|
 Gee Vaucher - "Crass
Art And Other Post-Modernist Monsters" book
(AK Press/Exitstencil Press 1999)
My first CRASS record was "Stations Of The Crass" that I bought in mid
1981. It was my first introduction to the art of Gee Vaucher found in the
inner postersleeve. A strange and rather surrealist montage. A unsettling
comment on beauty and horror. Gee Vaucher is without doubt best known
through her work for CRASS. At the time, I was most impressed with the
inside poster for "Christ The Album", which was on my wall for years. How
does one call this kind of art? Punk art? Political art? Probably both.
Fact is, all her work is an interpretation of the hypocrisy of our
society. Pornography, war (Falklands, Ireland), commercials, worldleaders
are all part of it and can be found in this really mindblowing book. Plus
more! The books starts with some sort of biography and a couple of pretty
anecdotes mixed with a few pieces she did in art school. There's also some
commercial illustrations (for Rolling Stone), amazingly realistic
(children) book illustrations, and works she did for projects. A large
part is CRASS art and you'll find all pieces back in these pages. The last
24 pages are samples of her recent work. Although $24.94 seems to be
pricey, for fans of her CRASS era, this is more than worthwile! PS. Here
you can find an interesting interview with Gee Vaucher:
http://www.regenerationtv.net/ram/Vaucher1.mod.ram ●●●●●
 14.10.03. Shikari +
Makiladoras + Ekkaia (SPA) @ De Brouwerij, Hengelo NL
We always used to go to youthcenter Innocent, that did most of the
punkgigs in Hengelo for ages but times are changing. In april 2002 a
former managementoffice for a local Grolsch brewery (brouwerij) was
squatted. As the building is on the socalled "municipal list of monuments"
(it's the oldest - 135 years - industrial building of the city), it is not
allowed to be pulled down. In August 2003, some people started building a
concertroom with a bar. Within a week the first gig was organised and ever
since they've been doing concerts about every week! So this is their 6th one
and I was looking forward to see this new concertplace and meet my friends
of EKKAIA again. We arrive in time and are welcomed by some occupants who
show us around in the building. Very impressive to see how fast they
fabricated the seperate concert and barplace. After a nice and warm dinner
we start unpacking and the first visitors start getting in. This is a cold
tuesday nite so I am expecting around 30 maybe 40 max but by the time
Shikari starts, the place is packed! It was a relatively quiet Shikari
gig, no blood and bruises except for a head of snot. The crowd loved Makiladoras
and was moving all the time.
During their set I suddenly got thrown to the ground. The isolation
woodwork came loose and landed on my head... Fortunately I wear my cap and
remarkably the Morser button on the side of it absorbed most of the blow.
I could have been killed judging from the nails sticking out and the
height it came from. Built a bit too fast, ey? Worst was the glass mineral wool in which I
got
covered. The itch is way more unbearable than the sloppiness of
Makiladoras. Ekkaia finished solid as a rock. Very obvious influence from
bands such as From Ashes Rise and Tragedy, but they've mastered this style
very well. Definitely one of the best clones in this genre. Eventually it
was a great concert overall with a full house, great atmosphere and
reception. I heard this was the best attended show so far. The next nite
was Poundaflesh from the UK plus a couple others, and it turned out to be
the worst attended show with approximately 9 people. Too bad.
 Indirekt -
"Nacht Und Nebel" 7"
(Die Hard 1986)
My first encounter with INDIREKT was when my band PUINHOOP played
together with them in one of the famous Buze Festivals in Steenwijk on
18th june 1983. I never forget their singer was dressed in a green
trousersuit and sang rather melodic on simple mid,- and uptempo
hardcorepunk. I never really got into their sound except for the couple of
demorecordings they did with Niels De Wit/Gepøpel. INDIREKT, from a town
northwest of Holland called Hoorn, started in the summer of 1982 and after
150 concerts, a bunch of tours and 4 records they broke up in 1987, doing
a farewell gig with 200 people in local youthcenter Troll. After they
replaced their original singer Marjolein with Anneke (formerly NOUS) in
1984, I lost interest. The most remarkable and powerful of INDIREKT were
their lyrics that were all written and sang in Dutch language. However...
in consequence of my project to complete my Dutch punkcollection, I
received the "Nacht Und Nebel" 7". Their last studio recording. When I
played it, I did not believe what I heard... it was a shock. Since 1986, I
always ignored this release. Now, 17 fucking years later, I'm
convinced this is one of the best Dutch punkrecords from that period. I've
been playing this forever the last month and I'm still impressed. "Nacht
Und Nebel" is a term taken from Hitler:
On December
7, 1941, Hitler issued Nacht und Nebel, the Night and Fog Decree. This
decree replaced the unsuccessful Nazi policy of taking hostages to
undermine underground activities. Suspected underground agents and others
would now vanish without a trace into the night and fog (read:
deportation, death-penalty and/or concentration camp).
