Sportfreunde Stiller - 30 Wonderful Years

MALE DOG How does one look back on thirty years of band history? From a distance, the view resembles the outlook on a vast jungle of deep life. For us sports friends, it is less inhabited by venomous snakes and dangerous multi-legged creatures, but rather by friendly jungle beings. Dedicated to life, searching for stories and discoveries. Behind almost every tour day lie funny experiences, joyful embraces, the best celebrations, and ever-growing stories that take deeper root over the years. Albums and tours become high plateaus of memory, celebrations sometimes decades later turn into mammoth growths of “Do you remember back then?” tales. Brotherhoods, friendships, tender plants, or just large-pored potatoes. In every corner, every fork in the road hangs the scent and beauty of celebratory life. Sometimes a painful search and often a happy resolution. What is hubris for one becomes the norm for the band. Standing on stage and tens of thousands sing a song that came tumbling out of our fingers in the gritty rehearsal room: no problem, it’s normal. One rides home on a scooter, we in a rolling house, no problem, it’s normal. The music becomes a backstage pass into the hearts of strangers, who somehow also become friends, happening again and again. That remains beautiful, and one can never get used to it. I can recommend being in a band to anyone. Whether with or without music, it doesn’t matter; the main thing is that you dive in together and not alone!

FLO Everything started with the “Wonderful Years.” With the time when self-discovery broke through in rebellion, defiance, coolness, mod shuffle, and wandering. And with the idea of putting three not entirely similar musical preferences under a band context. Before the first single in the spartan rehearsal room in 1996, Jack Kerouac, Big Muff distortion, some form of school from Germering, and definitely the idea of enormous volume haunted our minds. 27 minutes later, the “Wonderful Years” were born, and the knowledge that no matter what musical may come, this is a cheeky manifesto of our adolescent existence. That remains forever. It became the motto of our lives. And on top of that, much more was to come. From performances in dark cellar rooms in front of three curious onlookers to halls filled with ten thousand souls. From special quirks like World Cup hits, MTV Unplugged, horizon-expanding music videos, records made of wood/gold/platinum, reading tours in opera houses to the “completely normal” madness of a band, including unforgettable tours in the arms of the best crew of the universe. From being the opening act for Foo Fighters, Green Day, and Grönemeyer to supporting acts like Ash, Nada Surf, Franz Ferdinand, and Kaiser Chiefs. Everything is included. From the always supportive and driving management to the always integrable social engagement. Against the creative void, against the envious, against the mood makers, but always knowing that what we do cannot logically please everyone. Who manages that, except for Florian Wirtz?

With the tools and background of a radio play, two EPs, ten albums, millions of concerts (for example, Eggenfelden, Neustrelitz, Hamburg, Tashkent, Madrid, London, New York, etc.) and the privilege of being able to combine profession and calling, we bow down to our listeners down to our toes. Mucho gracias grande for dancing, singing, and feeling along! We just want to say that you are the greatest for us. And that has been for 30 wonderful years! Let’s go!

PETER It’s 1996… a guy with a Britpop haircut asks a guy in a grunge raincoat, hey, you make music too, right? Let’s do something together! Up for it? So indie, alternative in German, I have a song… One year later, after the first bassist had gone missing… hey, there’s a guy who studied jazz or politics or something, wears his cap backwards and underneath has a mop, should we try him out as the new bass player? So or something similar goes the start of the story of the 3 sports friends.

In the following 29 years, pretty much everything that can be experienced as a band was included: - comet-like non-ascension - slightly awkward failure - pop-like chart entries - magical encounters - rock moments for eternity - world-class million-voice choruses - gigantic crisis overcoming - gilded honors And songs as friends and friends as eternal companions of our songs. Again and again…

“It’s 2026… now we are celebrating the 30th anniversary of Sportfreunde. You have to let that sink in on the drum skin! As a person, 30 means goodbye to youth, oh dear, real life! As a band, 30 means hooray, we’re still alive! (Free after Milva) And that this band has been accompanying our lives for so long, yes, shaping and inspiring us in a significant and positive way, we want to celebrate with you! That’s why everything that comes on top of that will be celebrated so intensely that our hearts vibrate and the plunze wobbles! We want to write new stuff, then hit the road with a Best Of and go all out! Will you also rush with us through 30 wonderful years?”