Hans-A-Plast - Ausradiert LP

One day, the phone rings — it’s Hans-A-Plast on the line, asking Annette to head home so they can get to work on what will be the third Hans-A-Plast album. For the first time, the band enlist a new producer - Jan Němec is at the controls - and record in a new location, the Horus Sound Studio in Hanover. The tracklist includes »Monstertanz«, a song written by Annette in England and subsequently adapted by the band (the first time they create a song in this fashion). Hans-A-Plast then shoot their first (and last) music video, a DIY effort which debuts on Peter Illmann’s »Formel Eins«, a popular and pivotal television show. »Ausradiert« is released in early 1983, another demonstration of Hans-A-Plast doing what they do best: ignoring what has gone before and going off at a new tangent. Gone are the sudden breaks and nervous shivers of the second album, ceding to a more conventional song structure and sharper production. There is a more typically eighties flair to the band’s sound now, as the vocals and Bettina’s drums swirl in reverb. Renate’s bass slices like a knife and dual guitars ring out crystal clear. Lyrically, of course, nothing is off limits: Annette offers advice on how to be »Gut im Bett« (good in bed), rails against the sanctimoniousness of Christianity; cannibalism, stalking, the list goes on ... The door closes on the band’s No Fun label in the autumn of 1983. Whereas the first two albums sold over 100,000 copies worldwide, »Ausradiert« only manages 10,000. Ticket sales are down when the band hit the road in April and May (1983). The band begin to argue about which musical direction they should take in future. A sticking plaster doesn’t stick for ever. Echoing the name of the third LP, Hans-A-Plast find themselves ausradiert (erased).