Recorded and released in 1986 on Berlin’s Zorro label, 'Kaaba Kaaba Hey / Only Time Will Tell' brought together two very different sides of the German hardcore scene. Hostages Of Ayatollah came from Velbert, near Düsseldorf, and had been active since 1981, while Manson Youth were a short-lived Berlin project whose members would soon become better known through Jingo De Lunch and other groups. The record appeared at a time when the German DIY network was increasingly connecting local hardcore bands with scenes elsewhere in Europe and North America, with fanzines, mailorder catalogues, independent labels and live exchanges doing much of the work. The split was also reviewed in the November 1986 issue of Maximum Rocknroll, giving both groups some exposure outside Germany.
Hostages Of Ayatollah had settled into the Jah-Jah, Jacho, Micha and Torso line-up by 1982. Their early sound was heavily influenced by American hardcore and skate punk, but they generally worked with German lyrics and developed a fast, tightly played style that stood apart from more traditional Deutschpunk. Their '…Aha' demo appeared in 1983, followed by the 'Hallo Nachbar' EP in 1984, which helped them move from the local Velbert scene into a much wider network of shows around Germany and beyond. By the time of the split LP they were playing regularly in alternative youth centres, squats and autonomous spaces, and had become a familiar name in the German hardcore circuit.
The Hostages side of the LP was recorded during a difficult period for the band. Their momentum from the previous couple of years was beginning to run into the more mundane problems of work, training and military or civilian service, which made rehearsing and playing regularly harder. The recording was also badly affected by the mixing: guitarist Jacho later recalled that the whole album was mixed in roughly an hour and a half, and the original sound was considered so poor that the recordings were eventually remixed many years later. The material still documents the group's aggressive, thrashy approach, with Jah-Jah's vocals pushed over Jacho's guitar, Micha's bass and Torso's driving drums.
Manson Youth were a rather different proposition. They were essentially a short-lived Berlin project involving Tom Schwoll, Sepp Ehrensberger, Finne and drummer Uwe, with Canadian-born singer Yvonne Ducksworth joining the line-up. Ducksworth was already involved with Combat Not Conform, while Schwoll and Ehrensberger had connections with other Berlin punk groups. The band did not spend much time functioning as a conventional live group: much of the instrumental material was recorded before Ducksworth worked out her vocal parts from tapes, and Sepp joined around the studio sessions. Her voice became a particularly distinctive part of the recordings, moving between urgent hardcore delivery, unusual phrasing and more melodic passages.
The Manson Youth recordings are especially interesting because they sit directly between the early Berlin hardcore scene and what followed. After the split with Hostages Of Ayatollah, Ducksworth, Schwoll and Ehrensberger went on to form Jingo De Lunch in 1987 with Henning Menke and Steve Hahn. Schwoll had also been involved with Combat Not Conform, while Ehrensberger had played in Vorkriegsjugend and Zerstörte Jugend. The Manson Youth material therefore captures a brief moment just before several of these musicians moved into a more established Berlin punk and hardcore network.
Zorro Records was based in Berlin and operated very much within the independent infrastructure of the period. Contemporary Trust fanzine adverts list Zorro releases alongside records by Vorkriegsjugend and other international and German hardcore acts, with mailorder handled from Petra Ostertag's address in Berlin-Kreuzberg. The label's catalogue reflects the way small German imprints functioned as part of a wider DIY network rather than simply as conventional record companies, putting local bands onto vinyl and distributing records through fanzines, mailorder and independent shops.
The split's importance within that network is also reflected in the contemporary reception. Maximum Rocknroll described Hostages Of Ayatollah as pounding, tight and forceful, while singling out Manson Youth for their guitar work, urgent female vocals and lyrics. The record also circulated beyond Germany: it later appeared in John Peel's 1987 playlist, where "Der Spion" from the Hostages Of Ayatollah side was identified as coming from the shared LP.
Label:
Zorro – none
Format:
Vinyl, LP
Country:
Germany
Released:
1986
Style:
Hardcore Punk
Tracklist:
Manson Youth Side:
A1 Lineal / Set Up
A2 Relations
A3 Don't Lock Me Up
A4 So Bored
A5 Time Will Tell
A6 Division
A7 Sad Story
A8 Food For Thought
Hostages Of Ayatollah Side:
B1 Barbara
B2 Amok Bei Aldi
B3 Schon Genug
B4 Der Spion
B5 Teheran
B6 Nichts Zu Tun
B7 Frontbericht
B8 Im Park
B9 Braucht Euch Nicht
B10 Mullah Mullah
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