Songs are written, studio is booked and nothing works. Corona paralyzed almost everything, including the plans of the Hamburg punk rockers Hafensaengers. And as if the pandemic wasn’t bad enough, an even more dramatic event followed. Singer and guitarist Thomas suffered kidney failure. Corona, emergency surgery and dialysis determined his everyday life for a long time.

Patrick, Rockaholic Magazine – Thomas, thank you for your time and your trust in us. This interview is not an easy one, so I’m pleased that you agreed to do it.

Thomas, Hafensaengers – Thank you very much for your invitation, I’m looking forward to your questions.

Patrick, RM – For you there was a shock news in 2020. Kidney failure. How did it first manifest itself?

Thomas, H – I have to say, I didn’t really notice it at first, I just felt increasingly weaker and weaker. First I just blamed it on the stress at work and the excessive practice of my sport (competitive bodybuilding). Just like the motto: “You’re just exhausted from the long diets, you just need a break, then you’ll be fine.”  I’m not the type to run to the doctor for every little thing… So I put it off for now. After some time the symptoms looked more and more like a flu. I went to the doctor and he did a blood count. A few days later he called me: “Ah good, you’re still alive!” I had a creatinine value of 22 – normal is between 0.6 and 1.4. So I had to go on dialysis as soon as possible. I was on dialysis for the first time when I was 23, and at 25 I got a kidney donated by my mother.

After the call, my health went abruptly down. So much that my fiancée lay next to me at night making sure I didn’t stop breathing. It all culminated in an ambulance ride to an emergency surgery where a dialysis line had to be placed in my chest. From then on, it was dialysis every two days for five hours each time.

Patrick, RM – When it became clear that you needed a donor kidney, what were your fears and anxieties?

Thomas, H – First of all, it has to be said that there are unfortunately only two options. One is a donor organ from a deceased person, for which you have to wait about ten years in Germany. The other option is to remain on dialysis until you die after a few years from the consequential damage there. The organ donation situation in Germany is a disaster. Disappointingly, nothing has improved in the 13 years since my first donation.

My fears were foremost financial. How do I pay the rent? How do I buy food when I can’t work? My fiancée and I had just opened our own tattoo studio five months earlier and are both self-employed. Now, of course, there was a lack of income for the time being. Insurance doesn’t come up as in this case with self-employed people. I was pre-sick and therefore too big risk. So after the first week of dialysis I went straight back to work. Normally, permanent patients take six months off work in such a case. Unfortunately, that was not possible in our case.
In addition, it was not at all clear at that time whether I would ever be able to play music again. That made me feel even worse.

Patrick, RM – Who or what gave you the strength to keep fighting?

Thomas, H – My fiancée Elise! Without her, I would probably not be here anymore.
She encouraged me to consider donating her kidney, which I didn’t want to do at first. I did not want to make two sick people out of one sick person. Today, however, I know that a life with only one kidney does not affect her at all and that we both feel much better physically and mentally after the transplant.
Music also played a big role. During dialysis, I listened to all the bands I love so much. That gave me an incredible amount of strength. And so it was on dialysis that I started writing the lyrics for our album. Dunkelfarben, for example, was written there.

Patrick, RM – With your single Dunkelfarben a profound number is released. What is the song about, what were your thoughts about it?

Thomas, H – The song describes the youthful feeling of wanting to reach for the stars and possibly making it. The feeling of being invincible, until you slowly realize more and more that you can’t reach the stars, no matter how hard you stretch.

Patrick, RM – You spoke lovingly of Max, your bandmate, in the press text. How did the studio sessions go?

Thomas, H – Max had already hammered all the drum tracks at home in elaborate detail work and made them ready for the studio. This saved us an incredible amount of time in the studio, because if there was one thing I didn’t have, it was time.

Patrick, RM – Do you want to continue as a duo in the future or do you plan to reinforce?

Thomas, H – We are now officially only a duo and it will probably stay that way for the time being.
But at the live shows there will always be someone from our old team on bass.

Patrick, RM – After plans were thwarted several times, are there still plans for the studio album?

Thomas, H – The album is already finished. But we don’t know yet how and when we will release it. First of all we will release some singles now.

Patrick, RM – Would you like to give your fans and our readers some motivating words?

Thomas, H – I know how it feels to be at the bottom and not see any sense anymore. But I think, if you hold out long enough, the sense will come. Because if you’re already at the bottom, the only direction you can go is back up.

Patrick, RM – Thanks a lot to you, good luck with the new single and hopefully see you soon on the live stage.

Thomas, H – I hope so too! Thank you for the interview!

