It was way back in the mid-nineties when Caspar Brötzmann Massaker last played London, and there’s a real sense of anticipation in the air tonight. The crowd – a mixture of those who saw the band in the past, and a younger generation of fan who discovered them during their long period of inactivity – wait impatiently.
Café Oto is about to experience some volume.
Brötzmann sips his glass of red, sparks up a sly Camel, and strides up to his guitar – not a rebellious act in the grand scheme of things, but it’s a small sign of the fiercely independent streak that runs through the band and their music.
It would be ambitious for any act to open with a fifteen-minute song, but with Massaker it’s a more case of “Which fifteen-minute song will they choose?”
They opt for the sparse and haunting ‘Hymne’ – its opening minutes feature barely more than the click and chime of a guitar’s pickup switch being moved to sound out a range of ominous chords. Once the song hits its stride the hypnotic roar is shaking the venue.
The live versions of these songs are stunningly accurate and dynamic, but Brötzmann’s guitar is even more alive with harmonic frequencies – there’s a colour, warmth, and physical thump that’s never truly been captured on record.
‘Sarah’ is next and it gives new meaning to the phrase “wall of sound” – with a hand-over-the-fretboard riff that resembles an air-raid siren being played as the planes actually arrive overhead. Immense really is the only word.
Whilst standing spellbound before this unique and incendiary take on what can be done with a guitar, it’s easy to underestimate just how important the rhythm section of Eduardo Delgado Lopez and Danny Arnold Lommen actually is. Similarly eschewing the clichés of rock music tradition as their nominal leader, they underpin ‘Kerkersong’ with a monstrous tribal beat and a bassline that might be considered funky were it not so brutally muscular. People even start to dance.
Finally after playing just a handful of songs, they announce that the next one is their last. But it’s ok, because it’s another fifteen-minute affair. The first splay of notes that form the intro to ‘Massaker’ elicit a cheer from those in the crowd who know what they’re about to see. It’s the closest thing the band have to a signature tune, and one incredible display of unparalleled guitar pyrotechnics over lurching beats later, they say goodbye – clearly wishing they had more time than the hour-and-a-bit they play.
It’s all over too soon. The band move next to the stage, and instantly light up more Camels. No doubt leaving a few stunned guitarists in the room contemplating booking into Dignitas along the way.
With rumours of new material in the pipeline, let’s hope this two-date tour isn’t the last chance the UK will get to see them.
Words by James Barry