CoS tOur DIarY
2000 highlights by chicks on speedIt was really non-stop this year: Sonar 2000, watching Coil in their fluffy outfits; supporting Suicide at the Garage in London; playing in Japan at the Electronicaccident festival with Mego, Büro and Carsten Nicolai. Aquaplaning in Hyères, we weren't sure if we'd get on the plane, last minute stress at the airport, freaked out Air France, but then, it was all worth it when we arrived at the pool and jumped into the ocean from a diving board. Meeting Frank from Crash. Playing in Paris, the stereo system broke three times and show went on with an improvised live on stage exhibition (of all our costumes, box set and Boob Monster) during the moments of silence. The Peel Session in London at the BBC, we destroyed one monitor. The 'Hype' screen, thank you to all the journalists all over the world. Bimbo Tower. Habamah Theatre in Jerusalem with Pil and Galia Kollectiv. Adult. The Betrug label; playing with Le Tigre in Basel, Switzerland; our fave hotel: Furstenhof in Vienna; Super_Collider at Pukkelpop, Belgium; too bad I forgot her headphones on stage; Jeans Team; Puppet Masters; Jürgen Söder for being so patient with us; opening our Web shop; Jill Mingo.
- from The Wire, January 2001
12 december 2000by Melissa:
we just played our last gig of the year in lisbon, which was a great memorable place, especially because there were a lot of good old friends and aphex twin who is a really great guy.
we did the classic black plastic bag & gaffa tape outfit - for the first time - it rained like one was standing under the shower but our mikes didn't electrocute us - even in that gush. so the first montum festival - I hope there are many more!!! [images]
am a bit brain damaged tonight because of screen printing all these things before we're gone for holiday...
wish you a happy fun time.24 november 2000
by Alex:
we've been having delays [with Sell-Out WWW shop], but now all is up and running.
speaking of le tigre!
we played with them in basel one week ago!
was the best experience, they're so amazing, it changed my life!
i think it was one of the best collaborations for a live concert we've had.we'll be meeting up in london; maybe we do something?
we support suicide tomorrow night!see images of us with le tigre.
i love them!
they laid art at our feet!
no joke, outside our hotel room!12 november 2000
by Alex:
the gig tonight in chemnitz was such fun, people
were jumping up and down, very different to the tokyo
crowd, who shouted and clapped in a fun way.
my head is spinning from all these countries in such a short time.
oh my god...
you won't believe it...got to go, we have to drive to berlin tonight
:)
:)
:)19 october 2000
by Alex:
the shop just got quite a big order, we are a bit shocked as we have to make some of the things. wow, it may work.
we leave for madrid at 7 pm tonight, first time in madrid. kiki made a film with a sewing machine, it looks like a monstrous machine with a mind of its own!
17 october 2000
by Alex:
the event in japan is called:
"büro30 ELECTRONICACCIDENT"nice name!
16 october 2000
by Alex:
great about mego at telex, yes, pita will
be with us in tokyo before he comes to tampere!lucky him!!!!
we leave on wednesday and return on
wednesday from barcelona/madrid.ps:
from tim in nyhttp://www.icast.com/music/1,4003,1194-1158962,00.html
14 october 2000
by Alex:
hamburg was 3 hours ago, 2 encores!
first time that's happened!
so excited, the gig was fun, we wore tube dresses,
which could have been a bit tighter, they almost fell off!i like the guest book!
wow, pHinn is always so busy! further further, maybe he is one of us ;)?hey, i just wanted to also tell you some updates:
stuttgart is cancelled, the project will
be postponed for another time.lisbon festival is called numero festival,
we will set up a visual installation with juliane solnsdorf
for the opening on 30th november and play on
2nd december.the london gig is postponed! shame about that but shintaro loves to
do things with all his heart! :) he is a close friend of jill mingo,
hey, did you ever meet the famous jill? you must, maybe you'll come to
london one day when we're there?oh yes again:
18th october, yep, next wednesday:
cos listening party with k records, in conjunction with
nylon magazine in new york. there will be 5 tube dresses being modelled
by melissa's sister and friends and of course
calvin johnston! do you know him, amazin!!!!!!
he is label boss at k and from dub narcotic sound system.
love him!the australia tour is really not sure, maybe better to take it out.
new:
21st february 2001
cos installation as part of fashion week in parisat au bon marche in the windows there, it's a big department store.
