Totenwald

The dark punk quartet Totenwald lurks deep in the fog-shrouded catacombs of Berlin's Undergroud. They are an exception in their scene, because instead of being inspired by the typical punk and hardcore clichés, they are more oriented towards the roots of anarcho-punk and the Neue Deutsche Welle of the early 80s in Berlin. They integrate saxophone and the cool dynamics of a drum computer as a backbeat into their guitar-heavy sound, somehow reminiscent of Killing Joke, X-Mal-Deutschland or X-Ray Spex.

The three band members Trish Tank, Sergej Pride and Janis K. called their sound "Immigrant Punk" because they once moved to Berlin from Italy, Lithuania and Israel. After saxophonist and backing vocalist Ruby Mai joined them in 2016, their first EP "Wrong Place, Wrong Time" was released and their energetic live shows caused quite a stir, they manifested their unique, eclectic style: a hurricane of new wave sheen, chorus melodies and piercing saxophone solos, overlaid with Trish's frenetic, echoing tales of resistance against a dystopian future.

Their first full-length album "Dirty Squats & Disco Lights" was released in 2018 on Plastic Bomb Records and garnered euphoric reactions from the local and international music press. Their first video "Shadows in Paradiese", recorded completely analog on VHS by synth wave artist Sally Dige, and the departure of Janis K., whose place was taken by Countdown To Armageddon guitarist Robert Hanna, pointed the way to a darker, rougher sound for the band. After their "Forward to the Past" EP and a US West Coast tour in 2019, they took a longer break due to the pandemic, from which they made a sensational return in the summer of 2022 with great performances at the Wave Gothic Treffen in Leipzig and at Puntala Rock in Finland.