When Xmal Deutschland traveled from Hamburg to England in the early 1980s and scored big live there, there were a few provocations from the guys. There is no plan for a women’s group from Germany to stir up the punk, goth and wave scene. So people blaspheme and their abilities are doubted. Anja Huwe quickly finds a suitable antidote. She asks guitarist Manuela Rickers to turn the amplifier all the way up during the sound check.
She creates all the relevant British accents herself and counters every stupid saying with an even stupider one. That brings authority. Basically all questions of authority were put to rest when Xmal Deutschland received an invitation from John Peel in 1982 to play one of his legendary sessions. The debut album FETISCH isn’t even on the market yet, but Peel doesn’t care about such promotional matters.
X times Germany do what they always do
He brings people who interest him into the BBC studio in Maida Vale. The fact that this band has their country in its name and also sings in German on English club stages, even though their music sounds very Anglo-American (namely like a cloak and dagger variant of Patti Smith and of course Siouxsie & The Banshees), fascinates him even more. Peel isn’t present at the recordings themselves; he thinks he’s just being a nuisance and leaves the work to the BBC’s sound engineers.
They do an excellent job, but as jazz, classical or prog rock fans they can’t do much with the strange music. “They made it very clear that they didn’t like you very much, that they didn’t like the music and that you should please hurry up,” recalls keyboardist Fiona Sangster. Other bands might have been unsettled. Xmal Germany do what they always do: they trust in themselves, enjoy being together, counter the stupid sayings. Peel is happy – and invites the band to three more sessions in 1985.
The last of them appeared in the EP series “The Peel Sessions” in 1986. The others have been lying dormant in nerdy niche forums for a long time, but now all four sessions are being released together on a double LP for Record Store Day. What is immediately noticeable: how well Xmal Deutschland acts as a group here. Back then, a radio session was a performance without a net or a false bottom, and the band lived up to the requirement. And it’s good for the sound that the reverb effect is only used in doses in the first sessions. While Xmal Deutschland sometimes sounds veiled on the studio albums, songs like the driving “Reigen” or the incredibly good tribal post-punk of “In Motion” (heard exclusively here) have a very immediate effect.
