Mr. Wit, there are many romantic notions about punk rock and why it should still be played: send a message, change society, contribute to world revolution…

Wit: If you wanted to do all that, you’d have to be convinced to know the right messages, the necessary changes, and the proper goals of world revolution. You’d have to want to play god, which means you’d have to be insane. I for my part am very fond of my mental health.

So why play punk rock?

Wit: Rock’n’Roll is a great fuel, especially when it comes to punk rock. On a good night, a band can set hearts on fire, make freedom tangible, blow people’s brains out, make room for ideas undreamt of.

What kind of ideas: messages, changes, world revolution?

Wit: Any form of Rock’n’Roll circles around a longing: How we want to live – and how we’d rather not. The founding conception of punk rock as a form of expression for everyone is democratic to the core. That includes civil rights and liberties, of course, and it IMHO definitely excludes narrow-mindedness, prejudice and resentment.

Most songs the Investigators play were written about 40 years ago. That is very old school. How can they still set hearts on fire?

Wit: They haven’t lost any of their energy and the bands back then referred to a lot of issues that are even more pressing now. “Your future dream is a shopping scheme“, Johnny Rotten sang in 1977, and look what it’s come to: consumer data is the new currency and astoundingly many simply accept that and play along willingly. Privacy is water under the bridge. Charlie Harper, singer in the U.K. Subs, accurately stated at a recent show: „I don’t want to say we told you so, but we did.“