Music A band history called "40 years of Züri West"
Züri West live on a roof terrace in Bern's old town in 2004 - at that time the rock band had "only" been around for 20 years. (archive picture)
Image: Keystone
Züri West frontman Kuno Lauener in his living room in 1993. The photo book on the band's 40-year history reads: "Téléjournal fatal: Kuno at Home, with 'Coffee and Cigarettes' of course." (archive picture).
Image: Keystone
Züri West on stage at the Mühle Hunziken in 1989: Guitarist Peter von Siebenthal, bassist Martin Gerber and singer Kuno Lauener (from left to right). (archive picture)
Image: Keystone
Züri West live on a roof terrace in Bern's old town in 2004 - at that time the rock band had "only" been around for 20 years. (archive picture)
Image: Keystone
Züri West frontman Kuno Lauener in his living room in 1993. The photo book on the band's 40-year history reads: "Téléjournal fatal: Kuno at Home, with 'Coffee and Cigarettes' of course." (archive picture).
Image: Keystone
Züri West on stage at the Mühle Hunziken in 1989: Guitarist Peter von Siebenthal, bassist Martin Gerber and singer Kuno Lauener (from left to right). (archive picture)
Image: Keystone
Züri West announce themselves with two books - the loud illustrated book "Züri West" and the quiet text volume "Klauener". The double volume is called "40 Jahre Züri West". It tells the story of the band and the alternative music scene in Bern in the 1980s.
"Nüt wos git, git's git's forever", is a line in the Züri West song "Elvis". Last year, fans of the Bernese band had to face the fact that this also applies to the group itself. That was when the current album "Loch dür Zyt" was released. But because frontman Kuno Lauener is suffering from multiple sclerosis, there was no more tour.
But Züri West are still around and are making themselves heard with two books: "Züri West" follows the band's long history, while "Klauener" collects all the song lyrics, enriched with drawings and collages by Kuno Lauener.
In the beginning is the "Stinkkeller"
The first book is a chronologically structured illustrated book; it starts with the beginnings in 1984 and takes its readers right up to the present day. The releases are stations, each introduced by a text that sets the scene. For example, Züri West talk about their first rehearsals in a "smelly cellar in Bern's Kirchenfeld district". Or about the end of the "Love" tour in 2018, when even the musicians themselves didn't know that this would be the last Züri West concert.
The lyrics were written by Bernese author Samuel Mumenthaler. He was a co-founder and drummer in Züri West until he left the band in 1985. While the texts are brief, a lot of space was given to the pictures: Züri West members and their surroundings, photographed on stage, in the dressing room or in the rehearsal room, and concert posters and tour schedules are also printed. "Züri West were always surrounded by photographers," Mumenthaler told the Keystone-SDA news agency. The 1200 pictures that have made it into the book are only a tiny fraction of the available material. Zurich graphic designer Chris Eggli designed the book.
The podcast "8424 Züri West" (2023), which is dedicated to the history of the Bernese rock band, already exists. In it, journalist This Wachter and sound designer Simon Meyer let a variety of voices have their say about Züri West.
Also a history of the scene
The book is different, however. "We didn't just want to tell the podcast in book form," says Mumenthaler. Instead, we wanted to tell the story strictly from the band's perspective. Mumenthaler spoke to singer Kuno Lauener and guitarist Küse Fehlmann. In other words, with those who have been in the band since the beginning. "The work was also an emotional affair, as I also experienced a lot," said Mumenthaler.
In the first part of the book, texts and pictures provide an insight into the Bernese music and squatting scene of the 1980s. "When the scene used word of mouth to invite people to spontaneous 'punishment bars' somewhere in the city, we were usually there," it says at one point. Punishment bars were used to occupy empty premises at short notice and use them as concert venues or for parties for one night. The book "Züri West" therefore also tells the story of the scene. "The youth movement and social upheavals have always accompanied Züri West - and vice versa," says Mumenthaler.
Just as important was what was big in the wider music world. This can often be read, for example, about the creation of the groundbreaking 1994 album "Züri West": "For some time, we had been searching for a powerful, rocking drum sound that characterized the early nineties. Guns 'n' Roses, Aerosmith and Nirvana set the tone." All in all, "Züri West" is a wonderfully loud book.
Songwriter Lauener
In contrast, the collection of lyrics "Klauener" is the reserved part. Even more than a singer, Kuno Lauener is a songwriter who knows how to embed precise observations, vivid storytelling and Bernese-German wit in an often melancholy tone.
The song lyrics are listed in typewriter font, again chronologically by album, and are accompanied by sketchy, figurative drawings and collages. Many of the song lyrics are original manuscripts on squared paper, with coffee scribbles, handwritten corrections and scribbles showing how they were written. Thus "Klauener" is the quiet complement to the first book "Züri West": the volume of texts provides an insight into the creation of the words without getting lost in grand gestures.
And so "40 Years of Züri West" tells the story of a band and a part of Swiss pop culture - and is correspondingly weighty: both books together weigh 4.3 kilos.
SDA
