"It was total chaos"

In a recent interview with two of the former members of Vacum (not the undercover agent) they recall a triumphant show at a festival in the spring of 1994.

Gunter: We played in that tent 
Olaf was sauced.

Sven: I think that was the last time Olaf played with us.

Gunter: We played like 60 minutes of straight music, 
then just stopped at the end.

Sven: it was total chaos, wasn't it? or was it good?

Gunter: It was a little chaotic now and then, but we always ended up getting somewhere else with it 
Like another song.

Sven: and there were actually people there too

Gunter: Yep, They loved it

Sven: no one recorded that?

Gunter: Nope

Sven: shit.

Gunter: I remember being pretty fucked up at the time also... 
Olaf was loaded.

Sven: he took painkillers too, didn't he?

Gunter: Yeah That was a lot of fun...
What was really surprising 
Was when we finally stopped 
It wasn't like a fizzle out 
It was a chaotic thing and Niccolai 
was blowing into the mic as loud as he could 
Suddenly we all stopped, except Niccolai. 
Total chaos, then nothing except a sax playing one note. 
Then total chaos 
Then everyone cheered.

Sven: total chaos

Gunter: And like 20 minutes into our set, 
I had totally forgotten there were people listening 
And when we stopped, 
there was like 2 or 3 seconds of nothing 
before everyone started cheering and whistling 
I didn't expect the people there to get that into 
what we were doing 
I was really surprised. 
Compared to the other bands there, 
we were totally off the wall. 
I remember going into that situation 
Thinking, man, we're not ready to play. 
Sven had hooked us up with that gig.

Sven: I did?

Gunter: 
You had talked to that guy 
Guy from the first band, that also did sound

Sven: ...

Gunter: Don't remember name but I know what he looks like. Like you had run into the guy or maybe he was advertising for bands to play. Anyways, he was the one that setup the tent and equipment and what not. Dunno what the circumstances was that you got us on that list

Sven: me either

Gunter: I just remember you telling me that we were going to play at that festival. And me thinking, uuhhh, I don't think we're ready... I kept pushing for practice time, but someone was busy with something and we never managed to get a practice in. We had like a couple of hours of practice before the day of the show.

Sven: But Olaf showed up to play!

Gunter: Yeah At THE VERY LAST SECOND. We were like getting on stage when he showed up.

Sven: Did he play my guitar at the show too?

Gunter: Yes Pink Ibanez... Which was fortunate Because you brought it, as opposed to him bringing it. So he just had to show up and play it ... Was a really good show

Sven: I was the manager, roadie AND bass player!
______________________________

Vacum's first "album" had individually hand drawn tape labels. Needless to say, we didn't make too many of these. Nonstop Madness from start to finish. Three guitars all going off at once. No one had a bass amp, so Sven was playing Taylor's bass, and sometimes Gunter's home-made fretless bass that was held together with duct tape, through a Peavy Bandit 65. Ezra had the Loudness signature model drums plastered with Japanese battle flags, and we were set up in his living room with two mics lying on the sofa. There was only one car between us, and that car had only one tape. Side A was Primus' "Sailing the Seas of Cheese", and side B had some Richard Pryor stand-up routine. Without fail we listened to one of those on the way to and from every session. It was Ramadan so we had to knock off at sunset so Olaf could break his fast. Some of the "songs" actually had more than one take to choose from. The original song two, "¿Cual Cancion Era?", hasn't really stood the test of time, and is included as a bonus track at the end now. The above interview refers to a show played after Niccolai "Big Daddy" Hulkenbar had joined the group, and Tristan had stopped playing with the band.

This remaster was Made in Japan at The Nest from the original two track mixdown cassette at high resolution. By "remaster" we mean that a higher bit-rate/sample rate digital conversion was made. No other digital fiddling has taken place. Kind of itching to do some audio refurbishing, but that will have to wait for another day.

ヴァカムのファースト「アルバム」は一個ずつ手描きアートワークだった。中々本数少ない音源だった。ギター３人引きまくって、スフェンはギターアンプから借りたベースをならした。ドラマーはなぜかラウドネス・モデルを叩いて、日の丸だらけだった。ギター一人はラマダンのために日没まで食を断ったので、日没からセッションは中止になった。メンバーの中車一台しかなかった。その一台の中のカセットテープ一本しかなかった。A面はプライマスのシーズ・オブ・チーズだったと、B面はリチャード・プライヤーのお笑いだった。かならずどっちかが流していた。オリジナル・リリースの２曲目は現在聞き直すと、微妙な感じだったので、最後にボーナストラックとなる。以上にインタービューはこの「アルバム」の後でやっていたフェス・ライブの話なんだ。そのころはトリスタンがやめたからサックス奏者ニコライが入ったころだった。いつか日本語に訳す。