Widowspeak
Kødbyen, 2012
It’s birthday time! Widowspeak’s drummer Michael is turning 23 on the day we meet them at KB18, a small venue in Copenhagen’s meatpacking district. There’s birthday cake and pizza backstage, but we leave the cosy, candlelit and – above all – warm room to head out into the “meat city”, a quickly developing area in Vesterbro with a lot of cultural businesses and venues, but also still quite some meat industry around. A little bit of climbing is involved to get to the location for the first video: long rows of parked wholesale market shopping cars. Molly, Robert and Michael make themselves as comfortable as it gets in this rather industrial environment and head into “Harsh Realm”, a beautifully-dark song from their self-titled debut record. Fingers are getting cold and the wind starts blowing more, so we decide to head indoors again for a second song. The Brooklyn-based trio (with roots in Tacoma and Chicago) suggests the candlelit backstage area and we happily follow, getting to hear an inspired version of “Limbs”. And now let’s have some cake!
- Camera
- Michael Luger
- Sound Recording
- Bence Kováts
- Post production
- Michael Luger
- Photography
- Tom Spray
- Artist
- Widowspeak
Kødbyen
Kødbyen literally translates as meat city and – according to The Guardian – currently is “the hippest area in town”. The new hotspot of Copenhagen’s nightlife is located behind the central railway station in the Vesterbro district and is home of several cutting edge arts galleries, creative businesses, bars, clubs and restaurants. But the meat industry has not disappeared – it’s still very present: When trendy party people leave Karriere Bar, Jolene or KB18 in the early morning hours they may very well run into meat workers arriving to start their morning shift. The area consists of the so-called brown, white and grey parts, referring to the dominant colour of the buildings. The brown Kødby is the oldest part and dates back to 1883 with the main structure being Øksnehallen, a huge cattle hall that is now used for exhibitions. The white meat city was erected in the 1930s in modernist style. The redevelopment of the area started around 2000 with the aim to create a mixed-use place for meat industries and cultural businesses.