ZSK
With a power generator, ZSK used to play uninvited at NOFX concerts and the VANS Warpedtour in the car park. Rarely did more than 100 spectators come to ZSK concerts in squats and left-wing youth centres at the end of the 90s. Today, the four Berliners are on stage in the big clubs themselves. Die Toten Hosen took them on tour and Ärzte drummer Bela made a guest appearance on one album. In 2021, the last album "Ende der Welt" landed at No. 3 in the German album charts in the middle of the deepest lockdown. Now "Hass↯Liebe", the band's seventh studio album, will be released on 10 February 2023.
It all started in 1997 in their old hometown Göttingen with 40 hand-copied demo cassettes. Nobody could play an instrument. So they drew lots to find out who would play what. Every Friday they went straight from the schoolyard to the tour bus. For longer tours, the parents wrote excuses to the teachers without further ado. After various demos and the move to Berlin, the first real album "Riot Radio" was released in 2002. Two years later came "From Protest to Resistance" and the Toten Hosen became aware of ZSK. Suddenly ZSK were playing in front of 15,000 people every night as support for the Düsseldorf band.
Tours with Bad Religion, Anti-Flag, Donots, Bloodhound Gang and many more followed. In 2006 the band released the album "Discontent Hearts and Gasoline" and a year later a live DVD. In the same year, ZSK announced the temporary end of the band. Too much touring, too much stress - time for a break.
Four years later, ZSK surprisingly entered the stages again. What was planned as a one-off tour culminated in a first chart entry in 2013 with the new album "Herz für die Sache". The song "Antifascista" became the international soundtrack for protests against Nazi marches and racism. The song has almost 5 million Youtube clicks and 8 million Spotify plays so far. Once again, the band went on tour with the Toten Hosen. After another live DVD and sold-out club tours, ZSK released the album "Hallo Hoffnung" (#16) in 2018.
In 2019, the four Berliners toured Russia and Israel, among other places. Shortly before they were to fly to Japan for three concerts in 2020, the pandemic intervened. But the musicians used the time and did the only right thing: write songs. In the end, 20 songs were recorded, 12 of which can be heard on "End of the World". One track was written together with the US political punks from Anti-Flag. The song "Kein Talent" features the Hamburg rapper Swiss.
In between, ZSK released the song "Ich habe besser zu tun" about Prof. Christian Drosten in the summer of 2020. Actually intended as a little joke, the song became a YouTube hit overnight. It was followed by newspaper reports, radio airplay and TV features in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France and the UK. Spiegel Online conducted a long interview and Christian Drosten personally thanked the band for the song.
In autumn, Ärzte invited ZSK to play in their alternative music video for "True Romance" together with Donots, Kraftklub, Deichkind and many others.
As soon as the concerts started again in 2022, ZSK were constantly on the tour bus across Europe. Now the band is already looking forward to celebrating the band's 25th anniversary with the next album "Hass↯Liebe".
"We can't wait to hit people with new songs," says singer Joshi. "25 years - that's really crazy. We had to do the math ourselves. It certainly feels like a lot less. And that's a good sign."
Background to the Kein Bock Auf Nazis campaign:
ZSK have always campaigned aggressively against neo-Nazis, racism and right-wing violence. The Kein Bock Auf Nazis campaign, which they founded in 2007, is now known nationwide and has more than 100 information stands at all important festivals and tours every year. www.keinbockaufnazis.de
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