Abwärts

PUNK band called Abwärts (in german for Downwards) is among the oldest existing West German punk bands, led by singer/guitarist Frank Z., and founded in 1979 in Hamburg. Abwärts first achieved popularity within the punk and new wave scene with the "computerstaat" EP and the album "Amok Koma" both released in 1980 by "ZickZack Records". Soon Abwärts got fans in the faster hardcore as well as in the NDW Neue Deutsche Welle - New German Wave scene, with their second album, the dark and mysteriou "Der Westen Ist Einsam". After this album bassist Marc Chung and keyboardist FM Einheit left the band to join the Industrial legend band Einstürzende Neubauten. Abwärts recorded sporadically throughout the rest of the 1980s, before a shift in a more "crossover / thrash-metal" oriented direction led to a flurry of albums (5 in 5 years) in the early 1990s, before Frank Z. started a solo career. Today, Die Ärzte bassist Rod Gonzalez is member of Abwärts. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.