It’s a small, Deutschrock-loving world

Let me tell you a little story about a cool thing that happened to me today. I was asked to grab something from the chemist by my boyfriend after work. Luckily for him I needed to needed to grab a few things so ran up before they closed. As I walked in I saw this guy with the above shirt. Now, unless you’re German or really into German music, you won’t have a clue what that shirt is about. Briefly, it is a shirt of my favourite band Die Ärzte who is a German rock band that I have worshiped since I was 15 years old. They’re the reason I made my way to German back in 2004 (where I saw them live 10 times!) and I actually happen to have three tattoos related to them. So seeing a guy in this shirt at the chemist near my house was pretty damn shocking. In fact the only other time I ever saw someone in a shirt of theirs was a German girl who was lined up before me at an ATM last year. Despite the fact I hate approaching strangers, let alone initiating polite conversation with them, I asked him “Is that a Die Ärzte shirt” and we had a bit of a chat about the band as we were both pretty excited that we’d randomly bumped into someone who knew this obscure German band in lil old Brisbane.

But that’s not even the best bit. he then asked me if I know Fettes Brot. Well, of course I do, they’re my favourite hip hop group of all times (and yes, also German). So much so my ringtone is their song Da Draussen! He then tells me about how something similar happened to him a few years ago where he was in a club wearing a shirt with their Demo tape icon on it when someone went up to him and asked him if he knew Fettes Brot. Now, it might just be a massive coincidence but I’m pretty sure that was me back in 2004, right before I moved to Germany at my work going-away party! Sure, there might be another Deutscher hip hop fan out there, but I doubt it. It was me, for sure!

So that was a cool and completely random twist to the end of my day. It makes me a bit sad and nostalgic for Die Ärzte as it’s really hand being a fan of  band that sing in another language that no one knows anything about. It’s such a shame too, because one look at their merch and you know they’re going to be an amazing band! Oh well I’ll just crank them up nice and loud on my drive to work tomorrow morning :)

Originally published at rubyvelour.com