3001 (Dance or Die album)
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Dance or Die is a German
electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...
band, formed in 1988 by Andreas Goldacker and Gary Wagner in
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
. Falgalas (born Heiko Duus) joined the band in 1993, first for live touring, later as full member. Chris L. (born Christian Lorenz) joined in 1998, initially for live support. In January 2018, three band members (Wagner, Falgalas and Chris L.) continued the band under the name Darkness on Demand, maintaining the DoD acronym and musical style.


History

The band formed in Berlin, Germany, in 1988 as a duo of Andreas Goldacker (aka A.N.G.O.) and Gary Wagner. The band drew initial influences from both post-punk bands like
Joy Division Joy Division were an English rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist Ian Curtis, guitarist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. Sumner and Hook formed the band after attend ...
and
Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 200 ...
, as well as electronic groups such as
Front 242 Front 242 is a Belgian electronic music group that came into prominence during the 1980s. Pioneering the style they called electronic body music, they are a profound influence on the electronic and industrial music genres. History Formation Fr ...
and
DAF Daf ( fa, دف) also known as Dâyere and Riq is a Middle Eastern (mainly Iranian) frame drum musical instrument, used in popular and classical music in South and Central Asia. It is also used in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Iran, Uzbe ...
. Their first mini album, ''Dance or Die'', was the initial release of Berlin-based label
Machinery Records A machine is a physical system using power to apply forces and control movement to perform an action. The term is commonly applied to artificial devices, such as those employing engines or motors, but also to natural biological macromolecule ...
. Its title track became one of the most frequently played titles in central and northern Europe. As summarized by
Zillo ''Zillo'' (or ''Zillostrierte'') was a German alternative music magazine, published monthly, originally edited by Rainer "Easy" Ettler. It was in circulation between 1989 and 2014. The headquarters of ''Zillo'' were in Lübeck. History The magaz ...
, "in the 1990s 'Dance or Die''formed the link between Gothic
ock Ock or OCK may refer to: *River Ock (disambiguation), three rivers in England * Ok (Korean name), also spelt Ock **Ock Joo-hyun (born 1980), South Korean K-pop singer and musical theatre actress *Océano Club de Kerkennah, a Tunisian football club ...
and Electro, and were a pioneer at that". They continued their collaboration with Machinery through the label's peak in the mid-1990s. In 1997, they signed with the
Polydor Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...
imprint What's Up?! and released one album (''Dehumanizer''), a single for the album track "Relationshit", and a subsequent EP, ''Teenagemakeup''. The relationship with Polydor ultimately ended because the band's dark electronic sound did not match the label's profile. On ''Dehumanizer'', the band was briefly joined by Norbert Drescher (aka Norri) as drummer. Heiko Duus (aka Falgalas), a member of Nigra Nebula who had previously provided live support for the band, became a fully-credited band member beginning with ''Dehumanizer''. In 2001, they released the album ''Schlafendeenergie'' on
Synthetic Symphony SPV GmbH (short for ''Schallplatten Produktion und Vertrieb Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung, GmbH'', "Vinyl Production and Distribution Company") is a German independent record label. Founded on 1 January 1984, it has slowly grown to be one ...
in Germany and cross-licensed to
Energy Rekords Energy Rekords is a record label formed in 1990 by the merging of the three labels: Front Music Production, Electronic Beat Association, and Energy - all small labels run from the Swedish town of Älmhult. By banding together these labels' fou ...
in Sweden. "Schlafende Energie" (literally: sleeping energy) is a term coined by the
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...
'' Raumpatrouille'' and means an energy reserve. In 2011, after ten years of relative silence, the band released the album ''Nostradamnation'' on
Out of Line Out Of Line Music is an independent record label located in Berlin, Germany. Out of Line is distributed by Rough Trade (Believe Digital) and exclusive partner to publishing giant BMG Rights Management, through sister company Edition Layer Cake. ...
in Europe and as a limited edition on
Metropolis Records Metropolis Records is a record label founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1993 by the late Dave Heckman. The label's all-electronic format closely tracked with European contemporaries, such as Off Beat, and, since 1995, has been instrumenta ...
in North America. For the album, Christian Lorenz (aka Chris L.) – lead singer for
Agonoize Agonoize is a German aggrotech band consisting of Mike Johnson (composition, programming, production and mastering), Oliver Senger (composition and programming) and Chris L (lyrics and vocals). The band's 2005 EP, ''Evil Gets an Upgrade'', peaked ...
who had been live support for the band since 1998 – joined the band as a vocalist.


