In the days of the GDR, Henryk Gericke, who also works as an author, gallery owner, and curator, sang in the short-lived punk band The Leistungsleichen. In 1996 he became a DJ under the name Nic Sleazy. Last year, Gericke released the compilation »Ende vom Lied – East German Underground Sound 1979-1989« [»End of the song…«]. In this DJ set, he assembles a soundtrack to the late 70s and 80s consisting of orthodox post-punk and freakwave whose influences, back in the day, extended far beyond the wall.
Über »Too Much Future«
It doesn’t downplay the role of punk in the West to say that in the East, in the GDR, it was a different, absolutely crucial affair. In East Berlin and elsewhere, politics came before pop; young people reacted to scarcity rather than to consumerist hell, and offered resistance against an invasive, dogmatic system. However, involuntarily hopes, demands, and needs made people within the forced collective into outsiders. Today an author, DJ, and curator, Henryk Gericke was a singer in the East Berlin punk band The Leistungsleichen in the early 80s and later put out many publications in the political and artistic underground. In connection with numerous exhibitions and publications he’s co-organised, Gericke now looks for three consecutive festival days at subculture on the other side of the Wall(s), and at the punk movement in particular. This programme focus combines talks, musical talk-performances as »preludes«, a film screening, and a DJ set.