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THE FATAL
SHORE is a Berlin-based band formed in 1996, by the getting
together of two unique but complimentary singer/songwriters - PHIL SHOENFELT and BRUNO ADAMS - for a hectic tour of war-ravaged Bosnia- Herzegovina.
While en-route to Gorazde, they came under fire from Serbian snipers
and were attacked by axe wielding mujahadeen in delnice. Under the
motto, “what doesn’t killer you makes you stronger” they expanded the
partnership into a full band with the adding of CHRIS HUGHES on drums, and later, bass player YOYO RÖHM in 2001 and JOHN BARRY in 2007.
The first Fatal
Shore self-titled CD (1997) was recorded in Lucanec, Slovakia,
during the hight of the Moravian floods. On route to the studio the
band were held hostage in their train cabin by pistol waving Ukrainian
guest workers, insisting on “one more song”. The resulting self-titled
album comprises a set of traditionally based cover and original songs,
performed in the Fatal Shore’s corrosive style of very dark,
psychedelic blues.
On the invitation of American record producer Dan May in April 2000,
the band flew to Covington, Kentucky, to record the follow-up Fatal
Shore CD, Free Fall (2003 Moloko +). May had heard the group’s first
CD by chance, and within a few weeks the Fatal Shore were flying out of
Berlin. The bizarre events continued after they arrived at The Church,
a converted nineteenth century catholic church, filled with strange
vibrations and May’s collection of automatic weapons, war memorabilia
and strange hangers-on. The recording was finally completed two hours
before the group’s flight left for Berlin. The result is a collection
of classic songs, ringing with the eerie environs of “The Church”.
The Fatal Shore’s latest album, Real World, was released on the new
Hamburg label Amboss Recordings, in March 2007. It is the first Fatal
Shore album to be recorded in the relative calm of Berlin. With local
wunderkind Baxter Wilderbeast’s production and arrangements, Adams and
Shoenfelt’s Classic Songs are taken to a new level. With strong string
arrangements, and melodic, rhythmic and textural overdubs,
Wilderbeast’s vision is brilliantly realised - from the eerie Singing
Saw on “The Looking Glass Song”, to the rousing stings and circular
Xylophone motif on “Faithless”. What makes the Fatal Shore unique is
the canyon deep voices and monumental songwriting of Adams and
Shoenfelt; The enigmatic patterns and wild syncopations of Hughes’s
drums, back by Röhm’s steadfast bass lines; The interweaving of
Shoenfelt’s lilting rhythm guitar and Adams’s panoramic lead lines; And
the band's ability to fit seemingly effortlessly together a wide range
of influences, from the Delta Blues of Robert Johnson, to songwriters
such as Jacques Brel, Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave and Townes Van Zandt, to
the sound scapes of Einstürzende Neubauten and Can.
Fatal Shore were touring Germany, Austria, Denmark, Czech Republic and Hungry, in May 2008.
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