Farin Urlaub

punk rock

Jan Ulrich Max Vetter (born 27 October 1963 in Berlin, Germany), better known as Farin Urlaub, is a prolific German rock musician. He is best-known as a founding member, guitarist and vocalist of the German punk rock band Die Ärzte. He has also been a solo artist since 2001, touring with his live band, the Farin Urlaub Racing Team. His name Farin Urlaub is a pun on the German expression Fahr in Urlaub!, which means Go on vacation!, to refer to his love of traveling. He is also a pescetarian, a teetotaler, a non-smoker and a pacifist. He speaks seven languages: German, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and Japanese, and a supporter of Greenpeace and Amnesty International (amongst others). For the last few years he has been living in a village near Hamburg, where he has his own recording studio. In 1980 he joined Bela B.'s band Soilent Grün as guitarist. When the band broke up in 1982, Urlaub, Bela B. and Hans Runge (better known as Sahnie) formed Die Ärzte, one of the most successful German pop punk rock bands of the 1980s. In 1988, at the height of their popularity, Die Ärzte disbanded. Urlaub then formed King Køng, which remained unsuccessful, even for an indie band. Die Ärzte reunited in 1993 and have had continued success ever since. Urlaub still writes most songs for Die Ärzte which has the consequence that not all of them can be used for the band. Therefore, in 2001, Urlaub started his solo career with the album Endlich Urlaub! (Vacation at last!, ...