Some Bloodflowerz discover Hamburg
Unusual sightseeing with the Bloodflowerz
The band consisting of the pretty and powerful-voiced front lady Kirsten Zahn and her men don’t like to be categorized but the label gothic metal probably describes their style the best. The band, originally formed as Airfresh, had played many concerts before they even released their debut album “Diabolic Angel” for which they already got a record deal with Silverdust Records before they had recorded it. Thanks to their bassist Joachim and a lot of talent they played 5 times as a support for Anathema.
If you’re not from the southern regions of Germany the Bloodflowerz are still rather an insider’s tip but at the latest since their 2003 album “7 benedictions/ 7 maledictions” this insider’s tip also gets around in the northern regions. Only recently the line up changed for the first time when bassist and guitarist left the band but a substitute was found quickly and so with new faces on bass and guitar and even more bite the Bloodflowerz are back and work on their new album which is due to be released next year.
The tours of the band have never brought them to Hamburg but STALKER met the Swabians who arrived here for a shooting with a photographer from Hamburg on the Reeperbahn. This is not unusual because we have often been a guide through the Kiez for bands and were in strip shows, bars, clubs, sex shops etc. Only remember Atrocity and Battlelore in the Dollhouse!
However, the sightseeing with the Bloodflowerz had a tiny catch: We met on a Sunday at 10 o’clock in the morning!
On a Sunday morning almost every city is somehow like dead. In Hamburg everything is a little different and as generally known the Kiez never sleeps but compared to the nights you don’t really see the brimming life. But because the band had to drive back to Schwäbischhall for 6 – 8 hours on the same day there was no other choice. And so, 2 tired STALKERs waited a little planlessly because actually we wanted to go to the Dom (funfair) with the Bloodflowerz but the carnies only opened their stands at 3 p.m. When the just as tired musicians advanced we had just agreed to go for a coffee at first. Please don’t think there wouldn’t be any coffee bars on the Reeperbahn but directly at the end of Davidstraße is a Burger King and this is where we were heading for. Kirsten watched her fellows with a mixture of disgust and amazement because some of them ingested burgers already at that early hour. By the way, dear Gabriele had the biggest burger…
Thus fortified we went down to the harbour because on Sundays between 5 and 11 a.m. the traditional fish market attracts locals and tourists likewise.
The market started in 1703 as a mere fish market but has become a “there’s nothing we don’t have” market and every Sunday at early brunch there are concerts in the fish auction hall. Mainly pop-rock bands you may have heard of in the 80’s play their one or two hits plus some cover songs there.
Unfortunately we were running a bit late and so the marketers and carnies were already packing up but we couldn’t go past the Easy Striker and Kirsten proved impressively that petite doesn’t have to mean weak.
In no time a cluster of people had accumulated around her who armed with their cell phone cameras shot little remembrance pictures or just amusingly watched the reaction of the operator who didn’t even put it past Kirsten to hold the hammer. That weekend the Queen Mary was docked at the Hamburg Harbour for maintenance. By day without the illumination it looks barely spectacular.
Lastly, a photo was taken in front of the Headbanger’s Ballroom that doesn’t exist since 1703 but nevertheless is part and parcel of Hamburg.
Next point on the agenda was Herbertstraße.
Does this ring a bell? Yes, exactly! Posing like the Beatles.
For the ones who haven’t heard of it yet: Herbertstraße belongs to Hamburg like the Michel (St. Michael Church) and the harbour. At the beginning and the end it is fenced off by colourfully pasted gates, in between hides a cobbled street with old houses and behind their windows women in their underwear offer their services to male visitors.
The public ranges from pencil pusher who pops in before work to musicians who are dropped off by their tour managers like kids at the IKEA playroom and have to be picked up again afterwards. Men under 18 and women have to stay outside and so Tim, Jan, Jochen and Stalker editor Gabriele disappeared behind the gate while Kirsten and I armed with a coffee went around on the outside to meet the guys on the other side.
Somehow Gabriele could persuade the „watchdogs“ on Herbertstraße to let us girls go behind the barrier and we were allowed to take pictures; not of the women in the windows, though. No sooner said than done!
I live in Hamburg now for many years and the STALKER shoffice was only 5 doors away from that notorious street but apart from the latest gossip like actor Matt Damon visiting 2 of the ladies for quite a while a few days ago and something like that you don’t really see behind the curtain as a woman. Also for our “country bumpkins” (quote: Kirsten) this was the first time. The prostitutes seemed to prefer to sleep a bit longer on Sundays and so there wasn’t much to see but it was cool anyway.
Just around the corner is Hans-Albers-square with his memorial.
After some tomfoolery with the band we needed a little lunch break because Kirsten had an operation a few weeks ago (nothing nasty! don’t worry!) and in the meantime it was already 1 p.m. and some stomachs growled. And off we went for a sandwich-stop at Subway’s.
A stroll through a sex shop can’t be missed on a Kiez-tour and so we went. In the boutique Bizarre we went on a discovery tour. The name says it all because next to a lot of sex toys and weird gear is some bizarre stuff like diapers for adults, diving-suit-like structures which we don’t really want to know what they are good for and other indefinable things. Not really our cup of tea but we had fun!
Before the band were heading towards home again, we still went for a beer to the legendary Lehmitz which is open round-the-clock like some other bars, too.
Behind the counter we met Hamburg’s institution Thomas Witthuhn who’s telling the charming singer one anecdote after another while Gabriele and the others rather cared for the jukebox and the Kicker table soccer.
In a blink the time was up and Tim who’s the one taking care of order and organization had a lot of trouble packing the others up. We quickly agreed on a part II to see Hamburg’s Kiez at its heyday, namely in the evening. On this note, until next time with the Bloodflowerz!
Samira Alinto
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