AnnenMayKantereit – 21, 22, 23

AnnenMayKantereit. Even if this band name sounds a bit complicated at first, it’s actually really easy to explain its source: The pseudonym of these three musicians from Cologne results from putting the three band members’ names together - Christopher ANNEN plays the guitar and harmonica, Henning MAY sings and plays the piano and Severin KANTEREIT sits at the drum kit.

But AnnenMayKantereit have much more to offer than just an unusual band name. They formed in 2011 shortly after finishing high school together and in these first years primarily made one thing: street music. This experience impacted the trio so deeply that in 2013 they recorded and produced their first album, AnnenMayKantereit, single-handedly, not in a recording studio, but outside, in the open. The reason? AnnenMayKantereit wanted to capture their “street sound” as much as possible on the recording. “It was really important for us to record outside, because we always played outside. It was really nice to record the album while looking up at the sky.”

The band acquired Germany-wide fame with its first single, Wohin du gehst (Wherever you go), in 2014. A club tour around Germany was followed by a summer packed with music festivals and a fall where the trio opened for German music greats like the Beatsteaks and Clueso – what a feat for this young band! 2015 also started out with a burst: in many cities, the club tour through Germany was so quickly sold out that the concerts had to be moved into larger venues.

AnnenMayKantereit play a mix of blues, pop, and rock with singer-songwriter elements. They want their songs to show „how love and life tear them up, bewilder them but at the same time fire up their imagination.”Whoever hears Henning‘s interpretation of the lyrics they all write together, with his deep, unmistakable voice, believes this immediately.