Slick Idiot with Mona Mur @ Club Anything July 4

Celebrate Independence Day the industrial way this July 4th at Club Anything, 807 S. 5th Street with free food, cheap drinks, and live music.

Starting at 5 p.m., help yourself to grilled delicacies until 11 p.m., when Slick Idiot, with a special guest appearance by Mona Mur (a well-known vocalist in her homeland of Germany), are scheduled to take the stage on the Milwaukee stop of their “Sucksess” tour.

Slick Idiot is a collaboration between former KMFDM members En Esch (a.k.a. Nicklaus Schandelmaier – “En Esch” comes from the German pronunciation of the first sounds in his name, and he was a member of KMFDM from shortly after the band’s inception in 1985 until 1999 and also performed in industrial supergroup Pigface) and Guenter Schulz (guitarist, credited first on 1990’s “Naïve” album as Svetlana Ambrosius, or Svet Am, and was also in Pigface for the “United II” tour in 2003), both German-born musicians. They released their first album, “Dick Nity,” in 2001. On this tour, Esch and Schulz are joined by singer Erica Dilanjian and drummer Gregg Ziemba.

KMFDM was heavily involved in Chicago’s music scene upon relocating there in the early ’90s, a time when that city (home to Wax Trax!, a label that was well-known and respected for its industrial output [Ministry, Front 242, the Revolting Cocks, Pailhead, etc.]) was the center of the industrial universe. En Esch is an accomplished singer, guitarist, programmer, producer, and percussionist; Schulz is best known for his (music) writing and guitar skills and also contributed to other side projects, including a few Excessive Force albums (project of Sascha Konietzko, the other main musician in KMFDM).

Slick Idiot sounds, not surprisingly, an awful lot like mid-career KMFDM (which was a sort of poppy industrial sound that had a slightly harder ‘edge’ to it). The last time they performed at Club Anything, in October of 2009 on the “In the Flesh” tour, they covered the song “A Drug Against War” but changed the lyrics (originally “KMFDM is a Drug Against War”) to “Slick Idiot is a Drug Against War.” Also, being such a small venue, the musicians mingled with their fans and cordially and signed autographs upon request.

Mona Mur (who, interestingly, is quite a master of tae kwon do, having reached the rank of third Dan, or third-degree black belt, in 2002 and having been crowned “International German Vice Champion” twice) has collaborated with musicians including German experimental legends Einsturzende Neubauten, a band whose trademarks include the use of specially-constructed instruments, including those made from scrap metal, building tools, and various noises, along with conventional instruments, and German musician and actor Joachim Witt (Witt is well-respected actor and musician and is considered a part of the “Neue Deutsche Welle”, new German wave, which included performers such as Nena and Falco). Mur’s company, monamur music production, has done sound for other projects including computer games, including Atari’s “Ballance” and Apple II’s “Sabotage.”