12 Albums, 2 Songwriters, 1 Year - Das Kapitans
I have to say, it’s not every day an email drops into your lap telling you about a band whose plan is to record and release twelve albums in twelve months in the year of 2021. I still can’t quite believe any musical body is capable of such a feat. The closest I’ve seen anyone get to that is Ludovico Einaudi’s ‘Seven Days Walking’ project – seven albums across 2019. But those were compositions – these are songs, music and lyrics, and a lot of them too. The name of this band is Das Kapitans, and they’ve just released their third album of 2021 called ‘Blah Blah Blah’.
Das Kapitans. Top, from left to right - Simon Bailey and Stephen Potter. Bottom, from left to right - Stephen Potter and Simon Bailey.
Born out of Peterborough band Fuzz And The Felts, Das Kapitans is an off-shoot with vocalist/guitarist Simon Bailey and bassist Stephen Potter, though their roles in this band are somewhat blurred. Along with Fuzz And The Felts, Das Kapitans contributed their track ‘Council Pop’ to the compilation ‘Music Against Living Miserably, Volume 1’ in July 2020 supporting CALM (the Campaign Against Living Miserably) and raising awareness of the suicide statistics of young people. Das Kapitans also released standalone tracks ‘Survival Of The Sickest’ and ‘Tom Cruise’ in 2020 as well as their ‘Four Songs’ EP in November.
‘Tom Cruise’ would be a precursor to the duo’s debut album, released on the 1st of January and entitled ‘Joulukuu’. Google Translate tells me this means ‘December’ in Finnish. In their excitement, Das Kapitans decided to bring forward the release of their second album ‘#2’ to January 25th, which is where I first heard their single ‘Gobshite’. Honestly my response was that not enough people use that word in a song. Just two weeks later, the duo put out their second EP ‘Four More Songs’, and before the end of February, their third album dropped in the form of ‘Blah Blah Blah’, which I have to write about quickly before this article becomes outdated.
You know Das Kapitans aren’t fucking around when they open their album with this drum beat in ‘Score Draw’. It’s punk, it’s a band playing in their garage as loud as they can. However, when the vocals come in, it has less of the spit of punk and more of a harmonious sound - I love that vocal melody in ‘I always said I’m not one to be amused.’ As well as the drums, the guitars and bass are relentless with constant down-picking. There’s some keyboard here too which I wasn’t expecting to hear, backing up those guitar chords and really filling out that space in the haze of cymbals on the verge of shattering. The last lines read; ‘You’ve taken all the fun’, an ominous start for Blah Blah Blah.
You’d think with a track entitled ‘Shut Up’, that this one would be full of all the attitude of Score Draw, but this one begins with some clean guitar picking. Listen in headphones to properly hear all those parts tinkling around in the audio-sphere. …Then it’s almost as if the lads said ‘fuck this shit’ and launched into more punk. The guitar chords here have the precision of a telephone dial-tone sped up, the vocals have abandoned any harmonious inclinations and instead resort to shouting in their native accents. Yes. There’s a short guitar solo before a shouting conclusion.
As the band settles into their third album, ‘Function Junction’ leans back on the beat a bit. The overall feel of the drums, guitar playing and vocal combination reminds me of the mid-noughties indie explosion. The whole thing is mixed like everything has a bit of distortion on it. I don’t mean it’s mastered too hot or anything like that, more like it has the crisp of a crackling record on it’s 200th spin. The ‘la, la, la’ part almost makes me think Das Kapitans are taking the piss out of something, like the entirety of Function Junction is sarcasm in a 2 minute 45 second song. A track that’s over far too soon.
‘Weightdead’ begins with more loud drums and a guitar tone different to what we’ve heard before on Blah Blah Blah. It’s like the phase is off or something, but I like it. The star of Weightdead though is its political content. There’s no mistaking how Das Kapitans feel about the current political situation, and while the world has never been short of protest songs, they don’t nearly kick as much arse as this one does. As much as I love the name Weightdead – it should’ve been called ‘B.U.L.L.S.H.I.T.’
