Station 17

Station 17 is a Hamburg-based experimental rock group which was founded in 1989 by Kai Boysen. The collective started as a creative-social project and connected musicians with and without handicap for the first time in the alternative German music scene. On their first album, released in 1989, the group collaborated with a number of artists such as Michael Rother (Neu!), Holger Czukay (Can), F.M. Einheit (Einstürzende Neubauten) among others and developed a unique experimental sound.^[1]

Throughout the years the band continued their journey into sound and released eight albums on European labels (Whats so funny about, Mute Rec and lately on their own label 17 Rec^[2]) and toured in European countries in clubs and played festivals (Kilbi Festival, Hurricane Festival,^[3] Burgherzberg Festival.,^[4] Schiphorst Avantgarde^[5]

The last two efforts, „Fieber“ (2011) ^[6] and the political disco album „Alles für Alle“ (2014)^[7] focussed strongly on the fundamental idea of inclusion, which means that all members of the group are qualified in a similar way, regardless of their handicaps. The German Federal Agency for Civic Education presented their concept of inclusion and music to a wider audience by interviewing the group on their website.^[8]

In 2012 German Federal President Joachim Gauck invited them to play at the "Bürgerfest des Bundespräsidenten" in Berlin.^[9]

The sound spectrum of the group contains a mixture of electronics, krautrock, disco, noise and pop and their ninth album on Bureau B is scheduled for spring 2018.

References