Concert Review
Event: FIXED ON BLACK 2023
Artist: Black Nail Cabaret (Featured)
Date: December 16 2023
Venue: Bunker Strasse E
City: Dresden Germany
Supporting: Fïx8:Sëd8, NER\OGRIS, Mildreda, Amorphous
One day while working the graveyard shift I saw a video cover of “Papillion” by Editors, by this obscure band, that had NO real information about them on YouTube, only this and a cover of “Sophisticated Song” by Hugh Laurie, and a BDSM video version of “Hit Me Baby One More Time” by Britney Spears (Has since been removed from youtube). All of this was in 2010. The band was “Black Nail Cabaret” a dark performance act from Budapest Hungary. I only found this out by sending an email to them over YouTube asking “Who are you guys?”. I was pretty much sold on their sound and harassed them for months to give me more material. I got the songs “Veronica”, “Tell Me It’s Not Over” and “Umbrella” by Rhianna, and a few others.
I interviewed them for a magazine that tanked a month later so it never went anywhere. BUT, I am the guy who the band has noted in their history as their “First American Fan”. Since then I have been a die-hard fan of Emke and crew, and have scored hard copies of all the work. The first album was mailed to me, signed and I saw my name in the liner notes “Special Thanks to” … Ahhhh…
I got to meet Emke in London in 2016 and got pictures, another signed CD, and a t-shirt that we ended up using in several scenes for a film I was in. We used one of their songs in the film too, and the shirt made a few appearances because the director of the film is also a hardcore fan. I can say that my history with Black Nail Cabaret is pretty deep, I even had Emke as one of the first guests on my podcast. So it was no surprise to find that Ken and the family of Sounds & Shadows are also fans, they have that effect on you. They are one of my favorite bands, and were on my “Top Ten Bands to See Before I Die” list for a long time.
I was living just outside of Frankfurt Germany when I was informed that in December they would be playing in Dresden, a city I once called home. So I got a hotel, and a bullet train ticket, and spent a day traveling to Dresden, yes even on a train going 161 KM/H you will be on for 6 and a half hours to get to Dresden.
I checked in at my hotel and took the street train to a part of the city rarely went to when I was a resident there. It was an old Tank factory I believe, in the “Industrial” part of the city. Lots of red brick, and old run-down buildings, the perfect place for a gig like this.
I got into the venue, walking into a “Festival” setting it was dark, with a hell of a great stage, and great lighting, and I was among several hundred German, Polish, Dutch, Hungarian, and Czech old-school punks. One side of the hall had a long merch table with each band selling their wares, and I saw Kris from BNC I said hello, as he and I have been on video calls but never met til now. I bought the last available T-shirt “Orchid” and some other wares. That shirt has since become the subject of some controversy (when you see “Orchid” you will get why) and had trouble getting it back from other fans. Chris took me downstairs to see Emke. We talked for a while, drank tea, and recorded this little video saying “Hi” to all of you. (if anything, just to make Ken insanely jealous, cause I KNOW he is while reading this). She told me this main hall was where they had opened for Camouflage several years ago. The main hall was holding all of the gear, and they were playing on the smaller end of the venue.
The opening act NER\OGRIS a band, that set the mood from the imagery of “German dark synth” that you always imagined the sound to be like. I was impressed with them, being absolutely stoic on stage, and very intense, and the venue was already packed with people dancing.
Amorphous
A very beats heavy solo musician, who would kick off the synth and play live drum pads, then sing. He was very intense and very animated. Just pulled up his YouTube performance of the gig, it was very impressive, and I have enjoyed some of his work since.
Mildreda is a Dutch industrial noise act, that was a fantastic digital synth pounding of the senses, with great visuals. I had only heard “Prophecies” before the gig and it was cool, but I had no idea they were going to be this good live. I had no idea they were even on the bill this evening, so that was a pleasant surprise. One of those acts that if you ever get to a festival in Europe, are worth the ticket, otherwise, just dive into the catalog and dance. Something I like in the recent turn of industrial music, it’s not pretentious, or whiney like NIN had inspired people to be for so long, this is the real deal, and it’s really fun to listen to.
