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Beatsteaks
Background information
Origin	Berlin, Germany
Genres	Hardcore punk (early) Punk rock, alternative rock
Years active	1995–present
Labels	Epitaph Records, Warner Music Group
Members
Arnim Teutoburg-Weiß (Lead Vocals, Guitar) Bernd Kurtzke (Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals) Peter Baumann (Rhythm Guitar) Thomas Götz (Drums, Backing vocals) Torsten Scholz (Bass Guitar)
Past members
Alexander Rosswaag Stefan Hircher

Beatsteaks are a punk rock band from Berlin, Germany, formed in 1995.

History[link]

Peter Baumann, Stefan Hircher, Alexander Rosswaag and Bernd Kurtzke founded the Beatsteaks in 1995. Shortly after Arnim Teutoburg-Weiß joined the band as a singer and additional guitarist. In 1996 the band won a local music competition in SO36 and played a concert in Berlin with the Sex Pistols as opening act. This was also the tenth performance for the band.

In 1997 the band recorded its first album 48/49, named after the number of their rehearsal space. It contains several songs in German, while the more recent albums are in English. In 1999 their second album Launched appeared on the American punk label Epitaph Records. Thomas Götz already played the drums at that time. On bass, Torsten Scholz replaced Alexander in 2000. This was followed by tours with Bad Religion, Die Ärzte and Die Toten Hosen, bringing the band to a wider audience.

In 2002, they released their third album Living Targets from this album Beatsteaks would release their first two singles Let Me In and Summer. At the end of 2002, the band played a concert at the Columbiahalle in Berlin and recorded an EP "Wohnzimmer", each concert ticket holder received a copy of the EP.

Their breakthrough was achieved in Berlin in 2004 with the album Smack Smash, especially with the second single I Don't Care As Long As You Sing with which they won the MTV European Music Awards 2004 in the category Best German Act. At the end of 2005 they released the double-DVD B-Seite, which included a self-produced documentary on the band's history, a compilation of several concerts and music videos of the band up to this time. In 2006 they played a short summer tour, consisting of 3 concerts and two festival performances. Following the publication of the preliminary single Jane Became Insane on March 9, 2007 appeared their fifth album .limbo messiah on 30 March 2007.

On the 7th of June 2007, the band played a concert for a charity foundation, as part of the Deine Stimme gegen Armut (Make Poverty History - literally "Your voice against poverty") campaign in Rostock in front of 70,000 spectators. One month later, on 7 July 2007, they played in the sold-out Kindl-Bühne Wuhlheide in Berlin, their then largest own concert in front of about 17,000 spectators.

In 2007 the Beatsteaks were again nominated in the category Best German Act on the EMAs and won the listeners price 1Live Krone for the best LiveAct.

Die Ärzte mention The Beatsteaks in their song Unrockbar, which helped increase the reputation of the Beatsteaks suddenly: "How can you keep sitting quietly to the Beatsteaks, when schlager singers let tears come to your eyes?" ("Wie kannst du bei den Beatsteaks ruhig sitzen bleiben wenn dir Schlagersänger Tränen in die Augen treiben?")

On May 2, 2008 the live album "Kanonen auf Spatzen" was released, which includes two CDs and one DVD in the deluxe package or the first CD in an economy version.

Torsten Scholz said in an interview that the Beatsteaks would start writing new songs after the end of their Limbo Messiah tour in August 2008.^[1]

The Beatsteaks have completed work on their recent album "Boombox", which was released January 28, 2011. The first single from the album was Milk & Honey released December 2. On December 17, the music video was released for the single.^{[citation needed]}. On 8 April 2011, the second single, Cheap Comments was released. The third single off "Boombox" will be Automatic,^[2] which was co-written by famous German singer Peter Fox.

June 2011, the band announced their song House On Fire was going to be featured on the European Soundtrack of Transformers: Dark of the Moon.^[3]

Side projects[link]

The drummer of the band, Thomas Goetz, and Marten Ebsen, guitarist of Turbostaat, started the project NinaMarie. Their first EP was released under the name Scheiss. Taxi - Scheiss. Paris in March 2006.

Another side project of the band, in which all the band members are involved, emerged during the recordings of the album Limbo Messiah, is the cover band Die Roys. With swapped roles for the instrument and under the direction of Roy Baumann (Peter Baumann) they cover known songs, which are, referring to their own statement, "the best songs are already written." The first five songs can be found on the singles Jane Became Insane, Cut Off the Top and Demons Galore.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• 1997: 48/49
• 2000: Launched
• 2002: Living Targets
• 2004: Smack Smash
• 2007: .limbo messiah
• 2008: Kanonen auf Spatzen (live album)
• 2011: Boom Box

EPs[link]

• 1998: 6-11-98 Knaack, 6 November; Ticket for a concert in the "Knaack" (Berlin). The EPs (Vinyl) are limited.
• 2002: Wohnzimmer-EP, 21 December; as well limited, Ticket for a concert in the "Columbiahalle" (Berlin).
• 2007: .demons galore. 5 October; 10" vinyl and CD.

Singles[link]

• 2000: "Panic"
• 2000: "Shiny Shoes"
• 2002: "Summer"
• 2002: "Let Me In"
• 2004: "Hand In Hand"
• 2004: "I Don't Care As Long As You Sing"
• 2004: "Hello Joe"
• 2004: "Loyal To None" (Limited Vinyl-Single)
• 2007: "Jane Became Insane"
• 2007: "Cut Off the Top"
• 2007: "Demons Galore"
• 2007: "Meantime"
• 2008: "Hail To The Freaks" (live)
• 2008: "Hey Du" (live)
• 2010: "Milk & Honey"
• 2011: "Cheap Comments"
• 2011: "Automatic"

DVD[link]

• 2004: Beatsteaks Live (Bonus-DVD, Limited Edition of Smack Smash enclosed)
• 2005: B-Seite (2 DVD-set)
• 2007: .demons galore (Bonus-DVD, Limited Edition of .limbo messiah enclosed)
• 2008: Kanonen auf Spatzen (Bounus-DVD)

External links[link]

• The Beatsteaks' official website
• allmusic.com write-up on The Beatsteaks
• Beatsteaks discography at MusicBrainz
• Official Beatsteaks fansite (German)

References[link]

1. ^ http://jena.bewegungsmelder.de/Artikel/12421689 (german)
2. ^ Article on musikmarkt.de
3. ^ Beatsteaks homepage, 06/15/2011