The
victims were mostly from France, Belgium and Holland. They were usually
arrested in the middle of the night and quickly taken to prisons hundreds
of miles away for questioning and torture, eventually arriving at the
concentration camps of Natzweiler or Gross-Rosen, if they survived. After
WWII, these kinds of tactics were obviously very popular in other
dictatorships. The song "Nacht Und Nebel" naturally deals with this
subject and is about hope and fear. The song starts off with a
threathening vibe and changes into uptempo and slow style again with moody
guitardubs. "Proze In C." describes and condemns selfish people. This is
fast hardcore with a metallic chorus. The great production and thick sound
of these songs are very striking. Nothing compared to their earlier
material. My favorite song is the very depressed written "Niemandsland".
Though it's definitely one of the catchiest Dutch punkrocksongs I've heard
since UNION MORBIDE's "Draw A Line" (accidentally from the same area!).
"Ik Wilde Leven" is an accusation against humanity. Musically a fast one
again with excellent breaks and a crazy twist. I'm truly ashamed I didn't
pick this up earlier.... ●●●●●
LOMB
/ EKKAIA
tourdiary 16-26 October 2003
(by Bart -
zard666@yahoo.com)
This is a short story about the tour Ekkaia and Lomb did
together in Germany, Denmark and Sweden. This is mainly written from how I
personally experienced the tour. If somebody else of us had written it it
would probably look differently but you’ll have to do with this.
 16.10.03.
@ Senffabrik, Flensburg GER
First day starts off with the first long distance ride of the tour, about
550 kilometres from Zwolle to Flensburg. We agreed to leave at 11 o’clock
in the morning but we had some bad communication so two of us thought we
would leave at 13.00 hrs….. So Jasper, Floris (the tourgroupie) and me
decided in the mean time we should get the necessary supplies at the
supermarket. We bought lots of food and LOADS of beer meant for selling at
the alcoholfree venues we were gonna play at in Sweden. After we did this
we picked up Gerhard and Rutger and set off for the ride to Flensburg.
We arrived in Flensburg at 19 o’clock and found the place easily. Ekkaia
arrive right at the same time as us so we introduce ourselves to the
people with who we are going to travel with the next 10 days. The people
of the Senffabrik welcomed us warmly and accompanied us to the place where
we could eat. A very nice vegan meal was served there.
After the diner it was time to set up our stuff and play. Senffabrik is
kind of a livinghouse where they organise shows illegally in the basement.
We were the only bands playing this night. Lomb kicked off with a decent
set, we hadn’t played together for 3 weeks or something so for the first
show of the tour it was pretty ok. Ekkaia played really well, I love their
music so much! After the show the crowd goes home quickly so not really a
party atmosphere. We decide to go to sleep early.
 17.10.03.
@ Ungdomshuset, Copenhagen DEN
After a really nice breakfast we take off the ride to Copenhagen. David
from Flensburg drives with us to see the show and meet his girlfriend who
lives in Copenhagen.
We arrive to Ungdomshuset on time to walk a bit around the neighbourhood
and check out a nearby recordstore. Ungdomshuset itself is a very big
building only used for shows and other d.i.y. activities. There are no
people living there.
Quite a lot of people come to the show this evening. The weird thing is
they seem to be rather sitting in the barroom than seeing the bands… Weird
situation. Maybe it is because of the soundvolume which was absurdly loud
or just some other reason…. We play with Rifu from Norway this night,
really nice guys. I can’t describe their music very well but they played
very enthousiasticly. Lomb plays really tight this night, fast and loud.
Ekkaia has pretty bad sound, it seems like the PA guy forgot to turn on
some things or something. Anyway, the party after the show was better than
the show itself. We drank lots of beers and tried to get Ekkaia drinking
as
well. They’re not really
big drinkers we find out. Ah well maybe we can teach them, hehe.
18.10.03.
@ 1000 Fryd,
Aalborg DEN
This day again not really a long drive so I was hoping we’d have a chance
to see a little bit of Aalborg in the afternoon. But it seems like touring
is all about waiting waiting waiting. We had to wait for so long until we
could finally leave Copenhagen that we arrived in Aalborg around 19.00hrs.
So that was a little disappointing for me.
Anyway, in Aalborg I meet Cesper “I kicked you in the face once” from
Jimmy Justice (RIP) again which is nice. He organises the show tonight.
1000Fryd is a venue funded by the state. All kinds of bands play there and
it’s good that the local hardcore kids can organise their shows there.
It’s very comfortable and warm inside.
I think most of the people from the small scene in Aalborg attended the
show. Ekkaia starts off playing not one of their best shows of the tour.
Marcos the drummer is not feeling so well and everything just goes a bit
less smooth then on the other nights. Lomb plays ok tonight, nothing more
nothing less. After us play Migra Violenta from Argentina. Fast hardcore,
tight as fuck, great band. After the show we should go to bed early
because the next two days we have a drive ahead of 1500 kilometers……. But
we get really into the mood and drink beers listening to cool metal from
the 80’s, bands like Slayer and Venom…. yeah!
 19.10.03.
- driving driving driving……..
Because we couldn’t get any places to play in the south of Sweden we
decided to try to go to the north….. What an idea….. We got shows in Lulea
and Umea. So on sunday and monday we had to drive from Aalborg to Lulea,
almost to the border of Finland.
So on sunday we get up at 7.00 to get on the boat from Frederikshavn to
Goteborg. Everything goes well and at 12.00 we arrive safely to Sweden.