And how else could you follow up a track like that? With a homage to martial artist and film actor Bruce Lee of course. The deadpan way the lines are delivered cracks me up with their directness; ‘You’re razor sharp, you’re stabbing me, keep on twisting, watch me bleed. You’re a serious lump, you’re punching me, pull that fist back, watch me bleed.’ It’s an interesting point of view to write a song from. ‘Bruce Lee’ marks a return of some keyboard, you can hear the thumping of discordant piano certainly in the last third of the song, it reminds me of The Velvet Underground’s ‘I’m Waiting For The Man’.
‘Future Love’ saw an early release in celebration of Valentine’s Day, the designated day of the year where couples make digital photo collages of each other to show social media how eternal and unshakeable their love is. While their video of Future Love is a Windows Media Player visualiser on acid, the song is a bi-polar take on the topic of love with the lines ‘I see you, I like you, I love you, I bought you. I like them, I love them, bye-bye then’ a repeating phrase.
Even at this point with Das Kapitans on their third album in as many months, they still have great melodies without completely venturing into an album of shouting or monotone territory. There’s more obvious use of keyboards and programming at the start of Future Love, but there’s also some programming towards the end of the track, changing it up from the drums and guitar sound Das Kapitans are so good at.
For the first time on Blah Blah Blah, Das Kapitans begins a song immediately with lyrics, this is also the most straight-rocker so far. ‘Which Face Tonight Dear?’ maintains the cynicism of Future Love in the lyrics, the world of romance is a hard one to navigate. Part of me thinks the drums by Das Kapitans are programmed, but exceptionally so. If they aren’t programmed, then I feel sorry for the neighbours.
In a lesson in pacing, ‘I NO U’ begins with acoustic guitars and percussion before a vocal is added; ‘I know you, you know me, no, no more, fade away.’ I love that keyboard melody that joins after the first verse, and indeed the whole sedate feel of this part of the song. It gets heavy though without switching up the tempo, there are programmed keyboard parts and most importantly, it stops people labelling Das Kapitans as a punk band. Though most of the songs on Blah Bah Blah fall under three minutes due to their frantic nature, I wish this one had lasted longer. I think it has more to say.
A quick hi-hat count-in and we’re back to what Das Kapitans do best. There’s some positivity here too, with the opening line; ‘The takeaway food was delicious, your attitude was pretty poor.’ I mean you can’t win them all, but I’ve had worse nights. In terms of the writing, the music is repetitive, setting up the listener to focus on the lyrics – absolutely the right decision. What I like about Das Kapitans is that their lyrics are about real-life situations. Not everybody wants to write or listen to abstract lyrics, as wonderful as they can be sometimes. Plus, writing about the real world definitely lends itself to the huge creative commitment Das Kapitans have set up for themselves in 2021.
The beginning of ‘Dumb’ reminds me of something Frank Turner would do, that kind of folk rhythm on guitar, which is a combination of electrics and acoustics here, and without a rhythm accompaniment. That soon changes though as the track turns into a more 1990’s American punk band type vibe like Bad Religion or something. During a brief reprieve, I’m reminded of the pandemic with these lyrics; ‘all the days are going slow, got no motivational flow, got no foresight, you should know I’m going dumb.’ I don’t claim to say that Dumb is 100% about the societal change the pandemic has brought upon us, but it would seem hard to avoid the topic when it’s the foundation Das Kapitans were built on. Either that or it’s about the sluggish hue depression brings forth. This is where I get an email saying ‘No, it’s about Batman Forever.’
I love the chord progression at the start of ‘Bodies’, that sound that so many people would steer away from because the chords don’t typically go together. Similarly that lead guitar part is great too, skating over the top of the constant rhythm playing. When the guitars and vocals drop out, we get to hear the rhythm section on its own, and you realise how essential that bass sound is to the rest of the song. As the shortest track on Blah Blah Blah, Bodies is like a chaotic spinning top powered by a car battery whirling to destruction.
