Album Review: Scheisse Minelli – Waking Up On Mistake Street

Germnay’s Scheisse Minelli are set to release Waking Up On Mistake Street  on October 26th via Destiny Records, the album is named after true events after one of the band went missing after a show with Pennywise in Berlin and woke up on Fehler Str 1, a name that literally translates as Mistake Street 1. This is an album of twelve full speed ahead skate punk tunes about the real life experiences that Scheisse Minnelli have lived through themselves or people they know personally have experienced, crime, personal struggles, drugs, alcohol and skateboarding are all covered along with political themes, because as someone once said, if you think that punk rock doesn’t mix with politics, you’re wrong.

Yer In A Trance is the somewhat misnamed opening track, this is a straight up blast of old school style US hardcore that will wake you up whatever street you’ve passed out. On tracks like Love It Or Leave It and Bedtime For Bonzo the material also somewhat weirdly reflects political American issues past and present, but as Scheisse Minelli have toured with a who’s who of American bands, including NOFX, Pennywise, Lagwagon, DRI, Poison Idea, Agent Orange and Jello Biafra, this association and time spent on American tours has clearly influenced them to the point where they have, at least musically, practically gained citizenship of the US.

Many of the German bands I’ve encountered have taken punk’s origins and enthusiastically added their own twist, but Scheisse Minelli have mainlined the sound pure and uncut as Waking Up On Mistake Street sounds uncannily like authentic US hardcore. With the majority of the twelve tracks clocking in at around the two minute mark, with the whole package being done and dusted in a frantic half an hour, you could argue that Waking Up On Mistake Street is a throwback by a band embedded in punks past, but as this is the equal of the latest offerings by the likes of MDC and The Adolescents then this is more akin to a band picking up the US hardcore baton and running with it.

Scheisse Minelli‘s website can be found here