUT: Synthetic music is clearly the focus of attention.
What exactly is going to happen that evening? Who plays and where do the bands come from?
We open the gates at 6pm and from 7pm five bands will play for 45mins each. In the 15min breaks we will play some more music from bands who are queued for 2018. Thanks to the Substage team we can host the event at their new, small stage called Substage Café.
The first band to play is called TRAIN TO SPAIN: Helena and Jonas are from Sweden and they founded the project in 2013. They already played several gigs outside Sweden, e.g. at the ELECTRICITY festival in London just few weeks ago. I heard their popular song „What it’s all about“ in 2015 and was attached to it immediately. Jonas takes care for the sound, Helena contributes with her characteristical voice and lyrics.
The second act is the local band LIFE ON DEMAND. Andreas, Alexandra‘s and Sven’s homebase is the Black Forrest and their music is dedicated to Dark Electro sounds. They belong to the gothic scene in the South of Germany and Sven is also an experienced DJ on various Depeche Mode based floors between Freiburg, Mannheim and Stuttgart.
LIFE ON DEMAND‘s first album is called IMPULSION and was released in 2017. As the band project is compareably young LIFE ON DEMAND start to play at festivals in the region. Their gig calendar gets filled more and more and we are very happy that they immediately joined the family.
The journey goes on with the Dutch band HELIOPHILE. Their mastermind Gijs founded the project in 2010 and he now plays together with Marten and Burnie. Though the songs start with their typical melancholic tunes the stories always end with an optimistic outlook. Just a few weeks ago the guys released their first album called PERMEATE in Utrecht and they will definetly play some of their new brand new songs for us.
We move on with Hannes, Anders and Christoffer from Schweden also known as PRESENCE OF MIND. They will give their first concert outside their home country. Founded more than 25 years ago they can hardly wait for the gig in Germany. I saw them playing live in Gothenburg in 2015 at the Electronic Summer festival. Headliner over there have been VNV NATION and PROJECT PITCHFORK so though PRESENCE OF MIND haven‘t played outside Sweden so far they already performed with those major bands. Their album PURE was released in 2016 and their enthusiasm was and is extremely motivating for the SYNTHETIC ORANGE project.
At 11pm it is time for the headliner VILE ELECTRODES. Jane and Martin are the most successfull and known players of the evening. They are quite experienced with gigs in UK and other western european countries, e.g. they have been support act for ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES IN THE DARK. Their music is experimental and their performances are thrilled by their extraordinary settings and outfits. They have a large fanbase in Europe. So far they already released three albums and various singles and I was totally excited when I received their Go for the event here in my hometown.
Five hours full of SynthPop Music
Alltogether we can look forward to 5 hours of great, special music which isn’t easy to find on stages here in the region. The atmosphere is supposed to be familiar as the size of the Substage Café offers space for less than 300. The musicians will join the crowd, sign their albums and we invite you to join this event together with us. I am sure it is worth it. A successful show will enable us to provide further bands in 2018 and we already work on the next chapter.
SYNTHETIC ORANGE will take place on Saturday, 14 October, at 7pm in the Substage Café!
Substage Café
Alter Schlachthof 19
76131 Karlsruhe
You can get tickets here: https://18568.reservix.de/p/reservix/event/1058705
Images:
Title image & Orange © BERND WELTER
Train To Spain © DANIEL ROOS from STUDIO MOTLJUS
Life On Demand © J2MS
Heliophile © KAREN LEIJZER
Presence of Mind © ÖRJAN JACOBSSON
Vile Electrodes © HELENA LOVE
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