John Rose (1951), Johannes Bauer (1954-2016), Peter Hollinger (1954-2021), Dietmar Diesner (1955) first met to play concerts in the former East Germany in 1987 - two from West Berlin and two from the East. There were no songs, rules, or discussion of aesthetics. However a certain mix of recognisable structures became evident over the bands 10 year existence - free improvisation, rock grooves, noise, dadaist humour, some moments of theatre, and genre pastiche.
In 1992, the band called Slawterhaus played in Austria at the Schlachthof Wels. "Such a coincidence of extra musicality can hardly be imagined", write jazz critic Bert Nolgik in the liner notes. "In the quartet, the extension of material individually persued by the participants on their instruments, accoustic as well as electronic, potentizes itself. The various dimensions of this catch one’s ear: orchestral effects of a small group. In a further sense it is the complexity of musical levels: the coexistence and togetherness of different styles, the switching between a number of supposedly advanced cultures and subcultures.Rock, Pop, Funk, Punk, Noise and forms of playing,quotations, persiflage, parody. Unexpected changes in pace and directon. The living on of the virtues of FreeJazz in conjunction with making full use of the experience accumulatedt hrough various listening and playing prozess… Music as a celebration of the moment with the undertones of euphoria, reflection, pure desire and wild anger… Mobile architecture,moving sounds, earth-shattering and incredibly beautiful."
