Tell us what's right in the home of the wrong.
Die Kammer is the musical project of musicians Marcus Testory and Matthias Ambré.
The ensemble performs in various formations. As a duo, in a four-piece formation with cello and bass, as well as in a larger line-up with viola, violin, cello, tuba, bass and drums.
Their songs, mainly in English, tell bizarre and morbid stories that are characterized by melancholy, transience and death, but also by unwavering joy and lust for life. The narratives often contain subtle sarcasm and social criticism, as well as autobiographical experiences and personal adventures.
They divide their creative periods into so-called "seasons", each of which has a specific motto. We are currently in Season V, which started on April 5, 2024 under the name "Maybe forgotten. Maybe glorious".
Nach fünfeinhalb Jahren veröffentlicht die Kammer ein neues, ihr fünftes Album.
Ein Lebenszeichen und erster Vorbote für die Veränderungen, die Season V mit sich bringen wird.
Batschkapp Open Air, strenge Corona-Bedinugnen
Am 50. Jahrestag der Mondlandung veröffentlicht die Kammer ihren Videoclip zum Song "Second Man on the Moon".
Auf Tour durch Deutschland und Östereich mit dem neuen Programm. Support: Romie
Der vierte und bis dato rockigste Longplayer mit insgesamt 13 Tracks erscheint. Das Artwork basiert auf Fotos aus italienischen Irrenanstalten. Fotografiert von Sven Fennema
Zum ersten mal veröffentlichen Ambré/ Testory unter dem Begriff "Die KAMMER minimized" in musikalisch vollständig redzierter Form eine EP mit 9 Songs, die nur für zwei Gitarren und Gesang arrangiert sind. Als Gastmusikerin spielt Tabea Rotter bei zwei Songs das Cello.
Mit echten Gottesanbeterinnen.
5.2.16 Leipzig, Moritzbastei, 6.2.16 Berlin, K17, 18.2.16 Hamburg, Logo, 19.2.16 Frankfurt/M., Das Bett, 20.2.16 Köln, Luxor, 4.3.16 Nürnberg, Kon71, 5.3.16 Dresden, Puschkin, 11.3.16 Tübingen, Sudhaus, 12.3.16 AT-Wien, Chelsea
Mit insgesamt neun Konzerten geht die KAMMER auf ihre bisher größte Tournee durch Deutschland und Österreich. Zum ersten mal in 8-köpfiger Besetzung mit dem neuen Bassisten Ingo Römling. Gast-Cellist bei einigen Konzerten ist Benni Cellini, der schon beim Debüt-Konzert der Band dabei war.
Den Toursupport bestreitet die Folk-Band »DELVA«, deren Sängerin Johanna Krins (die bereits auf dem aktuellen Album ein Duett mit der KAMMER eingesungen hatte) auch bei sämtlichen Konzerten einen Gastauftritt mit »The Way You Are» hat.
Ein weiterer Meilenstein in der Geschichte der KAMMER: »Season III – Solace in Insanity« erscheint.
Zum ersten mal mit Bass und zum ersten mal auch mit zahlreichen Gastmusikern und -instrumenten wie Drehorgel und Spieluhr.
Das Coverartwork wurde von Fotografin Annie Bertram und 3D-Experte Thomas Klieber realisiert.
Fast zeitgleich mit dem Erscheinen des dritten Longplayers erscheint das Video zum Song »Love for Life«. Stimmungsmomente aus den Arbeiten der Band am Album, festgehalten im Dokumentarstil.
Drehort sind die Gutleut Studios in Frankfurt, Werk und Wirkungsstätte des Kammer-Violinisten Matthias Raue.
In spring of 2014 die KAMMER return to the Wave-Gotik-Treffen festival and livens up the sold-out renowned theatre.
At the Hexentanz Festival they prove that they can definitely also rock and party.
At the Blackfield Festival in Gelsenkirchen Marcus and Matthias appear spontaneously on a side stage as unannounced an entre'acte.
At the Midnight Special at the Feuertanz Festival they appear in a lineup with only strings.
Die KAMMER spielt ihre erste Headlinertour durch einige deutsche Städte: 21.11. Aschaffenburg, Colos-Saal; 22.11. München, Strom; 28.11. Leipzig, Moritzbastei; 29.11. Hamburg, Indra; 12.12. Wuppertal, Live Club Barmen
Maskottchen und Aufhänger der Tournee ist das Konterfei der vermeintlich bösen »Sinister Sister«
Die KAMMER veröffentlicht ihr Video zur schaurig-schönen Moritat »Sinister Sister«. Illustrator Ingo Römling setzt die Geschichte liebevoll in handgezeichnetem Legetrick um.
Max, Matze, Aline und Matthias machen am Pfingstwochenende in der Leipziger Innenstadt Straßenmusik.
