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Camouflage (Germany)
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May 14, 19:00
Sharing a common enthusiasm for electronic pop music, four friends from Bietigheim- Bissingen, Heiko Maile, Oliver Kreyssig, Marcus Meyn and Martin Kähling (who left the band in 1984) founded the band "Lizenenced Technology" in 1983. Drawing on inspiration from the song of the same name by the Japanese group "Yellow Magic Orchestra", the band changed their name to "Camouflage".
During this period of time Heiko and Oli were working as interns and Marcus was completing school. Each of the three worked side jobs to equip their own first studio "Boys Factory", which had been set up in the basement of Heiko's parents' home. The first local live appearance took place in 1984. One year later they recorded two demo cassettes in their studio and sent these cassettes to several record companies. Positive reactions did not come.
In 1986 one of these tapes was submitted for a talent search conducted by the Hessischen Rundfunk (Hessen Radio). Camouflage was awarded the first place and the small Frankfurt record label "Westside" became aware of the band. The song "The Great Commandment" was reworked, newly recorded and presented to the larger record companies. Suddenly several firms expressed interest and after careful consideration the band signed with Metronome.
In 1987 "The Great Commandment" was again reworked with Axel Henniger in his studio and the song was released in Germany in September that year. On August 16th Camouflage had already made their debut with the presentation of "The Great Commandment" in the TV program "Spruchreif" on German Television. The single reached #14 in the German charts and in February 1988 the follow-up single "Strangers' Thoughts" appeared which climbed to #20 in the charts.
The debut album "Voices & Images" was released in March 1988 and was followed in May by the third single "Neighbours" (Chart position 57). All three singles were added to regular rotations by radio stations and Camouflage were frequent guests on TV with performances of each of the three singles (e.g. the ZDF-Hitparade).
The success was not only limited to Germany. During December of 1988 Camouflage's single "The Great Commandment" reached number 1 in the Billboard Dance Charts on three separate occasions. Many of the small radio stations fed the Camouflage frenzy. During a visit to New York that same year, Heiko, Marcus and Oli signed a contract with the American record company Atlantic for releases in the American market. During the Fall "Voices and Images" was released in the USA and at the beginning of 1989 the single "The Great Commandment" reached #59 in the Billboard Hot 100 Sales Chart. In the US market "That Smiling Face" was selected as a second single from the album.
The Band set up their new studio "Boys Factory 2" in an old factory that was near their home town. During the early part of 1989, Camouflage entered the Synsound Studio in Brussels with material already prepared for their sophomore effort; they recorded the new album "Methods of Silence" with producer Dan Lacksman, who had an interesting combination of modern digital technology and museum-worthy studio equipment. Dan Lacksman is perhaps known to some for his work as part of the Belgian group "Telex" on the song "Moscow Disco".
Due to the previous success of the band the record company gave Camouflage free reign with their ideas. The band sought there own new direction for the new songs and the results sound much more unique. In April 1989 the single "Love is a Shield" was released in Germany; the single climbed to # 9 in the charts and remained in the charts for more than 6 months. In May the album "Methods of Silence" was released in Germany and climbed to #13 in the album charts.
During the summer "Love is a Shield" was released in the USA and in the Fall "Methods of Silence" was released in more than 20 countries worldwide. During October the second single "One Fine Day" was released in Germany - followed by the first live tour which was an overall great success. Performances for both singles provided occasion for Camouflage to appear as guests on German TV. Since 1989, "Love is a Shield" has been in rotation at many radio stations and even to this day receives frequent airplay.
At the beginning of 1990 Oliver Kreyssig left the band for personal reasons. In October Heiko and Marcus traveled to the Black Barn Studio in England and began work on the third album "Meanwhile" with producer Colin Thursten (known for his work with David Bowie, Talk Talk, and Duran Duran). Surprisingly this new album included real drums and conventional musical instruments played by guest musicians.
In February 1991 the first single "Heaven (I Want You)" was released (Chart position 57) in Germany and the USA. In March the album "Meanwhile" was released worldwide in more than 25 countries. In May the second German Tour began and in August a second single was released as a double A-side containing "This Day" and "Handsome".
Unfortunately the successes of previous years didn't follow with "Meanwhile". In 1995 Marcus said the following, "Naturally we would have preferred that things had gone differently. But it was our wish at the time to make this type of record. For that reason the situation was perfectly OK for us. Looking back today, we would have liked to have had better advice at the time, recommending against this drastic stylistic change in our music. But things went the way they did..."
