LEBENSREFORM »Retor«-T-Shirt

A group of friends is about to print a version of LEBENSREFORM's »Retor«-Design.

The shirts are heavy (approx. 180 gr.), grey and either from Gildan or Fruit of The Loom.

Sizes available should be from S to XXL, printing is about to start in June, 2016 a.D.

The price will be a cool 10€ deal with postage paid in Germany. For mailing to other countries

 or special detailed questions you should directly contact Dennis Schmie (https://www.facebook.com/dennis.sch.10) via a Facebook-Message.

LEBENSREFORM officially supports but does not handle the dirty detailed deals...

LEBENSREFORM live @ Störtebeker, Hamburg - 19. September 1997

Lebensreform, the App

This is no game changer, but something (for me) to play with: An App for different platforms, that combines the LEBENSREFORM-entries here with the Facebook-content. Possibly more in the future - and more real stuff other than announcements.
You'll need an Internet connection, but no money...

Android:
http://goo.gl/Kuehz3

iOS:
http://goo.gl/q1KkHk

Any Inquiries for a free single Download?

from LEBENSREFORM

Beitrag von LEBENSREFORM.

via IFTTT

The truth

Sven Christiansen (@horizons_inc) hat
um 11:22 AM on Mi., Jan 16, 2013:

To speak the truth, a slightly changed famous HC-quote: "It took us 17 years to get this far, by now we are only... http://t.co/vn6410gR

getwittert. (http://goo.gl/fvAFV)

Post Mortem

"before the Jahrhundertwende, some of us and our friends played (in) these bands. 

It's part of us, it made us what we are, still denying the past, ignoring the future! Hardcore"

http://www.audiolith.net/de/blog/35-audiolith-blog/900-bratze-highlight-berlin-music-week-linsay-lebensrefom-loxiran

AL141 
Lebensreform - Discographie
http://bit.ly/QntiR8    iTunes
http://amzn.to/UpsLCA Amazon
http://goo.gl/jpJoi Saturn
http://t.co/3HgdKJhG Musicload

http://soundcloud.com/audiolith/lebensreform-song-for-whoever




AL140
Linsay - Staatsfeind (Completest Recordings Ever)
http://bit.ly/NfJKa2    iTunes
http://amzn.to/R2Nkps Amazon

http://soundcloud.com/audiolith/linsay-carousel




AL142 
Loxiran - Loxibang (Discography)
http://bit.ly/U087Xv    iTunes
http://amzn.to/UpsDCZ Amazon

http://soundcloud.com/audiolith/loxiran-blinde-trampel

AL141

AL141

The End... of [ lei ] - as it once was

To close this year, I thought of a fitting companion from my published works...

Well, here it is - a pamphlet written soon after the obvious demise of my former band LEBENSREFORM, by then even called [ lei ]. That name was kinda tongue in cheek, as one might think. LEBENSREFORM used to be a Straight Edge-band from the start, and very early on had some lyrical content concerning Straight Edge. We later skipped that concept anyway (at least being outspoken about it - we just wanted to BE), but never would have thought about getting cynical or anything. Straight Edge was still something to live by, in some personal way.

You might have guessed it - that way fail for some of us, and maybe to this day to all but one involved. But I guess I can still speak for the others: we stood behind it 100%, and it was a very very VERY important part of ours and the bands life. With [ lei ], the name itself might indicate something of a "vague" justification, but to tell you the truth - the story behind the name is much more simple. LEI was our favorite character in a Computer Game, and he did fulfill two very important credentials: he was hard to track and... he simply began with in L - like LEBENSREFORM, LOXIRAN and LINSAY. Okay, concerning the pamphlet: it's pretty obvious we still thought - or at least I thought - we would go on with the band. There were some cool adventures right behind us, like the tour with CATHARSIS and GEHENNA, we had accomplished a pretty decent moment as a band, being able to choose and bring with us other bands to shows, and were informaly offered some more, like touring the US... But after all, it just did not work out and kinda faded away. The actual edition of my fanzine was written in German, but here is what I could make of it with Google Translate:

[lei] is on a break

what was once LEBENSREFORM and now [lei], is in the moment of doubt ..

it is not dead, it's not bad, but it does not work properly ... musically! 

what we have achieved makes us happy, but what is to come is a riddle to us

we build on, but what we need is change. we seek for it now ...

