Portrait: Farin Urlaub

In Alfred Hitchcock's film "Psycho", the shower is a pretty dangerous place. A figure in women's clothing stabs the young secretary Marion fourteen times through the shower curtain - and she's instantly dead as a doornail. Nevertheless, Farin Urlaub (a punning name rendered approximately as "Take-a Vacation" in English) is not at all afraid of his shower. In fact he likes it so much that he has even dedicated a song to it. "I sleep in the shower, because it's loyal to me, it's the only friend I still have in the whole world." (Ich schlafe in der Dusche, weil die Dusche zu mir hält, sie ist der einzige Freund, den ich noch habe auf der Welt.) is what he sings on his second solo album, "Am Ende der Sonne" (At the End of the Sun). Farin Urlaub is fighting the old battle of man-against-machine against the "brutal rebellion of household objects".

He has just one last chance against the superior forces of hoards of cups, flying toasters and biting bed sheets: "If I have to, I'll burn the whole house down. Die, TV, die!" ("Wenn es sein muss, zünde ich die ganze Bude an - stirb Fernseher, stirb!")

Before the shower, Farin Urlaub, who was born Jan Vetter, had already had a long and mercurial career. It began in the early 80s in the Spandau Ball House, a punk club in Berlin, where Farin met Dirk "Bela B." Felsenheimer, with whom he founded the punk band Die Ärzte (The Doctors) in 1983. The third in the group is the bassist Hans "Sahnie" Runge. Their brazen songs sung in German quickly made them into major stars.


But just five years later the band split up at their peak of their collective success and the reunion did not come until 1993. With a new bassist and a grandiose comeback, the Berliners could pick up where they had left off and continue with their former success. Farin Urlaub, guitarist and singer for the group Die Ärzte, became a legend in German pop history. It's no secret that he penned the band's greatest hits. He is responsible for the greatest hits of Die Ärzte like "Annelise Schmidt", "Elke" and "Zu Spät" (Too Late).

Because "Take-a Vacation" really does like to take a vacation, there wasn't much time for other projects between activities for Die Ärzte. But that changed in the year 2000 when, "for the first time in 20 years" he didn't travel to distant lands but to his studio in the north German countryside. There he recorded the long-promised solo debut, logically entitled "Endlich Urlaub" (Finally Vacation). In the tradition of Die Ärzte, the texts a humorous, absurd and silly. But in addition to the relaxed and cheerful party songs, the album also has drier singer-songwriter pieces. The musical spectrum ranges from ska-punk sensations like "…und die Guitarre war noch warm" (…and the guitar was still warm) to the loving Smiths parody "Sumisu" with a riff adapted from "What Difference Does It Make".

As with every album from Die Ärzte, you will find catchy, mostly hard and fast punk riffs combined with innocent-melodic hook lines on "Endlich Urlaub". The following album, "Am Ende der Sonne" (At the End of the Sun), which appeared in March 2005 is, on the whole, more experimental. In this album, Farin Urlaub rediscovers melancholy. The lyrics are much more serious than on the solo debut, exploring loneliness, anger and suicide. Unfortunately, Urlaub doesn't always manage to deliver such fresh texts as in the single "Dusche" (Shower). A few worn phrases have slipped in here and there which don't fit will with the fat, explosive sound.

In contrast to the relative minimalist live performances of Die Ärzte (drums, bass and guitar), Farin is gambling on live music with a mighty racket: the 12-member "Farin Urlaub Racing Team" with horns, strings and backup singers guarantees proper thunder. The fans like it and probably Farin as well, because the "Live Album of Death" is available on CD. The great reconciliation with the fans is happening at the relevant festivals, even when you had better avoid the showers there.
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