In 1992 Marcus and Heiko moved from their home town of Beitigheim-Bissingen to the music metropolis Hamburg. There they founded their own music publishing company and built up a new studio. Their side project "Areu Areu" included the release of a 5 track E.P. with cover versions of songs from The Cure, Depeche Mode and from very early Camouflage songs.
During mid-1992 they began recording work for the fourth album "Bodega Bohemia" - again as in 1989, in the Brussels Synsound Studio with producer Dan Lacksmann and several guest musicians. The goal with this album was to let as many electronic influences as possible flow back into the music. During March 1993 it was time and the hit-worthy single "Suspicious Love" came to stores. The video to the song played in rotation on MTV and the song was equally present in the radio. In a very short time 20,000 singles were sold, but placement in the charts was never achieved.
This shortfall was largely due to the bands record company which prioritized the group "Ace of Base" with higher importance at this time than Camouflage and failed to support Camouflage to a necessary extent. The pending releases were doomed to failure and were only released in Germany - in May the album "Bodega Bohemia", in June the single "Close" and in August the single "Jealousy". The contractual option for a further Camouflage album was not realized by the record company. The contract and collaboration with Metronome ended in the same year.
Pop music took a distant back seat for Camouflage. Contact was made with the organizer of an opera project by means of a common friend. Excited by the proposal, Camouflage invested more than half a year into the opera project and created visual concepts, experimental sounds and numerous demo recordings. Frustration became widespread when legal disputes between the shareholders and organizers prevented any performance from taking place. After these many experiences Heiko and Marcus had the thought to leave the music business entirely.
The manager of the band "Die Fantastischen 4", A. "Bar" Lasker, had become aware of the band through their song "Suspicious Love". He heard that Camouflage was without a recording contract and worked to secure a contract in 1994 with the firm BMG for the German market. Starting in October Heiko and Marcus recorded the fifth album "Spice Crackers" in their studio in Hamburg. The new record company allowed complete freedom for the production. The music that had been written for the opera project (e.g. "Je Suis Le Dieu") and the more open and playful work approach could now be used on their own new album. Electronic songs were created based on inspiration from science fiction films. In March 1995 Camouflage played live in Stuttgart and presented the new material to the public.
August brought the release of the single "Bad News", September brought the album "Spice Crackers" and at the beginning of 1996 the second single "X-Ray" was released. Due to misdirected projections and marketing strategies from the new record company and a difficult album concept for the mainstream market "Spice Crackers" also failed to see success. Work ended with BMG. During 1996 the Various Artist Compilation CD "Treasury" was also released; this compilation contains the exclusive song "Winter". Heiko and Marcus changed their residence from Hamburg to Stuttgart. Marcus worked there as the product manager for the record firm of the group die Fantastischen 4 known as "Four Music". Heiko remained a freelance musician and also produced music for other groups with the most diverse styles including House and Hip-Hop.
Camouflage spent 1997 primarily working through negotiations of a contract with Sony Music. Sony had planned to release a remix album of past hits before any new material would be released. During this time Polydor (who had acquired the ownership rights from Metronome) released the Camouflage Best Of album "We Stroke the Flames" and a limited edition maxi- single with (previously released) remixes of "Suspicious Love", "Handsome" and "Love is a Shield" - without any input from Heiko and Marcus.
Former band member Oliver Kreyssig (who had remained in good contact with Heiko and Marcus) took employment at Polydor and was responsible for design and presentation. This gave him opportunity after many years to become professionally involved with the music of Camouflage. He created the artwork for the cover of the Best Of CD and the associated maxi single. Further work with Sony did not come from these two releases. In the end, a contract was negotiated with Virgin, who had also showed interest in Camouflage. Oliver Kreyssig accepted the offer to rejoin the band and in 1999 became an official member of Camouflage again.
During July the new single "Thief" (a pop song in the classic enduring Camou sound) was released and climbed in the charts for two weeks in Germany. The future of the new album became uncertain. The band was not to be discouraged, they continued to play with new songs and continued with day to day work responsibilities. Marcus moved from Stuttgart to Berlin and was responsible for product managment at Sony Music (e.g. for the band "Linientreu"). Heiko continued to produce music for other groups in his studio "Saal 3" in Stuttgart and he also composed music for advertising spots. Oli continued to work in Hamburg with Polydor. During June of 2000 the first live gig in many years for Camouflage took place - in the town of Freiberg in Sachsen many fans celebrated the three Camous.
