03-11-2007 Ice Age Festival

Location:  Mainz-Kastel (Germany)
By: Nina Mende

For those who have thought that the festival season ends with summer, here is
news for you:
On November 3rd was the Ice Age Festival in Mainz-Kastel/Germany, the second of
its kind. I was somehow expecting it a little bit bigger than it was, but it was
nice and cute the way it was. The festival took place in an old Roman building,
in one of the rooms there. The line-up was: RAUM41, Joy Disaster, The Other and
Frank the Baptist.

A little after 9 pm the first band started playing, which was RAUM41, a German
  band. Actually, the band was put together by Thomas, Frank and Knüpfi already
  in fall 2000. But they really started in the year 2005. After establishing Franzie
  as vocalist in May 2006 and Mario as keyboardist in February 2007, RAUM41 were
  complete. The five band members have been involved in Leipzig’s wave and
  alternative scene for a long time and found their idols in this musical spectrum.
  Thus, it is not surprising that their music creates a symbiosis of 80s Wave
  and modern Indie rock and that it partially crosses the border to straight Guitar
  Pop. I liked the singers style. She had a nice hairdo and a cool way of dressing.
  They played for about half an hour.

 
  Up next were Joy Disaster, actually The Cold were suppose to play, but for
  some reason they didn’t, unfortunately. But, Joy Disaster were there, so
  no reason to complain or mourn. Joy Disaster from Nancy/France, play rock music
  with a mix of Post-Punk from the 80’s and modern rock music. Three guys rocking
  the stage for about half an hour in front of a growing audience. The audience
  was quite mixed, from punk to goth there were all sorts of people, but everybody
  seemed to enjoy not only the low prices for drinks but also the bands and the
  whole atmosphere.
 
  After Joy Disaster one of my favourite Fiend Force bands was playing: The Other
  from Cologne/Germany. I could tell you more about them here, but please read
  their biography on their homepage . All I will tell you about them is: If you
  like bands and music like MISFITS you will love The Other. They played for about
  an hour and the audience had a nice mosh pit going. Really great performance!!!
 
  And the last band for the night was Frank the Baptist, a deathrock band from
  San Diego, California but living in Berlin/Germany. The band has an affinity
  towards the dark and melancholic sounds as well as the aggressive songs typical
  for today. Frank the Baptist lyrics tend to be on the metaphorical and transcendental
  side rather than every day radio subject matter. And not only the lyrics are
  extraordinary, but also the sound of Frank the Baptist. A gorgeous band with
  a gorgeous sound. For their last song Rod Usher (singer of The Other), Thomas
  (a DJ) and Carsten from the GOTHIC magazine came up on stage to sing with Frank.
  A really great festival, looking forward to next year.
 
  Links:
Ice Age festival
Raum 41 official
Raum 41 Myspace
Joy Disaster official
Joy Disaster Myspace
The Other official
The Other Myspace
Frank the Bapist Myspace