Retrovision: DAF- Brothers

"Brothers" was the thirteenth single release for the German-American duo formation DAF which was released 30 years ago. The song was taken from the album '1st Step to Heaven' and it is one of our favorite tunes from them although it is considered as most commercial move in their career.

    

Trevor Jackson – Metal Dance - Industrial / Post-Punk / EBM : Classics & Rarities 80-88

Trevor Jackson, known for his work as Playgroup and the incredibly influential Output Recordings has collected some of his favorite rarities from the under-explored world of 80s industrial & post-punk dance floor material. This obscure compilation is going to be released under a name 'Metal Dance - Industrial / Post-Punk / EBM : Classics & Rarities 80-88'. The two-disc collection covers recognized masters such as Cabaret Voltaire & Nitzer Ebb and many not so famous act from the 80's underground. The compilation was released this February and it is out on Strut Records.

80's Duets: Robert Görl & Annie Lennox- Darling Don't Leave Me

Robert Görl released his second single “Darling Don’t Leave Me” in 1983. The song featured Annie Lennox as guest vocalist at the time she already enjoyed some success with her original band Eurythmics. The song was written by Robert Görl, produced by Mike Hedges and released on Mute.

D.A.F.- Das Beste Von DAF

Mute Records is about to release a best of for DAF (Deutsch Amerikanischen Freundschaft), simply titled "Das Beste Von DAF – 20 Lieder der Deutsch Amerikanischen Freundschaft". The release coincides with the band's "Der 30-jährige Krieg - als wär's das letzte Mal" Tour. The tour dates will feature the classic line up of Robert Görl and Gabi Delgado-Lopez. This new Best Of compilation album will be released on The Grey Area of Mute and out on 30th March 2009.

More info:
http://www.side-line.com

One Year of The Burning Flame Blog

Today is exactly one year since this blog started on Wordpress. I really enjoyed working on it and hope I managed to deliever some useful info about some lost bands. Here is the line up of the bands that were featured here:

The Associates, Josef K, I Start Counting, Nits, Blue Zoo, D.A.F., Fiat Lux, Fay Ray, Dalis Car, Tik And Tok, Thick Pigeon, Pink Industry, Images In Vogue, Stockholm Monsters, Terry Hall, Fra Lippo Lippi, Ronny, UV POP, Polyrock,
Do Re Mi, Dark Day, Mydolls, Intaferon, Snowy Red, The Beloved, Vitamin Z,
Leisure Process, Alison Statton, Mathematiques Modernes, Foreign Press, Black, Winston Tong, Little Nemo, Max and Malcolm, Seppuku

Retrovision: DAF- Liebe auf den ersten Blick

Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft (D.A.F.)

DAF is an influential electropunk / Neue Deutsche Welle band from Düsseldorf, formed in 1978 as a five piece band and one of the most influential 80's bands from Germany who found success outside their home country. The band started as a five piece in the late seventies and featuring drummer/synth player Robert Görl and vocalist Gabi Delgado-Lopez who also continued to release as DAF after the original line up disbanded.

Gabi and Robert met for the first in Düsseldorf, Gabi sang in local punk bands and Robert was finishing his formal musical training. Along with Wolfgang Spellmans, Ludwig Hass and Michael Kemner, they released their first album in Germany called Product der DAF on Warning Records. It was a riot of synth and tape powered heavy metal. The name stands for Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft or German-American Friendship - which at the time the band formed was a shot at DSF, the East German German-Soviet Friendship organization. They later moved to London where they made their England debut at the Marque club with The Fall. Shortly after they signed to Mute records.

An early Sounds review summed up their early music: "If DAF has an onstage duel with Throbbing Gristle, there would be no-one left alive on stage to announce the winner."

After releasing their first Mute single, "Kebabträume", Conny Plank asked to produce them and by this time, they had been reduced to a duo. After releasing their first Mute album, Die Kleinen und die Bösen, and second single, "Tanz Mit Dir" they embarked on a tour that encompassed Austria and Germany, with some London dated mixed in the middle.

A change of record label, to Virgin, saw the release of their second album, Alles Ist Gut, and a single, "Der Mussolini"/"Der Räuber Under Der Prinz", which charted in England. In interviews, they claimed to not target anything or anyone specific while creating lyrics to be taken as a parody of words and phrases floating around in the public media. "Sato Sato" and "Der Mussolini" are both examples of songs written around Delgado-Lopez's fascination with the sound of a particular word.. In 1985, the band released their commercially most successful single "Brothers" and the band disbanded soon after.

The pair have also released solo work over the years, Robert Gorl released one album on Mute, Night Full of Tension, and two singles, "Mit Dir" and "Darling Don't Leave Me" with Annie Lennox.

"DAF was the kind of band that had a very severe, minimalistic concept in music. We were a two piece that only sung in German. We restricted ourselves by using electronics, acoustic drums and vocals. It was concentrated power, the more minimal the better. Eventually, after three albums, we realized that we had reached our limits. The question was, 'Are we going to continue and maybe repeat the whole thing again, or should we stop and do something completely new?' DAF was a band that never wanted to look back. I'm still good friends with Robert, but when you work with someone for five years you get into a routine of exchanging ideas. Suddenly you discover that you're saying the same things you said two albums previously. For me it's a very normal thing. I wish a lot of bands would break up after two or three albums." Gabi Delgado 1983

Gabi Delgado-López died in 22 March, 2020, due to heart attack. Sources may vary about his death place, while some say he died in a hospital in Portugal, while Deutschlandfunk say he died in his birth place of Córdoba. He was 61.