Ahead of their long-awaited TAINTED 2022 tour, iconic darkwave-postpunk pioneers Pink Turns Blue present the single‘Not Gonna Take It’, the first taste of their ‘TAINTED Tour-2022 EP’, which will be released on September 2 when the tour kicks off in Seattle.
Riding on the strength of their ‘Tainted’ album, released in late 2021 via Orden Records, Pink Turns Blue will bring this music closer to home to music lovers from one coast to another while also sharing four new songs reflecting their emotional state in today’s world.
Formed in 1985 in the first generation of gothic rock and named after a Hüsker Dü song, today Pink Turns Blue is made up of Mic Jogwer (vocals, guitar), Paul Richter (drums) and Luca Sammuri (bass). Their debut album ‘If Two Worlds Kiss’ advanced the darkwave sub-genre while becoming a seminal post-punk album. Emerging from the fear and uncertainty of a divided Cold War Germany, they have since released a dozen full-length LPs.
“Not Gonna Take It’ is a song about standing up for oneself and for a better world. Yes, the powerful, the bullies and the rich have many resources to get their way and claim that wrong is right. And yes, we all have our moments where we feel helpless and depressed because there doesn’t seem any way out of this cunning system of lies, propaganda, lobbying and influence. But every now and then, we just get fed up and decide we are not going to take it anymore. We find ways to break free, organize and fight for the things that are worth fighting for. Right now, it seems very difficult, at times impossible, naïve and all too idealistic. But if we give up fighting, we give up living. It is an uphill battle, but our defiance and our courage keep us going,” says Mic Jogwer.
“Since Pink Turns Blue presented the ‘Tainted’ album, things have changed for the worse, or have become more desperate and we have used this time to develop a few songs from the ‘Tainted’ sessions further – songs that didn’t make it onto the album since they were not ready yet, says In defiance of the global trend that the powerful use any excuse to enforce their agenda and defend their accumulation of benefices, more and more people see through it and stand up – for themselves and never give up to make this world just a little bit better.”
Both the ‘Tainted’ LP and the new EP relate to a world in havoc and the seemingly powerlessness of today’s youth to take over the world and change it for the better. But this album is also a call to never give up, to never lose faith or the understanding that making this world just a bit better every day is what makes our lives worth living.
“Since February 24 (actually my birthday), when Russia invaded Ukraine, things became even worse. Instead of slowly getting back to “normal” and trying to get our humanity’s shit together and to alleviate climate change and the consequential effects, now we have to cope with war and an energy, food and financial crisis (again) with the risk of losing the battle for equality, climate change, peace… you name it. So now the world is not only TAINTED but is in DISARRAY,” says Mic Jogwer.
With potent singles such as ‘Not Even Trying’, ‘You Still Mean Too Much To Me’, ‘There Must Be So Much More’ and ‘So Why Not Save The World’ address such themes as climate change, its effects, the reaction to it, the split within society, isolation, health risks and financial uncertainty.
As of August 12, ‘Not Gonna Take It’ will be released everywhere online. The ‘Tainted’ LP is available now via Apple Music and Spotify, with CD and limited-edition vinyl editions available via the band’s website. September 2 marks the launch of the TAINTED 2022 tour, for which tickets can be ordered at https://pinkturnsblue.com/
TAINTED 2022 – TOUR DATES
SEP 2 Seattle, WA – Funhouse
SEP 3 Vancouver, Canada – Rickshaw Theatre
SEP 4 Portland, OR – Star Theater
SEP 6 Garden City, ID – Visual Arts Collective (VAC)
SEP 7 Salt Lake City, UT – The Urban Lounge
SEP 9 San Francisco, CA – DNA Lounge
SEP 10 San Diego, CA – Casbah
SEP 11 Los Angeles, CA – Part Time Punks, Echoplex
SEP 15 Denver, CO – Hi-Dive
SEP 17 Dallas, TX – Cheapsteaks (aka. Cheap Steaks)
SEP 18 Austin, TX – Sunny’s Backyard
SEP 22 Tampa, FL – Crowbar
SEP 23 Miami, FL – Gramps
SEP 26 Atlanta, GA – 529 Bar
SEP 27 Richmond, VA – The Camel
SEP 29 Pittsburgh, PA – Spirit
OCT 4 Toronto, Canada – The Garrison
OCT 5 Montreal, Canada – Bar Le Ritz PDB
OCT 6 Rochester, NY – Photo City Music Hall
OCT 7 Cambridge, MA – The Middle East Restaurant and Nightclub
OCT 8 Brooklyn, NY – Market Hotel
OCT 9 Baltimore, MD – Metro Gallery
OCT 10 Philadelphia, PA – PhilaMOCA
OCT 14 Pinto, Spain – DarkMAD Festival Madrid
OCT 28 Rüsselsheim, Germany – These Days Festival 2022
DEC 15 Glasgow, UK – Ivory Blacks
DEC 16 Manchester, UK – Night People
DEC 17 London, UK – Electrowerkz
Photos by Daniela Vorndran
“One of the most ethically driven and environmentally conscious post-punk artists of our time… powerful” ~ The Spill Magazine
“Consistent purveyors of quality guitar-laden post punk and dark-bent indie rock… one of the most honest and most direct enduring acts in post punk today” ~ Destroy // Exist
“The timeless message is driven home with a timeless sound composed with refined effect” ~ Post-Punk.com
“They have had high ranks in the charts and still have a place deep in the heart of many fans” ~ Reflections of Darkness
“When it comes to actual darkwave, Berlin’s Pink Turns Blue are rightly regarded as one of the founding acts… one of the finer exemplars of continental postpunk” ~ CVLT Nation
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