KMFDM – Airhead
Description
KMFDM (originally Kein Mehrheit Für Die Mitleid, loosely translated by the band as “no pity for the majority”) is a multinational industrial band from Hamburg led by Sascha Konietzko, who founded the band in 1984 as a performance art project.
The band’s earliest incarnation included German drummer En Esch and British vocalist Raymond Watts, the latter of whom left and rejoined the group several times over its history. The trio recorded the band’s earliest albums in Germany before Konietzko and Esch moved to the United States, where they found much greater success with seminal industrial record label Wax Trax!. German guitarist Günter Schulz joined in 1990; both he and Esch continued with the band until KMFDM broke up in 1999. Konietzko resurrected KMFDM in 2002 (Esch and Schulz declined to rejoin) on Metropolis Records, and by 2005 he had assembled a consistent line-up that included American singer Lucia Cifarelli, British guitarists Jules Hodgson and Steve White, and British drummer Andy Selway. Konietzko and Cifarelli moved back to Germany in 2007, while the rest of the band stayed in the U.S. Hodgson and White moved on to other pursuits between 2015 and 2017, leaving the band a working trio unofficially. In addition to these core members, dozens of other musicians have worked with the group across its twenty-two studio albums and over two dozen singles, with sales totaling in excess of two million records worldwide.
Critics consider KMFDM one of the first bands to bring industrial music to mainstream audiences, though Konietzko refers to the band’s music as “The Ultra-Heavy Beat”. The band incorporates heavy metal guitar riffs, electronic music, samples, and both male and female vocals in its music, which encompasses a variety of styles including industrial rock and electronic body music. The band is fiercely political, with many of its lyrics taking stands against violence, war, and oppression. KMFDM normally tours at least once after every major release, and band members are known for their accessibility to and interaction with fans, both online and at concerts. Members, independently or working together and with other musicians, have recorded under many other names, primarily Watts’ Pig, Konietzko’s Excessive Force, and Esch and Schulz’s Slick Idiot.
Another line-up shift (2017–present)
In April 2017, KMFDM revealed a new EP titled Yeah!; an album called Hell Yeah was released in August, with a U.S. tour planned in support of the releases for October.[104] On June 23, Yeah! was released, followed by the release of Hell Yeah on August 18. Guitarists White and Hodgson were unavailable, so Konietzko recruited Chris Harms from Lord of the Lost to record the guitar parts. Harms, along with Lord of the Lost bandmates Pi (guitar) and Gared Dirge (keyboards), had been slated to perform as the live band for KMFDM’s late 2017 tour. Lord of the Lost were unable to secure work visas to enter the U.S., so Andee Blacksugar was tapped to handle guitar tasks instead. Various highlights of the tour were captured live and can be heard on their fourth live album ‘Live in the USSA’, released the following year in 2018. The album sonically presents the band in a more stripped-down, drum laden heavy metal style containing their obligatory cutting guitar riffs, melded with the traditional keys, samples, programming and additional percussion courtesy of band mainstay Sascha Konietzko. The new quartet of Konietzko, Cifarelli, Selway, and Blacksugar announced the album, Paradise, for release on September 27, 2019. The band features a variety of guest appearances, including KMFDM co-founder Raymond Watts for the first time since 2003. In July 2022, the band announced a brand new album, Hyëna was released on September 9. The title track was revealed as a promotional single at the end of August.
A new album commemorating KMFDM’s 40 year anniversary (and 10th birthday, having formed on February 29, 1984) is set to be released on February 2, 2024, entitled Let Go.
