Dance or Die (band)

This article is about the group Dance or Die. For the Family Force 5 Album, see Dance or Die (Family Force 5 album).

Dance or Die
Also known as	Do or Die North America
Origin	Berlin, Germany
Genres	electronic darkwave
Years active	1988–present
Labels	Machinery, Polydor, Synthetic Symphony
Website	MySpace
Members
Andreas Goldacker Gary Wagner Falgalas Chris L.
Past members
Norri

Dance or Die is an electronic band, formed in 1988 by Andreas Goldacker and Gary Wagner in Berlin. Falgalas (born Heiko Duus) joined the band in 1993, first for live touring, later as full member. Chris L. (born Christian Lorenz) joined in 1998, so far only for live performances.

History

Their first, eponymously-titled mini album was the first release ever of Berlin-based label Machinery, its title track becoming one of the most frequently played titles in Northern Europe. They continued their collaboration with Jor until the label's demise.

In 1997 they signed with Polydor, but after one album (Dehumanizer) that partnership ended - clearly the dark electronic sound didn't fit in with Polydor's dance-label What's Up?!. On Dehumanizer the band was briefly joined by Norri as drummer.

2001 they released their album Schlafende Energie on Synthetic Symphony.

After ten years, in 2011, they released ther album Nostradamnation.

Music

Dance or Die are a popular (at least in Central and Northern Europe) band. Cold techno sound meets deep voice (vocalist Gary Wagner even sings as guest on other artist's records, as on "Take Some More" by And One) form a perfect ground for the cyber-themed lyrics about life in the machine age. The albums were thus appropriately named, 3001 for the future, Psychoburbia taking psycho and burb together, while Dehumanizer seems to stand for itself. (Though it may have been named after the album of Black Sabbath, whose song "Black Sabbath" Dance or Die did cover on Psychoburbia.) Schlafende Energie (literally: sleeping energy) is a term coined by German television series Raumpatrouille and means an energy reserve, but it was used for its potency.

Trivia

Dance or Die are members of a media collective called Clan of Nihil. For some American versions of their records, they were renamed Do or Die by their label Machinery.

Discography

Albums

• 3001 (1991)
• Psychoburbia (1992)
• Everspring (1995)
• Dehumanizer (1998)
• Schlafende Energie (2001)
• Nostradamnation (2011)

EPs & Singles

• Move (1988)
• Dance or Die (1990)
• Fire (1991)
• Time Zero (1994)
• Minute Man (1995)
• Relationshit (1997)
• Teenagemakeup (1997)

Compilations

• The Best of the 12" Mixes Berlin 89 – New York 93 (1993) (aka Psychoburbians)

External links

• Official Homepage in German
• Official Clan of Nihil Website in German
• Dance or Die at MySpace
• Dance or Die at Discogs