Wow, that’s one stress less, if somehow we couldn’t get on this boat than
we certainly would not make it in time to Lulea. So now the driving
starts. All day long we drive and drive. At one point we find out that the
dieseltank of the van is as good as empy while the indicator sais it’s
totally full, fuck that’s crazy, two times the engine quits and we think
we are doomed…. Somehow we get it working again and turn around to a
gasstation we past 5 kilometers ago, we drive downhill so we could just
make to there!! We fill up the tank and decide to buy a jerrycan of diesel
to avoid this kind of stress in the future. Now we just have to find
Ekkaia again. They are way ahead of us and we can’t reach them by phone….
Than suddenly their van is right there at a trafficlight. So everything is
fine.
During daylight it’s fun to drive, enjoying the beautiful landscape of
Sweden but around 19.00 darkness descents and after that it’s just hours
and hours of endless nothing…. Especially for Ekkaia it’s difficult
because the driver they have for this tour wants nobody else but himself
do the driving. After a few hours in the dark the Ekkaia people, driving
behind us, tell us the rear lights of our van just broke down. Again some
minor trouble, but we think lights are important enough to make a stop for
and fix them.
So after 11 hours we think it’s been enough for today. We made it all the
way to Umea, which is already a big accomplishment. The next day we only
have 360 km left to get to Lulea. We put the vans on a parkingplace
somewhere in Umea and try to get some sleep. Problem was that it was
already -7 degrees during the night so we had only the warmth of
eachother….
 20.10.03.
@ IOGT Lokalen, Lulea SWE
We wake up early and what do we see….. The first snow of the year has
fallen this night…. Wow! Scandinavia in the snow, who doesn’t want to see
that? We start the drive and soon more snow is coming from the sky, it
gets more and more…. and more and more. It gets so much that it’s almost
impossible to see the road. Cars are stranded besides the road and we come
to a point on which we discuss if it’s maybe better to turn around to
Umea. We talk to some local people and they tell us that it’s still early
and no one expected this much snow now so if we would just wait for some
time they would start to clean the roads. Besides that, the area suffering
this bad weather is not so big, it would become better after about 75
kilometers. We are convinced and decide to drive slowly to the next
gasstation and wait a little. By the time we reach the gasstation the
snowing has stopt and we see trucks cleaning the snow of the roads. We
continue our journy still driving slowly but enjoying the now totally
white scenery of Sweden. Great great!!
Around 13.00 we arrive to Lulea, finally!! We check out the town, do some
shopping, do some internetting etc. Finally some relaxing. We also find
out the whole town is covered in posters anouncing our show this night so
that looks promising. For some reason the show is not at the exact address
as on the posters and also not at the place the organisors told us it
would be. Finally we find the place is on the other side of the street
than stated on the posters. Probably because it was not totally legal to
do the show there.
Due to strict laws in Sweden at most venues it’s forbidden to sell or use
alcohol and/or smoke. This makes it quiete a different atmosphere then we
are used to in Holland or other places in Europe. About 50 kids visit the
show in the really small room of the venue. Everybody is really friendly
to us and seems to be really happy bands come on tour to their remote
town. Although not everybody seems to be into our kind of music they still
enjoy it and thank us for playing, it feels so good to play at a place
like that. It reminded me of the place we played in Kezmarok, Slovakia
together with S.A.F. last year.
After the show we go to Sven’s place, he organised it tonight with his
friends. There we drink beers together and talk about local politics and
stuff, very interesting. A great night, worth travelling all the way to
there!
21.10.03.
@ Stallet,
Umea SWE
Having it made all the way to Lulea and after the great night it turned
out to be I finally I have the feeling of being on vacation. Whatever
could go wrong from now on, no one would take away this experience from
us.
So today we drive back to Umea, again enjoying the great landscapes
covered in snow.
Around 17.00 we arrive at Umea and pick up Kaj, the organisor, form his
work. We unload the stuff at Stallet and get to Kaj’s place to have diner.
Back at Stallet it turns out not many people come to visit the show. In
the end about 20 people are there. No problem, we can still thrash hard.
Both bands play decent shows which the people enjoy.
After the show we go back to Kaj’s place, drink a beer and go to sleep.
22.10.03.
@ Kafe 44,
Stockholm SWE
Today another long drive. We leave early and arrive to Kafe 44 just in
time. I meet up with some people I know from the tour with Makiladoras
last year. Great to see Raf, Camilla and Dadde again. Raf has the great
news that we probably could play a show the next day in Linköping.
Otherwise we would have a day off in Stockholm but playing a show is
better Plus that it’s right on the way to Malmö makes it even better. At
the end of the night everything is arranged, Ard from Zegota fixed it for
us, thanks a lot!
Kafe 44 is a cool place with a barroom and a concertroom. Also they’re not
allowed to sell alcohol inside but they seem to have no troubl with people
bringing their own drinks. The night before there also was a show with
Born/Dead and Consume playing so tonight there were not so many people,
about 40 or 50 I think.
We play with the local bands To What End? and Sanctuary in Blasphemy. SiB
plays really slow stonerrock-like music, pretty heavy and in the end a
little bit boring but still good. Especially because it was their first
show ever. To What End? played quiete sloppy in my opinion and suffered a
bad sound. Also I didn’t see too much of their set because I was too busy
selling beers at the van, hehe. Lomb plays the worst show of the tour this
night. Something to forget about. I guess we were in too much of a hurry
all day long. Ekkaia plays well but the sound is shit, only with earplugs
you could make something of it.
