FAIN

THE FORCES

THE STORY

Hamburg, early 1980s. Around the indie label ZickZack Records, a scene is growing that has no name for itself – and yet it is very much alive. Boytronic hit the German charts with You. Xmal Deutschland and Palais Schaumburg bridge Hamburg's underground and British New Wave. Synthesizers and drum machines are no longer tools – they are the instrument.

In Bremen, Matthias Rewig, Otto Berninghausen, Andreas Pogoda and Wiltert Wilts found First Aircrash in Nevada in 1982. Synth-pop, minimal wave, English lyrics – recorded at PAP-Studio on BASF chrome-dioxide cassettes. The music quickly finds an audience beyond the region: in Berlin, Depeche Mode's inner circle – including Martin Gore – produces a video for the band. Even after the band dissolves, First Aircrash in Nevada never disappears: decades later the cassette is celebrated in underground blogs and continues to circulate among minimal synth collectors worldwide. Wilts eventually departs. The remaining members go their separate ways – for many years.

MATTHIAS REWIG

Rewig moves to Hamburg and becomes a defining figure of the city's electronic music scene. As resident DJ at the Kir (1988–1994) he discovers Project Pitchfork, produces their first demo cassette and accompanies the band through their first four albums – laying the foundation for one of the most successful careers in German electro-wave. Productions for Girls Under Glass, Peter Spilles and Aurora Sutra follow. In 1986 he co-founds nhb Studios, today one of Germany's most influential music production houses. He continues to release his own music as a solo artist to this day.

OTTO BERNINGHAUSEN

Otto Berninghausen moves to London – and stays for nine years. By day he works as a scientist; by night he samples the sounds of the city's independent music scene and performs with noise generators at friends' guitar-rock gigs. Industrial, dark electronic, the raw edges of London's underground all seep in. When he returns, he brings a new approach: psychedelic EBM music that sounds as if someone had fed the Bremen 80s through a London basement studio.

THE FORCES — DEBUT SINGLE

On 1 March 2026, FAIN releases The Forces – and the title says it all: it bears the name of a track from 1984, originally the fifth song on the cassette's B-side. The voice on the track belongs to Andreas Pogoda, co-founder and singer of First Aircrash in Nevada, who died of a brain tumour in 2021. Matthias and Otto painstakingly reconstructed his voice and let him sing one last time. An act of grief – and of art. Four music videos were produced for the single. 

In the main video, the current band members encounter their younger selves from the 80s – avatars of who they once were – and together relive their shared history. The remaining three videos form a trilogy: a journey through darkness, flight, apocalypse and salvation. 

Going forward, FAIN will work with a rotating cast of guest vocalists.

RELEASES

2026 — FAIN — The Forces — Single · Dedicated to Andreas Pogoda · 4 music videos 2018 — First Aircrash in Nevada — VIP (Re-Release) — Electric Romeo Records 1984 — First Aircrash in Nevada — First Aircrash in Nevada — Cassette · PAP-Studio Bremen · Synth-Pop / Minimal Wave

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