Jeans Team

Emerging from Berlin, Jeans Team produced straightforward electronic pop laced with punk energy that aligned with the electroclash surge of the early 2000s while originating earlier and enduring afterward. The outfit originated in 1995 at the Gallerie Berlintokio nightclub in Berlin-Mitte, where co-founders Franz Schütte and Reimo Herfort first performed together as a video and performance art pair, an era captured in the 1996 45-minute video Baby. Adopting the Jeans Team name from a discarded 1970s neon sign discovered on a shop in the Wedding district—a relic that later appeared on album artwork and at concerts—the pair redirected efforts toward music and grew into a quartet by adding drummer Henning Watkinson and guitarist Gunther Kreis, both encountered via the club. In 1998 the group issued the self-released singles "Hi Fans" and "Ein Atom" on their own Nadel Eins label before moving to Kitty-Yo, home to Peaches, Gonzales, and Maximilian Hecker, for the 2000 album Ding Dong and its single "Keine Melodien." That track’s memorable melodic riff, robotic pulse, and spare German lyrics achieved modest global reach, prompting a Peaches cover and selection by 2 Many DJ's for a mixtape. Following the 2002 EP Gold und Silber, Jeans Team switched to the new Louisville Records imprint for Musik von Oben in 2005 and the less electronic Kopf Auf in 2006, both tracked at the Nadel Eins studio and headquarters. Although Watkinson has since exited, the remaining members sustain energetic worldwide tours, frequently appearing as the core duo of Schütte and Herfort, while also pursuing solo DJ sets and occasional remixes for artists such as Ciëlo, Pluxus, and Peter Bjorn and John.