Wizo
WIZO is a strongly anti-Nazi, anti-Racist, anti-Sexist Punk Rock band from Sindelfingen, Germany.
They were founded in 1985. Their music is at some times political, others funny, and others just weird.
Biography
It all began when Jochen Bix formed a class band "Wieso" [How come?] in Sindelfingen, Germany, in the vicinity of Stuttgart. In 1986 they changed their name to "WIZO" and got their first gig in 1987. A year later, WIZO released their first Demo tape, "Keiner ist Kleiner" or just "KIK" [Nobody is Smaller]. They released another demo, "Gute Freunde" [Good friends] in 1990. Jochen only sang a few songs, including the Judas Priest cover, Breaking the Law. He then left to join a G7 Welcoming Committee in Berlin.
Later that year, they founded their own label and released the "Klebstoff" [Adhesive] EP, their first Vinyl-Record. After another year of waiting, the "für´n Arsch" [All for nothing] LP was released. The following year, their first CD, "Bleib Tapfer" [Stay Brave] was release, as well as the single "Roy Black ist tot" Roy Black is dead] which was named the worst CD of the year by a major German newspaper (the Bild-Zeitung).
In 1993, they experimented with a new medium beyond CD and Vinyl: the music video! They covered the song "All that she wants" by Ace of Base, and it received a surprising amount of airplay in Europe. The "All that she wants" video was released on Polydor records, and after that, WIZO came to appreciate the superiority of independent record labels. Their next CD, "UUAARRGH!" sold way better than the single. Fat Mike from NoFx became interested a year later, in 1995. They joined onto NoFX's label, Fat Wreck Chords and released their albums world-wide on it, but stayed by Hulk Räckorz for Germany and German speaking countries. They also played shows with NoFX on the Vans Warped Tour. They released "Herrénhandtasche" [Men's hand bag] later that year, and played on a tour by Die Ärzte. They also released a Karaoke version of their song "Kein Gerede" [No idle talk], because the government had censored it for "Terroristic messages."
In 1996, WIZO changed their drummer from Charly to Ingo, and recorded the 7" "Doof wie Scheiße" [Dumb as Shit].
One year later (1997) they released the "Weihnachten stinkt" [Christmas Stinks] Split EP with the Japanese punk band Hi Standard.
In 1998 Wizo released "Kraut and Rüben" EP on Fatwreck, being the songs that were already popular in Germany, but unknown to the rest of the world.
Discography
- Für'n Arsch (1991)
- Bleib tapfer (1992)
- Uuaarrgh! (1994)
- Herrénhandtasche (1995)
External links
Referenced By
Die Toten Hosen
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