They’re back: The H-Blockx were at the forefront of the European crossover scene in the mid-90s. Together with singer Henning Wehland we are listening to this genre and its current revival mode.
Between Beastie Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers and German music history: In the ME interview, Henning Wehland classifies the crossover phenomenon.
Editorial recommendations
BODY COUNT — “Body Count’s In The House” (1992)
This is the best fucking intro ever [rappt mit]. I live on a horse farm. When I drive a car with its owner, we pump this track. There is nothing hotter.
People often lump us together with bands from Body Count to Such A Surge. The difference: There are bands that come from hip-hop and put guitars underneath. Others, like us, put chanting on rock and punk. Ice-T took rap to a new level with his attitude. We met him on the Vans Warped Tour in 1999. There you grow together into a kind of camper family. Barbecue with Pennywise. Aftershow parties in Ice-T’s RV. Basketball with Eminem. Those were my 15 minutes of fame.
RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS — “Good Time Boys” (1989)
Goose flesh. In the backstage room of the very small Odeon club in Münster there was a huge logo with Faust and the Peppers star on the wall – created by the band themselves, who performed there in 1988. MOTHER’S MILK is their most important record in terms of legacy. A white band that actually plays black music. They were basically the Eminem of funk, punk and rock’n’roll. I still begrudge them everything that came after.
As a student band you covered the Peppers during this phase.
This influence was also unmistakable on a few unreleased H-Blockx songs [rappt]. We adapt this style 1:1 on a TIME TO MOVE number.
BEASTIE BOYS — “Sabotage” (1994)
The Beastie Boys are their own section. A genre that has never been achieved again. It doesn’t matter whether at the end or at the beginning it was Rick Rubin who, according to legend, told this young punk band from New York to try this new thing called rap.
Adam “MCA” Yauch died in 2012.
A friend of mine worked for an organization that campaigned for the freedom of Tibet in the late 90s. The Beastie Boys acted as patrons. She met Yauch, wanted to make me happy and had him write three lines on a postcard that reached me one day: “Yeah, Henning, I heard you have a band too. I wanted to send you greetings from a pretty, pink-haired girl from New York City.” Signed MCA.
Do you still have the card?
Nope. I’m not a keeper. I even lose old boxes full of memories. I don’t cling to the past in the form of material things. I never understood the meaning of collecting either.
Although the 90s had so much to offer: trading cards from sports or wrestling. Cola cans with BAP, Westernhagen…
… and H-Blockx!
SUCH A SURGE — “Against the Current” (1993)
I don’t know if we would have ever existed without Such A Surge’s first EP. The boys are Germany’s crossover pioneers, not us.
According to their bassist and manager Axel Horn, they were like VIVA Two to the more colorful VIVA.
We are older than VIVA. Our debut was postponed due to the broadcast start on December 1, 1993. TIME TO MOVE was finished in 1993 and wasn’t released until August 1994 – to our dismay because a whole bunch of bands came out that made us think: Now the train is leaving again without us. But of course: We shot clips that were shown on this channel. We really exaggerated the Pop Art idea in it.
THUMB — “Red Alert” (1995)
Singer Claus Grabke was a skateboarding idol. A unicorn that is at the top as an East Westphalian from Gütersloh. At Thumb there was a certain sense of competition on my part at the time. They were realkeepers, true to the base. I had the feeling that Claus and I were having a falling out. We have settled it.
Their drummer Steffen “Steady” Wilmking is playing with you today and was responsible for Casper’s XOXO as a producer, for example.
I already admired him back then. I met him at Monster Mastership. He had broken his arm while skating and had an impressive scar. “It doesn’t hurt anymore,” he said, “but I can’t skateboard anymore because of playing drums.” It’s crazy that this guy joined us later. Today he is the heartbeat of the band and leads with Keshav Purushotham (Timid Tiger) the great label Papercup Records.
ALLIGATOAH FEAT. FRED DURST — “So Out” (2023)
(After a minute of puzzling): Oh, Alligatoah of course! We should appear in his opening act sometime. I didn’t need this feature with Fred Durst to like him. Was that credible or a jump-on-the-train ticket? I think it’s cool that as a very young artist he’s trying to approach the very uncool topic of crossovers. About the feature: I sang a duet with Sarah Connor. I know that if you surround yourself with a name whose star shines brighter than yours, you will only ever cast a large shadow. But never come into this Fred Durst orbit, I almost said.
Within its target audience, Alligatoah is a much bigger star than Durst. However, the accompanying album OFF did not trigger a definite crossover revival.
That will never happen either. There is no crossover culture. This was a phenomenon that is often ridiculed as a bubble. A preparation for the more rooted Nu Metal.
FINCH X SDP X PHIL THE BEAT — “Adventureland” (2024)
Electric call boy? No? I can even feel something for Pur. And dude, I can even party to that kind of music. But these style elements! Almost everything is wrong with it for me. Wait: That’s not Finch, is it? I actually like that one. I think the guy is authentic. His lyrics and music function like Ski Aggu and Ikkimel – like a disruptor and a mirror. I think: “You can’t do that!” And that’s why I’m thinking about it. After “Risin High,” people also asked us, “Should we laugh or cry?”