They look like splashes of color in a black and white photo on this rainy autumn day in Lucerne, Switzerland’s unofficial Guggenmusik capital. Marc Reichen, stage name Mäge, and Rafael Graf, stage name EffE, both 33 years old, pose for a photo on the steps of town hall in Untere Egg, wearing purple and turquoise fantasy uniforms.
Ladder where every Gugge has stopped at least once to play during the carnival in February. A few people running around with umbrellas seem interested today. Mäge says she has the feeling that a few of them are already winking at her. “You obviously feel the anticipation.”
Carnival season officially begins on November 11th. Then the album “Gugge 3000” will be released, named after the project in which Mäge and EffE want to conquer the charts and stir up the Swiss concert scene. He combines the sounds of brass, timpani and drums and Guggenmusik with electronic beats and lyrics, and can easily shout even with high alcohol content.
Six years as drummer with Füdlichnübler
The two fathers have “always” been colleagues, as they say. And although Mäge, who lives in Hittnau ZH, works as a social worker and singer in a heavy metal cover band in different circles than EffE from Emmenbrücke LU. He has made a name for himself as a dialect rapper over the past few decades and has worked as a postman until recently.
Mäge says the idea to make Guggen music cool came naturally with a beer. He played timpani for six years in Wangen ZH’s Füdlichnübler. It’s a pity that this music is only available to the public for a few days at a time. “We want to celebrate them all year long.”
Swiss Hitfabrik production
The fact that Mäge and EffE were able to persuade Swiss music production company Hitmill shows that this project is not a crazy idea. Hitmill founder Roman Camenzind (46) and his colleagues have a good idea of what kind of music is in demand in Switzerland. The last member of the Hitmill production team and dialect pop musician Severin Häne (30), also known as ZID, produced 13 songs from the Gugge 3000 debut album.
They don’t sound different from most things we know from pop music. For example, the rhythm of the first single “3000” is reminiscent of the sound of American marching bands performing some of their biggest hits, with stars like Beyoncé (41), Madonna (64), and Gwen Stefani (53). .
Or the song “Flicke”: It could be a club with hits by EDM bands like Major Lazer, apart from the lyrics. In terms of content, the songs are so silly in many places that it’s still fun. “We try not to take ourselves too seriously,” EffE says. He calls it confetti punk, when songs like “Ohni level” say “Greetings from the bottom drawer to the top floor”, there’s actually something subversive about it.
Each song plays a different Gugge
The album was originally recorded in an earlier version with a long-time studio group and was about to be released. But then Corona came. “Suddenly we had an unexpected time,” Mäge says. They would ask themselves why they didn’t record each song with a different Swiss Gugge.
A Tour de Suisse has started from Basel to Schränz-Gritte, from Welschenrohr SO to Böögge Brätscher or from Leibstadt AG to Seifesüder. EffE says they recognized the diversity of the Swiss Guggen scene during this time. “We worked with Guggen, who only accepts musicians who can study music as members. The other Guggen drew lots before the recordings to see who would play which instrument.”
The “original carnival feel” of Gugge 3000 songs should also be evident in live performances. Depending on where the duo is performing, another Gugge may join them on a raised platform on stage. The Glöggli clique will do this for the first time at its record launch on 11 November at Pentorama in Amriswil TG. The concert takes place as part of the Schälläfäscht pre-Carnival event.