To make it a good night after all the Lomb-crew goes to a bar around the
corner. We make our own refill bar in the toilet and are a pain in the ass
for the barowner… Fuck him. After we leave the bar we drop off Camilla at
her house and sell her a box of beer. Than we go Dadde’s place and have a
good talk about some irritations we had the days before. This usually
happens on tour somewhere.
 23.10.03.
@ Skylten,
Linköping SWE
So tonight we got added to this existing show last minute. This saves us a
lot of money and a night of utter boredom. The people at Skylten are
really happy we also came to play and welcome us with a great meal.
Skylten is a big building with a very big concertroom and about 30(!!)
practicerooms, every band has it’s own room. The concertroom has a huge
stage so we decide it would be best to move all the equipment infront of
the stage, being a pain the ass for the PA-guys. But we are glad we made
this decision, it created a much better atmosphere. All in all 5 bands
play this evening, 2 local bands called Konfrontation and Black Star
Rising. I remember them play more crusty style of music but I wasn’t very
much impressed. After them played Ekkaia a very good show. Than Lomb also
played ok. At the end Zegota played a convincing set with great messages
inbetween the songs. I was impressed.
24.10.03.
@ Club Latino.
Malmö SWE
We arrive to Malmö early today so we have finally time to walk around the
city a bit. Jasper and I know our way around because last year we also
spent 2 days here. At first we arrive to the place we played last year but
after some time we find out the show is in another place just a few
hundred meters down the road. At 18.00 o’clock we arrive to the house of
Carin, the organisor of tonight. Again a great meal is served! We relax a
bit and set off to Club Latino. At first it looks like this is going to be
a very weird concert, I had never seen such a looooong and narrow
concertroom before and I never had guessed this was actually going to be
the best show of the tour. A local band called Suma plays first. They play
very slow music with a crazy singer. They played ok but a little too slow
for me. After that Lomb plays. We get really into it and just play very
well. The people seemed to like us very much and after the show they
invade our merchendisestand to get some tapes etc. Ekkaia plays
brilliantly tonight. A great show!
 What
happened after the show is not completely clear to my memory anymore, all
I know is that we ended up in some illegal bar where a lot of weird people
were. We got very drunk there while Ekkaia was sipping their colas at
Carin’s place J. I also tried this kind of tobacco people use in Sweden.
It’s not to smoke but to put under your lip. Than at a certain moment you
will feel a kind of nicotine rush or something… Well I don’t know if that
rush is meant to make you feel better but for sure it made me feel
terrible!! I’m surprised I didn’t have to puke.
25.10.03.
@ No Pasaran,
Hamburg GER
Today I wake up with a big hangover. Fucking hell… The others remind me of
some things I had done the night before, which had something to do with a
female person….. And Rutger is crowned the new vomitking of Malmö. Great
effort Rutger!
Anyway, we go to Carin’s place to have breakfast and set off for Hamburg.
Again 6 hours in the van and 45 minutes on a boat. Ekkaia suffers from
some vantroubles because of the severe rain. We have to stop several times
to fix the problem. When we finally arrive to Hamburg and search for the
right place for 45 minutes we find out we are actually pretty early. Again
there was a very nice meal served, lots of beans!!! They turned us all
into fartmasters.
I think tonight we played for the biggest crowd of the whole tour, about
100 people came to the show. Both bands played decent sets which are
recorded by the soundguys. The recordings sound quiete well so maybe they
will be released some day, who knows.
After the show a lot of people in the crowd are very drunk but we don’t
feel like partying anymore so we go to sleep early.
26.10.03.
- back to home
Now it’s time to say goodbye to Ekkaia which is not fun at all. We had a
great time together these 10 days. They will continue their tour for 3
more weeks travelling through Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Austria,
Slovenia and more countries. I hope we will meet eachother some day in the
future. I’m sure we will.
S.A.F./MIHOEN!
"Dutch Thrash
In Two Masters"
tourdiary
Fall 2003
(by
Friso - friso666@angelfire.com)
This is
my first effort to write a tour report, actually i don’t know if this will
work but anyhow i must put this down because i feel the urge to tell how i
experienced this awesome tour with mihoen! and my own band skulls and
flames. it was great, really great!!! hopefully you will have fun reading
this. (Ed. Pictures will follow soon!)
09.10.03.
@ The Flying Dog, Utrecht NL
this was originally our first day and we really wanted
to play in belgium but since that was impossible we arranged to play
utrecht with the people living in the flying dog, we played for a small
donation. mihoen! played awesome fast and furious! So did SAF and i must
say that my memories of that evening are nihil... maybe the booze but i
think more the pre-tour stress. i was busy getting my drivers license and
had to move from my house, get a new job that could start after the tour
and was still busy till those early morning hours trying to arrange the
last bits of this blasting tour. i was allready tired and we still had to
begin. the flying dog is the most amazing squat we ever had in utrecht. it
has an indoor skatepark and a real big hall where wagons and cars are
being fixed. at first this squat was a social working place but it closed
down and then UPC bought the building three years ago. they let the
building empty for all that time and even the heater was still on when the
squatters moved into the house. pretty strange because they were all
dressed properly to survive the cold. when they were eventually inside the
building they had to take their shirts off because it was so freaking warm
inside!!! i really think this is not ok, a company such as upc let's the
heater on for three years for fucking nothing while there are still people
who must work their backs off to pay all te bills that they have to pay.
plus it is wasting earth's energy... anyway the gig was fine and the squat
too nice, let's stick to the report.
