BEARS AND THE MILK BOYS

With "Jung kaputt spart Altersheime", Bärchen and the Milchbubis delivered THE punk slogan of the time at the beginning of the 80s, "No Future!" was the motto. But the band also had plenty of pop appeal beyond punk and operated at the interface with Neue Deutsche Welle. "I don't want to get any older" was the title of their debut album "Dann macht es Bumm" (1981). They have grown older, but not milder, because there is still reason to be angry and celebrate. Over 40 years later, "Die Rückkehr des Bumm!" followed in 2024 with their second album.

At the end of the seventies, Annette "Bärchen" Simons and a group of teenage "Milchbubis" began to make Hanover unsafe. From then on, the band was widely represented with their humorous and subversive lyrics: From youth centres, underground tapes and niche fanzines to Bravo and West German television, as well as on the country's big stages - many people fell for the Bärchen charm. After an LP and an EP, the band disbanded in 1983 along with the label and the group disappeared from the scene for the time being.

Bächen and the Milchbubis then returned in 2021 with the show "Endlich Komplett Betrunken". This was followed by performance requests from smaller punk festivals: wouldn't the band like to perform live again after all this time? And how they did. Annette Simons, who was "only" a singer when the band was founded, taught herself to play the guitar in true punk style. Kai Nungesser also remains on bass and vocals. The new addition is former Rotzkotz drummer Markus Joseph.

Annette sings "Back to the future" in the 80s in "Blondie", thus setting a premise of the new album to music at the end of the tracklist: it is a time capsule that bursts open in the now and begins to sing. 1984 to 2024 was skipped. Gone are disco, trance, techno and hip-hop. In view of the current world situation, the friendly little bear becomes an aggro bear who defends those on the margins of society and tears the unspeakable mansplainer apart with one paw. Growing older as a woman in a sexist society is a topic that particularly drives Annette Simons and turns her into a role model. In times of online dating, a shift to the right and cat videos, Bärchen is nevertheless not bitter and sings about it all with sharp and sometimes nonsensical humour.