MICF: Die Roten Punkte

Brother and sister band Die Roten Punkte (The Red Dots), after a whirlwind international tour and spectacular chart successes in Albania and Chechnya have returned to Melbourne, one of their favourite cities.

The Eurosmash Tour builds on the themes of the previous album Kunstrock (Art Rock) tour. Not content to just be producing hits, the siblings want to be taken seriously as artists – as they say, to be “deep and wide”. The Rot’s are best at though at what has been referred to as “tongue in cheek rock”, giving audiences a show they can laugh and rock out to.

Astrid and Otto Rot have been performing together since in their teens, and have put together a tightly scripted and entertaining show showcasing a number of clever pop songs with beats reminiscent of bands like Devo, Kraftwork and New Order. But like all families, The Rot’s have just a smidgen of sibling rivalry, and this provides the fuel for much hilarious loving abuse between the two, and an insight into their personalities – Otto the clean living raw food spiritualist contrasts with his junk-food loving sister who has benefitted from some recent drug and alcohol rehab.

Fans of Die Roten Punkte will know that Astrid (drums) and Otto (guitars) were born in Berlin and tragically orphaned on Astrid’s 12^th birthday. Whether their parents were run over by a train or eaten by a lion (Otto’s version) remains a bone of contention between them, and inspires one of their funniest songs Ich Bin Nicht Ein Roboter (I am a lion). Astrid’s sacrifice, to provide Otto with an education while living in a Berlin squat inspires a pop-opera in this show; other great songs include the infectious upbeat opening “Do you speak dance” and I wanna go to Tokyo”.

Die Roten Punkte have just a short season at the Spiegeltent. While this is not the best venue to see the band – let’s face it, the layout doesn’t lend itself to dancing and rocking out – it’s well worth catching this duo before they jet off.