Side projects and transition to Darkness on Demand

''Nostradamnation'' was the final release to bear the Dance or Die name. The band continued to tour in the years after the release, including appearances at
Wave-Gotik-Treffen The Wave-Gotik-Treffen (WGT; ) is an annual world festival for "dark" music and "dark culture" in Leipzig, Germany. 150+ bands and artists from various backgrounds (gothic rock, gothic metal, EBM, industrial, noise, darkwave, neo-folk, neo-cl ...
, across Europe, and in Mexico. Meanwhile, band members began to explore various side projects. In December 2014, Wagner released an album with a project named Ruhestätte Schwarz. In 2015, Wagner and Duus began releasing
neo-folk Neofolk, also known as apocalyptic folk, is a form of experimental music blending elements of folk and industrial music, which emerged in punk rock circles in the 1980s. Neofolk may either be solely acoustic or combine acoustic folk instrumenta ...
and
martial Marcus Valerius Martialis (known in English as Martial ; March, between 38 and 41 AD – between 102 and 104 AD) was a Roman poet from Hispania (modern Spain) best known for his twelve books of ''Epigrams'', published in Rome between AD 86 and ...
music under the name Winterhart. Lorenz continued his work with Agonoize, formed a project named The Sexorcist in 2015, and joined
Funker Vogt Funker Vogt () is a German electronic-industrial music project with an aggressive style, formed by vocalist Jens Kästel and programmer Gerrit Thomas in 1995. Other members of the band are keyboardist/manager Björn Böttcher, live guitarist Fr ...
as vocalist in 2017. By 2018, three members of the band – Wagner, Duus, and Lorenz – began producing new material but distanced themselves and rebranded from Dance or Die as a result of "some bad experiences with the former producer" of the band. The trio continued the EBM style of Dance or Die under the name Darkness on Demand, which conveniently kept the same "DoD" abbreviation as before. The first release under the new name was ''Post Stone Age Technology'', released in early 2018.


Music

In 2015, Dance or Die was still described as a "well-known Berlin cult Electro
and or AND may refer to: Logic, grammar, and computing * Conjunction (grammar), connecting two words, phrases, or clauses * Logical conjunction in mathematical logic, notated as "∧", "⋅", "&", or simple juxtaposition * Bitwise AND, a boole ...
by the music magazine ''
Sonic Seducer ''Sonic Seducer'' is a German music magazine that covers gothic rock, new wave, EBM and other kinds of electronic music and culture. The magazine is noted for organizing the annual M'era Luna Festival. Since its inception in 1994, the ''Sonic S ...
''. Their music combines cold
techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often ch ...
sounds with a deep voice (
vocalist Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
Gary Wagner even sings as guest on other artist's records, as on "Take Some More" by
And One And One is a German new wave, synthpop and EBM band founded by Steve Naghavi and Chris Ruiz in 1989. History The band formed after Steve Naghavi and Chris Ruiz met in 1989 at a Berlin club. Being fans of early EBM music, Naghavi and Ruiz deci ...
) and
cyber Cyber may refer to: Computing and the Internet * ''Cyber-'', from cybernetics, a transdisciplinary approach for exploring regulatory and purposive systems Crime and security * Cyber crime, crime that involves computers and networks ** Conventi ...
-themed lyrics about life in the machine age. The albums were thus appropriately named, ''3001'' for the future, ''Psychoburbia'' taking psycho and burb together, while ''Dehumanizer'' seems to stand for itself. (Though it may have been named after
Black Sabbath Black Sabbath were an English rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy met ...
's ''
Dehumanizer ''Dehumanizer'' is the sixteenth studio album by English rock band Black Sabbath, released on June 22, 1992. It was Sabbath's first studio album in over a decade to feature vocalist Ronnie James Dio and drummer Vinny Appice, and their first ...
'' album, whose song "Black Sabbath" Dance or Die did
cover Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of co ...
on ''Psychoburbia''.)


Discography


Albums

*''3001'' (1991) *''Psychoburbia'' (1992) *''Everspring'' (1995) *''Dehumanizer'' (1998) *''Schlafendeenergie'' (2001) *''Nostradamnation'' (2011)


EPs and singles

*"Move" (1988) *''Dance or Die'' (1990) *"Fire" (1991) *"Time Zero" (1994) *"Minute Man" (1995) *"Relationshit" (1997) *"Teenagemakeup" (1997)


Compilations

*''The Best of the 12" Mixes Berlin 89 – New York 93'' (1993) (aka ''Psychoburbians'')


References


External links


Official homepage

Dance or Die
at '' MySpace''
Dance or Die
at ''
Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...
'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Dance or Die German electronic music groups Musical groups established in 1988