Music made in Grafing: A portrait of the duo “Feinrot” – Ebersberg

“Freie Musik Werkstatt” is emblazoned on the outside of the conspicuously light blue little house. Instruments stand, hang and lie in every room and exude their very own, fundamentally friendly energy. This is where Pauline Weindorf and Daniel Fritz live, possibly better known by their band name fine red. As a duo, the two Grafingers act as a party and, above all, wedding band, and although they also write their own songs, they have primarily specialized in creative covers. But anyone who thinks that Feinrot simply tears down popular titles as dance-appropriate as possible is far from it, because the couple makes a real art out of adapting well-known songs to their own tonal language and personality. But how does such a duo manage to make ends meet in this crisis-ridden time? Does the forced abstinence from the stage possibly even awaken new creative power?

What is immediately noticeable when meeting Feinrot is an admirable satisfaction that both radiate. There is no question that Pauline Weindorf and Daniel Fritz are passionate about what they do. In their music workshop, the two have created a microcosm of possibilities, the facets of which make up their lives. Pupils are taught here, there are several rehearsal rooms and even a small recording studio. At least three pianos, a handful of electric basses and guitars including a ukulele, several percussion instruments and drum sets can be seen on a tour of the little house, which not only becomes unique through extravagances such as a mirrored ceiling in the bathroom or a futuristic banister, but above all through the bundling of musical influences that took place there.

Daniel Fritz played through hundreds of jazz songs – for her sake

Pauline Weindorf, born in 1988, comes from a family of musicians in Munich, studied jazz singing in Würzburg and has been an entertainer at family celebrations and other events since early youth. She loves the stage. Daniel Fritz, on the other hand, is a qualified sound engineer. Born in 1978, he learned the piano with difficulty as a child; his passion for music first flared up on the drums, which he discovered as a teenager. Later the spark jumped over to the piano, meanwhile he still plays electric bass, guitar and occasionally the accordion. While Weindorf’s career seemed clearly predetermined, Fritz made his way through youth symphony orchestras and rock and metal combos, one of them together with Bülent Ceylan, who is now known as a comedian, to Feinrot. This encounter caused him to reorient himself: “I knew right away that I had to get better at the piano in order to be able to keep up with all the fit jazz guys, otherwise Pauline wouldn’t want to play music with me anymore,” Fritz admits, half joking to. So he played his way through hundreds of jazz songs – by the way, far from Würzburg, in Berlin – and immersed himself deeply in their harmonics. The joint move to Munich finally united the couple, making music as a duo gradually became more professional.

Pauline Weindorf and Daniel Fritz now share everything, live and work together and are inconceivable without each other. As a band, they remained a duo. Originally because the tedious arrangements with colleagues often put them off their musical work – but now also because they are so seamlessly coordinated that they don’t need anyone else to realize their ideas. Feinrot started out as a combination of singing and piano. At some point, however, Fritz gave his partner a shaker, followed by a cymbal and finally half a drum set. Fritz did the other half himself: namely those parts that he can operate with his feet, since his hands are busy with the piano and bass keyboard.

In this way, this duo achieves a result that is as rich in sound as a four- or five-piece band at most. Stylistically, Feinrot developed out of swing; they jazzed up pop and rock songs, worked out their rhythmic components and gave them a more harmonically sophisticated shape. Elements of classical music were also found early on. In the meantime, a very unique sound is blossoming, which distinguishes Feinrot’s cover, still rooted in jazz, but appropriating elements from very different genres.

Here the Eurythmics meet Grieg and Bizet

This becomes clear when you listen to the two most recent albums: The CD “wUnder Cover”, produced in 2018, swings and thrives on groovy cover versions, often seasoned with a good portion of Latin beats, often using computer-generated effects and showing classic references. Their version of “Sweet Dreams” by shows how creatively the two deal with the material eurhythmics: Not only does Grieg’s “Bergkönig” and Bizet’s “Carmen” sneak into the Eurodance hit as a matter of course, it also changes here from a rather somber-melancholic number to a groove bomb with multiple overlaying vocals that virtuoso through all layers screwed, easily switched between colorings. This mastery of the voice through all registers, styles and tone colors proves profound training and many years of self-study without limits, goes far beyond what you would expect from a party band. Even among trained singers, Pauline Weindorf stands out because of her multifaceted nature.

