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  The phenomenon began in Hamburg - Germany, 1984. One Sascha Konietzko and Udo Sturm came together to form what would become later one of the greatest, most revolutionary, band - KMFDM. KMFDM was first viewed by the world at an exhibition in France - in the form of synthesizers, bass guitars, and coal miners. Shortly afterwards in Hamburg, En Esch would join one of Sascha's side projects and later KMFDM. British musician Raymond Watts, (of PIG fame), would also join the band. The first "album" of KMFDM would be in cassette form, and entitled "Opium". Released in 1985, the cassette only existed to promote KMFDM in the underground club scene. December of 1986 saw the first legit album release of KMFDM, "What Do You Know, Deutschland?". The album consisted of many early KMFDM recordings that spanned from 1983 to 1986. In 1987, the first KMFDM single, "Kickin' Ass", was released and licensed to Liverpool-based Skysaw Records. Skysaw introduced KMFDM to the artist Brute! who would go on to do the artwork of every single KMFDM release thereafter, (except for Nihil). Also at this time, Sascha began to establish ties with producer and engineer Adrian Sherwood. In 1988, the second KMFDM album, Don't Blow Your Top was released, and even lessened to the Wax Trax! label, (label to Ministry, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, and Front 242). During 1989, UAIOE was released, which contained elements of house and funk. After touring with Ministry in 1990, Naïve was released after Sascha traveled to Chicago to improve relations with Wax Trax!. It was not known at the time, but Naïve had violated copyright laws by not getting permission to sample Carl Orff's Carma Burana. The CD would later be reworked and remixed in 1994. In 1991, Sascha permanently moved the KMFDM headquarters to Chicago. 1992 saw the light of a new KMFDM album, Money. However at the time, there was a bit of quarreling going on between KMFDM, and Money was going to be called "Split", (which became a single), to signify the end of KMFDM. During this year, Sascha returned from touring to discover that Wax Trax! was almost bankrupt, and the founder James Nash was suffering from a heart attack. Out of loyalty, Sascha rewrote the contracts between KMFDM and the label, which called for KMFDM to release 5 more albums. After this, Wax Trax! was bought up my TVT Records. 1993 was the year that Angst was released, which some considered to be KMFDM's best work. Music to mosh to, and cynical lyrics dominated the guitar driven album. Nihil was released in 1995, and do to a snafu of both Sascha and Brute! moving around, the two could not get ahold of each other - hence the lack of Brute! artwork for this album. The album was also Raymond Watts first appearance on a KMFDM album after a long period. After the Beat by Beat tour, and the unfortunate death of James Nash, KMFDM was just down to two core members, Sascha and Günter Schultz, as En Esch would appear sparatically. 1996 was the release year for XTORT, and 1997 for Symbols. Tim Skold would join the KMFDM ranks in this year. 1999 was a tragic year for KMFDM. The last album, appropriately entitled Adios, was released. Since the 5th album under the KMFDM contract was released, the band disbanded. The incident in Colorado in the same year did not help matters much for the band. At this point, only Sascha and Tim decided they could work together. Those two, along with Lucia of the band Drill, joined together to form MDFMK. They were able to release one album on the Universal/Republic label, but this album failed to sale the greatest in the label's eyes. MDFMK left the label. 2000 saw the phoenix rise from the ashes as KMFDM returned. Sascha, Tim, and Lucia, along with Raymond Watts spent this time working on new material for the newest KMFDM. En Esch and Günter Schultz, who had formed the band Slick Idiot, were asked to re-join KMFDM, but they declined. The past few months have been incredibly busy for KMFDM. A new single called Boots was released, as was a DVD, and the completion of their newest album, Attak. Currently, the band is planning the KMFDM/Pig tour this summer, a Euro tour with Rammstein , and another release for Sascha's side project, Excessive Force. -Nick Diak 3/02 More at: |
