In the gray hours of the morning, between doubts and tiredness, the songs find their final form. The world is out of joint. Melodies and words search for the right place at the damaged spots of our hope. Songs that are being tested for the next CD/LP, which the band is currently working on; songs from the recently released solo live CD; songs from the collection of the last 52 albums, carried by the gentle and determined tones of guitars, trumpet, bass and accordion, piano and drums play for dancing in the unrepeatable hours of the concerts. GLAD THAT WE ARE ALIVE. An adherence to elementary truths, despite all ideological parcelling out. Celebrating life as a victory against the destructive, against wars and demagogy. Music is a faithful companion.
Wenzel remains true to himself and does not care about pigeonholes or fashionable attitudes. His work draws from an almost inexhaustible source. In recent years, Wenzel has surprised us with many CD productions. New, unpublished songs, settings of Johannes R. Becher, Christoph Hein, Theodor Kramer, Woody Guthrie. On 04.10.2024 Wenzel will release his new CD & vinyl "Strandgut der Zeiten" with his own lyrics and compositions. Melancholy, full of life, subversive, warm-hearted, cynical, delicate and direct. Wenzel remains a refugee from the impositions of the world. He braves the heavy seas with bittersweet irony. A lover who never half-loves and never plays softly with his jester's bells, someone who doles out and takes with full ladles, a wise man on whose ark the eternal couples embrace: Happiness and anger, love and time, escape and shelter, moment and epoch. First and last day.
Wenzel is an author, composer, musician, singer, actor and director. Tours have taken him through France, Austria, America, Nicaragua, Cuba and Turkey, among others. Wenzel has performed on stage with Arlo Guthrie, Randy Newman, Billy Bragg, Konstantin Wecker and many other musicians. Wenzel has survived honors from the GOLDEN AMIGA, the Heinrich Heine Prize to the German Cabaret Prize, the German Record Critics' Prize and the Liederbestenliste Prize. in 2023, a documentary film about Wenzel "Wenzel - Never believe what I sing" was released in cinemas
COMPOSITION
Wenzel: vocals, guitar, accordion, piano
Hannes Scheffler: guitars, bass
Thommy Krawallo: guitars; bass
Stefan Dohanetz: drums, percussion
Manuel Abreu: trumpet
Jason Liebert: trombone, saxophone