Not to be confused with Italian rap group
FSK Satellite.
F.S.K. (Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle, German meaning "voluntary self control") is a German band that formed in Munich in 1980.[1][2] The band has been associated with avant-garde fringes of Neue Deutsche Welle (German New Wave) of the early 1980s and with techno and house music since the mid 1990s.
History
The band was formed in Munich in 1980 by Wilfred Petzi, Thomas Meinecke, Justin Hoffman and Michaela Melian, contributors to the underground magazine Mode & Verzweiflung (Fashion & despair). The band name is a reference to the German
motion picture rating organisationFreiwillige Selbstkontrolle der Filmwirtschaft, which uses the same acronym. From 1985 the band was championed by British disc jockey
John Peel, recording six sessions for his BBC radio show,[3] and were themselves strongly influenced by the independent British music scene of the time, such as by the unusual interpretation of
country music by
the Mekons. FSK records were released on Zickzack, a record label owned by German music journalist and
punk rock advocate Alfred Hilsberg. F.S.K. frequently played with
David Lowery of
Camper Van Beethoven and
Cracker and recorded in his studio in
Richmond, Virginia. In the mid-1990s the band recorded Techno and House music, recording in Uphon Studios in
Weilheim, Bavaria. On their album First Take Then Shake they worked with Detroit producer
Anthony Shake Shakir.
The band members are active in the arts, Thomas Meinecke as a successful novelist, Michaela Melián as a professor at the
University of Fine Arts of Hamburg, Justin Hoffmann as director of the Wolfsburg Art Society and Wilfried Petzi as a photographer.
Thomas Meinecke - concertina, guitar, vocals, percussion
Justin Hoffmann - electric piano, guitar, xylophone, vocals
Michaela Melian - bass, melodica, vocals
Carl Oesterheld - drums, percussion (joined in 1990)
David Lowery and
Johnny Hickman (vocals, guitars) of the American band
Cracker frequently collaborated with F.S.K. from 1990-1995 and were occasionally listed as full members.[4][5]