10.10.03. @ Squat La Cerise, Paris (Vitry
Sur Seine) FRA
so we drove away from utrecht early that morning. i agreed to be there at
08.00 but of course i overslept and arrived at 09.00 - 09.30. the first
mistake but happily the last... :-X we drove for a few hours and arrived
near paris. everybody was excited and we pretty soon found out that the
street where we were looking for was next to the arc de triomphe. this
part of paris is actually very rich and there was this d.i.y. instinct
that made me a bit suspicious. but anyway we drove to the street and the
moment we arrived there we soon found out that we had to be on the other
side of town in a suburb of paris near villejuif. fuck... the peripherique
was completely full and we arrived at the wrong street at exactly the
agreed time to arrive. the fact that we had to go to the other side of
town meant that we had to still drive for one hour and a half. anyways
after we contacted alex, he also makes the french zine blacklung really a
nice zine by the way! check it out! we agreed that he would pick us up and
drive us to the squat. we got there and actually we weren't really late.
the fatwa's from amsterdoom weren't even there and we could set up our
backline easily. the first guy that i encountered there was my "neefje". i
haven't seen my cousin for three years and it was pretty cool to see him
again. SAF kicked off that night and we raged through our set. the crowd
seem to like us and there even was some serious headbanging at some point.
the fatwa's played after us and i was amazed. i did see them in amsterdam
doing a try out or something and it was amazing!!! i really liked it pure
riot grlz punk and it even was pretty fast! also nice to meet people you
know somewhere on the road. mihoen! was up next and they played this
amazing set!!! goddamn i really love to watch these lads and irmin's
drumming is so amazing!
the crowd went wild and even though there wasn't a lot of space the
people started to dance. nice to see people singing / screaming along and
raising their fists up high!!! the house was also amazing. there were nice
drawings everywhere of a collective of drawers called "le chien qui pue"
(the dog that stinks) the house was also very very clean!!! another good
thing: the house had a large garden and a balcony where you could see a
part of paris! very impressive! after the bands we still partied around
till late and it was a very nice party! the fatwa's were also in for a
party so we drank and talked together.
11.10.03. day off and we had to drive towards
San Sebastian, Donosti in basque country.
after having a little breakfast and a coffee
(this is really important to some of us!!! :D) we went to drive
towards bordeaux. the guys in paris gave us some phonenumbers so we could
maybe get a free sleeping place. we already decided to take a formule 1
hotel aside of the highway which costs you 23,50 pleureaux a night. so we
drive towards bordeaux and suddenly at the peage (tollway) in bordeaux we
get stopped by the douane. hmmm there was this dude with a rifle of (i
swear) 1,5 metres long. there were dogs sent in to mihoen's van and the
saf lads were also controlled and searched. luckily we only had oranges
with us!!! :) as we drove for a few kilometers and found the formule
1 hotel because the guy who could offer us some place to sleep had to work
the next morning at 6 so that meant we had to get up at 5 or get a key and
deliver that to him... whatever it was pretty much a hassle and we decided
to stick to our plan. as we settled ourselves
and showered etc. we popped a party in the mihoen! room. whiskey,
juice and beers were consumed and big exciting tour stories were told and
we had a laugh!!! it was a good way to see what others had been through at
borders, in venues and gas stations.
12.10.03. @ Sala Mogamba, Donosti SPA
today we played with three bands. we drove into DONOSTI and soon found the
place. it was an ex sex-club-BAR-DANCING sort of pick up place and it was
full of mirrors and black lights. the place had a nice little stage and a
huge bar. the guys who organised this gig also did the next gig and they
had two bands. the first band was XXXXXXXXXXXXX they just formed the group
and they played grind. the sound was overwhelmingly loud and their drummer
blasted soooo hard. the guy who played guitar in the band was traveling
along with Opus Dead a few months ago so we knew each other. when he
first came into the venue he walked pass me and i didn't recognize him, ai
ai ai some loss of scenepoints here... after taking the bands stuff in we
said hello and i still think it is so amazing to meet people when you are
on tour. they help you out as you help them out, what goes around comes
around indeed. also really nice to see that the collective of people
setting this up were incredibely nice. saf and mihoen! played ok sets. we
had the banner from eduard against the extradiction of juanra up, it all
looked like you wanted it to look! one moment i even assisted the guys by
"overtaking" the bar and serve the locals their cold cervecas!!! it was a
funny evening and we stayed in the local practice room. the room was
equiped with a tv and video so we watched the pantera tour video and we
learned that we were actually pretty social people... before we went into
that room the guys of the collective XXXXXXXXXX showed us their
concertplace, it was huge and really d.i.y. they recently had a festival
there with a lot of grindcore bands and it was really an awesome hall.
they told us that it was really difficult to keep such places but this
time they were lucky and the local police officers were okey with them.
they even showed the people who came to the fest where it was and where to
park etc. normally i heard that the police over there are not the easiest
people to reason with. at 5 in the morning me and eduard got out and went
to this authentical bakery factory and bought ourselves some fresh
croissants etc. after having consumed our croissants we decided to fall a
sleep and with this big smile i slowly fell a sleep. the next morning that
same smile was on my face and we decided to take a look at the donostian
beach... there was a class of surfers trying to ride the waves. it was
like 25 degrees celcius and i was feeling great!!! in the back of my mind
i knew that we would get this cold winter in holland and i realised i
really had to enjoy these last moments of sun burning your face!