BLACK NAIL CABARET
Well, the moment I had been dreaming of for 13 years finally happened. Kris took the stage, then Emke took the stage dressed rather elegantly, she has a very demanding stage presence. She is very stoic in her videos, but on stage, she has a very charismatic performance that you can see almost instantly. They opened with “Black Lava” from “Gods” and I was instantly assured that the whole effort across Germany was worth it.
They followed with “My Casual God” from the same album, then “Dichromat”, opening up with a powerful intensity and positive energy, that carried the set for a while, then the Pseudopop track “La Petit Mort”. Black Nail Cabaret was really standing out as a Darkwave Synth punk act, over the heavy Industrial that had preceded them. A shift in the feeling and overall experience, the dark negative intensity of the other bands, and the somewhat gory visuals suddenly show a Da Vinci-esque beauty in the gorgeous feminine power performance of Emese Árvai-Illés (Emke). I just wished that she had a full band this time.
“Spheres” from Gods was well received by the audience, as the venue became very calm, though everyone was still dancing, it was less intense, as most of the punters were fixed on Emke’s singing. “Malestorm” was keeping the count up from Gods for the setlist.
Somewhere in the set, Emke stepped on a piece of gear that killed her ability to hear the monitors in her ear, so she had to stop the performance and restart, playing off the stage monitors, she still managed to kill it for the rest of the set. They played “Autogenic” from the new album “Chrysanthemum”, this song had been released only a week prior, I had listened to it several times, and was thrilled to hear it live in this set.
They played what was likely a crowd favorite “No Gold”, the video was very simple, just Emke sitting there getting her head shaved. She and I had joked about that song, how she found out that it was on Pornhub in a fetish section. I mean, there is a fetish for watching women getting their heads shaved, because she said that video got a ton of hits over the years.
For the crowning crowd participation song, Black Nail Cabaret played ” Bête Noire” which I noticed most of the punters knew, by the time she got to the chorus multiple voices were singing along “I think I want to kill you, but I believe in peace… BITCH”. It was fun to be in a venue hearing this song live, especially with all of us singing along with Emke. I felt like we were closing down the set, and honestly, I could have gone on for hours, though I knew I wasn’t going to hear “Hero” or “Diamond Dogs”, “Magia”, or “Orchid” or even “Butterflies”.
I was expecting one of the classics, and they closed the set with the well-known “Veronica”, possibly where it all began. It was a wonderful way to finish off the set with one that we all knew, and one that held some weight through the history of the band.
The Black Nail Cabaret set was perfect as it came to a close, I only wish they were able to play for another couple of hours, but even though this was such a rare opportunity, I cherished every moment.
Fïx8:Sëd8
Fïx8:Sëd8 was a band I had never heard of till that night, and they were intense and dark.
It was one guy, dressed in a sort of horror film outfit like a mortician’s plastic apron, rolled onto the stage in a wheelchair, and he sang, while the other guy was at the instruments panel. There were mannequin stands decked out with disfigured faces, masks, and plenty of gore in the visuals on the screen behind them. I didn’t know any of their music, but they are one of the hardest darkest “Death Industrial” acts I have ever heard.
Halfway through the set Emke returned to the stage to perform vocals on their song “tREMORs”. Which took the performance back out of the depths of dark and violent themes. It was very very well done, showing that Emke can play in various settings and adapt well to the other artist’s work.
Fïx8:Sëd8 played the longest set of the night, and it all tied up well after midnight.
As the performances were over, all the bands were selling their merch, almost everything was looted from the tables, and all the bands greeted their fans. I had a great time talking to the other bands, the singer for NER\OGRIS and I talked for a while about iconic bands, how he never got Joy Division, and why I never got Nine Inch Nails.
The evening was a success, and should anyone have the opportunity to see a gig at “The Bunker” in Dresden, you will love the acoustics. Any of these other bands will be great to see, but I am happy to say that I was finally able to see one of my top ten bands live.
Since that evening, Black Nail Cabaret has released the album “CHRYSANTHEMUM” and I scored a signed copy on vinyl. If you are new to BNC, you probably want to just dive into the entire catalog, it will be a wonderful rabbit hole to fall into. Like most of you, I hope they come to the States, as they would deliver an incredible performance, maybe even as great as this one.
https://fix8sed8-de.bandcamp.com