The term 'Struwwelpeter' comes from the title of an old book of German fairytales that Ben Mitchell used to read as a kid. The book features a number of dark moral tales, with a fair amount of distorted logic (for example: don't suck your thumbs, or a twisted psycho will break into your house and cut them off with a giant freakin' pair of shears). The stories include 'The Dreadful Tale Of Harriet & The Matches', wherein Harriet screws about with a matchbox and burns to death; 'Slovenly Peter', a guy who never scrubs up and looks like crap; 'The Inky Boys', a confusing story that seems to say that ideal punishment for racism is to be turned black; and 'The Story of Augustus Who Would Not Have His Soup', where sure enough Augustus doesn't eat, and after five days he's in the ground.

All these tales and a handful more were conceived by Dr. Heinrich Hoffman, who, having spent a portion of his profession midst lunatics, decided that children's books were too lame for the youth of his day. Thus Struwwelpeter was written into existence, initially just as a Xmas present for his own child, but it has since become something of a classic.

While Ben Mitchell uses Struwwelpeter as a moniker to release his CDs ('there are just too many damn Ben Mitchells out there trying to sell music online!'), the actual content of the book has yet to invade his songs. However, a more derivitive band of performing artists known as the Tiger Lillies have included in their repertoire a staged musical interpretation of Struwwelpeter, as well as their own CD of showtunes. Ben Mitchell: 'I automatically like them just for it being something to do with the book. The CD is hilarious, and also well-orchestrated. The only problem is it seems my artsy-fartsy moniker isn't nearly as obscure as I'd thought...'

While a more recent edition of the book can be bought today, Ben suggests eBay for those with piqued interest. 'I've looked around online and there seem to be a lot of versions of this book, some with different illustrations, some translated differently. They'd probably be good fuel for those collector-types out there'.
The stories have been archived online and can be read here. For further info on Struwwelpeter there is also its Wikipedia entry that provides numerous other resources.