ON THIS RECORD THE OUTSTANDING TRACKS ARE ‘PERVERSION’ ‘KILL THE HYPNOTIC BASTARDS’ AND ‘POSADA’. PROBABLY THE HEAVIEST SOUND TO HIT THE EAST COAST OF AMERICA IN TEN YEARS. BEYOND THE SEX PISTOLS MF BROUGHT THE THEMES OF FREEDOM AND ANARCHY TO A NEW LEVEL: TRIBAL MUSIC IN IT’S PUREST FORM. F.LANGMAACK CAME INTO NEW YORK FOR CONCERTS AND RECORDING. ADDING METAL PERCUSSION, DRUM SAMPLING AND SAXOPHONE TO THE MIX. THE FIRST SECURITY FORCE WAS ADDED TO THE LINE UP TO CONTROL THE CROWD: THEY WERE YOUNG PUERTO RICANS TRAINED IN MARTIAL ARTS SELF DEFENSE. CHRIS AND MARK, THE ORIGINAL DRUMMERS HAD A CHEMISTRY BEYOND THE STRUCTURES OF TRADITIONAL DRUMMING PUSHING THEMSELVES AND THE AUDIENCE INTO A STATE OF MESMERIZING TRANCE.
THE ‘PARTY’S OVER’ SYMBOL WILL OUTLIVE THE BAND SPREADING AS FAR AWAY AS JAPAN AND SOUTH AFRICA. MANY PEOPLE WHO THINK THE WESTERN CAPITALIST WORLD IS IN THE LAW OF GRAVITY AND WILL ENEVITABLY COLLAPSE HAVE BEEN SPRAY PAINTING THE UPSIDE DOWN DRINKING GLASS ALL OVER THE WORLD. MF‘S POLITICS CAME FROM THE LEFT THE HOUSING WAR AND THE RESISTANCE TO STOP GENTRIFICATION WHICH IN TURN KILLS ALL CULTURE IN THE YEARS THE BAND LIVED IN THE GHETTO IN SQUATS ON THE LOWER EAST SIDE. THE BAND PRACTICED WHAT THEY PREACHED WARNING AMERICA AND NEW YORK OF THE DRASTIC CONCEPT ‘A NEW WORLD ORDER’ BRINGING THE ALLTERNATIVE TO AN END, ROUNDING UP OF THE HOMELESS AND PUTTING THEM IN CAMPS BUILDING MORE PRISONS HIRING MORE COPS AND BASICALLY ANYONE WHO HAS THEIR OWN MIND WILL REALIZE THAT THEY ARE NOT FREE.
AFTER 1000
REVEIWS THE CRITICS HAD THEIR FIELD DAY WITH MF TRASHING
THEM ON A THREE DAY T.V. SPECIAL ON CBS CALLED THE CULT
OF RAGE. AFTER THE F.B.I. AND THE POLICE INFILTRATED P.
MISSING AND DAVE KELLY ‘S HOUSE ON 6TH ST. THE
SPECIAL TURNED OUT TO BE ONE LIE AFTER ANOTHER ESPECIALLY
THE PART ABOUT HOW MF WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR ENCITING RIOTS
IN NEW YORK. THE ENERGY OF MF WAS SO HIGH THAT THE
AUDIENCES WENT CRAZY AND OUT OF THEIR BODIES THE FIRES
CREATED BY MF CREATED PANIC AND THE REPETATIVE PRECISE
DRUMMING COMBINED WITH TOTALSPECTACLE PUSHED THE BAND
INTO A POWER OF IT’S OWN. MANY TIMES THE AUDIENCE
TOOK ADVANTAGE OF MF FREEDOM FOR THEIR OWN FREEDOM
DISRUPTING AND DESTROYING THE CLUBS TO GET THEIR ANGER
OUT THIS EVENTUALLY PUSHED MF OFF THE CIRCUIT AND THEY
WERE EVENTUALLY BANNED FROM EVERY CLUB IN N.Y. AND
AMERICA.
MF WAS NOT ABOUT DESTROYING CLUBS IT WAS A STATEMENT
BEYOND DESTRUCTION WHICH IS ALSO A FORM OF CREATION. IT
WAS A REBELLION AGAINST A GOVERNMENT WHO LOST SIGHT OF
CULTURE AND HUMANITY. THE ALBUM THAT PUT THE BAND ON THE
MAP WAS IN 1988 ENTITLED ‘1933 - YOUR HOUSE IS
MINE’ LISTED IN THE TIMES AS A CLASSIC MOOD MUSIC
FOR URBAN CHAOS. OUTSTANDING TRACKS: ‘MARTYR OF THE
CITY’; ‘JAMEELS TURMOIL’;
‘1933’; ‘AT THE GATES’. THIS ALBUM
WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR MANY OTHER BANDS POPPING UP AROUND
THE GLOBE IN 1988 AFTER THE RELEASE MAJOR RIOTS BROKE OUT
ON THE LOWER EAST SIDE.
