Newly promoted to Germany's premier football league, Hamburg's St. Pauli club is set to light up the game with a passionate mix of music, creativity and social justice.When US musician Dave Doughman was touring Germany with his band in the early 2000s, the show in Hamburg was empty until local football club St.
Pauli finished its game. Suddenly, the venue was "full of people wearing Jolly Roger t-shirts" — the skull and crossbones symbol of the St. Pauli team — recalled Doughman.
"What is this, a pirate convention?" he wondered. Coming from Dayton, Ohio, Doughman had "zero interest in football." But the singer and guitarist soon realized that these "buccaneers" were both soccer and alternative music fans who were avowedly anti-homophobic, anti-sexist and anti-racist — values the indie musician shared.
The football club had also adopted the song "Hells Bells" by rockers AC/DC as the walk-on anthem at games, and it blasts "Song 2" by Britpop band Blur every time the team scores. "Wow, this is cool," Doughman decided. Soon he was seeing St.
Pauli t-shirts at gigs across Germany. He developed an affiliation with a football culture scene that has its roots in the bohemian bars, clubs and squats of inner-city Hamburg. He even got into the sport.
By 2010, Doughman was living in the St. Pauli neighborhood, which adjoins Hamburg's Reeperbahn entertainment and red light district. He and his band, Screaming at Motorists, released the song "St Pauli 'til I die" the next year.
By 20.