13.10.03. @ Gaztetxe, Llodio SPA
as we left DONOSTI we drove to LLODIO which wasn't a long drive. three
hours or so. we arrived at this town surrounded by mountains. and entered
the sweetest house i have ever been in. it was this typical basque house
with large old stones and heavy dark wood. what a place to have a show
in!!! upstairs there was a great kitchen, with the pans on real fire! you
had to put wood in the oven to heat it and next to the kitchen there was
this amazing room with all the attributes you need to make your own t
shirt designs and print them, there were records lying everywhere but i
was too busy with checking out that machine so i forgot to go through them
actually. maybe there was the secret distro everybody is talking about
(ed. not maybe, there was one hidden in a closet!). we played together with ANTIHEROES with the same drummer of the night
before and the barman of the night before. ANTIHEROES are some sort of los
crudos on speed kind of band and their surprising gorilla biscuits cover
reminded me of old times! their "crew" moshed and thrashed around the
place and actually i think that we were looking all at the band with our
jaws to the floor. a grindy-punk band with a brutal bassplayer who played
with his fingers!!!! wow what a blast! it was really a good band and i
really hope they will come to holland to play here.
after the concert we drank more beer and some of us went to bed. some of
us ended up talking to this skinhead who brought this amazing liqour with
him. of course we drank and discussed till the next morning. another
really nice night!!!
14.10.03. @ Sala Eneba, Madrid SPA
so we drove off to madrid. the guys of opus dead had arranged the show and
we actually got there in time to also have a little straw in the city. in
fact we found out that we played in the middle of the city. a friend of
mine just moved to madrid a week ago to learn the beautiful language and
of course we hooked up. at first we were welcomed by this mohawk in a
public enemy t shirt who was actually working downstairs where the concert
had to take place. eduard asked him if he knew that we would play there
that night. he didn't know that and he told us that he had to make some
phonecalls to see if it was possible to play... in the end it was all ok
and we put our stuff in and took a walk through the town.
it was nice to see a little bit of the town and we also went to the sin
dios info store (ed. La Idea). a nice place that has a lot of CD's, LP's, 7"'s, sweaters
/ t shirts and books. we played together with a two-man's punkband and it
was very cool. there were a lot of people that showed up, luckily!!!
15.10.03. @ Centre Cultural La Xixarra, Valencia SPA
we drove towards valencia but had to make quick visit to eduard's parents
house because they had made us a vegan paella. goddamn we arrived at this
large house and when we came in the first thing we saw were this large
sofa, a swimming pool and this gigantic pan / wok filled with the promised
vegan paella... i swear the pan was 1,5 meters big, can you imagine??? we
ate at a large table and had the most delicious meal of the tour. after a
quick swim for some of us, we drove to the venue. i hooked up with another
friend of mine that lives two hours drive from valencia. it was funny to
meet him and nice to see that he plays in bands, dj's and produces things
overthere! we played a great show and mihoen! was obliged to play with
only one bassdrum not the standard doublebass because irmin lost a spring
the before. it was a really nice set and i was totally surprised that
irmin could drum like this. all together it was an amazing show!!! the
venue was also very nice. it was a sort of garage with a garden in the
back. the place was squatted i think and was legal because there were only
cultural events held by and for the mislata - valencian youth. the beers
we drank were amazing you could get 1 liter bottles... you can already
guess what happened of course... afterwards we quickly got served an
amazing VEGAN tortilla. it really looked like egg but it was real vegan
stuff. we all were overwhelmed by all this food, nice people and their
hospitality. can you imagine eating vegan authentic paella at five and 7
hours later being served again a typical spanish thing that is also
vegan... we were stunned! after the show we drove to eduard's place again
because their would be a big authentic fiesta. we behaved like mad men and
soon we all agreed that our friend eduard was like an ESCOBAR. cars
stopped and people shouted his name and welcomed him back in town. he had
lived here in utrecht for a few years and we were
 actually
giving him a ride back home. he is going to start his own label / distro
and infoshop there called TRABUC records. if you would like to have your
releases in his distro contact me so i can take the stuff to eduard as i
am for sure visiting him soon. (friso666@angelfire.com) the party in town
was allready booming and we tried to fit in. the evening was a blast!!!!
