Bakkushan was a German indie rock band formed in

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...

. Their band name comes from the Japanese expression バックシャン (bakkushan, a woman that looks better from behind than from the front). The band was formed in June 2007 by Daniel Schmidt, Christian Kalle, Robert Kerner and Jan Siekmann. In 2008, the band signed to EMI Virgin Records and during that year they won the Jägermeister Rock: Liga Video Contest and Beck’s On Stage Festival Challenge. In 2010, they represented the state of

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

, in the

Bundesvision Song Contest The Bundesvision Song Contest (often shortened BSC or BuViSoCo) was a song competition held annually between the sixteen states of Germany. Created by German entertainer Stefan Raab and aired live on ProSieben, the show was loosely based on the ...

. They finished in 9th place with 39 points.

History

Bakkushan was formed by singer Schmidt together with Kalle, Kerner and Siekmann in July 2007 during their studies at the Popakademie

. Their first live performance was at the Academy on 28 July 2007. Schmidt developed the band's first EP at home on the computer, to be used as a demo. On the EP were the songs ''Baby du siehst gut aus'', ''Lass die Sonne und mich allein'' and the song after which the EP was named, ''Springwut''. The EP was released later in 2007 after the surprise success of the song ''Springwut''. The accompanying music video was made without outside investors. The first tour with almost 40 concerts was planned and completed successfully in 2008. After winning the Jägermeister Rock:Liga video contest, the band had the opportunity to film a professional music video for the song ''Springwut''. The band also performed at Hurricane Festival 2008 after winning the Beck's On Stage Festival Challenge. After one concert, Bakkushan were offered a contract by a manager from the record label

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

. However they declined, wishing to further hone their sound, contacting the manager six months later to sign to the record label. Under contract from

, Bakkushan began to work on their debut album in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

. Daniel Schmidt was joined in production by Moritz Enders, who had previously worked with Donots,

Revolverheld Revolverheld (German for "gunslinger") is a German rock band from Hamburg, Germany. Originally formed under the name Manga in 2002, the band renamed in 2004 to "Tsunamikiller" and later decided upon the current name after the 2004 Indian Ocea ...

Livingston Livingston may refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North American custom ...

and

Blackmail Blackmail is an act of coercion using the threat of revealing or publicizing either substantially true or false information about a person or people unless certain demands are met. It is often damaging information, and it may be revealed to fa ...

. The band toured Germany, Austria and Switzerland in early 2009. Their first single, ''Baby du siehst gut aus'' was released on 12 July 2009. The single was featured in the film ''Vortstadtkrokodil 2''. Bakkushan's eponymous debut album, ''Bakkushan'' was scheduled to be released on 11 September 2009 but was instead released on 26 March 2010. Two weeks prior, the single ''Alles war aus Gold'' had been released. On 16 April 2010, Bakkushan appeared on

MTV Home MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

. On the same day they reached number 96 in the German album chart, ahead of releases by

Jennifer Rostock Jennifer Rostock is a German rock band. They formed in 2007 out of Berlin and first rose to fame in 2008 for their performance in the German talent competition " The Bundesvision Song Contest" History Jennifer Weist (born 3 December 1986) and ...

and . Bakkushan toured again in Germany and Austria throughout the Spring and Summer of 2010. On 23 July 2010, Bakkushan released their third single ''Lass die Sonne und mich allein''. Bakkushan represented

on 1 October 2010 at the

, playing their fourth single, ''Springwut'', released on 27 September 2010. They reached ninth place with 39 points. The band announced that they were close to finishing their second album in March 2012 alongside the release of a new single, ''Böse Mädchen feiern besser''. This was followed on 29 June 2012, by ''Nur die Nacht''. Two weeks later, on 13 July 2012, the band's sophomore album, ''Kopf im Sturm'' was released. The band released another single, ''Der letzte Mensch der Welt'' on 26 October 2012, before beginning their ''Kopf im Sturm'' tour throughout Germany.

Discography

Albums

* 2010: Bakkushan * 2012 : Kopf Im Sturm

EPs

* 2007: Springwut

Singles

* 2009: Baby, du siehst gut aus * 2010: Alles war aus Gold * 2010: Lass die Sonne und mich allein * 2010: Springwut * 2012: Böse Mädchen feiern besser * 2012: Nur die Nacht * 2012: Der letzte Mensch der Welt

External links

Bakkushan's Official Website
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20110718224722/http://www.deinara-soundcheck.de/index.php/interviews/539-bakkushan-interview "We only understand Japanese" Interview with Bakkushan (German)br>Bakkushan and Sony BMG Sign Exclusive Publishing Agreement

References

{{Authority control Musical groups established in 2007 Participants in the Bundesvision Song Contest