Over Here, Over There
A comparative culture podcast including panel discussions, interviews, short clips and monologues with leading professionals and commentators from around the world discussing how we see others and others see us.
Over Here, Over There
Democracy's New Anthem "10%", by The Pleasure Bombs
What if a song could inspire a global movement? Join us for a powerhouse episode of the Over Here, Over There Podcast as we welcome the legendary Pleasure Bombs, the band behind the podcast’s iconic theme, “Increase Democracy By Ten Percent,” for their first in-depth interview in years!
Discover why “Increase Democracy By Ten Percent” continues to be a bold anthem for freedom and justice, and why it should be the hymn for our generation as democracy faces new challenges across the world.
Dive into exclusive stories linking the Pleasure Bombs’ music to the fall of the Berlin Wall and moments that changed the world, and also behind-the-scenes connections between the song, the band, and the hosts.
You can listen to '10%' at the end of the episode, or on Bandcamp here, along with some other great tracks for the Pleasure Bombs' 'Food Plus Sex Equals Nature' album.
Join the conversation—hit like, comment, share, and don’t forget to subscribe for more episodes where history meets the present!
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Claudia Koestler (00:00.342)
Hello and welcome to Over Here, Over There, your podcast across borders.
And we're here for a special episode to talk about our theme song that we've been using, because it's dear to our hearts, and we want to explain more about it and why it's important to us. And we're here with members of the band The Pleasure Bombs.
Dan Harris (00:36.770)
Roll the music! Yes. Well, we're very fortunate. And it's a family affair because, besides being one of my favorite — if not my favorite — songs, "10%", it was done by The Pleasure Bombs, which has two members of my family: two brothers, lead singer and vocalist Charles Harris, and the producer Andrew Harris. And we were just thrilled when they allowed us to use the song for our intro.
We'll play it after this episode in full for you so you can have the pleasure of listening to it too. But we want to talk about what it means, and we want to know more about the band. So Claudia, over to you.
Claudia Koestler
Well, a hearty welcome, Andrew and Charlie. It is absolutely a delight and pleasure to meet you. Your song and music have inspired our podcast and have played such an important part in it. And it is so significant, especially in the time we're all living in, because we are a political podcast as well. So explain it a little bit more. The band was founded in the nineties, I believe?
Charles Harris
Yeah, The Pleasure Bombs was founded in the aftermath of the fall of the Wall in Berlin. It was myself and Chris Mantle — we met in the bar scene there in Berlin and started writing songs together. Then we added Christian Kohler as our drummer. Basically, we just started writing right there in Berlin, meeting and eventually performing.
Dan Harris (02:23.464)
What year was that, Charlie? Like 1992?
Charles Harris
Yeah, just a year or two after the Berlin Wall.
Claudia Koestler
And in that era, what were the musical influences that helped shape your band?
Charles Harris
Well, Berlin was kind of known for punk music, but everything really changed after the fall of the Wall. Grunge was happening at the time, coming over to Berlin. Hip-hop was happening. The start of techno music was happening. So as a pop band, we were actually kind of unusual in that setting.
Claudia Koestler
And how did it come about that you wrote a political song like "Increase Democracy by 10%"? Was that in any way shaped by the atmosphere that was around in the ’90s, especially with the Wall coming down? Or was that actually written earlier?
Charles Harris
Well, Berlin was a very, very obviously political city. After the Wall fell, everything was disrupted. East went to West, West went to East — that's kind of an "over here, over there" type of relationship. So, initially we wanted to do pop music, but we were open to politicizing things too.
Charles Harris (03:46.224)
"10%" popped out in one of our sessions just sitting around thinking about what we’d want to say.
Dan Harris
What was the culture like in Berlin at that time? Did it have a feel of liberation or what? Because I mean, you were on top of the Wall when it came down.
Charles Harris
Yeah, yeah, I was there in ’89. Then fast forward two or three years, after hanging out in the bar scene and stuff, I started meeting musicians and then I just decided to give it a whirl and be the lead singer of this band.
Dan Harris
So, Andrew, what were the challenges of producing and making "10%"?
Andrew Harris (04:35.886)
Well, we were lucky at the time that 24-bit technology had just come out on the market, and we were using the recording software Pro Tools to record the band. That was very helpful because it put us at a different level of technology where we could do it in my home studio. We also did some recording in places like Fort Apache in Boston to get the live feel of most of the songs and get the band kind of grooving together.
But a lot of it was done at the home studio, and that had its challenges — for example, in "10%", the background vocals weren’t sung together live; they were tracked separately. They were very talented Berklee students, great musicians.
Dan Harris
Berklee?
Andrew Harris
Yeah, Berklee in Boston, which is one of the most famous music schools going. You basically have to be really, really good to get into Berklee — they have about an 87% rejection rate. So we had talent. They sang well, and then we used some sophisticated software to make the vocals sound even more silky smooth together. That was brand new technology back when we were doing the recording.
Charles Harris (05:47.028)
So yes, they availed themselves of your skills and expertise to make it happen.
Andrew Harris
Well, besides being a producer, I’m an engineer, and at the time I was teaching people about engineering with the software we were using, so I was an expert at that.
Claudia Koestler
And the sound still is top notch, I think, so that was a good job you did.