again i realised that there is nothing as good as being on the road
meeting new people and try to understand one's culture! ESCOBAR showed us
the spanish party style and believe me it was a hell of fun! as you
can see (PHOTO)
16.10.03. @ La Macabra, Barcelona SPA
this was really heavy... waking up early after partying all night... for
some it was really fucked up to wake up. anyways we were dead tired and as
we drove for 11 hours to get to the next venue you can imagine we were all
pretty edgy. the squat was not the place that i had imagined. actually it
was by far from what i expected. we entered the squat while the rain was
pouring down and the roof of the squat wasn't that perfect anymore and
really difficult to fix, as i heard later on, so there was water
everywhere. then this gigantic dogfight broke out and, we heard later the
drummer of the last band, was bitten in one of his hands. when we entered
the concert room we saw that it was big enough to house 1000 people. there
were only 50 at the gig and everything was built up tranquilo. a shame
because we really had to get up early to make it to st. ettienne. after
two hours of setting up their pa system they realised that it didn't
work... hmmmm than we decided to only use the thing for the vocals which
seemed like a good idea to us in the beginning. anyway mihoen! played and
the sound was not good at all. well we put our speakers on after mihoen!
and really it helped a lot. the vocals now understandable... at least how
far that goes of course. NO CONFORME played after mihoen! it was crusty
d-beat style punk and they played a long set. maybe it was us who were
tired and really didn't wanted to make it too late we all actually kind of
got a little agitated. we were able to play at 3 in the morning and after
us another band had to play over our backline. normally no problem but we
were really eager to go to sleep or to leave to make some kilometers
already because we didn't want to have another 11 hour drive the next
day. the people who organised the show for us were really very very nice
and the food we got was really good so don't get me wrong i am not
complaining!!! we quickly packed the stuff after the last band, HAPPY
DEATH, had finished and i finally met laura who arranged the show. when
they got out during the day they got arrested because they were accused of
stealing stuff from shops and they were kept in jail till very late. she
was really very nice and helped us to get out of the place and she was i
think a bit sorry that we didn't stay. she told me all the problems they
had about their pipes to let the water run down properly each year got
full with dirt and therefore the roof of the building rots away. one day
some girl nearly crashed when she tried to get on the roof to see what the
damage was. believe me a fall from that height would really kill you... all
in all she was really nice they even had collected some more money so we
could leave with some gas money to st. ettienne. we drove off and on our
way the weather became pretty heavy... we also were dead tired and it was
a silly decision to go driving... so we stopped at the side of the road
and decided to go to sleep. the next day we drove off towards st.
ettienne, the weather changed throughout the morning and this was to be
the better day! i drove in the bus and really i was pretty happy that i
got my drivers permit and was able to drive a little.
17.10.03. @ Le Cle d'Voute, Saint-Etienne FRA
we arrived after a nine hour drive and we were amazed by the number of
punx standing outside willing to help us unload the vans and put the stuff
into the venue. wow what an amazing place!!! this was well organised and
we were treated like kings. we played with this really amazing band called
criatura from zaragoza. emo - punkrock kind of thing but really not
soft!!! it was a nice night. there was even an after party at the place
where we slept. the next day coffee and croissants made it a typical french
wake up thing. everyone was still a bit tired off the night before and it
was pretty quiet. as soon as the first cups o' coffee were consumed we
started to talk to each other and it was a pretty relaxed day. we knew we
only had to drive 60 kilometers towards lyon so we could rest a little.
the guys of the st ettienne collective "LA FRANCE PUE" (france stinks!)
are unbelievable nice and we had a great time! the good thing of their
collective is that it really doesn't matter what style you play you are
part of the group. so there is no split between for example d-beat ;D and
emo 8-) kids. everyone does something for the collective and it is amazing
how that works. befa of vomit for breakfast also told me amazing stories
about their trip to PERU. wow that isn't that a great thing? and they were
the first fast french band that went there. unbelievable, i hope to read a
report once. we also met the K-Town bikewars champion of this year's fest.
it was great mike and he skateboarded together and i really just hung
around with irmin and XXXXX and his girlfriend. he guided us this whole
day and seriously first i thought that he was a little bit mad at us or
something... but along the way i found out that that was his way of making
jokes and hang around and we really had a great time there!!! thanx to
those people, it was fun to spend a day in your house and town!
18.10.03. @ The Blue Banana Bar, Lyon FRA
we drove off to lyon and we were welcomed by gwenn. he drove us to the
venue and we unloaded the vans. we went to look for a parking place and
this really nice dude who just parked his car on an easy spot for us was
willing to search for another place because he saw that we would never
find a place to park with such a van. it was also gwenn who asked him
really politely to please search for another spot, it helped. behind us
there were like ten cars who were trying to pass but hell with 20
centimeters on each side that will not work. gwenn had some magic moments
and got the people in line to move backwards so we could park more
relaxed. really funny to see how people react when they are in their cars
waiting for someone who is in a difficult position. anyways, it is really
strange how full the city's in spain and france are with cars. it is
really difficult to park and sometimes we'd wish that we had those stupid
little smart cars.... :P the mihoen van was standing in front of the bar
and arno of mihoen! thought he couldn't park there or it wasn't a good
idea so he decided to park the mihoenica! on his own and guess what... he
got lost in the city. after i think two hours i stepped outside of the bar
and luckily i just saw arno passing and me and gwenn got in the van and
found a parking spot and guess where that was... in front of the bar. :P
we played in this kinda maffioso bar where i think not only drinks were
served and sold... anyway we played upstairs (english style) and had
nothing to do with the owner. mihoen! started and at the end of their set
the owner of the bar insisted them to play softer because the police was
driving around the block and if they would have to come in the concert had
to be ended. mihoen! tried to play soft but of course this didn't work
out... ha ha ha. when mihoen! was finished after blasting away as quick as
possible the last songs of the set, we set up our stuff and began to play.
