Het duurt nog even, maar 24 april in Plato Utrecht: The Dead Guitars

Question? What have producers Dave Allen (The Cure), Mick Glossop (Van Morrison, Waterboys) and Gareth Jones (Depeche Mode) got in common?

Answer: Their devotion to pop music crafted in Germany and a band that marked its debut 20 years ago – TWELVE DRUMMERS DRUMMING (Phonogram UK). Each of them produced an album for 12DD, arguably the most innovative German band of the ’80s. In 2003 Pete Brough, one of the founder-members of German band TWELVE DRUMMERS DRUMMING, and Ralf Aussem, guitarist from the original 12DD cast and mastermind behind the hugely successful band SUN, joined forces with vocalist Carlo van Putten and collectively gave life to DEAD GUITARS. In 2007 they have been joined by Patrick Schmitz – Drums and Sven-Olaf Dirks – Bass Guitar. Both are immaculate musicians and fit so very nicely into the DEAD GUITARS family In addition to being a principle writer and lead vocalist with German band THE CONVENT, Carlo van Putten also had a flourishing partnership with the late Adrian Borland, mastermind behind the British cult band THE SOUND, under the name WHITE ROSE TRANSMISSION and has worked with various others over the course of the years, including Marty Willson Piper of THE CHURCH and Mark Burgess of THE CHAMELEONS. DEAD GUITARS are an amalgamation of exhilarating downbeats, saturated electro-acoustic guitar work, and vocals that reflect an incisiveness and emotional intelligence. DEAD GUITARS are the resurrection of authentic pop, the reincarnation of sweeping, melancholic ballads, the renaissance of the “wall of sound”, those filigree, towering guitar riffs that make Ralf Aussem such an exceptional guitarist, and the surreal way his licks blend with clear song structures, shattering the listening habits of the pop genre – finally! DEAD GUITARS do pop, not pap. Their music is crafted, not production-line, original, not synthetic, a healthy alternative to the nursery rhymes that currently mob the singles charts. It is emotionally charged and vibrant. Songs like “Name Of The Sea” or “Crash” are, unpretentiously post-modern: honest, grounded, rising above the fleeting trends and toe-curling embarrassment that haunts the current “pop idol” generation.