The latest album was created entirely in the home office

Feinrot’s latest album “Home Office”, which was created during the lockdown, has a much calmer basic impulse. It’s not about songs that drive people onto the dance floor, but about more intimate, personal themes that are implemented in a dignified and soft way. The covers are from a variety of genres, from Miles Davis to cutting crew to Bruno Mars or Metallica. But it can happen that one attributes Billie Eilish’s “My Future” more to Amy Winehouse, or Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters” is only recognized by the lyrics or the guitar riff. There is a black humorous music video for the CD: Feinrot filmed their own song “Bis in den Tod”, a bold, rough number with a driving, catchy chorus, completely on their own. As the title of the album reveals, “Home Office” was created exclusively in the Grafingen music workshop and in togetherness. Almost everything was acoustically recorded and mixed by Fritz, even the polyphonic choir in “Died in your Arms Tonight” consists only of Weindorf’s voice. Incidentally, “Nothing Else Matters” also became a field for vocal experimentation, the vocals of which run through three voices and alternate between the main and secondary voices, resulting in a perfect polyphony à la Bach.

The now four CDs are exclusively distributed by Feinrot itself, they have not yet been sent to any radio station and are not available from any label. Doesn’t this duo want to be known nationally? The answer came out of one voice: “No, that wouldn’t be for us.” Feinrot can’t imagine being on tour all the time. And, even more importantly: “It is a great gift to be able to create music the way we like it and not have to meet any commercial criteria. We even take this freedom as a service provider at festivals – and it works: Anyone who books Feinrot , knows that he doesn’t get a cover that comes close to the original, but he also knows that we arrange with love and take the responsibility for the musical design of an event very seriously.” According to all reports, seeing Feinrot live must be an experience. Unique in itself how the percussion is divided between the two and yet grooves as a unit.

In addition to festivals, the duo also plays concerts, albeit less frequently at the moment due to the pandemic. In 2021, for example, the two Grafingers could be heard in front of Café Mala in the Ebersberg monastery building yard. Feinrot always have a set list with them, but the performance remains spontaneous – in the spirit of jazz: the trick is to read the audience, says Weindorf. Of course, always having the right piece ready requires intuition, experience and an extensive repertoire. With a grin, the singer says that they have been mistaken for guests at weddings more than once because they seemed so familiar with the wedding couple after the detailed arrangements for the musical process.

Open detailed view

Fritz wants to offer the kind of lessons he would have liked to have had earlier

Despite the difficult times for freelance artists, Pauline Weindorf and Daniel Fritz are satisfied with their situation. They have a solid student base and have been able to keep themselves afloat even during lockdown. She describes herself as a teacher with passion and has always wanted to pass on her enthusiasm for singing. He slipped more into teaching, but now really appreciates responding to the different needs of his young and adult students. “We call ourselves free Musikwerkstatt, because that is exactly what is important to us: a creative, musical education without norms and regulations in form or content. I want to offer individual music lessons that I would have liked to have had before,” says Fritz. He also teaches his students the classical works, but shows them what you can do with them – so a Bach prelude becomes a study that could also be used for pop or jazz. Weindorf also directs an amateur choir, and Fritz is still in demand as a sound engineer.

The balancing act between music lessons, live business and creative, audiovisual work is fulfilling for the two Grafingers – but of course complex, so that there is simply no time left for some things. When it comes to musical quality, however, Pauline Weindorf and Daniel Fritz definitely don’t want to compromise. How does the duo write so beautifully? “We are young and need the level.”