new articles:
just did a feature with muzik mag from the uk,
4 pages, we set up a fake studio at home ;)
ironing and screen printing, well, actually
it's not fake, we actually do print in my bedroom!spin (usa)
interview (small thing)
did you see the wire?
pHinn does have the best web sites in the world!
i read about this festival in finland, it sounded
so great, very crazy, i wish things like that
went on over here in serious germany!oh, and one more date:
"chicks on speed kill painting"
28th october in berlin, secret, well, sort of illegal,
in daniel richter's studio, it's the closing party of his
exhibition. do you know his paintings?
very colourful and scary!i must sleep, even though i know i haven't written all i
should, but later, tomorrow,cu,
i hope you are well.
4 october 2000
by Melissa:
alex & i are doing night shifts recently & studio in the afternoon,
so i'm always a little braindead from planning these projects.
we are getting into a strange field of contemp. art/music/communications.
i thought that one does the art thing or the nightclub & then there are
institutions that do 'crossover' -- but there are these places that are
built for this broader art/communication thing.& portugal thing is more extreme
i don't have the address right now.my mind is on the russian avantgarde because they
were making all kinds of things -- a cubist painting,
a propaganda poster, a line of clothes -- writing plays...in the article they kept on saying that they were
upper-middle-class-confidence-that-got-it-going thing.
so they didn't have to work which solves the problem
that virginia woolf talks about in a room of one's own
-- for it to be possible to be a female writer you need
to have the $500 & a place to close the door & maybe it
would be nice to have a guy to go out with sometimes
so you don't get stones thrown at you when you walk alone
on the street (which means you're a whore).but if that's the case -- oh -- i lost my train of thought -- but it was something like -- there are so many
upper-white middle class -- but confident????
am just thinking they are the ones to get this combo.happening
of art -- fashion, building a world!!
what these museums are now built to house & stand for.oh -- it's 2:30 & time for last project of the shift
is malaria video cover.3 october 2000
by Alex:
our new web shop ;)
do you like it, but remember that you need the special melissa font to see the real thing!
use explorer on pc and netscape on mac to get the best!
we're going back to berlin tomorrow, was so cool here in munich
working with tobi again, he'll soon be moving to berlin
also, so that's great! we can then work there. yipeeee.
i think i prefer berlin to munich now.28 september 2000
by Alex:
we are in the studio in munich right now,
having some fun!21 september 2000
by Alex:
really nice pics... now we know what
telex really looks like!16 september 2000
by Alex:
i'm off to do programming, well, load pictures onto our sell-out shop.
hey also i wanted to tell you how amazing
it is to work with the people from k records,
calvin johnson has such a sexy voice! ;-)...
thank you, i'm flattered [pHinn thought that as far as sexy goes, Alex's own voice is not so bad either ;) -pH.],
i never liked my voice actually
and want to try and get away from the music business.
more art and less music! no, genesis p-orridge once said at the sonar concert last year: "more music and less mobile phones", as they were having "technical difficulties". love it. we love "technical difficulties", especially mel! means the show really begins. blah blah, just had to tell you. i'm reading that wreckers of civilization at thee moment you know, i think i already told you, bad memory?
the bit on coum transmissions is quite good.when i was in vienna last i visited pita and isabelle, you know pita from mego and isabelle is organising art events around the place. well, was so cool they have such a passion for music and collected all these great merzbow graphics and amazingly obscure cds! i felt so inspired when i returned to berlin that some people are truely into it! it's sometimes easy to get lost in all the chaos, urbanism. do you know this merzbox? only 1000 in existence, check it out! by the way, i think pita and the mego boys are coming to pHinn festival [and club telex too - pH.] you have to go and meet them! they are true characters. hecker is the strangest of them all! don't listen to what he says about us ! ;-)
15 september 2000
by Alex:
i'm very excited as we are programming the chicks shop,
well, programming is actually being done by leo and oswald.
we are setting up the whole infrastructure and doing lists of products.
it's going well, i can give you a preview tomorrow.
i think you will be proud.c u, must go, have to keep on loading in the products!
12 september 2000
by Alex:
i'm a winga...
but they [the wire mag? -pH.] hate us?
i start to feel that i'm losing touch with reality...
chix 52 and sylvesterboy, just got them.
hey, why can't we play at the finnish electronic music
festival???? we have a minidisc player, don't you know?!
:-/( all the boys are!3 september 2000
by Alex:
back from vienna, played at the volksstimmefest at prater, the stage we played on was to celebrate 30 years of the communist youth magazine "kjö".
the day was pretty rainy, the atmosphere started off a bit depressed but then the rain stopped and more and more people began to arrive adding to the over all excitement of the day. there were numerous stands with differing concerns and great food.
some themes were: work and democracy, the eu against haider,
jugoslavia and austrian soli movement, what is going on with the economy
in the once ddr state? at first i asked myself, what are we doing here,
and then i realised that our participation was very important
mainly to support the cause against the haider government but also to
share a good spirit together, i felt there was hope afterwards.as we ended up forgetting the visuals again... was me!
we asked tina frank if she would film a bit for us before going on, was amazing. we made some new
dresses the day before for death disco, which i'll tell you about later...
they are called the tube dress, just a tube of light blue stretch cotton, printed with the "hype" pattern, and then there are extra scraps of "hype" (which we printed a long time ago on plain white cotton) you could say they look like rags, well, they are sewn on too, creating a weird form, sexy and raggedy!we had a container to work in and it was like a little house with shutters; tina filmed from the outside and we paraded all the different ways in which you can wear this "tube dress", quite ridiculous and yet very practical ways too.
i think this idea is very influenced by "the invincible dress" mel and i once saw on a cable tv channel in ny.
people said the visuals looked choreographed with the music; well, that's funny as the md was jumping around a bit! it was fun to work with tina again!oh, back to death disco,
we went into a limo underneath the alexander tv tower
and the noise we were making was transmitted to the outside,
so people came with their transistor radios to create one huge speaker.half way through our set sylvesterboy appeared out of nowhere
dressed in his moon boots, american flag thai boxing shorts, silver crown
chicken mask and light saber in his hand, we escaped the limo
and the smoke started to pour out of the car with a strobe flashing incessantly
throughout his 9-minute set. he stole the show, watch out! he really is the sylvesterboy!!!!!!i hope this doesn't sound too soppy.
i checked out the gallery and i think
these pics have some fun about them!28 august 2000
by Alex:
we just got back from pukkelpop festival in hasslet, it's a town where all the public transport is for free. just the way it should be!
was so nice to be there. we had our own little container in the back stage area, and guess who was next door?!
the super super_colliders, :-))))))))))).we played before them in the "dance hall" area, no sound check, just line check and then they sent us on the stage! "you're on!", and that was it. we were quite nervous having not played live for 6 weeks, but it was extreme fun. they blew a bit of smoke on the stage, as we thought it was an open air concert and didn't bring our visuals. we were a bit sad about that!
but then, guess who turned up to save the day? yes, pablo fiasco from sc, he has developed a very special spy camera and films something, which is then directly linked up to the video projectors. he filmed our hype paper dresses and the show was saved!
we stayed to watch the boys, who started in a relatively cool jazzy way, well, i think so ;-). they would tease you and then drop you with their wet bass drums and live bass playing, and then totally confuse you and lead you down the wrong track! i was tortured, loving every moment.
jamie, who also forgot his stage costume, was suddenly transformed with a cape of silver and gold, when jeff reached into his magic bag to expose this strange fabric, he suddenly grabbed jamie, wrapped him up and the show went into 10 different directions, leaving you truely loving these great everything experimentalists of the future far to come!
www.atrecordings.com did an after show interview/film, might be good.
25 august 2000
by Alex:
we are getting ready for "cos sell-out in berlin" and its mayhem, i think i told you about this... people can bring their own clothes for us to screen print on. well, actually we will make them take off an item of clothing and then we will print what we want onto it! ;.) they don't know that!
5 august 2000
by Alex:
[the most ridiculous thing CoS has been compared to:]
"madonna's daughters" - the manager of B52's said it in reply to our asking permission to use their trax on our next release!
[other runner-ups: spice girls, sigue sigue sputnik, nina hagen, atari teenage riot, ac/dc(???)...]
mel is in a castle in france with old members of the raf, she called me the other day to say that she was at a demon, she wanted me to get the vibe! i did! that was at the cross the border event, i couldn't go, lack of cash flow! was good last year!
there's the sleaze nation flyer from the party, with the letter from stuart, such a nice guy ;-) blush!
