Puppetmastaz is a German hip hop group founded in Berlin with members from Germany, United States and Canada, like Max Turner, Chilly Gonzales, Paul PM, Mocky and Alex Tiller, who left the band in 2003. Formed in 1996, the group perform their shows with hand puppets and meet music styles of rap, funk and electronica. The producers on at least 3 albums were N1tro, Patric Catani and Bomb 20. Bandleader Paul Affeld, along with Artist Max Turner, is the only member to have contributed to all 5 albums to date. Former members are also musician and songwriter Adam Traynor and Blake Worrell. Other recent Members: Pilo, Zhi MC and Luis Nassowitz.
Development
Their first transregional known songs were "Pet Sound" and "The Bigger the Better". The band members of the Puppetmastaz Crew are always seen as puppets on stage. Whilst music is played by their DJ, the band members rap live by their puppets. The band's frontman is Mr. Maloke, a mole rapper whose characteristic sign is wearing a glitter topper, played by Paul PM aka Paul Affeld, who is also the heartbeat of that puppet-universe. According "to the legend" he founded the Puppetmastaz in the late 1990s. Step by step the band became bigger by puppets from all over the world. The puppets which later worked with the actual Puppetmastaz acted as first ones on shows in 1996 at Berlin's dance clubEx-Kreuz-Club. The first shows as a hip hop act were organized in 1999, where also their first music video was made and titled with "Wick-a-Woo". On TV the puppet band were first seen in 2000. Their first maxi EP Humans Get All The Credits was released in 2002 and let grown the band's profile nationwide. In 2003 were produced the maxi EP Pet Sound and Zoology as the albumCreature Funk. It followed a remix vinyl which was published as Prosettis Disco Balls but only as a limited vinyl edition. In October 2005 were released the EP Bigger the Better and the album Creature Shock Radio. The Puppetmastaz's shows were regional as also trans regional known as "first toy group". Especially in France, where their live shows got 5000 visitors they became well known and got a big and constantly growing fan community. In 2007 the Puppetmastaz published a cover of John Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance" in support of Amnesty International what had warmed even Yoko Ono's heart how the Puppetmastaz said in an interview. Their latest album The Takeover was released in 2008. They also started in June 2009 their own satire magazine with its title Puppetry Fair - The Glossy Gossip Gazette. In 2009, the Puppetmastaz were touring in Germany, Spain, France, Austria, Japan and Belgium on their own shows as on festivals like Pukkelpop in Belgium and Sonnenrot Festival in Eching, Munich. They toured China in October 2010, the first hip hop puppet crew to do so since the Chinese opening and reform.