DECLARING 1988=1933 THIS IS GERMANY THE BANDS REASONING
WAS THAT AMERICA 1988 WAS LOOKING LIKE GERMANY 1933 THE
ALBUM’S EXPERIMENTAL VOCALS FROM PETE COMBINED WITH
THE BANDS ARTISTIC EGDE MADE THIS RECORD TIMELESS. IN
1989 THE BAND STARTED IT’S OWN LABEL ‘HUMANITY
RECORDS’ RELEASING THE TOTAL ABRASIVE INDUSTRIAL
STRENGTH NOISE ALBUM OF THE DECADE SMASHING PIANOS METAL
PIPES SLAMMED INTO FANS AND PERCUSSION THAT DELT WITH
EVERY MATERIAL POSSIBLE INCLUDING CARDBOARD BOXES. RIOT
SOUND TRACKS, CONDENSER MIKES LODGED IN THE THROAT,
GHETTO BOXES AND SONY WALKMANS CREATED A LOAD NOISE OR
DIN AT OUR KINGSLAND STUDIO IN BROOKLYN. CRACKED WALLS
WAS A COMMON OCCURENCE. AFTER HOURS OF SPRAY PAINTING AND
POLITICAL POSTERING THE BAND USUALLY MET AT THE
‘INTERNATIONAL BAR’ ON 2ND AV. TO DISCUSS NEW
IDEAS FOR MUSIC OR HOW TO VISUALLY TRANCEND THE STAGE. -
AFTER MUCH HYPE AND HYSTERIA THE BAND EVENTAULLY WAS
SIGNED TO RESTLESS RECORDS THEY RELEASED 5 CD’S WITH
VERY LITTLE ADVERTIZING AND NEVER SEEING THE BAND LIVE.
HERE IS THE MF DISCOGRAPHY IN 1990 THE BAND HAD REACHED
IT’S POINT WITH ‘IGNORE THE WHITE CULTURE’
THEIR MOST MEMORABLE RECORDINGS TO DATE. HERE THE LYRICS
WERE INCLUDED. MF WAS NOT ABOUT HATE BUT ACCUALLY LOOKING
FOR SOLUTONS TO SAVE THE PLANET AND NOT PUT ALL OUR FAITH
IN THE MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS. ‘AUDIT THE
U.S.’ WAS THE LAST LINE ON THE LYRIC SHEET ( IMAGINE
WHAT THEY WOULD FIND, ESPECIALLY CORRUPTION, AND HOW FAR
IT’S GONE.)
WHEN I MET MF BACK STAGE I ALSO REALIZED THEY WERE NOT
JUST A BUNCH OF MADMEN ALTHOUGH INTELLIGENT THEY COULD BE
DANGEROUS IF YOU HIT THE WRONG BUTTON WITH THEM. THEY
WERE ALL AS STRONG AS THE MUSIC THEY INVENTED. TRACKS TO
LOOK FOR HERE WOULD BE ’TERRORISM’ WITH
FLORIANS INCREDIBLE SAX PLAYING AND DAVES TIBETAN BELLS
-’SHINING PATH’ WITH ARABIC STYLE VOCALS AND A
BASELINE FROM ADAM THAT CROSSED THE COMMERCIAL LINE WITH
A HEAVY MESSAGE. THE TITLE CUT ‘IGNORE THE WHITE
CULTURE’ CREATED SOME CONFUSION AS TO WHO THE WHITE
CULTURE IS. I THINK IF WE PAINTED THE WHITE HOUSE BLUE
THE PEOPLE THEY SPEAK ABOUT WOULD STILL BE INSIDE ANY
GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO PUSH BLACKS AND MINORITIES OUT OF
NEIBORHOOD’S WOULD BE CONSIDERED THE WHITE CULTURE.
THE BAND STUCK TO THE RAW ENERGY IGNORING SOUND QUALITY
AND A SINCERE HATRED FOR ROCK MUSIC WITH GUITARS. IT WAS
VERY SELDOM THEY WOULD INVITE A GUITAR TO THE STUDIO;
FLORIAN WAS GOOD AT SAWING THEM IN HALF AT THE CONCERTS.
LATER HE SHOWED A SQAURE GUITAR IN A BERLIN EXHIBITION.
THE METAL BANGING OF MF WAS NEVER RANDOM. FLORIAN CHRIS
AND MARK COULD PLAY IT WITH BLOOD, SWEAT AND ACCURACY.
