Yeah, he was in Hamburg… last Friday, the 18th of July! The gig was sold out; despite some obstacles I made it into the concert hall (thanks to Beat-Man!). It was in Hafenklang, a concert venue in Hamburg by the docks with a lovely view from the street. We are not here to talk about docks though, but The Beat-Man!
Beat-Man is Beat Zeller, and he is from Bern, Switzerland. He has been in music business for so long. He is leader of Psychobilly band, The Monsters. He formed the band in late 1980s. The band’s sound is so strong and raw as there are two drummers playing simultaneously. Later he founded his own record label, Voodoo Rhythm Records, hosting many bands and musicians from all over world including King Khan and the Shrines! Beat-Man is a one man trash blues band, he preaches under the name “Reverend Beat-Man”. But I warn you, he is amazing at what he does. He salutes, he screams and then stands up and plays his guitar gently and later screams again. There he was on stage at Hafenklang! We were very excited to hear what he had to say to “wake us up”. This is Beat-Man’s sole purpose. He tours the world to wake people up. This summer he is not touring alone. Sister Nicole Izobel Garcia accompanies him playing many instruments, including drums, organ and tambourine. And yeah, the two put up a great show! They started with the Beat-Man classic “Get on Your Knees”, a couple songs later they started playing “Come Back Lord”, a remake of “Come Back Bird”, originally by the Texas band Chevelle V. So you can guess that was the best part of the evening for me when I heard Beat-Man playing “Come Back Lord” as I am very much into 1960s Texas bands. Beat-Man sang in English & German, Sister Nicole sang also in English & Spanish. As much as the music varied, the show was multilingual as well, which I thought was excellent. One man band feat Sister Nicole sounded a lot better than 5 man bands! Later Bob Wayne and the Outlaw Carnies got on stage and put out a one rocking performance, but that’s another story. Even though it was a small venue and very hot inside we all managed to dance to Beat-Man preaching. One of those evenings that makes you happy to be alive, woken up!
Beat-Man is still on tour. Check the official “Reverend Beat-Man” page to see if he is coming to your church. I end this note with some preach bits images I made. Enjoy!
