Farin Urlaub

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 This article does not cite any references or sources. (December 2007)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.
Farin Urlaub

Background information
Birth name Jan Ulrich Max Vetter
Born October 27, 1963 (1963-10-27) (age 44)
Origin Berlin, Germany
Genre(s) Punk rock
Years active 1980 - present
Associated acts Die Ärzte
King Køng
Soilent Grün
Website www.farin-urlaub.de

Jan Ulrich Max Vetter, better known as Farin Urlaub (like German "Fahr in Urlaub!" ("Go on holiday!"), after his love of travelling) was born on October 27, 1963 in what was then West Berlin, Germany. He is best known as the guitarist/vocalist for the German punk rock band Die Ärzte.

Contents

[edit] Youth

Vetter lived with his mother in a flat in the Moabit district of Berlin up to the age of seven, and in Frohnau up to the age of 18. His parents were low-paid civil servants, and he has a younger half-sister called Julia. His mother often played records by The Beatles, and as such he was introduced to music at a young age.

At the age of nine he decided to take guitar lessons with an elderly woman who taught him classical standards. He played guitar at the holiday camps which he visited. Ironically, his later music teacher advised him: "Whatever you do when you grow up, don't do anything with music!" At the age of 16, Vetter went on a school trip to London, and returned home as a punk with dyed blonde hair.

In 1980 he met Dirk Felsenheimer (later known as Bela B.) in the punk club Ballhaus Spandau and joined his band Soilent Grün, replacing the previous guitar player whose guitar had been stolen. When they came to making up stage names, Vetter decided to use his favourite hobby of travelling, contracting the phrase "Fahr in Urlaub" ("Go on holiday") to Farin Urlaub. After completing his Abitur (equivalent of A-levels) in 1983, he took up a course in archaeology at the Free University of Berlin, but gave it up for the benefit of his music career on the first day.

[edit] Musical career

When the band broke up in 1982 Urlaub, Felsenheimer and Hans Runge (Sahnie) formed Die Ärzte. He told the youth magazine BRAVO that his surname was Vetter-Marciniak to find out who really knew him and who only pretended to. When he received fan mail he would throw away, unread, letters addressed to "Jan Vetter-Marciniak". Even today his legal surname is often erroneously cited as "Vetter-Marciniak". In 1988, at the height of their popularity, Urlaub and Felsenheimer decided to split up and, after one final tour with the new bass-player, Hagen Liebing, Die Ärzte were disbanded.

Urlaub then (1989) formed King Køng with, among others, drummer Uwe Hoffmann, who had been Die Ärzte's producer. Urlaub called himself "Jan" once more during this time, as he wanted to distance himself from his time with Die Ärzte. The group was never successful, and Urlaub declared it defunct much later (1999).

Die Ärzte reunited in 1993. In 1998 they decided to stop working with BRAVO as the magazine had been requesting stories from the members' private lives more and more frequently. The magazine subsequently launched a smear campaign against Urlaub, claiming that he had rammed the car of a BRAVO reporter, beaten fans, and generally driven his car "to incapacitate the enemy". Urlaub reacted with reports to the contrary on Die Ärzte's website.

In 2001, Urlaub started his solo career with the album "Endlich Urlaub!" ("Holiday at Last!", which can also be read as pun on his pseudonym, "Urlaub" meaning "holiday", as in, "Urlaub at Last!"). "Am Ende der Sonne" ("At the End of the Sun") was released in 2005 and his latest album, Livealbum Of Death, was released on February 3rd, 2006.

Not withstanding his successful solo career, Die Ärzte continue to exist. In November, 2007 their latest album, "Jazz ist anders" was released and was ranked #1 in the German Media Control charts for six consecutive weeks.[1]

[edit] Musical style

Since his childhood Urlaub was influenced by The Beatles. In addition he listens in particular to Johnny Cash, Depeche Mode and "more or less everything except free jazz and techno". However, he admits openly that he does not consider himself to be a particularly good guitarist. He says that he often plays "unclean" chords and that even today he has only a very limited ability to read music, though this has not hindered him in making music. He plays complicated rhythms though.

According to some reports, the difference between his solo songs and those he has written for Die Ärzte is that his solo pieces are more personal and topical. He tried to make his songs for Die Ärzte as "timeless" and funny as possible; in this he was further influenced by the Comedian Harmonists. Many of his songs are about being left by one's partner (Zu spät (Too Late), Wegen dir (Because of You), Wie am ersten Tag (Like the First Day), Komm zurück (Come Back), Nie gesagt (Never Said), OK, 1000 Jahre schlechten Sex (1000 Years of Bad Sex), Nichts in der Welt (Nothing in the World)) or are just nonsense (Buddy Holly's Brille (Buddy Holly's Glasses), Wenn es Abend wird (When the Evening Comes), Außerirdische (Extraterrestrials), WAMMW). Since the reunion of Die Ärzte he has also written socially critical and political songs (Kopfüber in die Hölle (Headfirst into Hell), Schrei nach Liebe (Cry for Love), Schunder-Song (Trash Song), Der Misanthrop, Rebell, Deine Schuld (Your Fault), Nicht allein (Not Alone)).

Whereas his first solo album contained several very satirical texts, Am Ende der Sonne handles more serious themes such as politics, social criticism and personal subjects. In some solo pieces Urlaub also shows some tendency towards ska punk (Dermitder (The one with the), 1000 Jahre schlechten Sex).

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

[edit] Singles

[edit] King Køng

Main article: King Køng

[edit] Soilent Grün

Main article: Soilent Grün
With Dirk Felsenheimer, Roman Stoyloff and others.

[edit] Collaborations

  • Liebe macht blind (The Busters feat. Farin Urlaub, 2000)
  • Backing singer on Hey Du by the Beatsteaks on the EP Wohnzimmer (2002)
  • It is a never confired guess, but most people think, that he is the secret singer of the Funny van Dannen cover-song "Unbekanntes Pferd" (Unknown Horse) on the "Köpfer"-EP of the band Rantanplan.

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
  1. ^ See Media Control press release concerning Christmas sales 2007 (German)


Persondata
NAME Vetter, Jan Ulrich Max
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Urlaub, Farin
SHORT DESCRIPTION German musician, guitarist/vocalist for Die Ärzte
DATE OF BIRTH October 27, 1963
PLACE OF BIRTH West Berlin, Germany
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH