D.A.F. | |
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D.A.F. (Delgado-López left, Görl right)
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Background information | |
Origin | Düsseldorf, West Germany |
Genres |
Electropunk NDW EBM avant-funk industrial minimalism |
Years active | 1978–present |
Labels |
Mute Records Virgin Records |
Associated acts |
DAF/DOS DAF.Partei |
Members |
Gabriel "Gabi" Delgado-López Robert Görl |
Past members |
Kurt "Pyrolator" Dahlke Chrislo Haas Michael Kemner Wolfgang Spelmans |
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft (German pronunciation: [ˈdɔʏtʃ ameʁiˈkaːnɪʃə ˈfʁɔʏntʃaft]) or D.A.F. is an influential German electropunk/Neue Deutsche Welle band from Düsseldorf, formed in 1978 featuring Gabriel "Gabi" Delgado-López (vocals), Robert Görl (drums, percussion, electronic instruments), Kurt "Pyrolator" Dahlke (electronic instruments), Michael Kemner (bass-guitar) and Wolfgang Spelmans (guitar). Kurt Dahlke was replaced by Chrislo Haas (electronic instruments, bass guitar, saxophone) in 1979. Since 1981, the band has consisted of Delgado-López and Görl.
In interviews they claimed to not target anything or anyone specific while creating lyrics to be taken as a parody of words and phrases floating around in the public media. "Sato-Sato" and "Der Mussolini" are both examples of songs written around Delgado-López's fascination with the sound of a particular word. A few months before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, D.A.F. released "The Sheriff (An Anti-American Song)".
The album Alles ist gut (Everything is fine) received the German "Schallplattenpreis" award by the "Deutsche Phono-Akademie", an association of the German recording industry.
Görl described their sound on Alles is gut in Melody Maker in 1981:
Delgado described his new vocal style in the same interview:
The band determined early on that they would not sing in English. As Delgado later said:
As a lyricist, Delgado's concerns throughout D.A.F.'s recording career have ranged from sardonic reflections on ideology and political violence, to journeys into a very physical, even brutal, sexuality, sometimes related from a child's point of view. Having grown up as the child of working class Spanish immigrants in Wuppertal, and coming of age in the politically polarized era of the German Autumn (his response the left wing extremism of that time being thematized in the 2003 song "Kinderzimmer (Heldenlied)" ["Childhood Bedroom (Hero Song)"], he was blunt and unromantically detached about social reality in West Germany, and unapologetic about the provocative potential of his songs.