I am rabid for 80s German punk. There's so much awesome German punk, varying in so many different styles. Some of my favorite bands - SLIME, NEUROTIC ARSEHOLES, UPRIGHT CITIZENS, BLUT + EISEN - are German. One of my recent collecting goals is to acquire all of the EPs from the Pogar label out of Berlin (except for the VARUKERS EP they did...I don't really feel like I need that one). I've been slowly achieving this goal, most recently pulling together tough finds like the killer HONKAS and HARNRÖHRER EPs, via the simplest method: Ebay. The old-fashioned method of "digging at record stores" is not totally obsolete though. I recently attended a show at local Oakland record store 1234 Go, and while scanning the 7"s across the wall above the tapes I spotted a slightly crinkled, vaguely familiar pink xerox-style sleeve - you know, the kind that gets your attention, but once you get closer it may just be some shitty 90s dollar bin fodder. Low and behold this time it was this DISASTER AREA / DIE SCHLIMMEN FINGER split EP on Pogar records! Twenty bucks. I scoured the place for more, but as expected, there weren't any more 80s German punk records to be found there.
The DISASTER AREA stuff is fairly mediocre skate-punk stuff, though not bad. But it was the DIE SCHLIMMEN FINGER side that totally caught me off guard. I'm instantly enchanted by the huge singalong choruses and ringing guitars they display on here. It's almost like the COCK SPARRER side of Oi, but still unmistakably German punk.
In case you're looking to unload them, my top priorities on the Pogar EP list at this time are VORKRIEGSJUGEND, VELLOCET, and MARPLOTS,
