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JulieFilth&Sin performing at Garage Deluxe

Thu 16.Dec.2004 - Tonight is the final of the "Munich New Stars" band contest. Eight qualifying rounds have taken place since October and this evening the four finalists will fight it out for ultimate glory. If you're one of the few who doesn't have a Christmas party to go to tonight, and you enjoy live music, then this would make a great night out. The contest takes place at Garage Deluxe in the Kultfabrik. Doors open at 7pm, bands play from 8pm til midnight. Entrance is €8. First prize is a recording deal and second is the opportunity to open for a major act. The four contestants are Dyne, Ossarium, Shade, and TT's favourite punk rockers: JulieFilth&Sin.

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The interior of Garage Deluxe

The members of JulieFilth&Sin are: Julie on drums (German, grew up in Munich), Johnny Filth (Norweigian, came to Munich via the U.S.) and Stephen "Sin" Hastings (from the U.K.).

For chat about this event see the TT forum: Munich New Stars contest

Here's the band's potted history in Sin's own words:



I moved from England to Munich in early 2000. For my birthday party in Jan 2002 I wanted to do something extravagant as I hadn't held a party since my 18th, when I was in a punk band in London. I wanted to make it a music party and so chose a punk theme because it is very easy to put a punk band together. Johnny Filth was the guitarist, along with 2 English ex-pats on bass and drums. Johnny is Norwegian, has played guitar for over 20 years, and arrived in Munich from Houston, Texas in 1997. The party at The Loft, Friedenstr. was a riot - 400 guests, 2 bands (one flown from London) and some current Toytowners may even have been there. We called the band after my last band in the early 80's - The Art Vandals.

Soon after, the bass player relocated back to Brighton and the drummer hung up his sticks. This was only meant to be a 'one-off' after all. Neither Johnny nor myself wanted to continue doing punk, or covers, and started developing our own music with me as the singer. During the winter of 2002, after not finding a bass player, I decided to start playing my first musical instrument. While I learnt we tried out about 12 drummers before we found Julie. She was born in Baden-Württemberg, but moved to Munich when she was 7 years old.

As the music developed further it became obvious that I couldn't sing and play bass at the same time on many songs, so Johnny took over singing those. He has a really good singing voice, so we evolved into a 3-piece, 2-lead singer band. Because of our age and upbringing differences, our influences are very diverse. Julie hasn't heard of half the artists in my CD collection, and vice-versa. We try very hard to stay somewhere between our individual influences and not get too close to any particular source. Both myself and Johnny write the words and base melodies, and then we let evolution do the rest. It seems like the best way to get originality into the act.

What was refreshing was that because Julie is only 23, she is under the ecstacy based house-music culture which has now moved into it's 30-somethings. I was too old for it in the first place, although I do have everything by Massive Attack, Portishead and William Orbit in my collection. We started realising that the younger generation coming through seem to be demanding more balls in their music again - just as it was when I was a kid.

Julie's influences are obviously from a German's point of view. She will name bands like Skunk Anansie, Nightwish, Etc. But deep down it is really the technical side of drumming and beat-creation that drives her. Johnny is more al la Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Stereophonics, Alice in Chains, Red Hot Chilly Peppers, Etc. My influences are mostly based on being bored with the music industry as a whole. I love good music, be it blues, rock 'n' roll, British R&B, Haight-Ashbury, glam-rock, punk, ska, roots-reggae and indie. I like excitement when I go to a concert. I want to hear a story in the words.

All three of us are very politically aware. We are independent minded, and write about things that affect us, turn us on, or make us angry. There are no boundaries to the subjects we tackle, and we treat them as adults. We want to entertain, enthuse and inform. We love what we are doing, and are under no illusions about recording contacts, money and fame.