We warmly congratulate you on the eternal indie stadium rock!
Right at the beginning there is a mantra: “We are still here,” Peter Brugger repeats again and again, as if he had to convince himself. But you have to admit: The Sportfreunde Stiller have bravely earned their anniversary, on which they congratulate themselves with their new album HAPPY BIRTHDAY, by surviving 30 years of malice and resentment. And one can certainly give them credit for counteracting the cerebralism of the Hamburg School from Munich with a sometimes refreshing everydayness.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY also reveals the trio’s big deficit: the missing shit detector. The fact that a weakness for Italy is mandatory in Munich still doesn’t excuse the accumulation of clichés like “Ti amo, Italiano!” And “Hey, Buddies!”, which celebrates “buddies”, “ladies”, “people” and “lovers” and rhymes “life” with “half so daring”, is – to stick with anglicisms – extremely cringe.
Musically, little or nothing has developed in the three decades; widescreen guitars and football stadium choirs are still trumps. Congratulations on still being here!