Name: SEX BEAT
Members: Jonas Reinhardt, Rosa Merino Claros, Florian Pühs, Gabor Gold
Interviewee: Florian Pühs
Nationality: German
Current release: SEX BEAT's sophomore album Crack is out June 10th 2025 via This Charming Man.
Recommendations for Berlin, Germany: Support the Berlin club scene while it lasts. Subscribe to t.me/berlingigs on Telegram and visit as many shows as possible.
Topic that I am passionate about but rarely get to talk about: It’s good to keep some passions private :-) And you really don't want to get me started talking about marathon training.  

If you enjoyed this SEX BEAT interview and would like to find out more about the band, their releases and upcoming live dates, visit them on Instagram, and bandcamp.



When it comes to experiencing the sensation of “energy” as as a listener, which albums, performances, and artists come to mind?

As a pretty angry teenager, punk and hardcore picked me up with the very first sound.

The first Dischord releases and especially the first EP by Minor Threat are still indicators of energy and urgency for me.



In terms of live experiences, probably nothing comes close to At The Drive-In.

There can be many different kinds of energy in art – soft, harsh, healing, aggressive, uplifting and many more. Which do you tend to feel drawn to most?

Sex Beat works primarily through anger and that is also our motivation for making music.

Playing loud and fast music that primarily sounds angry to the listener also has a healing and uplifting effect on us.

I have had a hard time explaining that listening to death metal calms me down. When you listen to a song with a particular energy, does it tend to fill you with the same energy – or are there “paradoxical” effects?

I find that very understandable. I believe, for example, that we are brought up at an early age to suppress anger or at least not to present it publicly. This feeling then builds up and certain music, such as death or black metal or punk, resonates perfectly with this build-up anger.

Listening to such music can have a cathartic effect and you find peace in the confirmation.

When I'm about to burst in anger or into tears, all I have to do is listen to Divide and Conquer by Hüsker Dü and I feel embraced and happy.
 


In as far as it plays a role for the music you like listening to or making, what role do words and the voice of a vocalist play for the transmission of energy?

I have to admit that the relevance for me personally is becoming less and less.

There are records that I heard for the first time at 17 or 18 and I can still sing along to every word today. That has also changed a lot in relation to my own lyrics. For me, meanwhile, the jambus of the singer is more important than the actual meaning of words or sentences.

Singing can be used very individually. Harmonically or rhythmically. When I notice that singers are aware of this and use their voice in different ways, it can really inspire me.  

When it comes to composing / songwriting, are you finding that spontaneity and just a few takes tend to capture energy best? Or does honing a piece bring you closer to that goal?

At Sex Beat, we encounter physical energy above all when we work or play together in the rehearsal room or on stage. Songwriting, but above all arranging music, requires mental and physical effort and releases great energy in moments of success, which can have an incredibly intense effect.

The nice thing is that you can always recall this feeling at live concerts - at best amplified by the reaction of the audience.

How do you capture the energy you want in the studio?

None of us likes being in the studio. That's why we produced the new album ourselves in the rehearsal room. For us, the song is sealed together during the rehearsal and the recording only serves to capture the moment.

We would probably find cooperation with others annoying. For us the recording process is nothing but pure physics and less of a creative process. This is our tried and tested working method. It may work differently in other constellations.

For your current release, what kind of energy were you looking for?

Anger, restlessness and a lot of cynicism.

What role do factors like volume, effects like distortion, amplification, and production in general for in terms of creating the energy you want?

The sound is extremely critical for the energy of a band and an important part of our work in the rehearsal room.

We have invested in a very good setup in the rehearsal room that allows us to work on sounds and at the same time work with dynamics in the rehearsal room, for example with volume and distortion.

I think too many bands go into the studio without having considered these aspects in their songwriting. It's just as important to consider the basics of the frequency spectrum in songwriting. If all the sounds overlap, it can negatively affect the energy of the guitar or vocals and then you're in the studio cranking knobs and wondering why it's not banging.

How does the presence of the audience and your interaction with it change the energy of the music and how would you describe the creative interaction with listeners during a gig?

The audience always has the power to amplify the band's energy. We are incredibly grateful when that happens. But it's also important to us that we can perform on a Monday evening in front of 20 people who are tired from work.

My most important musical socialization took place in the DIY punk scene. It was like 50 lost souls got together in some youth center. Then 5 of the people would go on stage, leave 20 minutes of sweat and tears on stage and then disappear into the crowd again and the next 4 people would go on stage.

Concerts are still a very collective experience for me and often I'm still confused about the boundary between artist and audience at bigger club shows. It makes me more insecure because I suddenly feel a pressure of expectation.

I guess its some sort of stage fright. When the energy of the audience spreads to the stage, it relieves the pressure.

What kind of feedback have you received from listeners or concert audiences in terms of the experience that your music and/or performances have had on them?

I don't usually notice much of it, but from what I gather, we're also a band that people like to watch because there's a lot of movement on stage.

Counter photographers love Sex Beat concerts :)

Would you say that you prefer to stay in control to be able to shape the energy or do you surrender to it and allow the music to take over? Who, ultimately has control during a live performance?

As a singer, and especially as a singer, I certainly have the role of a conductor at live shows. Not so much in terms of the band - our drummer is in control here - but in terms of the audience and the energy of the show.

We usually let it flow or try to light the fire.

The energy that music is able to generate can be extremely powerful. How, do you think, can artists make use of this energy to bring about change in the world?

We are all deeply rooted in the punk scene. Our music is always subversive and is our means of political participation. It's important to us to maintain a connection to the DIY scene.

I believe that subversive music makes people feel, and those feelings turn into ideas and positive actions in a dysfunctional world.