3 august 2000
by Melissa:
oh - am just trying to leave berlin.
but we have all these graphics to finish.
so I'm off & hopefully can find some good internet cafes in france - where I will have so much time.1 august 2000
by Melissa:
we had a very nutty weekend in london & are now
working on four projects at once - which is now
possible because of our new member... yes
our g3... who is still in training but soon
will act as our manager... yes,
it sucks not having something/someone to
keep it all together & work out what/where/when...
i wish machines could take control,
but maybe there will be help soon... have recently
chatted with chris korda who is in boston
programming robots... an extension of the church of euthanasia project.
next weekend is the annual anti fascho camp.
will join for two days...
must go back to the house for a phone interview...
the n.y. times of all things!!!by Alex:
and now something that will make your day!
we are in top 10 of best web sites!
have a good night, i've got food poisoning and feel so bad but must write this!
30 july 2000
by Alex:
we returned from london this afternoon. it was the best time we spent there yet! played some records at the sleaze nation party at the ica which was wonderful. there was a launch of punk films, the most excellent footage raw and very unseen. the english seem to know how to sleaze right!
made a track with rich in his cosy home studio
and hung out at charlie riots, a karaoke bar in hackney.
my fav. played football in stuart's lounge room, but he didn't know the full extent of the party... i hope his records are ok.
the sleaze people are really out to make their dirty mark on the world haven't seen such energy in london for ages, was totally refreshing and ultra fun. i think i like london again?georgie will put some images up on the web just for you!
we're preparing the shop
sell-out @ chicksonspeed.com
but the address will surely change?!
it's the cos on-line store where you can purchase
everything... handmade stage costumes,
t-shirts, records with a special touch, the box set,
badges, collages and the very special boob monster!it will be connected to mdos boys in vienna
and all cos things can be thrown into a shopping trolley
and paid by credit card if you like.
"its steap not cheap", that's our motto.and the very special cos sneakers will be launched
on sept 4th in berlin but exclusive to the sell-out shop!14 july 2000
by Alex:
i met some finnish guys, we all got
excessively drunk and i can't remember the
rest, they said they know you [pHinn]!do you know [ ... ], well they are all here in berlin now!
[Well, that's what they all say - it's great to have a world full of friends you don't even know ;) - pHinn]
10 july 2000
by Alex:
did you read this tg book,
wreckers of civilisation?
i want to get it.9 july 2000
by Alex:
was very busy in preparation for the love parade weekend.
some fun was had, ended up doing our show at 8 am. leigh haas did the video mixing and the projection we had planned didn't work out... :-( another time.
leigh did an amazing one of her own work, panorama of crowds in black and white, worked well in the space, bringing in an edge.i'm a bit hung over!
i was feeling a bit overstressed, yes, a break is good!
we take 3 weeks off now!
that's good, even though i will miss the other 2 so much!guess what, we get a power book, then we
can always update you with stuff! ;-)4 july 2000
by Alex:
this was rejected for print in a us magazine "nylon", but i think it's 'cause of the strict laws in the us. funny though, they do have playboy, don't they?!
they said they're not allowed to print anything with nipples or pubic hair!
but it will all be rosy as k records will do us the lovely one as promo for "the re-releases of the un-releases" :-)))))))
hope you like it...
we ultimately hope to make the goddess into a cushion 15 metres long and filled with stuffing, maybe for children to play on.
...
i feel alone, we have troubles with our label,
we never see any cash; one would think that we are loaded,
but it is actually the opposite;
i am not such good business person.maybe we should get a manager,
yes, next week, it is all getting to be a bit too much.always checking all out. oh well, just needed to whinge.
we just got back from such hardcore touring and now it seems so lonely, met so many nice people, creative people and people who want to change things.
hey, before i go and drink a bottle of red wine, i should give you some info...
the site looks amazing, by the way!
people are so into it!
ok, new tour dates:
9th sept: stern radio with sylvester boy in berlin, heaps of people will meet with radios outside in a park and get tuned into the same station; we will play in a small caravan... will be funny. sylvester boy... xx
update:
wmf line up changed:
gerhard and patrick don't come any more, shame.we will do our film project with leigh from fauna and flora, wait and c.-
well, my head is dead,
i hope you are well,
i didn't mean to sound so sad, i'm just a bit
tired ... you know how it is.ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
no more
can't take
3 july 2000
by Alex:
just got back from aquaplaning, played at the villa noailles, dalí used to have orgies there with all his friends around the pool, so it was quite fitting!! ;-)
please see http://www.musiques-electroniques.com/
there's a live streaming there?mmmmm, people even sang to the songs,
gosh... that never happened before! :-)well, sylvesterboy is a mixture between suicide and sigue sigue sputnik.