‘Crikey Dave’ pretty much picks up where Bodies left off, a short guitar intro, and them BAM the band are back in. That lead keyboard line is a nice surprise, it’s like old synthesized woodwind, which you’d never expect to be paired up with a heavy instrumental like this. The first couple of lines set the tone, painting a picture of who Dave might be; ‘You’re a nice young man but you’re just treading on eggshells, they’re going right between your hairy toes.’ Lyrically, I feel like this is the kind of punk song that could’ve come out in the 1970’s, like the eponymous ‘Jilted John’ or ‘Gary Gilmore’s Eyes’ by The Adverts.
Das Kapitans finish off their third album with ‘Traction’ and it’s filled with energy like much of Blah Blah Blah. I love the simple chorus of ‘No traction – sticking around.’ One of the things I’ve wondered about with all this material is will Das Kapitans endeavour to play any of it live? That could make for an interesting cross-section of their fast and furious career. The ending to Traction is unusual as you think the track will just finish with guitar feedback, until the band rewinds time and you start experiencing Traction in reverse. It seems like the perfect way to end such a cataclysm of songs.
I’m pleased to say that I got to ask Simon Bailey and Stephen Potter of Das Kapitans some questions, including talking about the twelve albums they’re putting out in 2021, their artwork, how they split their skills up for their work, and what happens to Das Kapitans after the twelve albums are finished! All this and more below.
1. Ok let's address the elephant in the room. You've decided you're releasing 12 albums in 12 months. How are you managing to stretch your creativity that far?
Simon Bailey: Firstly we always ensure we have an elephant in the room when songwriting. Secondly we ensure there is a global pandemic to ensure we have the time to be creative but also I think I’ve got 39 (no not quite 40) years worth of creativity stored up that hasn’t really been let out to play until now. Having the pressure of committing to 12 albums in a year really makes you dig deep. Some days nothing comes out. Other days you can hit jackpot and three songs appear at once.
Stephen Potter: We don’t make complicated songs and the Das Kapitans formula is generally pretty simple. It always has been. I think a lot of people really overthink their songwriting. We both have had such a wide range of musical influences, over our years and have both given each other different places to look for influences. Also, by making it a challenge, we’re both competitive enough to not back down from that challenge.
2. Is there a plan with the 12 albums? For instance, do you know what each one will be called?
Simon: We usually decide on a title as we are sorting out the track order. We tried to be clever with the first one and used the Finnish word for December. Even though the album was released in January. So not that clever.
Stephen: Ah but it was put together in December. We had planned on a different language title for each one, then we remembered we’re not that pretentious.
Simon: or intelligent
3. 'Blah Blah Blah' is the name of the latest Das Kapitans album. How long did it take to get this particular collection of songs together?
Simon: I think we pulled those songs together in 3 or 4 weeks. All are brand new tracks on this album. On the previous two albums we have used a few existing ideas but this is all new stuff. I think this album we really found our feet a bit and it seems to flow more than the others.
Stephen: By writing them all new for this one, we could focus on a ‘sound’ for it. We wanted it to be catchy, start to finish. The first 2 albums (on reflection) sound a bit like a collection of songs, where-as this sounds like an album. But yeah, 3-4 weeks.
4. Across all of the Das Kapitans material released so far, what's the division of labour of the writing, recording and producing?
Simon: We both write. The album is pretty much 50/50 in terms in song writing. Stephen leads on the mixing and the drums. Most of the vocals on the songs are mine. The rest is a free for all. We both play guitar/bass so we throw ideas back and forwards. Whoever comes up with the best little ideas and noises usually gets the final take on a song.
Stephen: We both have pretty much an identical setup in terms of home recordings, so either of us can write a song, send it back and forth for things to be changed or tweaked. I’m obsessed with trying to get the best production sound I can, but I still don’t spend a lot of time doing it. I’m a conflict of obsession and laziness. I’d have O.C.D if I could be bothered.
5. 'Crikey Dave'. Who's David? Some guy who lives next door?
Stephen: Everyone knows a Dave.
