KitschKrieg

Name, where are you from? 
KitschKrieg (°awhodat°, Fizzle and Fiji), Kreuzberg, Berlin.

What do you do? 
Music, photography and clothing.

Describe your style in three words?
Black & white (1word), Minimal, DIY.

What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?
Since we are three people, we gonna pick two shows. First, Mike Skinner aka The Streets comeback show in Berlin, April 11th, 2018. An unbelievable moment when he came back and said: "The world has changed a lot, but I haven’t f*cking changed.” True. Second, Skepta at Berghain 05.04.2016. The first time Skepta came to Berghain. Besides all the hype sh*t happening later it was a real special moment. The energy was real, it was his moment and we enjoyed it to the fullest. It was so good that we agreed to play an opening DJ set for his second Berghain gig in December 2018 for a fee of €250 (that we never got). Everyone treated us like sh*t (don’t sit here, don’t touch the food, soundcheck? NO!) except the man himself who came over and said "Thank you very much for doing this".

If you could be on the line up with any two bands in history?
Rage Against the Machine and Amy Winehouse. You know that in quarantine you have time to watch back old YouTube concerts and these two were put back in our memories by the screen. If you see prime Amy and Zack De La Rocha doing their thing with these incredible bands it’s a truly magical experience, that not many of us witnessed. Being on a line-up with them would give you the ultimate reality check on your own live show but we would probably still do it.

Which subcultures have influenced you?
Musically: Soundsystem music first and foremost. Everything that sounds good on a real Jamaican Soundsystem. Reggae/dancehall/hip-hop and everything that came from this family is the backbone of what we are doing. We learned from people like King Tubbys, Lee Perry, Fattis Burrel, Dave Kelly, Lenky or Jamaican Soundsystems like Bass Odyssey or Stone Love. Mentally: Punkrock told us a lot about DIY music business. Run your own record label, put the music out yourself, send it to your fans directly, cut out the middleman and be creative and don’t be afraid to say things that might hurt, because there is already enough of this fake sh*t going on.

If you could spend an hour with anyone from history?
Nipsey Hussle. A real one, from day one we were fans. His take on the music business was always inspiring and it would be great to talk to him about hustling it right. It always felt like we share the same values with people like him, BBK or No Limit. A very hard day when we learned that Nipsey died. Would have been so nice to see where his career was going, he was far from being finished and it seemed he got more creative the older he got. RIP.

Of all the independent venues you’ve played, which is your favourite?
Definitely Berlin’s famous Lido. A legendary Kreuzberg concert venue that we came back to every year. From playing as a support act to selling it out for the first time to coming back for a '€1 Show' for our hardcore fans when it was already way too small. Lido and its crew are legendary and always treated us with so much love that we will come back every time. <3 Lido.

Your greatest unsung hero or heroine in music?
Haiyti. Straight up. If it comes to German rap music, she is a revolutionary that never gained the success she deserved (yet). Her flows, her delivery, creativity and the pictures she paints are one of a kind and maybe too good, so it goes over peoples head. When we worked together on the 'Toxic' EP and her Echo winning album 'Montenegro Zero' it was a really creative time and her rap felt so fresh and this "everything is possible" atmosphere was in the air. She has had quite a good run last year again with two albums that were better than everything else that German rap produced that year and we hope she finally gets what she deserves: the throne.