"Rewind"appeared during February 2001 on Metronome (which had become part of Polydor); this was a new Best Of album, for which Camouflage finally was allowed sufficient opportunity for input. The selection of songs represented their ideas and the limited version also included a DVD with all videoclips from the Metronome and BMG phases of the bands career. The 1997 album "We Stroke The Flames" was pulled off the market. During March Polydor also released the single "You Were There" from the dance project "Resistance D". The song sounded very much like Camouflage and as a result caused a significant amount of confusion. This project was explained in that Marcus Meyn had worked with musician friends Pascal F.E.O.S and Maik Maurice in writing the song and recording the vocal tracks. The song reached #63 in the German charts.
New material from Camouflage was still not in sight, but a new album title "Sensor" had been determined. A vaguely defined degree of success for a new single was a necessary requirement that would precede the release of an album; so following the desire of their record company Virgin, the band made a comeback attempt with a new version of their classic song "The Great Commandment" as version "2.0".
The vocals were re-recorded to avoid any conflict with rights to the original recording; the music was produced by the London trio "Toy" (Dave Clayton, Q, and Kerry Hopwood). The drum parts were played by Christian Eigner, who had sat at the drums during several Depeche Mode tours. "Toy" had been involved among other projects with the production of the Depeche Mode Album "Ultra". "TGC 2.0" climbed the charts for three weeks and reached #85. The rather disappointing result left little hope for a release of "Sensor" with Virgin.
Oliver Kreyssig moved his residence and work from Hamburg to Berlin. During 2001 Camouflage played three concerts including their first performance at "Wave Gotik Treffen" in Leipzig.
After the release of an album no longer seemed realistic with Virgin, new discussions were started with other record companies. During February 2002 a new contract was negotiated with Polydor, which included the production and release of the long-awaited album "Sensor". The production efforts were begun quickly with producers Rob Kirwan and Toy in London and Gerret Frerichs in Hamburg. Three production teams were expected to quickly provide diverse recording results. There wasn't a plan for how Sensor was intended to sound - really only a feeling for how it should be. One thing had been determined - it was important to emphasize old strengths such as songwriting and to return to an electronic presentation for the songs.
The distance between residences of each of the Camou members and the producers was overcome by means of a dedicated website for the production of the album which allowed for transfer of sound files and opinions related to the work in progress. The first problems appeared too soon after work with Rob Kirwan was ended due to differing views about the desired results; problems continued when Toy left in the Fall of 2002 during a period of when work was well under way. The anticipated finish and release schedules were no longer realistic and couldn't be met.
The Sensor production efforts were continued by Gerret Frerichs in Hamburg and Heiko Maile in his Saal 3 studio in Stuttgart. Along with the recording work, the band played three concerts during 2002 where several of the new songs were performed. The path from the single "Thief" in 1999 to the album "Sensor" had required the investment of much time, energy and patience. By the beginning of 2003 this path was finally drawing to an end; the first single "Me and You" was released on April 14th followed by the album on May 26th. "Me and You" reached #53 in the German charts and "Sensor" reached #26. After playing at several festivals, the "Sensor Tour" began in the Fall of 2003 with performances across Germany and for the first time live concerts outside of Germany (e.g. in Russia). The second single release "I Can't Feel You" charted at #75 in the German charts. As was occurring with all record companies in Germany, Polydor experienced a major organizational restructuring in an effort to minimize pending losses. The greater emphasis on international artists had a negative impact on Camouflage. The planned third single "Perfect" could not longer be released and the work for a new album was being pushed off in the distance. The band was not to be discouraged and continued work writing new songs.
During 2004 Camouflage had successful performances in Germany and in other countries and the band completed a small tour of Eastern Europe. Since Polydor was still unwilling to lay out a timeline for a new album, Camouflage decided to leave Polydor. During August 2005 the band signed a new contract with the record company SPV.
Heiko Maile moved his residence from Stuttgart to Berlin and set up a new studio there. With this move the recordings and work on the new album were to become easier, since Marcus, Oli and Heiko were now living in the same city. Heiko took the responsibility as producer for the new album. During 2005 Camouflage played only two concerts in Germany in order to concentrate on the production and completion of the new album.
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