Mense Reents, blond, quiet, the moody type, plays in billions of bands Stella, Die Goldenen Zitronen to name but two. Alongside this the many previous commitments live bassist with Das Neue Brot, Die Regierung and Huah!. Via all these bands Reents made contact with the so-called Hamburger Schule movement and was immediately up with people or down with people, or at any rate, in the middle of the action. De:Bug magazine called him: Hamburgs best house producer. They ought to know, theyre the experts. Next to him sits Jimi Siebels. Also known in Hamburg, also known outside Hamburg, Germany. The man with the gentle gaze, with this moustache, without a trace of machismo in his face, to the contrary, it makes him look handsome. Sand 11 is his other band, together with Pascal Fuhlbrügge, who had already become immortal as a member of Kolossale Jugend. Siebels used to be in Das Neue Brot, thats where he and Reents met. So, Hamburg, both of them, confirmed greats in a universe of music and free testing. Jimi explains, that he, after Mense had already moved to Hamburg and got involved with his various other bands, also came to Hamburg, and equally quickly settled in. Of course they knew each other, and very quickly shared friends. Mense founded the Imperial studio, Jimi helped to build. The first Egoexpress tracks came out 1995 on Ladomat2k Egoexpress 2 first, then around a year later Foxy, the album, followed by Telefunken, the Hit. A grinding masterpiece. Lusciously fucked and fucked-up. At the same time Siebels and Reents didnt really know what they were doing. They wanted to produce electronic music, fascinated by what they had experienced in clubs. On the theory that they started out making electronic music without knowing what it actually was, they agree upon with a grin. For us then the whole thing was totally abstract, says Reents. For us it was all really exciting. An album is released which turns this ignorance into a definite stance, for the clubs, for the body, fuck convention. Foxy remained, though, largely unheard, for the house and techno posses Egoexpress are rockers, the rock faction see them as electronic. Electronic-punk hadnt been invented yet. Egoexpress were wild, loud, dirty, but there wasnt yet a public willing to listen. They were interesting, but were pretty much only appreciated by the non-dancing intellectual set. Egoexpress didnt play raves. Why not? They never got invited. But even then they already took it to the limit. We dont give the crowd any time to warm up, says Siebels, 3 or 4 minutes, then it kicks off. After that the DJ can do what he likes, its back to being his party. Then in 1998, they played in WMF in Berlin, there was hardly anyone there, but quite a lot of ‘Low Spirit’-people and WestBam (Reents), and they began to turn a corner. The duo was invited to play at Mayday. Start of 1999. The rave crowd in the Westfalenhalle were immediately equally as hooked by the rocking, oppressive bass buzz as the students next to them. That was the breakthrough. Egoexpress played and play at pretty much all the big raves and festivals: Mayday, Sonne Mond Sterne, Melt, Nature One. Whether rockers or ravers, this duo has always had a foot in both camps without having to stand with their legs too far apart. They get their kicks no matter what. At the end of 99 Bieker comes out, an album full of hits, Weiter (with the voice of Dirk von Lotzow of Tocotronic) and Music, No Music Music fill the dance floors of the nation. But since 2001 all has been quiet. Laziness? No, Egoexpress have been on tour the entire time. Theyve been filling huge halls and small clubs… Then in November last year the turnaround, suddenly Jimi and Mense go full throttle, collecting stuff together, working hard and fast and on a daily basis. Hot Wire My Heart is created. Without wanting to be dogmatic, without a great master plan, a homogeneous record with huge arcs. Hits like Aranda or Ich habe links eine Hand (a technorock cover version of an old Jakönigja song), in between humourous parts, all held together by a 4/4 beat and a bass drum. Techno, dirty House it is, fat, frantic, driving. Egoexpress dont have much truck with minimalism. No time for genres. There are no samples on Hot Wire My Heart. They played all the sounds themselves, why not, they are after all musicians. Theres no boring concept, no cheap dogmatism, its all about good music, and that is created from all the available material, in the dialogue, in the reworking, in the detail. The sound is monolithic. I always work right up to the last minute on the material, according to Mense, I want the hit. And hes apparently managed it again.
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