Formed in Berlin in 1982, the German ensemble Die Haut—whose name means “the Skin”—originally featured Christoph Dreher, Remo Park, Martin Peter, and Thomas Wylder. Although the group operated primarily as an instrumental outfit, it drew notice through a rotating roster of guest singers, among them Nick Cave, who contributed vocals to four tracks on the band’s first album, Burnin’ the Ice, issued in 1983. Subsequent releases brought further guest appearances from Kid Congo Powers, Anita Lane, Debbie Harry, Mick Harvey, Jeffrey Lee Pierce, Blixa Bargeld, Lydia Lunch, and Alan Vega. Despite numerous personnel shifts across the years, the project remained centered on Christoph Dreher and Remo Park throughout most of the 1980s. When Park departed in 1985, Rainer Lingk stepped in and stayed until 1997, the year the group issued its final official album, Spring. A collection of remixes drawn from that record, titled Springer, appeared the following year. Both Remo Park and Christoph Dreher have since pursued separate endeavors that have extended well into the twenty-first century.