[lei] is paralyzed ... creativly. new paths seem far 

we know that we simply can not go on ... may... want? 

and it needs more time to consolidate 

to consolidate us ... hold on to capture the image on the principle of our interests, ideas,content, feelings, and concepts

what we are producing now are delusions - [lei] does not work ...

[lei] was a working concept

Now we are moving in the empty space

we cannot create without contradicting ourselves, 

you always must question yiurself but we will do so by being cynical 

[lei] as a "unit" would have continued to work, played shows, make records, etc. ... but more than ever, we are now interested in the famous STEP BEYOND.

about what it is there is no common demeanour, we do not really see one another

we stand for what we were, but we want to wait for what we want to be 

just because we do not want to disappoint, especially not ourselves, we cannot just continue

each of us has different intentions with [lei], but we all believe that we don't want to exploit the conditions.

[lei] must not be more dishonest, harmful, parasitic

we would now use our "opportunities", it would be exactly this: taking advantage of!

we don't need that, you do not need that, nor does this environment needs it

[lei] goes on, but we try to take our time ...

HORIZONS-Fanzine #5.5 - 1998

LEBENSREFORM - the spazztic Megamix

Sumthin' off-track...kinda
I fooled around with some tracks and art pieces by my former band, and with alot of others' work. Won't tell you that I am a musical genius, nor that I am a talented RMXer... Just did that, and you can have it.

Cannot even remember which software I used. I had a semi-legal copy of Pro-Tools back then, and got to work with that for some projects, but this is more likely to be done by some freeware that I wanted to test.

This is NOT and will never be part of the official LEBENSREFORM legacy, so this is going to be exclusive to this blog - and anyone who wants to share.

Take it!

LEBENSREFORM - the spazztic Megamix

LINSAY T-Shirt

For those of you who don't know, LINSAY was a great HC band out of Hamburg, Germany. They existed during the prime of the so-called Northcore scene, and not only shared members with LEBENSREFORM, LOXIRAN and KINDLE, but also the same practice space.

This is a sticker of the other
best LINSAY-layout I did.
That'll be up here soon...

LINSAY's voice, Niels Abele, was the original bassist of LEBENSREFORM. Jan Elbeshausen sort of that bands always apparent stand-in, and later active in MARR or THE DANCE INC. Olli Koch is known for being in LOXIRAN, ENFOLD and TOMTE. Jochen Schütt was in MARKER-X-SYNDROME and KINDLE. As was Lars Lewerenz, also known as "das AUDIOLITH".

I lived, loved, and laughed with most of these guys for one of the finest times in my life. I also did quite some layout stuff for them, from demo to 7" to splits with ENFOLD and COLE QUINTETT.

Usually, it was a "how to get these ideas to reality"-job. That means: LINSAYs members came up with quite a good amount of ideas, and had a vision about their stuff and how it should be digested.
Especially the last thing worked kinda perfect, as far as I am concerned.

One of the best things from this creative arrangement is the T-Shirt, which I think was their only one. Even if that was not much of a work of mine, I really like the way it came about (creative, spontaneous and quick).

I still wear this shirt with pride, it just could be at least of one size smaller these days.

We are not living the 90s anymore (fun intended)...

One blood

         Yes... it's blood.


   Not mine but blood it is.

The Label

Horizons was a label... I did tapes and even one record (kind of - you will see in abit). There were some recordings that never saw the light of day...

It all started out in the early 1990s. I released three live-tapes of friends' bands. Two of 'em, 7 INCH BOOTS and INTRICATE, had studio tracks, that weren't released by then. As for 7 INCH BOOTS, they later would be available on their posthumous second 7". With INTRICATE, I still have to manage to get a grasp on the recording and layout. The third in this era was Swiss band WORNOUT. All three releases were a noble cause, because after expenses paid all money did go to the then well-known "Bundesverband der Tierbefreier" (an animal-liberation group). Of course, that was not a helluva money...

