No Tears

 

Yesterday the sad news arrived that one of my oldest friends died after a short suffering with lung-cancer. I met him in the early eighties when our pub was looking for a football team, where we played for many years. Most of the mates in our team were also DJ-ing at the pub. While many others surfed on the funk, jazz and soul wave me an he were the one who played new music. I remember that he first brought Tuxedomoon to my ears. A band founded in San Francisco by violonist Blaine Reininger in 1977 together with saxophonist and keyboardist Steven Brown in the burgeoning punk and new wave scene.

Tuxedomoon didn't got the credits in America they should have but in Europe with their first single No Tears. It was the song Chris introduced me to the band and became an essential part when we was on the controls. A song with a distinctive buzzsaw guitar, painfully distorted vocals and a thin, tinny beat prompted us to open our guests' ears to new music.

Over the next decades, together with the other core members Peter Principle and singer Winston Tong, they created a musical cocktail that used elements of classical music, jazz and rock avant-garde alongside their beloved synths. With In A Manner Of Speaking they released in 1985 an underground hit with less synths and a chords picking guitar and something of a new folk song. 

During this time they wrote songs that were not only enjoyed by dark wave fans, because they created something unique in their structure and rendition.