More about The Base

The Graz-based trio The Base formed in 1989 from the remnants of the middle school band Carello Kocmoc. The founding members are Norbert Wally, Karlheinz Miklin Jr., and Heinz Nussbaumer. It was only with their 4-track debut "Jet Crash Kills" (1996) that the band gained nationwide recognition and airplay on national radio stations in Austria. Their first full-length album, "Ducks And Diners," featuring eleven songs, was released in 1999.  In 2002, Heinz Nussbaumer left the band, and Albrecht Klinger joined as the bassist. In December 2002, they released a live recording titled "Toasted@TiB," recorded during a performance at the Graz Theater im Bahnhof and sold immediately after the concert. That same year, the "Gunter-Falk-Gala" was performed in Graz and Vienna in collaboration with theater director Hubsi Kramar. In 2003, The Base recorded "Sunday Morning Rituals." At the beginning of 2006, they released a double album "Things To Remember/Ways To Forget," which featured one CD with calm songs and another with harder tracks.

Following the release of their best-of album "15 For The Jukebox," they released "16 Songs in Self Defense" in 2009, which brought the band massive airplay and a nomination in the top 5 of the Amadeus Awards. In February 2011, "Tested Under Extreme Conditions" was released, followed by numerous live concerts (including performances in London and as the opening act for the American indie-folk band Firewater), culminating in a joint performance with Element of Crime at the Vienna Burgtheater.

In February 2013 "Secret Second Thoughts," was released. In 2012/13, after having several songs featured in film soundtracks (Contact High, Die Lebenden, Der König von Deutschland...), The Base produced the entire score for Michael Glawogger's last film, "Die Frau mit einem Schuh."

In March 2015, "Where Is My Weather" was released, and in June 2015, The Base performed a series of shows at the Graz Opera as part of the dance theater "Blame It on the Moondog," which was not only choreographed to the band's music but also accompanied live by the musicians. In 2016, The Base contributed several songs to Michael Ostrowski's film "Hotel Rock ‘N‘ Roll," in which the musicians also appeared on screen as themselves. In the same year, in the spring, The Base began recording their twelfth album, "Disco Bazaar," which was released at the end of June 2017.

Amidst their Austria-wide tour for "Disco Bazaar," The Base began a joint project with the Jazz Orchestra Styria, initiated by orchestra leader Sigi Feigl. The idea was to have a handful of The Base's songs completely rearranged into a big band format by young Styrian composers. Songs from the earliest and latest Base albums, including some never performed live before, were selected. This X-Large fusion project premiered on May 4 and 5, 2018, at the Graz generalmusikdirektion and was recorded live. On January 24, 2019, "The Big Base Band" was presented live to a sold-out house at Vienna's Porgy & Bess.

In April 2019, The Base began recording "Tribal Instincts," a double album without guest musicians and overdubs, recorded in a rustic country house in the Slovenian Karst region. The album tour lasted until early March 2020, just before the COVID-19 lockdown began. In spring 2021, The Base recorded another studio album in the familiar setting of the Mischerei in Graz. "Lick a Stone Kill a Fly" was released in January 2022. In September 2024, their 16th album, "It’s All Going South," will hit the stores.