Rossi & Offel

“Rossi & Offel” a duo like Rampe and Sau

Anyone who has strolled along the Reeperbahn in the past 20 years and enjoyed themselves in the relevant music bars along the sinful mile may not immediately remember it  due to excessive alcohol consumption, but it is very likely that they have already seen the Hamburg veteran Offel live one of the many stages in St. Pauli.

But at the latest when Offel opens his mouth and starts to sing, most of the pennies will drop, because a voice like his is not easily forgotten: smoky and snotty, sometimes a bit megalomaniac maybe, but always with plenty of soul – just like the Hamburg neighborhood.

The fact that he also plays the guitar as if it were a part of him only makes him go even faster on stage. The performances with his former Hamburg cult band Kongo Skulls are legendary.

His musical foundation, legal guardian and partner in crime is Rossi van Houten, who claims to have been playing the double bass for longer than he can remember. It is rumored that he was already plucking rhythmically at his umbilical cord before birth.

With his groovy bass licks, Rossi is the ramp on which Offel can let off steam. Whether as street musicians at the Landungsbrücken or on the stage in Hugo Egon Balder’s cult bar Zwick on the Reeperbahn, together they delight the night owls with interpretations of well-known songs by Depeche Mode, Genesis and Bruce Springsteen or heat up with ACDC and rock’n’roll classics.