Portrait: Kettcar

Too old, too uncool – that was the reaction of managers at German major labels to the Hamburg band Kettcar as they were searching for a recording company long before the current boom in German-language bands. No one wanted the group; nobody would finance their album although a substantial number of fans were waiting impatiently for a record from their favorite band. But average age and average looks just aren’t enough to fulfill the rock hard industrial standards. It was a slap in the face for the five boys from Kettcar, but also an incentive to go their own way, now more than ever.

"... und einsehen zum Schluss, dass man weitermachen muss (…and accept in the end, there is nothing to do but to continue)," sings Marcus Wiebusch on the debut album "Du und wieviel von Deinen Freunden" (You and How Many of Your Friends), and that is just what Kettcar have done. In 2002, together with Reimer Bustorff, the bassist and their friend Thees Uhlmann from Tomte, using money borrowed from their mothers, they founded the label "Grand Hotel van Cleef", with which they produced their first Kettcar album shortly thereafter. A good 30,000 sold albums later, they had shown everyone what they could do. Kettcar can, in fact, do far more than the average band, and instead of depending on a deal with a major label and an advertising budget, they succeeded with honesty and courage.


That’s just the way Kettcar are, and that’s the way their music sounds: extremely unpretentious, and appearances don’t matter. Marcus Wiebusch sings about losses and anger, about love and women, about the pitfalls of our society and the constant search for one’s own identity. Basically, Kettcar’s themes are normality, the everyday life of a mid-30-year-old in Germany, their own lives. In songs which are often quite brooding and introspective, Marcus Wiebusch reflects on, criticizes and comments on the ubiquitous in his very personal manner, packed in virtuoso metaphors: "Wollt’ ich leben und sterben, wie ein Toastbrot im Regen, wie ein betrunkener Hund im Zorn ohne Grund" ("If I live and die like white bread in the rain, like a drunken dog in rage without reason"), are the sarcastic first lines of "Landungsbrücken raus" (Out on the piers), probably the best-known track on the first album. Sometimes the skillful comparisons develop into abstruse constructions which, upon first glance, do not appear to have any sort of relationship at all to the subject of the song. For example, at the end of an encounter with Stockhausen and Bill Gates, suddenly the broken thumbs of Carlos Santana appear and shortly thereafter, the song simply ends.

These special moments stimulate reflection, give the songs their depth and ensure that the music doesn’t get boring. In the process, Kettcar manage to embed their subtle melancholy and lyrics which are actually quite unwieldy and awkward so well in the music that you don’t even notice – if you don’t want to. Songs like "Ausgetrunken" (Done Drinking) from the debut album or "Deiche" (Dikes) from their second album, "Von Spatzen und Tauben, Dächern und Händen" (About Sparrows and Pigeons, Roofs and Hands) in 2005 are danceable hymns, genuine rock songs with a clear pop vein. Generally, a driving beat creates the basis for imaginative guitar riffs and charged shifts between loud and soft or between vocal and instrumental passages. The ballads are successful as well; at concerts fans have memorized and sing along with "Im Taxi weinen" (Cry in a Taxi) or "48 Stunden" (48 Hours). Rarely does Kittcar slip a bit in the direction of goose-bumps-stadium-German-rock, but somehow you can forgive them for it. Kettcar are allowed to because they just aren’t like the ones that usually sing such songs.

Kettcar could finally establish themselves with the second album while remaining loyal to their style. They don’t need to go chasing trends because their music has kicked off a wave of its own, which other bands are jumping onto. Later offers for recording contracts were defiantly rejected, and rightly so, as a fifth place in the German album charts and a loyal and steadily growing following prove. Kettcar give their cynical thanks to the lethargic "oil tankers" of the music industry in the song "Handyfeuerzeug gratis dazu" (Free Bonus Handy Lighter). They probably ask themselves "Why do stars burn out?" and search intensely for the next hit. The five boys from Hamburg don’t need to worry about it, because they’re not stars. Nevertheless, Kettcar gleam brightly and, for the time being at least, without burning out. In Marcus Wiebusch’s own words, "Kettcar gehen zum Lachen in den Keller, als Powerseller" (Kettcar go in the basement to laugh, real power sellers".
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