i was totally in the mood and even was dancing as i was singing. before i
knew it it was over and pepijn mihoen! sang the last song for me because i
was on the ground cause i almost passed out... you know how that goes,
right??? you get really into it and scream your guts out and suddenly
somewhere in that exciting moment you forgot to breathe... it really was,
again, a night to NEVER FORGET! afterwards we got fed in the appartment
where we slept and again there was a little afterparty. this was a top
notch place, parisien style at least that was what i made out of it... the
guys had prepared more nice food and damn these people were so friendly.
momo who i had the mail contact with left the party soon and i really hope
that we will stay in touch and that i can do something for him. i also met
this dude of OVERMARS a really good doom band. if you like sludgy / slow
stuff check it out!
19.10.03. @ Le Marignan, Athus BEL
we arrived in belgium on time and we had the time to check out the local
cafetaria and the guy behind the counter let us taste all his delicious
sauces which he mostly made himself. ... real belgian french fries rule.
we ate something and talked to guys in the cafetaria. they asked us what
we came to do and we told them we were two bands from holland. they told
us about the place and eventually told us there was a skatepark nearby.
there was eventually time to look for the skatepark cause mike d. he was
eager to go there. mike, arno and me got into the skate express and so we
drove over the luxembourg, french and belgian borders a few times to
finally get back to the cafetaria and ask again where the park was. okey
we drove in the exact opposite direction so it was logical we did not find
it at once. it wasn’t the best spot though. it was an indoor park as we
expected it was outdoors we had trouble to find it and once inside i used
my best french to ask if mike could have a go for free... it was ok and
after his ride he said it was really old and that they might better
rebuild it a little bit so all the curves and angles would be better. we
drove back to the pub and there we met cedric and a friend of his. they
picked us up and drove us towards cedric's house. when we arrived seb,
cedric's brother, was also there and we got this delicious meal, which
they had prepared for us. again a big round table in the middle of the
room where we ate from i guess that is the batavian / bourgondian style
huh!? we played the show and there were really a small amount of people
that showed up... we had a laugh and it was really the typical say goodbye
show. the best tourjokes (zijn we nog boeren!!!???) were made and we had
fun. what was less funny is that it was a benefit show for this
organisation who helped refugees. in fact they did some big demonstration
against the expelling of refugees from belgium. this demostration was kind
of chaotic and since then the organisation is really being terrorised by
the belgian government. in fact a woman who was being deported back to her
original country died in a plane because of brutal behaviour of some cops.
she was getting hysterical, of course, and one policeofficer shut her up
(for good) by pressing a pillow against her face. she choked and now the
organisation is being held responsible for he death of that woman. since
they gave her hope... this is really not made up and i think this is
really a serious thing. therefore we will organise a benefit in utrecht
for this organisation because they now need every financial help that is
possible. if any bands are interested in playing this benefit please
contact me!
(friso666@angelfire.com)
well the next day we drove home and so ended our amazing tour. what a
blast... what a shame to be back but what fun to help others to experience
the same! we just had migra violenta over from argentina in utrecht and it
was an amazing show in the flying dog, what goes around comes around...
the concerts continue and a lot of things have to be arranged. well that
is it for now i hope you enjoyed reading this tour report as much as i
enjoyed writing it! remember these are things seen from my point of view
and are my own experiences. i know that everyone had a gfreat time and i
for sure hope to do this again.
thanx to all people that helped in one way or another! giving us the
addresses we needed, people that let our rotten corpses sleep and eat in
their houses. i would also like to thank mihoen! for going with us. it was
awesome! cheers arno, irmin, peppie and rene!!!
special thanx go out to eduard for setting up the amazing spanish gigs!
and i really hope he is going to release a lot of amazing records and set
up his own little info shop and get where you want to go!!!
for
the sake of independence, we take care of our own lives!!! willing to put
a little bit more energy in things to in the end achieve to get that happy
feeling that you managed to again do it. without your help we are nowhere!
and
last but not least thanx to the MASTERS!!!
yours faithfully,
friso666 |
This
edition was supposed to come out sooner but we and our Cavy family had to deal with an unexpected and
devestating loss. Only seven months old Felix was not granted a long life,
and
we're certain and relieved his eventual death was the ultimate painkiller.
May you rest in peace my little friend. 
My Dutch digital
punkarchive has finally taken a start. Managed to find quite alot of
releases through Soulseek and busy trading and getting more through normal
mail. At least I hope to get my Groningen collection completed sooner than
later. I'll be working on the MP3 section soon and adding a bunch. Also I
have put a list online with all the Dutch recordings I have so far.
If you or anyone you know has any recording not listed, I am interested!
SS- "The original SS
live at Kid Airac Hall 1979" one-sided bootleg 12” 
GISM- "Live Tokyo
1982-1983" LP 
AGE (Armed Government
Error)- "Blowing Wind" 7” 
Nada
Cambia- 
Rocky & The Sweden
- "Wake Up Anarchy Rider" 7" 
Rocky & The Sweden
- "844" 7" 
Etae - "Kanou"
7"
V/A - "Blood
Sucking Freaks 2003" CD
