Cult German Post-Punk Band Days of Sorrow Receives Special Vinyl Compilation “Whatever Happens”

Our Senior Editor Frank Deserto has championed a few obscure acts over the years at his beloved Systems of Romance blog, which to many is a treasured archive of out of print post-punk and wave that sometimes helps lead to reissue campaigns after resurgence of interest.

One such campaign is from Dead Wax Records, who are releasing on vinyl the new compilation Whatever Happens, that collects the two releases from German post-punk band Days of Sorrow. The record takes its name from the lyric “whatever happens when boy meets girl”, from the band’s cult classic song “Wild World”.

There are two versions “Wild World”, with one featured on 1984’s 12 inch EP Remember The Days and the other on 1986’s A Thousand Faces. It is the latter release that most listeners will be more familiar with, with the 1984 version above sounding brighter after an entirely different intro.

Along both versions of “Wild World”, and the original track listing of each release is the inclusion two previously unreleased tracks  “Break My Silence” and “It’s About Time”, both of which have been retrieved from the second EP’s 1986 recording sessions.

There are three more unreleased songs included on the digital release of the collection, including “Youth”, “Venus and Back”, and “Dianne”.

Here is an updated bio on the band courtesy of Dead Wax Records.

“William Lennox (vocals, keyboards) and André Schreiber (bass) attended the same school in a small town north of Dortmund (Germany) in 1981. The post-punk / new wave movement was at its boiling height and they decided to start a band. This was the birth of DAYS OF SORROW. The first four piece line-up was completed with Wolfram Hubert (guitar) and Nicolai Sabotka (drums).

One day of 1984, whilst rehearsing, John Tollhaus overheard them by chance, playing their song ‘Wild World’. As John entered the rehearsal room, he immediately offered the band to release this song on a new wave sampler that he was planning. After staying for the entire rehearsal, he changed his mind; instead of including the song on a sampler, he would release a complete 12” through his label. Several months later the first 12” EP ‘Remembering the Days’ was produced by Frank Becking and published by Tollhaus Records. By then the band was playing plenty of live gigs all over Germany.

Later in 1985, Claudio Stöber joined the band to relieve William from the keyboards so that he could focus on singing and Kurt Voigt substituted Nicolai on the drums. Rainer Kitzmann replaced John Tollhaus as band manager and DoS signed a contract with Rough Trade Records. Nine new songs plus a new version of ‘Wild World’ were recorded, which would have completed a full album but for some reason it wasn’t released as such and the second 12” EP was conceived instead. ‘A thousand Faces’ saw the light in the early 1987. Some months later, shortly ahead of a scheduled Spanish tour, the band split up.”

Order Whatever Happens here.

Days of Sorrow- Original 12” Discography