WHEN THE BAND FINISHED THEIR 1989 EURO TOUR IT WAS
OBVIOUS AT THIS TIME THAT MF WAS IN A CATAGORY OF THEIR
OWN. AFTER MOST OF THEIR SHOWS THE AUDIENCE WAS LEFT
DAZED AND CONFUSED. AND THE WRITTEN FLYERS THROWN INTO
THE CROWD WAS AS THOUGHT PROVOKING AS THE SINGER HIMSELF
COMING UP WITH ALL NEW SLOGANS THAT ARE NOW FOUND IN 30
MUSEUMS AROUND THE WORLD IN THE ‘YOUR HOUSE IS
MINE’ BOOK, INCLUDING THE N.Y. LIBRARY. THE BOOK
PROJECT INCLUDED 100 ARTISTS ’PUBLIC
ENEMY’+’COP SHOOT COP‘ WERE TWO OF MANY
WHO HAD THEIR SAY IN THE WORLD AROUND THEM. BULLET SPACE
- 292 EAST 3RD ST. N.Y.C. 10009 LOWER EAST SIDE. THEN THE
91’ ‘ANTI GULF EUROTOUR’ WITH 5 LITERS OF
PETRO BURNED AT EVERY SHOW. HEAVY BURNING OIL DRUMS
FLYING OFF THE STAGE AND A PIT THAT MADE AMERICA PITIFUL
IN COMPARISON. AMERICAN FLAGS WERE BURNED AS FOUR
DRUMMERS AND BASE WITH PETE ON MEGAPHONE PAINTED A
PICTURE TOO REAL WHICH IN TURN GOT THE PEOPLE TO EITHER
RUN AWAY OR JUMP INTO THE MIX. PETES VOCALS HAVE ELEMENTS
OF PRIMAL SCREAM THERAPY RESEMBLING JOHN LENNON FOR
EXAMPLE MIXED WITH HIS ARTISTIC APPROACH TO IN HIS
OPPINION THE GREATEST INSTRUMENT OF ALL ’THE VOCAL
CORD’ IF THE WORLD HAD TIME TO REALLY LISTEN TO
PETES VOCALS THEY WOULD SEE THE GENIUS IN HIS WORK. -
AFTER THIS EXPLOSIVE TOUR WITH ‘MUTOID WASTE’
IN AMSTERDAM AND A GIG IN BUDAPEST THAT LEFT THE AUDIENCE
FREE TO TAKE OVER THE STAGE AND START PLAYING THE BANDS
EQUIPMENT, SMOKE BILLOWING FROM THE STAGES YOU WERE
FORCED TO SUBMIT YOUR INNER SPIRIT TO THE DRUM N’
BASS WITH A RANGE FROM THE VOCALIST THAT CUT DEEP WITH
INTENSE ENERGY AND STAGE PRESENCE.
THEY ARE
INFAMOUS AND A LIVING LEGEND IN THE HISTORY OF RADICAL
PERFORMERS AND TO THE WORLD WHO HAVE SEEN THEM THEY ARE
ALSO A MYSTERY. THE NEW YORK POST CALLED THEM A SHADOWY
ORGANIZATION THE NEW YORK TIMES CLAIMED THE BAND WAS
RESPONSIBLE FOR A DROP IN REALESTATE. THE BANDS SYMBOL
WAS USED FOR WHATEVER SINCE IT WAS EVERYWHERE AND IN
PUBLIC DOMAINE. BAND MEMBERS WERE ARRESTED A NUMBER OF
TIMES BUT MOSTLY FOR CIVIL AND HOUSING RIGHTS. WITH THIS
BAND POLITICS AND MUSIC WAS A DEADLY MIXTURE. FEW WOULD
RISK THEIR REPUTATIONS TO BREAK BOUNDRIES IN THE LINES OF
‘FREEDOM OF SPEECH‘ OR APPROACHING MUSIC FROM
AN IMPROVISATIONAL PATTERN. ONE CONCERT IN THIS VAIN WAS
AT ‘THE KNITTING FACTORY’ WITH JOHN ZORN
P.MISSING AND MARK RIBOT. AT THIS CONCERT ALL LAWS WERE
BROKEN FLOWING LIKE A CLOCK OUT OF CONTROL. THE
ATMOSPHERIC MUSIC FROZE EVERYONE AND IT COMMANDED
ATTENTION. IN 1992 THE BAND RELEASED ‘GO INTO
EXILE‘ AND KICKED IT OFF WITH A EURO TOUR OF EAST
AND WEST. ON THIS TOUR THE SINGER TURNED TO A SPIRITUAL
ATMOSPHERE: INCENSE SMOKE AND FIREWORKS WERE ALLWAYS ON
HAND TAKING NOISE TO INDUCE TRANCE OR CHANGE THE BRAINS
WAVE LENGTHS. THE BAND WAS RUMORED TO BE USING SONIC
DECEPTION TAPES ON TOUR AND IN THEIR RECORDS. PRESENTLY
PETE IS MAKING INSTALLATIONS, FLORIAN IS
WORKING AS AN ARTIST AND PRODUCTIONDESIGNER IN HAMBURG, CHRIS IS PHOTO JOURNALIST
IN N.Y.C., MARK WAS IN A BAND CALLED ‘THE
SPITTERS’ HE DIED 2000.
Back