Im Frühjahr 2014 begleitet die KAMMER die Band »Schandmaul« als Support. Auf insgesamt sieben Shows präsentiert die KAMMER das Beste aus Season I und II. Sie kommen so in den Genuß in renommierten großen Hallen aufzutreten, wie z.B. das Wiener Gasometer, die Liederhalle in Stuttgart und dem Circus Krone in München.
An important milestone in the history of die Kammer: »Season II – Views from the Inside« is released.
60 minutes of "Kammer music" in all its colourful facets. Some of the new songs perfect die Kammer's characteristic style of storytelling in song form.
The cover is decorated by a diorama of a cosy little room. Illustrated by Ingo Römling.
At the beginning of 2014, as a teaser for the coming second album, die Kammer release the video for the song "Be Careful". In a cosy home environment, sitting in a circle, the entire band can be seen in one video for the first time.
The video was shot in the room that was also the model for the cover art of »Season II«.
The ladies and gentlemen of die Kammer appear for the first time by daylight before a broader audience. These appearances include the Blackfield Festival in Gelsenkirchen and the gigantic 20 Years of Schandmaul anniversary festival at the Cologne Tanzbrunnen.
With the slogan "Beyond Seasons" – thus outside of the usual "seasons" – the first, original version of the video series »Hither and Thither« begins. In the following season, die Kammer release a variation of the video and song with different lineups.
The setting is always the same: before a tree on the idyllic bank of a brook in the »Kammergarten«.
Die Kammer's first album containing 12 songs appears as a Digipak CD and for download. The overarching concept of the album and the season is "The Seeming and the Real"; many of the songs deal with conflict and an autobiographical treatment of the theme of "false and true friends".
The cover illustration, a kind of optical illusion of the images of Testory and Ambré, was created by illustrator Ingo Römling. The underlying photographic imagery is from photographer Sven Fennema.
The trailer for the album was produced in 3D by CGI expert Sebastian Schminke based on the existing artwork. The voice is that of well-known speaker Luise Lunow.
Die Kammer release their first single "The Orphanage" for download only. The video for the song is released on YouTube at the same time.
The video was produced in the style of a historical silhouette animation by illustrator Ingo Römling.
Die Kammer play their debut concert on Pentecost Sunday 2012 as part of the Wave-Gotik-Treffen festival in Leipzig. The venue is the visually and acoustically impressive interior of the Monument to the Battle of the Nations, which is completely full for the concert.
Fellow musicians Benni Gerlach (cello), Rico Schwibs (violin), Aline Deinert (violin), Dirk Klinkhammer (tuba) and Oliver Himmighoffen (drums) appear as well. Matthias Keller narrates the premier of the eighth episode of »Sophie’s Quest« live on-site.
Die Kammer decide to divide their creative periods into so-called »seasons«. »Season 0 – Early Adoptions« tells the origin story of die Kammer in the form of a fairy tale. The protagonist is little Sophie, who was no longer welcome in her homeland after the death of her grandfather and now travels the world with old and new friends in search of her own »Kammer« (chamber).
The fairy tale was released in eight video episodes under the name »Sophie’s Quest«. The narrator Matthias Keller reads the episodes, interspersed with interview excerpts and statements from the two founder of the band, Testory and Ambré. The mininalistically staged videos were shot in the recording rooms of Ashborn Sound Studios.
Matthias Ambré and Marcus Testory found "Die Kammer" on 22 December 2011
19 October 2018
Where wrong is right.
13 songs - more rough, more dirty, more true.
16 March 2018
Die Kammer reduced to guitar and vocals:
3 old songs, 3 cover songs, 3 new songs
05 February 2016
New sounds, new instruments, new experiments
15 tracks, 60 minutes.
14. Februar 2014
The second long player. Incl. »Sinister Sister« and »Mirror«
15 tracks, 60 minutes.
15 October 2012
The very first album of Die Kammer.
12 tracks, 56 minutes of passion
18.03.2018
New version of an old song by Marcus Testory and his former band 'Chamber'.
03.01.2017
A tribute to the 80ties gothic scene and their festival in Leipzig.
15.9.2014
A little eerie, spooky animation movie about the moritat of »Sinister Sister«
21.1.2014
First single of season II. A cozy session in the orignal room which was the template for the cover artwork.
From Middle High German kamer, from Old High German chamara, from Latin camera (“chamber”).
The band's name "Die Kammer" is primarily an allusion to the terms "chamber music" and "chamber orchestra".
The term "Die Kammer" is also a reminiscence to Testory's former band "Chamber", which tradition of pure acoustic arrangment is continued in the Ambré/Testory project.
Finally "Die Kammer" is meant as synonym for the hideway, where the musicians finding peace for working creative and writing their songs and lyrics.
Bass
Viola
Cello
Tubax