(Groningen, 1979-1981)

Bio: Formed in 1979 and play only selfwritten songs with a french female singer. Play extensively in Spain and South Portugal from July-September 1979.

Lineup:
Eric de Bie aka Eric von String – guitar
Jan Overland aka Janti Pinanti – bass
Johan ter Brink aka Johan Jambon – guitar
Muriël aka Anti Pasta aka Red Rizla – vocals
Robbie Peters aka Robby Percussy – drums & vocals

Other bands:
Johan ter Brink – Kleg
Robbie Peters – La Danza Moderna, Dark Ravens Of Dance

Discography:
1980 – Various – 17 To 7 On 33 7” EP (Plurex Records)

Interviews/Articles:
1980 – Muziek Verheft De Geest Niet 2
1980 – Kommer En Kwel 4

Concerts: (selected)
1979.07 RDP Radio, Faro POR
1979.09.01 La Plaza De Toros, Aranda De Duero SPA (+ Bloque, Ciclon, Heinkel, Milagro, Galinche, Perucho)
1979.09.02 Discoteca Olimpo, La Línea de la Concepción SPA
1979.10.27 Simplon, Groningen (+ Radio Active, Burning Weed)
1979.11 Kattebak, Groningen

1980.01.16 Het Pakhuis, Groningen
1980.01.18 Ubbo Emmius, Groningen
1980.01.19 Vera, Groningen (+ Joy Division)
1980.01.25 Simplon, Groningen
1980.02.07 Bronx, Groningen
1980.03.01 Simplon, Groningen (+ TBC, Teije’s Mess Express, Vopo’s)
1980.03.21 De Koffer, Groningen
1980.04.03 Tanegido, Grootegast (+ The New Adventures)
1980.04.10 Het Hijgend Hert, Groningen
1980.05.03 Tin Pan Alley, Emmen (+ John Concrete, The Problems, Cute, White Honey)
1980.05.07 De Spieghel, Groningen
1980.06.03 Simplon, Groningen (+ Timmi Ritmo, The Problems)
1980.08.01 Stojeb, Bedum
1980.08.03 Sterrebos, Groningen (+ Steel Pulse, Headline)
1980.08.28 Vera, Groningen (+ Delta 5)
1980.09.27 Broerplein, Groningen (+ Nul-50, Cruckling Toes, Opstoot, Paris, Taxi, Teije’s Mess Express)
1980.10.03 De Snikke, Hoogezand-Sappemeer
1980.10.16 Paradiso, Amsterdam (+ Touchwood)
1980.11.07 Simplon, Groningen (+ Clapcats)
1980.12.18 Bronx, Groningen

1981.02.27 De Ark, Tilburg
1981.02.28 Oe Toch, Kaatsheuvel
1981.03.07 Buurthuis, Pernis
1981.05.03 It Brune Jaske, Drachten
1981.06.13 Melkweg, Amsterdam (+ The Lid, Visitor)
1981.07.18 Jazz Cafe Otto, Rotterdam

Red Rizla & The Stubs in Spain and Southern Portugal
By Robby Perkussy

Somewhere around 1977/8 and inspired by the punk scene and ideology in England, we started a band from scratch:

Eric von String: guitar
Johan: guitar
Janti Pinanti: bassguitar
Muriël aka Red Rizla: vocals
Robby Perkussy: drums & vocals

I had already written ‘poems’ and songs on guitar and the rest added their musical ideas and lyrics. After a year of rehearsing and performing, we fantasized about what to do in the summer of ’79.

Muriël, who was from Paris, had a Portuguese friend over in Groningen, our hometown. This guy, José was very enthousiastic about what we did, and suggested: “You should go to Portugal to perform, they haven’t heard anything like this music”.

What seemed like joking, soon evolved in some kind of a ‘plan’. We bought an old worn out Ford Transit, fixed it up and spray canned the band name on it. We were ready to go: The 5 of us, the 6 months old baby of Muriël and Eric and the girlfriends of Johan and Janti. And José of course, being the only one speaking Portugese, he was destined to be our ‘manager’.

And so we took off with the Transit packed with equipment and an old Citroën 2CV. On the road in Spain we improvised some incidental shows to be able to buy food and petrol. Finally we reached Albufeira, which in that era still was a village. Why Albufeira? Maybe because we thought that along the coast there were bars and disco’s to perform at?

After 47 years I don’t remember many details and lost contact with the other band members. At that time we just did our thing without collecting souvenirs like photos or diaries. Two things pop up though:

– We met with another band that was kind of a first too: Basement 5, a reggae punk band from London. We did one (or two?) show(s) with them and shared a house for a (few?) night(s). The rest of the time there was no money to spend on rent, we slept on the beach and Johan and I played as street musicians to earn money for food.
– In an open air discotheque we did an afternoon gig for children (and their parents, haha).

Doing all this grabbed the attention, which led to the invitation by radio station RDP in July 1979. I think this was in Faro. As punk had not yet arrived in Portugal they described us as “rock, new wave”.

Altogether we performed some 10 times and made kind of a quick escape from Portugal. A ‘big shot’ with a string of clubs in Portugal wanted us to do a lot of shows for a fixed fee. To cut a long story short, we didn’t agree on the money, it started to get a bit cheesy, it felt corrupt.

After being on the road for some 2,5 months we split the scene. On the way back in Spain, in Aranda de Duero we played at a big festival: “8 Horas de Rock”, in the Plaza de Toros and thus we could finance the long drive back to Groningen. Eventually, we ended up broke but with quite an experience and a load of good memories.

It was an adventure that made me quit Art School to become a musician.