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May 15, 2023: I’m on the road again. It is 23:30. I just played with my band Tocotronic in Rottweil. Although we are in the 33rd year of our existence, we have never been here. Even apart from Tocotronic, I haven’t visited Rottweil before. That’s why I was almost excited in advance. I even asked about travel tips in the Freundeskreis.
But without success. And then I also asked the experts among my friends if they know bands and musicians: inside from Rottweil. Almost nobody could help me. The Encyklop Rasmus Engler knew something: Riff Randel (not to be confused with Riff Randall); They released an album in 1999. The name suggests that they sound like the Ramones.
Mille Petrozza still calls me Dark Sky and Sirius Curse. Metal is just everywhere. And of course the knowledgeable Kolja Podkowik also knew something: a rap duo called Morbid. Kolja once had a feature on one of her tracks. One of them also deserves his thaler with the fact that he writes texts for Kollegah. What is it like to live in Rottweil and write texts for Kollegah? I also found that Anne Haigis was born in Rottweil. “Not the place for a big dream,” she sings in her hit “Disassement”. These lines will certainly refer to their home Rottweil. Anne Haigis “comes from jazz”, as they say. And mostly jazz musicians from Rottweil also come. The trumpeter Bernd Marquart, the bassist German Kleiber and the jazz composer brothers Ferenc and Magnus Mehl.
Golding gold, crosses and hearing aid acousticians everywhere
Consequently, we were asked as a Tocotronic for our first guest appearance in Rottweil for the jazz festival. Before it started, I wanted to look at the city. After all, Rottweil is the oldest city of Baden-Württemberg. Our venue, the old stable hall, is not far from the historic old town. What I saw there calmed me down: gold leaf, crosses and hearing aid acoustics everywhere. The Redlight District of Rottweil is twelve meters long and consists of the “Lido Bar-Nightclub” and the “Halligalli Bar”. I ran past it and then approved a ball of ice cream (yoguret) in the ice café “Pinocchio”. In the meantime I thought: Rottweil, why not? It’s nice here! And probably there is also no reason to start a band if you live here. People have enough to do with enjoying the shine of the old buildings.
As I looked at the beautiful facades, I remembered how strange I found it that the punk band Maniacs came from Rothenburg. I heard the Musiacs music for the first time in 1986. And a few weeks later I had visited the picturesque Rothenburg with my family. When I was walking along the old town alleys with my parents, my brother and a lot of Japanese, I just couldn’t imagine that the rivets of the Maniacs with their shaggy manes in this tranquility were punk.
Did you have your rehearsal room in one of these medieval houses? Maybe even equipped with a hanging metal shield over the door? Provided with a decorated gold letters: “Proberaum Maniacs”? Of course it wasn’t like that. I was wrong. The Maniacs did not come from Rothenburg whether the Tauber, but from Rotenburg an der Fulda. This is probably simply a completely normal small town, where a completely normal punk band like the Maniacs belonged.
The finest baroque
But back to Rottweil. I then looked at a few more churches. The Evangelical preacher church is not bad. The finest baroque. But of course I was more impressed by the Catholic Holy Cross-Münster. Gothic always stands out Baroque. When I finally stood on stage in the old stable hall, our venue, I thought for a moment: that does not look catholic or evangelical, but almost free church, in its simplicity. The fact that chairs were built in the back of the Hall and half of the people sat increased the impression.
However, I dropped my displeasure. When do you still play in such a beautiful hall today in such a beautiful hall? And besides, people all looked at us so friendly. Even those who sat. And I thought: “It’s a shame that I never lived in a small town.” And of course it became a really great and extraordinary concert. Rock in Rottweil on a Thursday. Why not? What luck. I have absolutely no reason to complain about my situation.
This column first appeared in the music express edition 7/2025.