Originally signed to Chris Parry's Fiction Records, the band released Disco Rigido in the late 1980s (distributed in the United States by Atlantic Records), which featured "Welcome To America", "Land of the Free" and "I've Got To Make Sense". Though the album falls solidly into the EBM genre, it contains hints of the experimentation and genre-bending that later recordings would feature (e.g. "Y Tagata en Situ").
A second album, Big Electric Metal Bass Face, built on the foundation laid with Disco Rigido and upped the ante with excursions into funk (listen to "Funkopolis" as well as the live take of "Coming Down"). Contributors to the band at the time included Chris Vrenna and James Woolley, who both served time in Nine Inch Nails during the mid-Nineties.
Marcus and Christie then teamed up with Jane Jensen to form Oxygiene 23, and released an album ("Blue") on Fifth Column Records.
Engine, a 1995 release on WaxTrax!, was a huge jump forward and found critical acclaim for its decimation of genre boundaries. Die Warzau could no longer be simply pigeonholed into the "industrial" category, as their music became more organic, rounder on the edges yet still retaining their trademark knack for insistent rhythm and pure, unrefined electronic noise. "Liberated" and "All Good Girls" became trademark songs for the group. Fellow WaxTrax! act Sister Machine Gun "inherited" an unused song from this period ("Hole In the Ground"), which they included on their Burn album.
Die Warzau as a group then went on hiatus for a number of years, with Marcus and Christie working on other projects--Jim Marcus founded the pure funk group Everplastic while Van Christie worked on Eco-Hed.
By 2005, though, the duo had reconvened and released Convenience (on their Chicago-based Pulseblack Records). A continuation of the path they started on with Engine, songs like "Radiation Babies", "Kleen" and "Linoleum" further blur any genre lines and leave something truly original. More output is expected from the group in 2006, including a collaboration with funk pioneer George Clinton.
Red All Over
Die Warzau Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Sitting on the fences, you do what you like
Taking odds on me - breath short and tight
Hands round your back - skin long and white
25 at least - if you had to die
Too long an accident, you do what you like
Take away the need - no human time
No god'll take you now, you're red red
Red all over
Lean back and kneel - skin red and striped
No one can tell you what you feel in the night
Take away from me - see how I might - let go of everything
I'm red red
25 to life - no kind of life
Ripping all to pieces won't do what you like
Take out of me - take all I've got
You give me everything - I give it up
The lyrics of Die Warzau's Red All Over are cryptic and open-ended, leaving much for the listener to interpret. The song seems to be about someone who has been given a life sentence of 25 years, referred to repeatedly as "25 to life", and their struggle to find meaning within their constrained existence. The opening lines, "25 to life - some kind of life / Sitting on the fences, you do what you like" suggest a kind of lawless existence, one where rules are broken and boundaries are pushed without fear of consequence. However, the following lines, "Taking odds on me - breath short and tight / Hands round your back - skin long and white" could also be interpreted as a moment of fear, where the singer is captured and handcuffed, their freedom taken away. The ambiguous nature of the lyrics allows for multiple possible interpretations, and the listener is left to decide what this moment means for them.
The chorus of the song, "Red all over", is repeated several times throughout the lyrics, suggesting that the singer of the song is covered in blood. It is unclear whether this blood is literal or metaphorical - it could represent anger, passion, or violence. This possibility is explored in the lines, "Lean back and kneel - skin red and striped / No one can tell you what you feel in the night". The singer seems to be struggling with their own emotions and desires, seeking to understand what they feel and why. The final lines of the song, "You give me everything - I give it up", suggest a sense of resignation or surrender, as though the singer has given up their struggle for control over their own life.
Line by Line Meaning
25 to life - some kind of life
Being trapped or imprisoned for a long time may seem like life, but it's not really living.
Sitting on the fences, you do what you like
Choosing to be neutral or indecisive allows you to act without taking responsibility for the consequences of your actions.
Taking odds on me - breath short and tight
Gambling or taking risks with someone's life can cause anxiety and tension.
Hands round your back - skin long and white
Physical restraint or control over someone can be oppressive and leave visible marks.
25 at least - if you had to die
If you had a choice, you wouldn't want to die before having experienced a long life.
Too long an accident, you do what you like
Being stuck in a bad situation for so long can make you feel helpless, causing you to pursue actions based on personal desire.
Take away the need - no human time
When no one needs you or you feel a lack of purpose, time seems meaningless or wastes away quickly.
No god'll take you now, you're red red
If there was a higher power, they wouldn't take responsibility for your current state of being, which may be full of anger, guilt, or self-destruction.
Red all over
This phrase is repeated to emphasize feeling overwhelmed by negative emotions or events.
Lean back and kneel - skin red and striped
Submitting to someone else or something can be experienced as a violent act of control, leaving emotional or physical scars.
No one can tell you what you feel in the night
Your emotions in isolation or darkness are personal and not for others to dictate or understand.
Take away from me - see how I might - let go of everything
The artist is willing to give up all possessions, responsibilities, and relationships as an attempt to be free from pain or oppression.
I'm red red
Once again, the repetition of this phrase emphasizes the overwhelming feeling of negative emotions or events taking over the singer.
25 to life - no kind of life
This line repeats earlier sentiments, portraying imprisonment or stuckness as a life not worth living.
Ripping all to pieces won't do what you like
Destroying everything in your path or relationships out of anger won't satisfy personal desire or bring happiness.
Take out of me - take all I've got
The artist is willing to give everything they have, including emotional and physical energy, to be free from pain or control.
You give me everything - I give it up
The artist has been dependent on someone or something for everything, but is now willing to let go of those things to be free from pain or oppression.
Contributed by Colton G. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
3vi1J
These guys had the misfortune of letting their talent be seen at almost exactly the same time Nirvana broke through. I probably bought both of their albums within a couple of months of each other. Nirvana definitely had more hits, but that piano song on the end of Die Warzau.....
Mycsisters reviews
This tape was in heavy rotation in my car back in 1991
Andres StateOfLove
I remember Die Warzau from the Institute and club Trees in Dallas,its hard to forget those good shows. I still have their CD in my truck.
pais parker
they should have been Bigger,, !!!!They were my shit in 88, way before anyone heard of prodigy,, they were Chicago's undergrounds best
Jan Marie Sanchez
hard industrial kicks ass. seen them with nin at the institue in dallas.now im nothing.
Sparky Bonehead
a song about the last time i went to the beach
Joe Schmid
i saw them 20 years ago at the troc in philly the show was great and there couldnt have been 150 people there!