Cock am Ring – The Preface
“Fuck your mangy whore mother, you stupid piece of shit!”
I don’t even know why I still have the screenshot of this random message from an unknown “Sven Müller”. I got rid of all the others from that time long ago, there were just far too many. But I probably never deleted this one, in order to be able to testify at some point in the hopefully not too distant future how difficult the path was even in the tens of the new millennium. The path to gender-sensitive booking at festivals, mind you. Men urinated in my social media profiles like startled lawn sprinklers because I (like many others) described the penis-heavy booking status quo of the open-air seasons as unpromising and rather stuck.
That went too far for Sven Müller and many others. More FLINTA* on festival stages? Only over his dead body!
I have to admit that a lot has happened since then. The discussion continues, but it has gained ground. The initiative key change, which many European festivals (but not very many German ones) and organizers have joined, a lot has started, for example. This Primavera line-up also had a great deal of appeal (certainly not only for me), which for the first time in 2019 at an event of this size (and also among the headliners) had more than 50% women. And without drawing from it a big advertising campaign. It was made easy, period.
The ritual Mimimi in online discussions with promoter dudes and festival-goers, who hallucinated either bankruptcy or the downfall of the West as soon as one had to make an effort not only to book guys, seemed to be undermined with Primavera’s best practice.
Something’s moving. And of course you can also appreciate that as a guy. It’s not a betrayal of one’s own caste if one wants to experience pop culture as a horny space of opportunity that depicts more than just the same type of man. For me, pop is also a utopia – one that also concretely helps to shape the realities of tomorrow. In this respect, get used to it, in times of identity politics, the topic of representation will become even more urgent (and intersectional) in culture. There is nothing to lose imho. The Foo Fighters and the Donots will continue to make their appearances, don’t worry the link rock enclaves aren’t going away. But when all the trappings open up and change, there is no one who will not benefit from it.
Even though we’re still a long way from diversity (at a lot of festivals), I take it as a stage win that such shitstorms, which I’m not the only one who’ve reliably gotten on the subject over the past decade, have lost a lot of chair power. Even if you don’t see it on stage yet, at least the topic has arrived. And so how can it go on?
A very substantial action took place this year under the title “Cock Am Ring”. The basis is a sampler that wants to blow sugar into the tank of the sluggish developments of many big festivals. I liked the music and all the colorful accessories so much that I would like to dedicate my current column to the creators. Good idea I think. I conducted an interview with them about this. Have fun!
Cock am Ring – the interview
If you didn’t get it, what is “Cock am Ring”? And who instigated that?
Cock am Ring is an independent charity sampler. We want the poor “Rock am Ring” help. So that the organizer Dreamhaus can finally afford more bands with FLINTA+ people for 2023. On our sampler “Cock am Ring – 24 flintastic cover versions” we present 24 bands and artists from a wide variety of styles who, despite their diversity, have two things in common: First, they are not purely male and second, they cover die-hard for everyone Rock am Ring fans will each have a song by a male band from the Rock am Ring line-up. All proceeds that we earn with this project then go as a donation to Dreamhaus.
The whole thing was initiated by the band Kochkraft through KMA and the label Ladies & Ladys. We are supported by the participating artists and bands and also by Janika Streblow, artist from Cologne; Sonja “Sæm” Trautmann from musicNRWwomen*; Mirko Gläser from Uncle M Music and Joe Joaquin, mixer and mastering. And our patron is Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth!
In addition to the sampler, you also did activities at festivals. Which were they?
We were there at Rock am Ring and Rock im Park and talked to the festival visitors and distributed our delicious edible flyers. We were also at Carolin Kebekus’ DCKS Festival and exchanged ideas with her and the festival visitors.
And how did the concert-goers react to the topic?
Mostly open and interested. Most people at Rock am Ring and Rock im Park were not aware of the topic at all, they hadn’t given it any thought until now. However, many were able to understand our arguments and were sometimes surprised or even horrified by the figures for the proportion of men.
And was there any feedback from Rock Am Ring itself?
no
Many festival bookers state that the conservative public taste is to blame for the homogeneous cis-male line-ups – how do you rate that?
