Jeans Team

Biography

Jeans Team start in 1995 as a duo constisting of Franz Schütte and Reimo Herford. They found the legendary GALERIE BERLINTOKYO in Berlin Mitte and play their first official shows. For these shows Reimo and Franz performed to a preproduced video, they act as the companion volume. The 45 minute video ‘Baby' (1996) is Jeans Team’s first release. 1997 Gunter Kreis and Henning Watkinson complete the band and the virtual company is needless. Now Jeans Team become a quartet of flesh and blood. The epo...

Jeans Team start in 1995 as a duo constisting of Franz Schütte and Reimo Herford. They found the legendary GALERIE BERLINTOKYO in Berlin Mitte and play their first official shows. For these shows Reimo and Franz performed to a preproduced video, they act as the companion volume. The 45 minute video ‘Baby' (1996) is Jeans Team’s first release.

1997 Gunter Kreis and Henning Watkinson complete the band and the virtual company is needless. Now Jeans Team become a quartet of flesh and blood. The eponymous luminous advertising is dismantled from a street corner in Berlin Wedding and becomes the illumination for Jeans Team live shows.

After a number of songs on compilations by 'Spielkreis' and the 'Bungalow'-label follows the first tour through Germany. To release both singles 'Hi Fans' and 'Ein Atom' Jeans Team found their own label 'Nadel Eins' in 1998. Each single includes three punk-instrumentals. Yet another tour and gigs in Paris and Amsterdam follow.

1999 Jeans Team record their debut album 'Ding Dong' and another tour through Germany follows. The band record the album in their private 'Nadel Eins Studio' and release it in June 2000 on Kitty-Yo. Together with new tracks the album contains versions of their singles 'Ein Atom' and 'Hi Fans!'. The sound is a new form of electronic popmusic, composed of hypnotic melodies and dry rhythms packaged in skeletal arrangements. The Lyrics mostly contain few words, emotional slogans asking the mind to dance. For their Record-Release party Jeans Team invite friendly bands to cover their tracks live: STEREO TOTAL, PEACHES, POPTARTS, MJ LAN, MINA, DOC SCHOKO, KISSOGRAM, MINICHEV, 100 REC. and DUMA. A new idea for the next single 'Keine Melodien' is born: They put out a dance remix version of MJ Lan (Low Spirit), a cover version of Peaches and the original version. The band tour Germany and Austria and perform on the Benicassim-Festival in Spain.

Spring 2001: Re-Release of 'Keine Melodien' including remixes by PEACHES, OP:L BASTARDS and JOHANNES HEIL, out on Kitty-Yo/V2-Records. The video rotates on Viva and MTV. 'Keine Melodien' is released on lots of compilations and ends up on DJ playlists in international clubs. The single sells about 15.000 copies worldwide. Together with PEACHES Jeans Team tour Scandinavia where they meet up with like-minded people: OP:L BASTARDS and AAVIKKO. Together with the annual German tour they perform many festivals - Melt (Ger), Fusion (Ger), Puch (Ger) and Roskilde (DK).

In winter 2001 the band takes a break to finish their respective studies at university - art, film editing and architecture.

They’re back in 2002 with the EP 'Gold und Silber' (Kitty-Yo): Three new songs and re-worked tracks from 'Ding Dong'. The sound is more extensive, the production more dance-oriented. Sim Gil shoots a video for 'Baby 3'. 'Gold und Silber' is the first Jeans Team release in Scandinavia on the swedish label Pluxemburg. Tours in Germany, Spain, UK and Scotland.

At the end of 2002 work starts on the second LP in Jeans Team‘s own NADEL EINS studio. It takes more than a year to finish the record. Together with TARWATER the band is invited to a JOHN PEEL SESSION for the BBC in London. In May they go on a Russian tour supported by the GOETHE INSTITUT and play shows in Nischnij Novgorod, Samara, Saratov, Rostow-on-Don and Moscow. Furthermore they play in Portugal, Sweden and Norway.

MOTOROLA use 'Hi Fans!' in one of their commercials telecasted in Asia. The Band is also a visual part of it. They spend part of their earned money on the synthesizer legend SYNCLAVIER II.

In the beginning of 2004 they release the debut CD of their sideproject ELEKTROSERVICE. It´s the outcome of a 6 hour live performance in the gallery NEUE DOKUMENTE. Jeans Team play more shows in Europe (Sweden, Norway, France, Spain and Portugal.

In the same year the second LP 'Musik von Oben' is finished. It´s a continuation of 'Gold und Silber'. Now only two of ten tracks are instrumentals. The expanded arrangements include brass, autoharp, harmonium, omnichord, stealdrums and gongs, creating a hybrid of programmed structures and free play. For the first time they work with guestsingers: SONYA MORARU sings 'MOARA MEA' in rumanian, ELLI MEDEIROS lists her friends on the closing track 'ARTHUR'.

After breaking up their company with Kitty-Yo, Jeans Team find a new label in the freshly founded LOUISVILLE RECORDS.

The first single release is 'Berlin am Meer' in October 2004.

The album "MUSIK VON OBEN" is released in january 2005.
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