he wears an american flag as a cape, moon boots, a chicken mask, silver glasses, has a light saber, (like the ones in star wars) and plays concerts that last 15 minutes. his music comes from a video tape!
heīs our boy!we'll play at wmf on saturday as part of the disko b night with patrick pulsinger/gerhard potuznik, highfish and diringer, dakar and grinser. planning a special projection 360 degrees. they have these cool screens set up!
maybe they have live streaming??
28 june 2000
by Alex:
"will save us all" #1 at boston's wzbc radio station!
just thought you might like this, and they are really into "euro trash girl" in australia, this radio station called jjj is playing it like mad. there is a tour being organised for november.also:
cos recs release sylvesterboy in september. maybe you need a new site for him. we are making him a logo at the moment. he will be everybody's super hero. so cool music!chix 52 nearly out! just did a new cover, very...!
the re-releases of the un-releases! will be released in europe and usa. 2 separate releases. maybe 2 covers, out in october.
we play at hyères, france, on 1st july, it's called aquaplaning, jimi will also be there! can't wait!
sorry i'm so business-like, i am a bit hectic today, ohhhhhhhhhhhh, we need an office! all is so unorganised at the moment, just jumping on and off aeroplanes. i feel a bit sad :-(
24 june 2000
by Alex:
expo was strangely atmospheric... high tech with highfish and diringer. we wore our hype clothes... from "sell-out".
20 june 2000
by Alex:
anyway, we're in paris... so bloody hot, but a great atmosphere. crazy town with too much energy... suits me fine. the club where we'll play is organised by büro, just went there for a visit to find elderly people dancing. it's for dancing during the day and mad crunchy stuff at night. very kitschy and full of weird neon shaped lights, a small stage and dark dark walls. i look forward to this on. pita will dj afterwards and maybe hecker can be convinced into doing an intro. if we tie him to the table ;-)
also:
the re-releases of the un-releases in america coming out on k records. only available in usa with a new cover and slight changes... of course. (it will be a digipack) do you know k... the best! i love calvin johnson. and we should be touring the usa at some point soon, maybe together with dub narcotic sound system... would be fun.oh yes, the release will be out in october.
and did you know that will save us... has just been released in the us... apparently it's been charted on a lot of radio stations as number one... small ones :_)\
we do some special collages for nylon magazine to come out in september and sleaze nation in uk and oyster mag in australia. so nice people get into the visuals now. not just about music.
the chix 52 cd is coming out.
late, i know.18 june 2000
by Alex:
sonar was amazing!
the show went well, the first time we played in front of 6,000 people. a very rock experience.the "sell-out" installation sold out!
credit to the guys who worked with us at sonar:
we played live on a huge stage to 6,000 people, was rock and roll. pelle krogholt and jacob boeskov from datanom (dk) worked together with us on the visual side. they did an ad introducing the new drink, "datablood". jacob came on stage in the ad break of our set to introduce himself as the 3-handed dj. he then took a disko ball and cut it in half. this was used as a cup to drink the datablood. the whole thing worked very well... they sold much datablood that night.
the performance started with the christopher just: "intro".
then:
"night drive"
a live version of "mind your own business" performed with tobi neumann and thies mynther - wearing special producer costumes and looking ultra flash! and very special guest ted gaier from die goldenen zitronen on keyboards.
then "euro trash girl", starring tobi and thies, all played live!
"we don't play guitars", md playbackthe commercial break brought to you by pelle and jacob from datanom... would be good to get footage, i think sonar filmed all? will check it out.
