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From last night's studio party. Nothing like jamming tons of folks into one studio.

#studio #party #band #metheband #drum #guitar #drummer #kick drum #berlin #chaos #rocknroll

Behind the Scenes

A graffiti artist covering a once blank wall with a visual of “Lucky Cancer and the Cigarettes of Death”, a facsimile of a black swan head reaching out of a building’s facade and marking the location of a techno club, a muddled mixture of music escaping the architectural confines of practice spaces – the walk to ME’s studio is a vibrant depiction of the creative scene within Berlin. It is no wonder that it is also home to the brainstorming and curating that takes place behind the scenes of Satisfactory Factory, a band-curated monthly event that brings together artists, musicians, and DJs for a night of celebrating creative culture and tapping into the artistic electricity of Berlin.

ME has not always called Berlin home. “Previous to 2013 we were living in London,” Luke explains in between sips from his coffee mug. “We moved to the UK in 2011 to originally just record our album...but we decided that we would like to try giving the European market a crack. We were getting a bit of radio play in Berlin, a couple of us had been to Berlin before, and it was just a really amazing, creative city.” As the band had just added Josh to the line up as their guitarist, Berlin has proved to be the birthplace and the incubator of the new line up. “To lose a member and gain a member in a band is quite a big dynamic change. It really did take us a while to get back to that place.” Spike echoes Luke’s sentiments and offers that “it was an opportunity for us to start again, learn how to be a new band.”

But just like any geographic location, Berlin has its drawbacks. A whisper from Spike suggests that, though ME does appreciate the Berlin music scene, their favorite aspect is “not necessarily the techno.” Satisfactory Factory grew out of this almost palpable need to see and experience more diversity within the music scene in ME’s new home. “We got here and maybe a little naively we didn’t really that there wasn’t a big rock scene in Berlin. And that DJs certainly did rule this city,” Luke articulates about the origins of the event. “We were here for a couple months and we just weren’t getting any shows. We had come off of 2012 and we had played 150 shows so we were just itching to start playing again. We realized that we had to do it ourselves. We found that with the DIY feel of Berlin, you are able to put on shows easily enough in creative and different places because Berlin is just like that. You can just get away with anything. There’s not much in the way of rules and regulations and codes.” It is this very absence of rules that fuels the fire behind pop-up tattoo studios, vodka giveaways, DJs spinning all night, rock bands sweating on the stage, posters made into origami cranes, live painters slinging paint, and participants losing themselves within the pulse of Satisfactory Factory.

Curating is not a foreign concept to ME. “We used to do something on a much smaller scale back home,” Spike adds as he weaves the story of ME prior to the move to Berlin. “We used to do a residency at venue called The Evelyn...We played at this venue every Wednesday night, often with another band. And we would have artists and others come in...so we decided instead of just another show, it seems like in Berlin you have to put on some kind of event. So we took that concept and went crazy with it. And then it turned into something a hell of a lot bigger than it used to be.” Alongside the dedication and passion of ME, the creative community within Berlin has had a hand in the growth of Satisfactory Factory. The definition and barriers between the different artistic scenes are “no where near as pronounced as they are in England...here you go somewhere and there are a bunch of different crews and a million different things together.”

Berlin tends to get a bit trapped within the stereotype of techno so Satisfactory Factory offers a “point of difference. There are a bunch of people in the city that do like rock music and it gives them a place where they can come and listen to not just techno.” The event recognizes the urgent need to give life to one’s artistic dreams. One is reminded of the decadence and chaos present in the days of a young Richard Hell or Mick Jagger that are now simply fading memories and myths of the rock n roll origin stories. But the event is not just rock; there have been gypsy bands, hip-hop acts, and acoustic performers. “The benefit of it is that there is going to be a lot of people who like a bunch of different stuff. And they are happy to just hang out and enjoy that. It’s also the opportunity to have an awesome party and actually have people be there for the music as well. As opposed to a lot of the shows where people stand in the back of the rock show with their arms crossed and dodging everyone. ‘I can’t be seen enjoying myself, it’s not cool,’” laughs Spike has he imitates the jaded concert attendee that we have all seen and, perhaps, have even been once or twice.

ME will not allow the audience of Satisfactory Factory to become jaded. “We try to keep our ears to the ground and hear what is going on at the moment,” Luke says as he shares the details of the behind the scenes work before a lineup is announced. Spike chuckles and adds that “it’s difficult trying to curate something in a city that you’re not from...so it’s just about asking people, looking online, seeing what bands other venues are booking. And then we go through it all together. The last one it was two of us curating and this time, it’s the other two. Everything is kind of thrown around and we talk about it.” They are clearly doing something right: the last event saw over a thousand attendees walk through the gates of Urban Spree and the fifth installment of the party on September 27th promises to deliver even more. How can one resist attending and submitting to the artistic and physical embodiment of Berlin’s contagious creative energy?