Since 300hz isn’t exactly the most productive or apparently reliable band when it comes to live shows – which gives us quite a shortage of cool live shots and youtube videos to show off – then we thought we might spend a few words on showing gratitude to amazing bands. We begin The 300hz Appreciation Series by showing deep respect to Yage.
Yage was a collection of dudes from Köln, Germany who started playing ensemble in 1998 according to the annals of european punk rock. If you check http://www.last.fm/music/Yage they get tagged as ‘real screamo’. We aren’t sure that label really captures the spirit of Yage. To us they were a hardcore band, straight up. But more importantly: they wrote songs as opposed to rehashing the formalities of a style. Surely they incorporated many features that pops up when you think about screamo: frenetic drumming, dual melodic and trembly guitars, vocals that alternate between screams and some singing, somewhat chaotic, energetic and slightly unpredictable structures. Yage was stylish and they didn’t really care what you thought of them: they just did what had to be done. The singer, Oliver Krebs, whose lyrics and vocal delivery was as intense as it was dynamic, would write in the liner notes: ‘these are my words and my grammar’. He would switch between English and German and his lyrical content was personal and poetic – which nowadays sounds kind of a cliché – but really is just a description of what they were: imagery that conveyed a range of powerful emotions. The people from Yage was a bunch of engaged people: they knew shit and they cared about shit. A band with a message. They were involved in local politics, frustrating as that may be, but devoted to change and making things genuinely better. Their music had the same conviction: whenever you experienced a life show with Yage you were deeply inspired and motivated.
Here is a song, the Human Head too Strong for Itself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKoLO9W7bo0
They split up around 2004, after heavy touring and releasing 2 full lengths, a 10″ and a bunch of 7″ mostly through their own labels NOVA RECORDINGS and EARTH WATER SKY Connection: there is a record compiling their stuff called ‘Some Time of a Time’. It is worth tracking, in fact it is necessary and a crucial part of the European hardcore scene.
//300hz
300hz 