"night of the pedestrian", the hecker/tobi neumann mix
(new) version, mixed by kiki and tobi
"glamour girl"
"yes i do"
"pyramid over frankfurt"
"procrastinator"
"turn of the century"we were on stage with our paper house, paper cut-outs of us and small tv's, the video projections were specially made with pelle in copenhagen. "tivoli": us eating fairyfloss, of course!! :-) + all the hype that was ever written about us projected b/w onto us. we also had costume changes.
costumes 1: paper hype dresses
costume 2: white leather
costume 3: new sonar outfits! with zippers and gaffa tape! and white patent leather boots.
i will try to get some footage, or maybe you'll find some bootlegs! :-)kiki sold her skirt from save us all to bigas luna, this pretty well known filmmaker here, he's meant to be comparable to david lynch! mel spoke a bit to him, he may use it in some strange way for his film? kinky man?!
hecker was brilliant, saw coil yesterday ... what can i say. sonar is the only one!
we fly to paris tomorrow to play with peter rehberg at a small club and so good. we'll get to meet the dragi bus people, who may, i've heard, be playing tapes at the sähkö beach party tonight... this will be fun, that's if it really happens, mika and ilpo said it may not. (well, i didn't end up going... but heard it was nice. some classical music was being played. but i don't think it was a sähkö party after all.)24 may 2000
by Alex:
we did the eindhoven thing, well, cause my ears are permanently damaged. the whole event turned into a nasty mosh pit, i jumped and slipped in the mud to find 5 boys pick me up, saved. got a bit out of hand :-/ lady aida made sure all was ok, she fended off the masses and stole the show with her grace and amazing stockings. if you would like to see what went on go to rebel you know what.
we went camping for the afternoon, made a short film very influenced by cosey fanni tutti and that lot. well not quite. it's porn so you won't get to see it!
we had to cancel brussels, why? they left us stranded in eindhoven nowhere to stay and nowhere to go, so we went home, a real shame as i was so looking forward to see my stepbrother and sister at the gig.
sad chix :-(((
we like brussels.hey norway was a learning experience.
we played for the prince of norway, he sat on his throne in front of us, really mad!
i rolled down the grass hill in front of the stage, i think he was impressed, slightly, even though his expression didnīt change! ;-)12 may 2000
by Alex:
just so busy to get this sonar stuff on the go. we are participating on 3 different levels: a talk, art show and live act.
10 may 2000
by Alex:
mel and i are in hamburg preparing for the peel session with thies. all is going well.
2 may 2000
by Alex:
here is a pic from me at tivoli, copenhagen, my favourite place in the whole world, it's an amusement park, explains much about the danes ;-)
for the live act we did here, we locked ourselves into a box, looked a bit like hansel and gretel's place. was funny, sometimes we came out to sing and sometimes we'd disappear into our hut again.
i hope you are feeling well, i am a bit tired.
oh well, c'est la vie.
by Melissa:
i went to sweden - lund - (to do a show).
i'm in a film for a friend & wear a paper dress & lead a turtle around on a leash. i like those things, if I ever got into house pets, i think i would get one.
you don't have to worry about passing around false info because we like rumours, we make up a lot of stuff - especially if we get bored by tooo many interviews in one day - the answers start to get kookier.
29 april 2000
by Alex:
it's very sunny here in copenhagen, took some mushrooms last night, always funny to do that here. this town is built for that.
by Melissa:
i'm in hamburg right now & it's very nice to know in what city & what room one's in before one opens up one's eyes in the morning.
27 april 2000
by Alex:
mel isn't here, we do the live thing alone tonight.
:-(
:-(
2 sad chix.she is resting in hamburg. we still aren't 100% sure if we play sweden. it's going to be ok, though...
hard times, you could say.
actually, we cancelled the ica thing. maybe you like to write some strange gossip reason why, like alex is going to have a baby with a guy she met in cologne. he he he. whatever you think.actually we cancel 'cause we want time to have a cool idea for the space. not just a normal show, must be planned well and it isn't. we don't usually cancel, it's not so nice for the promoter joanna, i feel guilty!
have a cool day, copenhagen is great!
23-24 april 2000
by Alex:
that's all part of it, you know, the stories and false information. fake fun! give it to me.
[unnamed artist] should take a chill pill, you can't control the journos, they live in their own kingdom and we live in ours.
the fame thing can make you paranoid, it's somehow natural, but one should look a bit outside and stay DOWN ON THE GROUND, upstart taught us that one.
now, hamburg, escape town ;-)
mel is a bit sick at the moment, doesn't seem to be getting any better... i hope soon, i'm worried.
we did some bertolt brecht covers in the studio today. who is that guy anyway?
