Duck and Cover (German band)

Duck and Cover
Duck and Cover performing at the Berliner Ensemble in East Berlin on 16 February 1984.
Background information
Origin	Germany
Genres	Avant-rock, free improvisation
Years active	1983–1984
Labels	Recommended
Associated acts	Art Bears, Cassiber, Skeleton Crew
Past members	Tom Cora Chris Cutler Fred Frith Heiner Goebbels Alfred Harth Dagmar Krause George Lewis

Duck and Cover were a multinational avant-rock septet founded in Germany in 1983, comprising Chris Cutler (UK), Heiner Goebbels (GER) and Alfred Harth (GER) from Cassiber; Tom Cora (US) and Fred Frith (UK) from Skeleton Crew; Dagmar Krause (GER) from Art Bears; and George Lewis (US) from the ICP Orchestra. The ensemble was initially commissioned for the 1983 Moers Festival at the request of festival director Burkhard Hennen to Alfred Harth.

Duck and Cover performed a 45-minute musical piece entitled "Berlin Programme" at the Berlin Jazz Festival in October 1983 in West Berlin, and again at the Festival of Political Songs in East Berlin in February 1984. Both performances were recorded and broadcast nationally. An edited version of the East Berlin broadcast was released in September 1985 on one side of the Rē Records Quarterly Vol.1 No.2 LP record.

Duck and Cover's name was taken from the duck and cover drill taught to school children in the United States between the late 1940s and the 1980s in the event of a nuclear attack. The escalation of Cold War hostilities between the United States and the Soviet Union in the early 1980s and the Europe-wide protests in 1983 at the deployment of Cruise, Pershing II and SS-20 missiles were the motivation behind the formation of this ensemble and its music. Before the second performance of the "Berlin Programme" in East Berlin, Heiner Goebbels made the following statement: