Alcohol, drugs, colt and more

An excerpt from ‘THE SCENE POLICE STORY - A Story of Rebellion, Passion, and Financial Ruin’ by Dennis P Merklinghaus.

The year 2000 continued with Tupamaros touring parts of Europe with Planes Mistaken For Stars, which was a blast. That year also saw me breaking the edge, for which this tour was the perfect time to experiment with alcohol and pot again. Case in point, playing the Melkweg in Amsterdam was a blur, as we went to a coffee shop before the show, where I had my first joint after 11 years of being straight edge (I turned straight edge in 1989, heavily influenced by Youth Of Today...and due to the fact that I was addicted to drugs and alcohol since 1985).

I recall stumbling out of the shop onto the street and the next thing I remember was I am sitting behind the merch table arranging all the shirts in perfect order. Not only Tupamaros’, but also Planes Mistaken For Stars’ merch. Oy vey. Christian Tupamaros was just sitting next to me, telling me I’ve been doing this for the last three hours.

Playing somewhere in the Czech Republic we had Absinth and were playing the game Taboo. It only took a few minutes for me to start seeing pink elephants in the room. Once Planes Mistaken For Stars took the stage, they would get butt-naked and the rest of the night is not even a blur, but completely erased out of my memory.

In comes colt.! Colt. ... where to begin? I think I met colt. through Food Not Bombs, shows, or other bands from Cologne. They quickly became one of my favourite bands.

colt. were one of those bands that quietly carved out their own space between punk rock and the emotional weight of hardcore. Hailing from Cologne, the four-piece built their sound around layered guitar work, weaving melody after melody into songs that shifted between melancholic introspection and driving, almost explosive passages. Comparisons to Dinosaur Jr. came up frequently, not as imitation, but because of the similarly weathered guitars and reflective mood, while some of their more stripped-down moments recalled bands like Karate or Month of Birthdays. But colt. never really fit neatly into any category. Someone somewhere could have called it emo to make it easier to sell, yet the band’s roots in hardcore and punk were always present, especially in the honesty of the lyrics and the emotional urgency beneath the calm surface. Their songs dealt with personal, everyday experiences rather than empty clichés, delivered through arrangements that demanded attention rather than passive listening.

Across their two releases with Scene Police, colt. refined that melancholic, melodramatic sound without abandoning what made them unique. Instead of chasing trends, they deepend their songwriting, creating records that revealed more with every listen. It was thoughtful, guitar-driven music that might never have belonged to the hardcore scene outright, but carried its spirit unmistakably.

Fracture #17 said that colt.’s first record, “...is a nicely produced indie-pop album, blending mellow, down-tuned guitars with dissonant edges and the occasional hardcore outburst. The low monotone vocals recall J Mascis, while bouncy pop riffs add charm...”