Bamboo Industry

Bamboo Industry was founded in Berlin, Germany in 1983, by Ingo Ito and George DIN (see Gabriel Le Mar and George DIN). They originally conceived Bamboo Industry as a pop-duo project, mixing industrial sounds with influences of traditional asian music. After they had recorded their first demo-tapes this way, they were joined by additional musicians and the musical concept shifted to an alternative pop band of the eighties with a touch of Bamboo. The first band line-up in 1985 was: * Ingo Ito: guitars + lead vocals

After they had recorded their first demo-tapes this way, they were joined by additional musicians and the musical concept shifted to an alternative pop band of the eighties with a touch of Bamboo.

The first band line-up in 1985 was:

* Ingo Ito: guitars + lead vocals
* George DIN: acoustic guitars + lead vocals
* Robin Loxley: keyboards

They were joined some time later by bass player Susa Lie and live drummer Nick. This five piece band started to do concerts in Berlin and Germany in 1987, starting with a bummer show at a club called "Der geteilte Elektriker" (The Split Electrician).

One of their concerts was visited by Heiko Maile of Camouflage and this started a fruitful connection between Bamboo Industry/Ingo Ito and Camouflage for the next 10 years or so.

George DIN also started some side projects on his own, which made him meet Gabriel Le Mar, with whom he?s still doing records today. But during the following years, DIN frequently joined Bamboo Industry for live concerts and studio work.

The first Bamboo Industry records were the singles "Hypnotized" and "No Words", both produced by Gareth Jones (Depeche Mode, Einst?rzende Neubauten). While "Hypnotized" had a major release in 1984, "No Words" was unfortunately never released, due to an argument with the record company.

In 1988 a side project of Bamboo Industry emerged: The B.h.h. - a world-music-disco project, contributing music to the "Kunst-Disco" of the german Goethe-Institut, during the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, including several life performances of The B.h.h. in Seoul.

In 1989 Bamboo Industry realized their first album "Tortured By Pleasure" with two single releases: "Catherine Wheel" and "Shake Hands With The Devil".
On the album the basic band-members were joined by several guest musicians among others Hans Behrendt (Ideal) and Heiko Maile (Camouflage).

A bunch of live concerts followed and eventually in 1990 a new line-up was formed for recording and playing live:

* Ingo Ito: lead vocals, guitar + guitar synthesizer
* Susa Lie: bass + vocals
* Gabriel Le Mar: bass + guitar
* Lorenz Allacher: saxophone + keyboards
* Hans Schumann: drums

Unfortunately their major record company wasn?t interested in continuing the project, despite to Bamboo Industry?s successful life concerts. Finally, after a few more appearances on German television, the chapter Bamboo Industry was closed.

Ingo Ito managed to organize a studio session by himself to work on new material with the musicians and the result was the beginning of Rain On Bamboo.


But in the vaults there still are many tapes with unreleased material by Bamboo Industry and in the upcoming time you?ll find information about new releases here, on the News page and in the Download-Store.

The first release is a live album, which was recorded on two occasions at the famous "Quasimodo" Club in the heart of Berlin in January/February 1991.
"Bamboo Industry - Versus The Sham Man - Live" shows the band in a play- and powerful mood and the outstanding performances will surely enthuse listeners today all the same as the audience 16 years ago.

The second release in October 2009, called "Hong Kong Memories", is filled with previously unreleased material, mainly circling around the asian side of Bamboo Industry. Some tracks are studio rough-mixes, some are demos and some final productions.
These songs and recordings are a bit like sketches in a diary about a journey you had made a long time ago ? and many years later you?re leafing through all these memories and try to give them a consistent shape.