German marching techno band Meute’s international fame comes and goes with their red jackets

In the last eight years, Thomas Burhorn has become an internationally famous musician, but when he tires of the notoriety he takes his distinctive red jacket off and he’s back to living a normal life.

Burhorn is the founder and trumpeter of Hamburg techno marching band Meute, who will be performing at Womad in New Plymouth from March 17-19.

In the last eight years the red jacket wearing 11-piece band has become an international phenomenon whose live performances bring audiences to their feet and don’t let them sit down again.

“I think we are pretty famous but without that red jacket nobody recognises us. That’s the cool thing,” Burhorn said, in a video call from Hamburg.

READ MORE:
* Commuter cycle track an option for New Plymouth’s Pukekura Park
* Inglewood board says yes to wildlife centre
* Omicron sees Womad NZ cancelled for second year in a row

Meute are one of the marquee acts for the return of Womad to New Plymouth’s Brooklands Park. They play two sets – on the Bowl stage on Friday night and the Brooklands stage on Saturday night.

Here’s what you can expect. The band arranges techno, house and deep house works by well-known DJs and augments them with electronic beats created by marching band instruments like trumpets, saxophones, snare drum and the body wrapping sousaphone.

The music they create is enough of a twist on the marching band and techno genres as to be an entirely new sound, although instantly recognisable.

Videos of their concerts and street performances posted on Youtube have millions of views and often the band looks like its having just as much fun as everyone else.

“We are people that like to have fun. But it’s also that we have fun and we love what we do. We have the privilege to do what we love,” Burhorn said.

It’s not all fun. The band’s huge popularity recently had them appear on Netflix’s 1930s period drama Babylon Berlin as the house band at a dance club.

Promotional material for the season four episode shows the band in full swing but that shot comes hours and hours after a lot of standing around.

“Waiting, waiting, waiting, and then someone says action and you’re on,” Burhorn said.

Despite their hectic touring schedule, which often takes in dozens of countries a year, this will be the first time members of Meute have come to New Zealand.

“We are very curious about New Zealand because everything we have heard is that it’s just such a beautiful country.”