The label got revitalised in the LEBENSREFORM-days to promote some off-label stuff. The first recording we did was not an official HORIZONS-release, but I got it under my wings anyhow. It was more of an attempt to legitimize a real band story. Somehow I was of the impression, that a band "has to do" a Demo. But even more somehow, I knew that recording will be a record pretty soon. Nevertheless, I did some tapes and mostly handed them out at a Fanzine-fair at Neuss. And I made sure, Markus Haas of Per Koro would get one... and so the story goes. It had the song "Was!?" extra to the "Licht, Luft, Leben"-tracks, which later would be used for tape-compilations.
An official release, and Horizons #04, was the "Punkin'" tape. This was a pre-recording of the "Retor" material, which we wanted to get a grasp on ourselves. We used a friends help with his 8-track equipment. For further details, jump over to the Discogs entry.

THIRST was a mystery. You can see above, it is advertised as "lo-fi doom" - but what the hell is that anyway? To get an idea, you might think of a remixed and torn to pieces version of the unnamed last track on "Retor". Maybe some day, you will be able to understand...

Also unreleased are the later two tapes. I would especially recommend you do some research on DREI AMIGOS. It features LEBENSREFORM-early adopter Torsten Hempelt. Maybe I can get him to comment on this with some more knowledge...

What is missing in this ad (run in HORIZONS-zine as well as others, plus flyered out on occassions) is the later record that was flying under the my flag. Some might remember, some might know from recent publications - some might just wait until I can bring it up here (I am afraid, that's also a legal thing, but screw that... I will!)

You guessed it, the following month should hopefully see a digital transformation of some of HORIZONS-labels' legacy...

Show-Flyer for CATHARSIS / GEHENNA / [ LEI ]

I somehow managed to do this flyer right before LEBENSREFORM (which is basically the advertised [ LEI ] here - for those who don't know*) left on tour with the infamous GEHENNA and the epic CATHARIS.
As far as I remember, I also was able to copy that thing at my job, and left with people advised to do the dirty work...
Anyway, this is from a whole series of shows I was taking care of with other people. The "Borstelmannsweg" was the shared practice room of LEBENSREFORM, LINSAY, later LOXIRAN, KINDLE, and TOMTE. We put on a good amount of shows there, with memorable gigs by HIS HERO IS GONE, SEEIN' RED, ACHEBORN, and some more (apart from the hosting bands).

I also was kinda involved in some of the shows that Thomas Lengefeld and Taade managed to set up in the then famous "Marquee"-club in St.Pauli.
With Lars "Audiolith" Lewerenz, we also did some cool things at the "Golden Pudel Klub", plus there are some great stories that could be told from hosting bands at Lars & mine appartment in the late 1990s. All of that will be adressed later on...

Some crazyness at that show -
we do see LEBENSREFORM-
guitarist Mark being carried away
by the crowd - and Brian Dingledine
somehow enjoying it

For this Flyer - it's a lie. Somehow. GEHENNA never played - the circumstances of them leaving the tour might be clarified in a more elborate entry. Also, [lei] actually never really worked for LEBENSREFORM. Of course, there was a big change, but just not-being a Straigth Edge-band anymore does not change that awful lot about a set or stage-presence. In retrospect... This whole tour did alot - and the show was a real good conclusio of it.
IF ONLY GEHENNA WOULD HAVE BEEN THERE! 


*LEBENSREFORM changed its name to [ lei ] to stay away from possible accusations of adressing a Straight Edge-agenda when not being a full-on S.E.-band anymore. Actually, it was something I really wanted the band to do, the other people were of different opinions...
I guess, it was four people - four standpoints

LEBENSREFORM - Self Edge (HEAD FIRST-cover)

The first one is a pretty obvious choice, and does break the "rules" i have stated in the initial posting.
This song was recorded at the infamous Kuschelrock-studios in 1997 with Dirk Kusche, and features the lineup of me, Christian Wruck, Dennis Becker and Mark Wehrmann.
It was supposed to be on a compilation that Thomas Tröger (of LOXIRAN/CHISPA) was going to put out - god knows what happened to that. As you can see, it's not only the music that got reinterpreteted here, but also did I not spent much time in a layout.

LEBENSREFORM - Self Edge (by HEAD FIRST)