Reno Divorce from Denver, Colorado recently released an almost lost treasure. With “Outsider, Escape from Berlin” a great live album with Berlin roots was released. Johnny had the opportunity to talk to Brent about the making of the LP.

Johnny – Thanks for taking the time to talk to us, was the live album planned or something that came about from the Pandemic?

Brent, Reno Divorce – Thanks for having us, Johnny. We are really excited that the record is finally out there in the ether and available on vinyl. It’s the perfect introduction to any newcomer and it showcases our first and most important value: to be a live band. Our whole career we’ve strived to sound as good or better than our recordings, and I feel like we’ve done it with this one. What I really love about this album is that the decision to record it that night was an afterthought. We were nearing the end of our 2016 European tour and Uli from Wild at Heart (Church of Confidence) suggested it. He’s got a great studio in the basement that is made up of mostly analog equipment, which means no computer tricks or magic. What you play, is what you hear, so you’d better play it right. But as I mentioned, our minds were probably more focused on getting back home than making a live record. When we got back to America, so many other things were happening with the band and life in general. We were writing new songs and the momentum from the 2016 tour was still rolling. I got an endorsement from Gretsch guitars, we made a video for “She’s in Love With the Avenue” in California, we were invited to Rebellion. Every day something cool and exciting was happening. I have a young son who was around three years old at the time, too. It was definitely one of the most exhilarating times to be in Reno Divorce. I also bought a new home, and the CD with the tracks from the live record got lost during the move. And then, here comes 2020. Everything changes all over the world. During the shut down here in America, I had a lot of time on my hands. Time to dig through all those moving boxes, hahahaha! Because there was no live music happening anywhere, it was just the right time to do it.

Johnny – How much can you actually remember from the night? Were there moments that you thought weren’t taht good, but when listening back it surprised you?

Brent, RD – I still remember the whole tour vividly. For us, this was an all-or-nothing situation. In 2012, our booking agent had tried to forceon us a terrible record deal for our album “Lover’s Leap”. When we refused the deal, we parted ways. Some cool stuff started happening for us in America, but it was heavily implied that we weren’t going to have an easy time in Europe anymore. In 2015, I reached out to a friend of mine‘s new booking agency and we both decided to gamble on each other. It paid of tremendously. We approached the 2016 tour with a very serious and professional mindset, because we wanted to prove that we didn’t need the power of a label and that sooner or later the music industry would have to deal with us on our terms. We knew that our fans had been waiting to see us again for a very long time, and we definitely didn’t want to let them down. Playing as a three-piece meant we had to perform as flawlessly as possible. There’s nowhere to hide your mistakes in a trio. That night in Berlin, we didn’t adhere to any particular setlist. I remember forgetting we were recorded until about the fourth song. All three of us knew something cool and magical was happening. That concert was certainly the highlight of the tour. To be in such a beautiful city, to be on such an esteemed stage where so many of our heroes have played, and to be there with our friends… it was awesome.

Johnny – Wild at Heart in Berlin is one of my favourite venues to both play and visit. What do you think makes it so special?

Brent, RD – Man, it’s EVERYTHING! Uli, Leah, Banana, the whole crew. The Tiki Bar. The shop. The city. The stage. The sound. The Lemmy Burger. The neighborhood. For me, it’s like playing Madison Garden. All the bands that have played there. The green room. The studio. I’m blessed that Uli suggested us to record that night. Blessed that our fans showed up and that Sascha from Wolverine Records always believed in this band and trusted us as artist. Blessed that W@H put our poster on the ceiling. It’s like CBGB’s.

Johnny – The Vinyl release contains two studio tracks. Were they recorded during the lockdown or did you keep them for a while.

Brent, RD – The two bonus tracks were recorded especially for this album. Jason and Johnny, who played on the live part of the album, have since moved on to different projects. I decided it would be cool for the new lineup to be a part of this record as well. “Hopeless and Dopeless” was actually written a few years ago and played with my other project, “Brent Loveday and the Dirty Dollars”. The songs kind of move naturally between both bands, and at the time it felt like home with Reno Divorce. I wrote “Tired” about a year ago and it was always intended for Reno Divorce.

Johnny – Finally, can we expect to see you back on stage with us soon?

Brent, RD – Absolutely! Coming back to Europe and re-creating live is an absolute priority for us. I feel like we’ve never sounded better than we do now. Tye Battistella is back on rhythm guitar, Andy Brown on bass, and with the addition of Michael Lindau on bass, we’re firing on all cylinders. Expect a new record in 2022! Until then, head over to Wolverine Records to pick up the live disc or “Ship of Fools/ Fairweather Friends”!