Karl-Marx-Stadt is history, but it lives on with Kraftklub. For the video for "Schief in jedem Chor", the five musicians pose on a metal pole at a lofty height, with the words "Kraftklub Sterben in Karl-Marx-Stadt" (Kraftklub die in Karl-Marx-Stadt) in huge red capital letters. It is the title of their new album, which the band announced at a surprise concert at the end of May. Where? In Chemnitz, the former Karl-Marx-Stadt. But why die?
"We've often had to deal with death," says singer and lyricist Felix Kummer. In his circle of friends and family, some people have died "far too early". He has also written about death and dying time and again. But in Germany, he says, people are "very tight-lipped" about it.
It was only during a stay in Mexico that he found a way to make songs about it, says the 36-year-old. There, the band experienced the celebrations for Día de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead. "That showed us that there is a different way of dealing with the subject of death and dying than we know."
