Here is the 27th episode of Jan Müller’s “Reflector” column, in which he explains why an “Else Admire & The Breitengüssbach Dolls” concert is like a church service.
I’m on my way to the “Church from Below” in Friedrichshain. It is actually logical that Else Admire and his Breitengüssbach Dolls appear there of all places. Because a concert with his music is equivalent to a church service.
I first noticed Else in 1994 with his remarkable single hit “Metzgereiverkaufrin”. He has basically kept the mixture of rock’n’roll, punk and post-war hits to this day. I got to know Else better in 1999 in Munich while shooting his remake of the film “Plan 9 From Outer Space”. We are engaged with Tocotronic as a supporting actor. I’m impressed when he stages an earthquake by frantically shaking the video camera. He thus qualified as a thoroughly worthy successor to Ed Wood, the director of the original. Unfortunately, he was never able to finish his film. He even got into considerable debt as a result of this project.
In the years that followed, I met Else again and again. Mostly when we played with Tocotronic near his home town of Bamberg. His appearance at our performances is always the same: Shortly after the start of the concert, he (wearing a leather jacket and sunglasses) pushes his way into one of the front rows and makes a few funny to uncouth remarks there, only to walk away from the stage shortly afterwards, shaking his head . After the concert, he quickly finds his way into the backstage room and by no means spares massive criticism of our musical performance. Before that, he had already placed various of his own sound carriers at our merchandising stand (mostly with signs such as “strongly recommended by Tocotronic” or similar). This Else happening really annoys parts of my band. I, on the other hand, am always happy to see him.
Amazing mental spirals are normal for Else Admire
At some point the plan came up to record a split single with Else and my band Dirty Dishes. While Admire contributed a rock’n’roll song, we conceived the song “What speaks against Else Admire” loosely based on Bertold Brecht. Else took our contribution for granted. After he sent me the layout for his side of the flyer, he asked me to stretch out the concert photo on it a little. “Yes, why is that? Then you look fatter!” I asked him on the phone. “Yeah, sure,” he replied, “but the stage looks bigger.”
Such amazing mental spirals are normal for him. In the 90’s he sent one of his records to Bill Clinton, White House, USA. He combined the gift with a request to Clinton to join Else’s band as a saxophonist after his term in office. At least he got a response from the White House. But there was no cooperation. And he told me about Else’s album HARD ROCK, released in 2015: “Jan, that’s the last album ever that was recorded with Atomstrom. And of course you can hear it: nuclear power sounds much better than other power. More power!”
Always on the edge of reality or past reality
This perception of the world, always on the edge of reality or missing reality, is a concept that has enabled him to persevere with his art for over 30 years now. What’s more, he has made himself his own work of art. For the trained butcher, rock and roll means above all love, sex, beer and a not inconsiderable amount of provocation. His artistic concept demanded a lot from him: his body was marked by the aftermath of fights; the nose crooked, broken several times. I myself have witnessed more than once how he put himself in dangerous situations completely unnecessarily.
The fact that some people do not always find his type of staging pleasant is also part of the truth. Else has been making music with women for years, when many male colleagues preferred to keep to themselves in the rehearsal room and band bus. Still, I’m definitely not going to justify Else’s clumsy pick-up lines in this frenetic column, which he sees as part of his overall performance. I hope that he will reconsider his concept of self-portrayal on this point. It would not only be good for his counterpart and to avoid further scars, but also for his art.
After all, almost all of his songs are about love. Else is a romantic at heart. Also on this evening in Berlin, it echoes from the stage: Love Love Love! Until he suddenly alludes to this crazy hit from the upcoming album with his band: the Eisenfechter blues; a brute rock song from the world of work. Because that is also a truth: Else obviously cannot live from his art, but he has to earn his living as a construction worker, iron fencer and recently as a crane operator. Keep on rockin’ in a free world Else!
Regarding Jan Müller’s “Reflector” podcast: www.steadyhq.com/de/reflektor/about
Jan Müller from Tocotronic meets interesting musicians for his “Reflector” podcast. He reports on these encounters in the Musikexpress and on Musikexpress.de. This column first appeared in the Musikexpress issue 05/2023.