Live in Vienna and Graz

Team Scheisse: Punk anarchy with plastic plants

The somewhat different punk band: The northern Germans from Team Scheisse also look unusual in their photos.

(Bild: Team Scheisse)

Don't be fooled by the band name - or maybe you are! The punk collective Team Scheisse is currently going through the roof, especially among younger people, bringing a shot of anarchy to the genre that seemed long forgotten. Before their concerts in Vienna and Graz, the Bremen band made themselves available to the "Krone" for an interview.

What is actually left of the original idea of punk? How far can anarchist ideas be conveyed in an increasingly controlled world without having to discuss the flattening of the content conveyed? What actually still defines punk? Whether the collective Team Scheisse, made up of musicians from Erfurt and Bremen, thinks about such semi-philosophical questions is probably doubtful, but the name alone shows that in today's outrage society, you don't give a - sorry - fuck whether a social media platform blocks you for using crude swear words or not. "8 hobbies for social decline" was the title of the debut album released in 2020, which was barely noticed by the public. Its successor, "Ich habe dir Blumen von der Tanke mitgebracht (jetzt wird geküsst)" (I brought you flowers from the petrol station (now we're kissing)), hit the charts in 2021, while the third album "042124192799" cemented the band's unique status.

Not caring about conventions
In 2023, Team Scheisse played at Vienna's Flex for the first time, followed by a celebrated performance at Lido Sounds in Linz this summer, and these days they are even filling the large hall of the Vienna Arena. There is no end in sight to their popularity in Austria either, but the band are not letting this put them off their stride. "We don't take ourselves seriously as personalities on stage," they say in an interview with the "Krone", "there are just five Dullis standing around, doing a bit of punk rock and talking nonsense in funny lyrics. Of course we take some of our lyrics seriously, but not ourselves." Just how little Team Scheisse care about conventions can also be seen in their online appearances. Deliberately cheap, self-ironizing memes adorn the channels. The northern Germans possess an important quality that is increasingly being lost in this society: they can laugh at themselves without any problems.

"With us, it doesn't matter if you make a mistake on the guitar or if a song goes down the drain at a concert," says frontman Timo Warkus, "that's what makes Team Scheisse. We have a lot of love for music, but not much knowledge. There are lyrics about dancing in the supermarket, about a tank quartet, but also about love - but not in the cheesy 'boy meets girl' style, but much more adolescent and informal." The musicians in Team Scheisse have gone through various bands, projects and schools. The common denominator is a clear commitment to imperfection. "Others make more serious music. They use click tracks or Ableton software and who knows what all these tools are called. We just plug in the jack cable and off we go. We don't have to do everything correctly and that in turn leads to a certain level of relaxation."

Everything for mental health
Mental health is an extremely important component in the Team Scheisse cosmos. Some time ago, frontman Warkus introduced a plenary session in which all worries, hardships and problems are thrown on the table every day. "It's not about everyone having to tell their life story, but it's about elementary questions. How are you feeling? Is it too much right now? Do you have the capacity for more? What can we do to make you feel better? And can we take the next step as a collective without any individual falling by the wayside? Because that must never happen." Team Scheisse has long since elevated what you learn for a lot of money in every therapy session to the most important principle: Communication is everything. "You hear so many horror stories about bands that have been driving in different nightliners for 40 years and only meet on stage. Absolutely horrible. We could never go on like that."

Even in the united Team Scheisse, there are always unclear situations that lead to discussions. For example, when you're sick and not feeling well, but you know that you have three lucrative festival shows coming up, where you would lose a lot of money if you cancel. "That's a pressure that even we can't completely escape. But we get to the root of such problems and discuss everything. That way, nobody has to feel alone and think they have to make their own decisions." The whole surrounding is important to the band. "The crew travels with us in one car. I realize that big bands like Kraftklub have to tour differently and need several buses, but I find it hard to imagine. When a show is over and we're on the bus, I want to have a beer with everyone and not be physically separated." The continued success of Team Scheisse could mean that they have to move out of the cocoon in which they feel comfortable. "More important than the question of whether the fee is now 10,000 or a million euros is that we're having a great time. That's our top priority."

No desire to go off the drawing board
They think about growing and expanding the band, but don't let these thoughts get to them too much. "We're probably always doing the same nonsense show and that's okay. I can't imagine that we'll ever dress up for a concert or have an over-the-top stage show. That idea even bothers me. We'll carry on as we always have and put our ugly plastic plants on stage. Nobody else has them with them on tour." The open display of flexibility in real life also has an effect on the organizers. "Everyone always wants to have a setlist from us in advance. How are we supposed to know that? Sometimes we don't even have time to worry about it. We play whatever we think of and that's fine. We are service providers and our show is not designed on the drawing board. None of us are in the mood for that."

Live in Vienna and Graz
Team Scheiße are coming to Austria twice this week with a lot of good humor and a big dose of anarchism. On November 28, they will be playing at the Arena Wien, which has been completely sold out for weeks, and on November 29 at the ppc in Graz. You can find the tickets that are still available and all further information about the gigs at www.oeticket.com.