Carambolage was one of the first German all female rock bands. In the early 1980s, it was considered a pioneer of the so-called "lipstick feminism".
The band was formed in 1979 in Fresenhagen with links to Ton Steine Scherben. Britta Neander, Angie Olbrich and Elfie-Esther Steitz-Praeker got together as early as 1977, but only started performing under the name Carambolage in October 1979. After good reviews of their first produced demo tapes and a successful gig at SO36, Carambolage went on tour for the first time, which took them all over the West Germay, to Italy and Austria. In the summer of 1980 they recorded their first self-titled LP in the Fresenhagen studio of David Volksmund Produktion. After another tour, where Janett Lemmen replaced Angie Olbrich they recorded their second LP called "Eilzustellung-Exprès" in 1982, also in Fresenhagen.
In 1983, the producer of Nena and former bassist of Spliff, Manne Praeker became aware of the quite successful combo and planned to sign them to a "major". The recordings for a third album, to be released under the title "Bon Voyage", took place in Praeker's Mad Mix Studio in Berlin. Internal tensions between the members and the artistic influence Praeker had on the new album increasingly disrupted the band. When "Bon Voyage" was finally finished in 1985 and rejected by CBS, Carambolage disbanded. The album was released for the first time 34 years later in summer 2019 on the independent label Fuego.
After the split of the band Angie Olbrich became tour manager of acts such as Pete York Miller Anderson, Colin Hodgkinson, Zoot Money, Chris Farlowe, Jon Lord and Tony Ashton and has a band with Kai Sichtermann under the name Angels Blue. Britta Neander played with Lassie Singers in the 1990s, whose lyrics and music were profoundly influenced by Carambolage. In 1998 she founded the band Britta with Christiane Rösinger and Julie Miess. Neander died in December 2004 after a heart operation in Berlin.
