AUSGANG Photo © Mark Musolf "This crushing, slamming, heavy strife..." It is 1982. In and around Birmingham a band arises from the ashes of various Post-Punk acts. And the influence theywere going to have on today's Goth scene is, to put it lightly, huge... The band? Ausgang. We have the honor of talking with Max Freeth aka Max Body. Hello to you Max. Thank you so much for making time for us. What’s the weather like … No, no, forget that question. Tell us about the early days! What were they like? Hi! Well, the early 80's were very exciting, as - although we didn't fully realise it at the time - we were part of something very new and 'underground' that not many other people or bands seemed to be part of. Bear in mind this was pre-internet, so obviously other bands were experimenting in similar ways to us all over the world, but we had no way of knowing until we met likeminded people at a show, saw another band live, etc. But this scene didn't come out of nothing - it was definitely a natural progression from Punk Rock, New Wave, Post-Punk, 'Positive Punk', then what became known as 'Goth'. In fact, I'd say it went further back than that. The artists I was listening to just before Punk were Roxy Music,T-Rex, David Bowie, Dr. Feelgood - and all of those had an impact on Punk Rock. So, I'd already started my Punk band, The Solicitors, but www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be - 4 - it wasn't until that became Kabuki and then Ausgang that things started to get interesting.We were taking all the previously mentioned influences and throwing some Gun Club & Birthday Party inspiration in there and just writing and playing what came natural to us. We didn't have any kind of agenda or anything. But those early shows we played and the 1st 3 records with Criminal Damage are very special to me. It was only a short time, but I think it was some of our best work. It still stands up now, alongside our most recent new songs - which is whywe still include them in our current set. But overall, it was such a vibrant time, with everyone involved in counter-culture feeling like anything could happen. Of course that has happened before in the 50s, 60s and 70s, but since then, I haven't really noticed, or felt like I've been involved in, anything that has given me that notion of creating something that was brand new. At that time, did you feel recognition for what you were doing? As you guys have quite a unique sound. In Kabuki's and early Ausgang's life, we did actually feel we were being recognised as doing something different - there was no other band in our city (Birmingham) that sounded remotely like us, and I would say that we sounded nothing like any of the other bands in the rest
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