| P.O.X. | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Hanover, Lower Saxony, Germany |
| Genres | Psychobilly |
| Years active | early 80s - present |
| Associated acts | Celebrate the Nun |
| Website | http://www.the-pox.com/ |
The P.O.X. is the first German Psychobilly-band. P.O.X. stands for “Psychobilly Orchestra X”.
Contents |
The P.O.X. was founded 1982 in Hanover (Germany) by the singer and guitarist Beaker Pox (Mathias Böker) and the drummer Slin Pox (Nils Enghusen) and thus belongs to the first wave of Psychobilly bands. In 1983 the guitarist and songwriter Carl Pox (Karl-Heinz "Kalle" Schmidt) completed the final band formation. The P.O.X. was the first German Psychobilly band at all. 1984 it came to a record deal with the label Wahnsinn Records (Hamburg) and thus to the first vinyl record release of a German Psychobilly band, the mini LP It's so dark. International concerts and the next album release Voodoo Power on the Dutch KIX4U-label followed. In November 1986 the band dissolved officially after a European tour. In the following years the P.O.X. still played on various international Psychobilly festivals with the line up Beaker Pox, Carl Pox and Jake Pox, but in 1991 the band then finally stopped playing live. 2008 Beaker and Carl Pox decided to let the band revive again and celebrated a comeback on the Psychomania Rumble Festival in Potsdam.
After P.O.X., Nils Enghusen became member of Celebrate the Nun (as Slin Thompson).[1] He also leads the music school "Fit in Music" in Garbsen[2]
The P.O.X. mostly played without the usual double bass and replaced the upright bass through electric bass or omitted the bass completely. With the introduction of a strongly distorted Rhythm guitar The P.O.X. brought in a further style element which was still uncommon in Psychobilly 1984. In connection with likewise atypically distorted singing resulted the characteristic P.O.X. - Sound, which distinguished itself clearly from the traditional Psychobilly sound of a slap bass dominated band. Starting from 1985 The P.O.X. used also Midi and Samples, which again represented an innovation in the scene. The P.O.X. produced the intro track for the Voodoo Power demo and studio production together with producer Yak Bondy. Their arrangements differ from the predominantly used Blues pattern in the early Psychobilly; exemplary mentioned the Song “It's so dark”, that -rather composed and arranged like New Wave or early Gothic rock in the kind of Bauhaus - is no classical “Old School“- Psychobilly. While in the today's Psychobilly an aspect of fun in the song lyrics and in the stage show stand frequently in the foreground, Psychobilly in the interpretation of the P.O.X. is the style of expression for the dark sides of humans. The shows as optical support of music and text using morbidly requisites like animal blood or genuine skeletons, in addition, also Transvestite-Elements as known from The Rocky Horror Picture Show enrich the performance. Retrospectively The P.O.X. as european Band of the first Psychobilly wave was considerably involved in the opening of Psychobilly for influences of other music genres.