02: Leave Me Paralyzed

I was turned onto The Notwist in 1998 when Braid was in the middle of a grueling winter tour of Europe. It was harsh. I felt like I was freezing cold for six weeks straight. I took 2 showers the whole time because every club or place we stayed had little to no hot water. It was a joyous and miserable experience being in Europe for the first time during some of the coldest weather I’ve ever experienced combined with some of the worst touring conditions. One night in Italy we slept in a squat on the stage we played on. It was filthy. There were mangy dogs everywhere. I had corn on pizza for the first time that night. Some things you just never forget and it’s usually because of the weirdness of the situation.

This is why I remember The Notwist. On that tour at some point we were given a cassette dub of the album 12. A German kid at a show passed it along saying it was the best German band of all time. We threw it in the pile of cassettes in the van (yes, before we had a CD player) and discovered it later after we got back home, thinking it was a demo at first. We grew to love it, which didn’t take long. We all became fans that year. Shrink came out soon after and I played it non-stop at the record store I worked at. I feel personally responsible for turning many people on to that band. They were amazing, how could no one know who they were? I couldn't stop talking about them. I found everything I could by them, buying their back catalog and all of the side projects and singles. It took me a few years but I even finally tracked down the holy grail of Notwist items, a vinyl copy of the hard to find Your Choice Live Series LP, which I had to mail order sketchily from a small shop in Germany.

In 2003 The Notwist finally made some noise. They appeared on many top 10 lists in the US that year with Neon Golden, another fantastic effort and their most commercial to date. When this album broke in the US I had worn out my import copy months before. I was extremely happy to see them finally get their due stateside. The best part about this newfound popularity was that it finally brought them within distance, and I finally got to see them perform at The Metro in 2004.

Needless to say, I’m excited that The Notwist are ending their unbearable leave of absence; they will be releasing their first album in nearly six years entitled The Devil, You + Me. It is due in June via Domino. I Cannot wait. Click here to listen to the new track Good Lies.