We believe that is not true. Unknown male bands always play at every festival. Festival shows are often not the result of a career, but part of their beginning and the chance to play in front of a large audience and thereby become known. If you don’t have the opportunity to play an early slot at a big festival, for example, you won’t even be able to win the hearts of the many visitors. And without the first festival shows, there is no experience, no self-confidence, no opportunity to learn and, above all, no references and connections that would be important for other festival shows. A vicious circle. Take our own band Kochkraft as an example through KMA: We owe a lot to events like Bochum Total or Rock am Berg, which we are allowed to play this summer. Or that as the opening act for the great band Grossstadtgeflüster we have the chance to introduce ourselves to their fans. And for us, live games are the very best advertisement. Of course, the same mechanisms also apply to labels, radio stations and all other companies in the music industry (which, according to a study on the Reeperbahn Festival, are 75% exclusively managed by men). As long as everyone involved doesn’t take risks and artists* don’t give chances to reach a larger audience, it’s hard to be noticed and then loved, no matter how great the music is.
The Primavera showed the way: There can also be completely different festival compositions. Airwavves in Iceland also already has a great awareness on the subject. How do you assess the development in recent years? The topic of gender equality on the stages has been in the ring for a few seasons now. What has happened?
A lot has happened, unfortunately mainly abroad. The feminist network female:pressure has analyzed 833 festivals in 48 countries since 2012. Accordingly, the proportion of women at festivals is 28% on average, the non-binary proportion is 1.6%. Germany is in a much worse position compared to other countries: According to counts by musicNRWwomen* in the years 2019 to 2021, the proportion of women at the larger commercial festivals is generally less than 20%. Of course, we are pleased that the topic is now also receiving more attention in German-speaking countries. However, the debates are obviously not being held everywhere, because there are still festivals this year, such as the Moon&Stars Festival, which manage to get exclusively men onto their stages for eleven days. We would have had time. And Rock am Ring, in particular, has proven that discussions do not necessarily lead to action. A year ago, they promised to strive for diversity, only to have only 5.6% FLINTA+ people in their line-up for 2022 present. Overall, the FLINTA+ share in Europe and North America has increased over the past ten years, but also decreased again in 2021. We think that with a good quarter of the FLINTA+ share, there is still room for improvement and we fear that without constant social pressure, the development will quickly go in the other direction.
What do you wish for the future of live music?
We wish for equal opportunities, creativity and diversity on the stages of this world.
What are your plans beyond the sampler? Will there be a sequel?
We will diligently document the line-up of the German festival landscape throughout the festival summer and continue to draw attention to the fact that FLINTA+ people are underrepresented. We are also organizing our own festival on September 10th and 11th in the Sputnikhalle, Münster. On the weekend we want to offer a slot to as many artists and bands as possible who are represented on the sampler. And a sequel… In case the FLINTA+ percentage in the line-up at Rock am Ring 2023 is back in the single digits, we’re sure to have some fun new ideas!
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Thanks to Nikki from Kochkraft with KMA and her people. What I take away from “Cock am Ring” is that you shouldn’t wait for the lumbering line-ups of major festivals to shift at the speed of continental records, but that you can always be the fire that fuels the events.
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Mockumentary of Hearts – Taby Pilgrim and Liser
“Three million streams… that’s almost thirty cents on Spotify!”
Personally, I have always liked to use quotations – although the phrasing perhaps lacks the compulsive element. But if you find something hilarious and bang it on ten times in a row, what kind of person would you be if you didn’t always quote it at every appropriate and inappropriate opportunity?!!!11
And where I once used Simpsons quotes for decades, I now refer to the mockumentary “Ja” by Taby Pilgrim and Liser. The problem with this is that not enough people know that, hardly anyone understands when I say, for example “Sorry, something is flashing here… Is that how it’s supposed to be?”.
The gags by Taby and Liser definitely have the potential to be used as a universal language. Around the globe tbh. In any case, I strongly recommend their combination of “normal” hits and a preceding mockumentary. At least three episodes already on YouTube. Thank me later. But something!
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Where amore rhymes with dolore – Italo pop with Eric Pfeil
And one more recommendation – the long holidays are coming soon, I don’t want to be like that. I’m currently reading Azzurro by Eric Pfeil. Subtitle “With 100 songs through Italy”, published by KiWi-Verlag. Basically, I don’t like pop journalists who write better than me, but what can you do? At the end of the day, there are way too many anyway. In any case, Eric Pfeil combines enviably smooth anecdotal storytelling with factual added value. Of course, I first read about the songs that I know – and I’m not proud of this, they are not exactly the monsters of distinction, but rather garish flotsam like Righeira’s “Vamos a la playa” or well-worn classics like “Gloria”. by Umberto Tozzi. But with such reins you quickly sit on the back seat of Pfeil’s Fiat Uno and you can also let his texts show you previously unknown Italo hot shots. This is friendly and light reading, but one that doesn’t leave you empty-handed at the end.
What happened until now? Here is an overview of all pop column texts.
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