Simon: I think people of our vintage grew up with Only fools and Horses where the running joke in that was Trigger calling Rodney ‘Dave’ all the time. This used to translate to the school playground, everyone became a Dave. In this song a Dave is the person who has so much to offer but needs a seriously good look at themselves and a kick up the arse to get to where they should be heading…….when I am asked about song lyrics I suddenly realise “have I written about myself here???” AM I DAVE??!?
6. And then there's the 'Four More Songs' EP, which totally deviates from the brief. What inspired putting out an EP instead of saving the songs for later?
Stephen: If I could be part of any “scene” it’d be the garage punk/rock scene. Rock n Roll sped up and made as noisy as possible. We wanted to release an ep through a record label, in this instance Kafadan Kontak over in Istanbul. Partly to say we have one released through a record label and partly to get more noticed. It has worked to a degree as we’ve featured on several podcasts who found our music through that.
Simon: The garage punk was one of those examples of when I needed Steve to pull out the influences as its never been one that I naturally go to but after a while I realised it all goes full circle and totally fits with my favourite songwriter/guitarist Graham Coxon….track one on the E.P is my nod to him…its called Socks On.
7. I've loved all the artwork related to the Das Kapitans project, who's responsible for that?
Stephen: I tend to make that so far, although again, it’s a fairly simple process. An image has to work nicely within the border, and with the Das Kapitans logo in the top right corner. The Blah Blah Blah cover features thirteen “ghosts”. One per song on the album. The idea for the look of them all comes from when I was about 15, I got a 12” picture disc vinyl of DJ Shadow’s ‘In Flux’. And it had a sleeve image, with a sticker on it for his name. I wanted them to look diy, and home-made, as if you can put a sticker of our logo on any picture, and you end up with an album cover.
Simon: Despite having a GCSE in art anything I create visually looks like its been made by a drunk toddler…..so I leave it to Steve.
8. And what happens to Das Kapitans after 2021? Is this purely a pandemic project that would've served its purpose by then?
Stephen: When I originally started Das Kapitans, it was songs that didn’t make the cut for our main band which is Fuzz and the Felts, so there will still always will be songs that won’t be right for us as a band, but will be right for Das Kapitans. Both Simon and I will always be writing and recording, so we may as well release them.
Simon: We haven’t really discussed long term plans, we’ve known each other for nearly 20 years now so I think we are stuck with each other now and this project has, in a good way, forced us to write together and I think we’re figuring out each others strengths now after all these years and id imagine we’ve got many more years ahead of us of making noise. I can’t see us stopping anytime soon and its handy to have a name to always release things under. Das Kapitans is getting more known and more followers etc each day. Will be interesting to see what the name means to people in 10 years time. Or maybe we just take 12 years off after releasing 12 albums in a year.
9. Is there a possibility you might play some of these songs live one day?
Stephen: We’d love to. With the amount of material we have, we could pic and choose a great set list full of energy I think. We’ve been offered a few gigs so far. One particularly appealing one over in Como in, Italy. Love the idea of that.
Simon: I would quite like a 12 night residency at Wembley Stadium playing each album in full. Completely forgotten how to play all the songs already though so there’s work to do before we book that one in.
10. So that was album three - what can you tell us about album four?
Stephen: Album 4 (which so far hasn’t had a name finalised) is pretty much done. We’re doing final listening, tweaks in the mixes and song order. For some reason we thought it’d be funny to make it song name only one word. We realise it’s not actually that funny, but we stuck with it. It seems to follow on from Blah Blah Blah quite nicely I think.
Simon: Listening back to it this week it is Blah Blah Blah part 2. I am really proud of Blah Blah Blah so was a bit worried how we would follow it up….but out of nowhere the catchy songs just kept on coming.
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Download the ever-increasing works of Das Kapitans on their Bandcamp page in a digital format of your choice.
Grab a t-shirt or sweatshirt bearing the band’s logo at their store here, Fuzz And The Felts merchandise also available!
Follow Das Kapitans on Instagram @daskapitansband, on Facebook @daskapitans and @das_kapitan on Twitter.
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