“Die Nacht der 1000 Töne” (Night of a Thousand Sounds), FU-Audimax, Berlin, April 1984

Still from “Nevada” in the motion picture Berlin Now (1985): Thomas Wydler, Jochen Arbeit, Remo Park, Paul Outlaw, Christoph Dreher and Rainer Lingk ( l to r)

Still from “Nevada” in the motion picture Berlin Now (1985): Christoph Dreher and Paul Outlaw

(clockwise from top left) Christoph Dreher, Paul Outlaw, Rainer Lingk, Remo Park, Thomas Wydler, Jochen Arbeit, 1985

Fandango (1985): “Fandango,” “Beat It Down,” “Nevada”

Underground Overground: Klangbilder, photo book by “Alaska,” Berlin: W.W. Verlag, 1985

Naturtheater Hasenheide, Berlin, 1986

Die Haut

“1984-1986
(band active 1982-1997)

FANDANGO (1985) - 12” EP including two tracks (“Burn it Down” and “Nevada”) with guest vocalist Paul Outlaw

BERLIN NOW (1985) - anthology film directed by Wolfgang Büld and Sissy Kelling, featuring Die Haut in “Nevada”

Jochen Arbeit (guitar)
Christoph Dreher (bass)
Rainer Max Lingk (guitar)
Paul Outlaw (guest vocals, lyrics)
Remo Park (guitar)
Martin Peter (guitar)
”

Berlin-based post-rock, post-punk band Die Haut (pronounced /dɪ haʊt/) took its name from the German translation of Curzio Malaparte’s 1949 book about morality in postwar Naples, La pelle (The Skin). Originally a guitar-based four-piece constellation, Die Haut performed live and in the studio with an intriguing assortment of international guest vocalists in its fifteen-year existence: Nick Cave, Kid Congo Powers, Anita Lane, Debbie Harry, Paul Outlaw, Mick Harvey, Jeffrey Lee Pierce, Blixa Bargeld, Lydia Lunch, Alexander Hacke, Arto Lindsay, Kim Gordon, Cristina Martinez, Laurie Tomin, Alan Vega, Louisa Bradshaw, Danielle de Picciotto and Gordon W. Two of the surviving members of the band have gone on to join Einstürzende Neubauten and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

The mid-’80s heyday of the band and the Berlin underground scene surrounding it are immortalized in Berlin Now, which features Die Haut, Anita Lane and guest vocalist Paul Outlaw in a short film/music video for their song “Nevada.”