Harieschaim



Drangsal is a German new wave, post-punk and indie pop band. Members: Max Gruber: Vocals & Guitar (also Acoustic Guitar, Electric Bass, Electric Guitar, Electric Piano, Piano, Synthesizer, Drums, Drum Programming) Lukas Korn (Lyschko): Bass (also Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Piano, Electric Piano, Synthesizer, Drum Programming) Marvin Holley: Vocals, Guitar & Piano (also Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Electric Piano, Synthesizer, Voice) Until March 2025 Drangsal was the artist name of Max Gruber (born August 4, 1993, in Kandel) who is a German singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and author. His music draws influences from various genres, including new wave, post-punk and indie pop. From March 2025 on this name was used for the band. Max Gruber grew up with his older sister in Herxheim near Landau/Pfalz. At the age of eight, he received his first drum kit. He taught himself to play all instruments. Gruber is close friends with the band Sizarr, who come from nearby Landau, and through them he met his future producer Markus Ganter. He briefly studied English and American studies before dropping out after a few weeks. At 18, Gruber moved to Berlin but felt overwhelmed by the size of the city, so he moved with Sizarr singer Fabian Altstötter to Leipzig for a year. His artist name, Drangsal, was inspired by the name of a funeral home in Landau. As shown on the cover of his debut Harieschaim, the word is also tattooed on his right forearm. In September 2013, Drangsal released demo recordings of the songs Wolpertinger and Allan Align on SoundCloud. In 2016, he performed with a live band as the opening act for Kraftklub and Casper. The music video for his first official single Allan Align attracted media attention because actress Jenny Elvers starred in it. For Record Store Day 2016, he released a strictly limited 7 vinyl containing the songs Will ich nur dich, Zur blauen Stunde and Hinterkaifeck (All Diese Gewalt Remix). He later made them available as free downloads for six days. His debut album Harieschaim was released on April 22, 2016. The title refers to the Old High German name for his hometown, Herxheim. Gruber produced the album together with Markus Ganter. In the summer of 2016, Drangsal performed with a new live setup at numerous music festivals across Germany. A headlining tour through Germany, Austria and Switzerland followed in fall 2016 and continued in March 2017. Drangsal won the 2016 Preis für Popkultur in the category “Most Promising Newcomer.” At the Echo Awards 2017, he was nominated for “National Critics’ Award” with Harieschaim. In April 2017, Drangsal appeared on the TV show Circus HalliGalli as a musical guest alongside Kreator and the singer of Swedish band Ghost. He wore a nun costume during the performance. Between June and July 2017, Gruber hosted his own show on the private radio station Flux FM titled Praxis Dr. Angsal – Die Musiksprechstunde mit Max Gruber. Guests included Hendrik Otremba, Dagobert, Gurr and other musician friends. A second season followed in 2018, featuring guests such as DieLochis, Dirk von Lowtzow, Annette Humpe, Ilgen-Nur and Mille Petrozza. In summer 2017, Drangsal appeared as guest vocalist on Casper’s single Keine Angst. In the same year, he collaborated with Leslie Clio, Die Selektion and Berlin band Gewalt. He contributed a remix to Tokio Hotel’s Boy Don’t Cry in October 2017. In 2018, he and Max Rieger (Die Nerven) remixed Peter Heppner’s song ...und ich tanz’. Gruber has also appeared as a guest on songs by Leoniden, Blond and Sam Vance-Law. Since February 18, 2018, he co-hosts the podcast Mit Verachtung with Casper. On April 27, 2018, Drangsal released Zores, the follow-up to Harieschaim, produced with Markus Ganter and Max Rieger. The album entered the German charts at number 12 and received largely positive reviews. Rolling Stone highlighted its “brilliant basslines, bright-dark melodies, and memorable lyrical hooks,” and called ACME a “loud, powerful closing track.” The review concluded: “He’s very close to a great, effortless pop concept. And despite its apparent accessibility, his music remains willful and somewhat unpredictable.” Jochen Overbeck wrote in Musikexpress: “What a fiercely interesting album, what a guy.” His third album Exit Strategy was released on August 27, 2021, produced by Patrik Majer. The first single, Urlaub von mir, came out on April 22, 2021. The album reached number 6 on the German charts. On March 10, 2022, he published his literary debut Doch, a collection of autobiographical texts and poems. In 2020, Drangsal founded the supergroup Die Benjamins together with Annette Benjamin (Hans-A-Plast), Thomas Götz (Beatsteaks), Charlotte Brandi and Julian Knoth (Die Nerven). Their debut single Aus Liebe was released on April 28, 2023. The self-titled EP Die Benjamins, containing six songs, followed in June 2023. In 2016, Gruber also formed the indie pop duo Die Mausis with Stella Sommer (Die Heiterkeit). That June, they released their first song, a cover of Blue Moon by Rodgers & Hart. Die Mausis EP came out in 2017, followed by the 2018 holiday single A Mausi Christmas. Their debut album In einem blauen Mond was released in 2024 on the Käsescheiben label. It received broad critical acclaim. Andreas Borcholte (Der Spiegel) called the band “a stroke of luck for German pop,” while Jens Balzer (Die Zeit) described the album as “the most beautiful love songs of the summer.” Musikexpress awarded it 6 out of 6 stars. In March 2025, the single Ich hab von der Musik geträumt was released. Around this time, Max Gruber announced that Drangsal would no longer be a solo project but a full band. The band Drangsal now consists of Max Gruber, guitarist and producer Lukas Korn (Lyschko), and Marvin Holley. Gruber explained that the central figure of Drangsal had “split into three.” The band’s first album, Aus keiner meiner Brücken die in Asche liegen ist je ein Phönix emporgestiegen, was released on June 13, 2025, produced by Max Rieger (Die Nerven). His manager is Stephan Rath from Die Goldenen Zitronen. Drangsal's debut album is heavily influenced by synth pop and post-punk from the late 1970s and early 1980s. His inspirations include Depeche Mode and The Smiths. Gruber has also cited The B-52s, Prefab Sprout, XTC, Tool, The Residents and Ina Deter as influences. Zores marked a shift toward indie rock and pop, with a lighter tone; only a few songs (such as Arche Gruber and ACME) retained the darker sound of its predecessor. The album’s first single, Turmbau zu Babel, was often compared to the melodic style of Die Ärzte and Farin Urlaub. Drangsal himself denied that the move to German lyrics was the key reason for the stylistic change, noting that he had already released several songs in German before. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.