P Off P Off

With the self-titled album P!OFF from the Munich band, Bureau B is releasing one of the most sought-after records of the experimental Neue Deutsche Welle. Released in 1982 by Transparent, the album achieved some respectable successes at the time, but quickly disappeared in the flood of NDW releases of the early 1980s. Songs like the boogie track "Mein Walkman ist kaputt" or the enchanting slow disco jam "In der Nacht" are still very popular among diggers and DJs to this day. They are happy to finally make this rarity available again. 1980, Friday evening in the Munich suburban pub Panoptikum. My girlfriend draws my attention to the fact that behind me two guys are talking about looking for a new guitarist for their band. I turn around, chat them up (Jochen and Thomas) and praise my skills to the skies. A few days later Im standing in Thomas perfectly equipped practice room with my Ibanez Les Paul copy. We jam a little while jazz rock, to which I can contribute very little due to my lack of skills. We quickly agree on a new style: minimalist, no drums, just a drum machine, Moog and organ, less guitar, dry bass. And German lyrics! We dont really know or want that this should be NDW. But of course we listen to DAF, Ideal, FSK, Fehlfarben and yes, SPLIFF too. These influences are undeniable. So we found the PISS OFF ORKESSTR, which very quickly becomes POFF ORKESSTR and then finally P!OFF. Ambitious and inspired, we produce a demo cassette that already contains Das dicke Kind, Groer Bruder, Pass Auf! and Walkman and send it to various record companies including Munichs Ariola, which is desperately looking for NDW acts because the Ariola empire has missed this trend. Therefore, they buy about 25 bands at the drop of a hat and P!OFF is supposed to be one of them, because they expect some good airplay mainly from Walkman. Producer god Anthony Monn (Amanda Lear, Relax, Saragossa Band, Fancy et al