Andrew Harris
I think it’s holding up to the test of time.
Claudia Koestler (06:13.710)
Absolutely, yes. Speaking of the test of time, how do you see the lyrics today? Because democracy is under threat. So is increasing it by 10% enough?
Charles Harris
Well, it certainly would help! The song was written in the ’90s in that Berlin context, and it’s interesting to see over time — I listen to it today and it still seems politically relevant. It has that pop groove, and even individual lines people can relate to.
In Berlin at the time, it was kind of like an anthem in the bars and when we performed. With the line "Can you increase democracy by 10%?" people got into it. It’s important to point out too that we started in West Berlin, then we moved over and started doing concerts in East Berlin, actually organizing our own. We were one of the first bands to do that in East Berlin. Then eventually we moved to Boston to do the recordings.
Dan Harris
And then in Boston?
Charles Harris
Yeah, Boston. We crossed the water, went over to the Boston area, and we got asked to perform at the Independent Film and Video Festival in New York. That kind of energized us to become a performing band again in the Northeast. That was the last phase of The Pleasure Bombs — we were playing all around New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, generally speaking, the Northeast.
Dan Harris
Both from a producer and creative point of view, just how did it develop? Did it start with lyrics first or did it start with the tune first?
Charles Harris
Well, basically Chris, Christian, and I would sit around in a living room and just try different chords and grooves and stuff, and I would record that on cassette — very old school style. Then I would go back to my apartment, lie down on the floor, listen to the grooves, and see what kind of lines seemed to work.
I had that "thinking about it, thinking about it" rhythm, and I started dropping lines down. Then I went back with the cassette to the next practice, and we added a chorus to it, which we thought was fun because we weren’t saying words — we were going "ba ba ba," you know. So, it was a very organic songwriting process among the three of us, and it took about two weeks.
Dan Harris (09:13.292)
I heard scat, pop, and rap all in this song together. Is that fair?
Charles Harris
Yeah, that is fair. We wanted to do pop music on an offbeat with a groove, and we wanted to do vocals with male and female voices. One of the bands we really loved at the time, which was unknown then, was Chumbawamba — now a global name. We went to their concerts, we loved the show they put on.
They’re the anarchist pop band from England. We adored them and loved the way they brought it on stage. They were a key influence on us at the time.
Dan Harris
Yeah, you mentioned about making it — so from that creative process over to you, Andrew.
Andrew Harris (10:04.758)
The recording was relatively easy because they were talented. When you have talent, it makes up for a lot of things. There was a little bit of teaching students mic technique — how to get close to the mic and when to take a breath. Charles did a lot of coaching with that too, to the other singers on the project. But there’s no substitute for talent. When you have a really good guitar player or bass player, they’re laying it down, and almost everything was done in one take.
Claudia Koestler
And how do you feel that it became the theme song of the podcast Over Here, Over There?
Andrew Harris
I feel totally honored. I feel flattered that a song of ours from the ’90s is being used for your program. It’s really, really an honor. We’re thrilled.
Dan Harris
Can I ask, from an Over Here, Over There perspective — what were the differences between audiences? In Berlin, they were shouting "Can you increase democracy by 10%?" and getting into it. Then in Boston and the Northeast — how did it compare?
Charles Harris (11:25.602)
Well, it’s interesting because the band members insisted we only do music in English, but all the band members were German. So, sometimes, I wondered when we did a concert if people really understood our lyrics at all. But with a hook line like "Can you increase democracy by 10%?" people got that.
When we went stateside, I thought, Wow, everyone’s going to understand everything now! It was definitely a cultural shift. Also, in Berlin, we didn’t have recordings — we were just a live performing band. It wasn’t until Boston that we got it recorded at Andrew’s studio and could actually get it out to people so they could listen repeatedly and understand the lyrics better.
Claudia Koestler
It must have meant a lot to Berliners in the early ’90s, hearing even that one phrase, "Can you increase democracy by 10%?" That must have been pretty meaningful.
Charles Harris (12:45.004)
Yeah, people got into it — both East and West Berlin. It was celebratory and questioning at the same time.
Claudia Koestler
More relevant than "Looking for Freedom"! (the actor/singer David Hasselfhof's song, which he claimed helped bring down the Wall)
Dan Harris
Exactly!
Dan Harris
And all you gotta ask — is there any chance of a reunion? It’s been 20, 25 years — what are the chances?
Charles Harris (13:27.660)
Ha ha ha!
Andrew Harris
The band’s still in touch through social media and phone calls. We’re aware of where everyone is, but they’re all doing different things now. As Charles said, it’s slim — but hey, the Stones are still going!
Dan Harris
We appreciated you guys doing it. Check out "10%". It’s a hot tune. It’s still relevant today. We love it. I’ll still be playing it years from now. I think you’ll feel the same. Check out other tracks on their album too, from "The Loveliest Weed" to "Plunge into the Sea" — fantastic.
Claudia Koestler
Love it!
Dan Harris (14:34.808)
Thank you very much, Andrew and Charlie. And everyone, don’t forget to like and subscribe to Over Here, Over There. We’d really appreciate it. And now, "10%" coming your way.
The Pleasure Bombs — "10%" (15:32)