16 april 2000
by Alex:
just about to fly away from zurich, the gig was last night, we met this nice guy who wore so amazing clothes/hair. some of the people at the gig looked so amazing i wish they would trade places with me on stage. we should share the stage more, well maybe next time. miss kittin was there and she told us some funny stories of her adventures back home. look forward to meeting up at sonar, stay tuned for some surprises, she will be wearing something very xtra.
13 april 2000
by Alex:
tel aviv was amazing, such a decadent mixture of religion and rave. the women looked hysterically amazing. we filmed 'glamour girl' there, christopher (just) came, he's made for the movies you know! :-) will be out on tv soon.
truly it changed our lives to go there!
by the way, we will be doing a live performance at sonar called "eating". it will be part of the exhibition there. we will sit in a room with some sort of projections and a table with our petit fois (special coloured cakes from tel aviv) and we will eat them. maybe we should stream it live. everybody can watch us eat live!!!! i want i want! - very excited, we've been practicing! i feel sick already.
by Melissa:
i finally feel like i've been somewhere different. we had such a interesting time, it seems so nice & peaceful but one knows it's not. everyone likes the tourists because they are not involved in the political or religious mess except for the orthodox jews who sometimes shield their eyes with their hands when one walks by because females are so dirty.
we also had a director (uli) & camera person (debora) with us & filmed loads of material for the 'glamour girl' video including jumping around in the dead sea, our leather got all crusted with salt, we have to make new clothing now... forced into it.
by the way pil & galia are married & their last name really is kollectiv. they will be moving to london soon.30 march 2000
by Alex:
oh, the wire review, so that's why they didn't run that front page story, well, no i mean they do know the un-releases, of course!
they are major fans of bauer and potuznik!:-)
shit goes on,
we got a lot of good ones in id, and other english mags!maybe we should write them a mail to tell them that the albums actually got mixed up, they did anyway!
28 march 2000
by Alex:
'glamour girl' is apparently about to go into the charts in holland, isn't that funny. oh yes, there's a cd single of glamour girl now available, it's only available in holland through pias, but maybe one could track it down??????
but we were really pissed off, mel specially made this short track called "a chant" with great chicks samples, well, it was left off, maybe they didnīt like it :-(
bad karma, it's totally a new direction for cos!27 march 2000
by Melissa:
i am now in basel on a i-mac in an occupied mini-castle in the middle of town.
i am living down by the river, which makes sleeping difficult, because the sound of the water makes one have full time r.e.m. sleep.in zurich miss kittin did a guest star appearance - french rapping to 'euro trash girl' - don't know what she said but it sounded impressively cool. [listen]
26 march 2000
by Alex:
back in munich, good to be home, though i do miss berlin. the gig was quiet, feed back all the way. i liked it :;-)
zurich is a very glamorous city, i never experienced it that way before :-)
MINX is the name of a really cool shop in melbourne, they make quite handmade clothes, sometimes see-through. yummy.
but i like minks, maybe you should write that instead of links ? ha ha ha.
the adverts page is ok.
just one thing, it's better to write cos more often that chicks on speed,
then people will like us longer, i am scared that our name is everywhere,
maybe we should change it?
we were thinking of white fungus, what do you think. we would like to make
secret music under this name. i think we stop soon... anyway.hey, who is mr velcro fastener, i like the name,
what is the music like?
would make a good gig together maybe?
well it would look good on a flyer anyway ;-)i think i sleep now, too many hours wasted on the train
thinking.24 march 2000
by Alex:
really funny, we played in the volksbuhne last night, mad, we played the big stage, looked like the opera. anyway we closed off the stage with a wall and played behind this, there was then a tiny screen on stage with a projection of us, people went a bit psycho, they tried to find us and eventually did. then the gig really kicked off. a bit of mayhem.
23 march 2000
by Alex:
gosh, very busy times.
we just got back from barcelona where we saw the boys, we cooked and that was nice. they seem well.
13 march 2000
by Alex:
berlin is wonderful.
we play here on 23rd march, roter salon with dj ben e clock.
then we do an art show/performance from 5th-8th in jerusalem with the p and g collective.
now being mastered: chix 52, cover finished too, won't be long.
a show somewhere in paris--------soon!
7 march 2000
by Alex:
itīs carnival here and all the people are dressed in funny bright clothes... thought you might be interested in this page, this is from the gig we played in london at the garage with speedranch^jansky noise ... last night was brilliant, in a tiny club in an old mental hospital in augsburg, country town, nothing beats those small clubs.
5 march 2000
by Alex:
well we just sent 100 [copies of the un-releases] to mdos for special distribution, the others will be going through efa... 750 of them.
i think there are pre-orders from holland of 250 and then srd in london of 200, so it's going mighty quick!!!!! :-))))))))))))))maybe we will do a limited release on vinyl (1000) but this is presently in discussion. many people are involved so all have to be happy with the decision, ramon, gerhard, us 3, upstart and all the producers on the cd, might not happen???? might not be so fair! it should be limited.
tilburg gig: massive rave temple, we met lady aida ... brilliant, we really look forward to slamming again together... it was fun, very dark lighting ;-))))))) ... just a whole heap of suits there checking us out! a lot of people walked out and a lot of people stayed. i fell off the stage again, and there were a lot of people dressed up in carnival gear. mental!
holland rules... i wish we took a photo of the crowd, but next time, we thought you might like that.
chicKs on speed live @ rebelbass video
also ramon just forwarded this, thought you might like it:
http://www.etronik.com/section.asp?sectionId=8&IssueId=39
Breakin' Artist: Chicks On SpeedMore Southern (German) fried madness this week in etronik, as The Chicks On Speed add to a growing list of Munich based or affiliated artists to mark out their own distinctive and refreshingly unpredictable sound. Consisting of three young women from Germany and New York, the Chicks make a brilliant techno-pop racket. Think Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon with a sense of humour, multiply that by three, inject a healthy dose of techno suss and a love of cover versions - 'Warm Leatherette' and The Delta 5's 'Mind Your Own Business' appear on the Chicks' debut album. Export the result to the capital of German wealth, Munich, a city where flaunting it is almost a pre-requisite. It's no surprise that the Chicks' have hooked up with the likes of Christopher Just, Patrick Pulsinger and Gerhard Potuznik to record their debut album, 'Chicks On Speed Will Save Us All' or that their agenda states that "Chicks On Speed will save us all from boring boy DJs who play records for their reputation and not their audience, corporate indie boring wankers who don't understand bands without geetars, pretentious art snobs who don't understand it if it ain't in a museum, and, our own worst enemies: our career officers." The record industry, consider yourselves warned!
funny, our press officer jill mingo wrote all that about boring djs and so on, she is great, maybe she will be at sonar festival... do you go there???
it's a must.just forgot,
the gini release [by Mixmup; this was originally planned for Go Records -pH.] is maybe not happening,
it's better if it's not on site :-)ps. getting excited about moving to berlin,
but will be stressy as we move wednesday and then do a photo
shoot with groove with 6 pages of chix
fashion, modelled by us!! ,-)26 february 2000
by Alex:
well we just got back from london, pretty hardcore, we met some really nice people and drank a lot of absinthe with them, canīt remember much though.
oh yes we played with andy from v/vm, they are a crazy bunch, he dressed up like snoopy and sat at the back of the stage with his glasses on back to front smiling!!! very stylish!the rough trade gig was so nice, we could show all of our projections, new slides of our monsters starring the creature fenn oīberg, our hero. joanne organised the whole thing and she's a wikid woman!!!! she's the one organising the rota thing, at notting hill arts centre, i think the o-bastards were meant to play a while ago, but had to cancel, they should definitely try to make it there!
16 february 2000
by Alex:
so now for the first gossip for the diary:
i'm moving to berlin in march, melissa in may and kiki soon!
yes all of us!well, i wish we took some photos of our paper dress making session, it was totally funny,
even made a dress that says "fuck london" but i don't know if we'll be using that one! ;-)
we play there on 21/22 feb, but i think you know this?!13 february 2000
by Alex:
so pan sonic left today, they played a few times
here with fm einheit, was quite interesting.
and then we all hung out a bit.just a secret now, we hope to play together with ps in the near
future, maybe a good place would be in the tv tower in berlin???
15 january 2000
by Melissa:
have not gotten us together long enough to
finnish up those additions for your interview.
i guess we'll just say more in the next one we do.upstart of ultraschall is here in the
office & says that velcro f never actually played
here. this frankfurt booker said that upstart
had confirmed the booking & put ultraschall
on the flyer -- but the gig never happened.
upstart said it wasn't interesting or special
enough.
CoS past gigs archive
