(Rotterdam/Zoetermeer/Utrecht, 1979–1981)

Meaning Bandname: It exemplified the radical idea of a new beginning.

Bio: Formed in late 1979 by Fred and his best friend Sven. At high school we always dreamt about starting a band (we already had a name, Smudge). We were inspired by all the fast and furious bands we had seen over the past two years, and whose main message was: you don’t have to be a musical genius, anyone can do this, all you need is three chords and a few words. Pick up a guitar and play. Write your own tunes. Release them on your own label. Do it yourself! Sven would sing, Fred would play guitar and we would both write songs. Our first tune was Rotterdam, Rotterdam, a three-chord tribute to our hometown. We soon found a drummer, Annemiek, a fellow student who had never touched a drum stick in her life, but she was funny and kind and looked the part. Then we found another guitarist, Peter. When Fred met him on campus, he wore a denim jacket with the logo of the progressive rock band Yes sewn on the back. He had long hair and a beard. And on top of that he was classically trained. Not very punk. But he was a great guy who never lost his cool, despite all the taunting and teasing. And having him join the band was in fact the ultimate punk gesture: no uniforms, no labels, no rules. Then we asked a young woman called Loes from Rotterdam to play bass. She immediately bought a white Fender and mastered the instrument in a matter of weeks. Apart from Peter, we were all absolute beginners, clueless but excited. We practiced in the basement of a student flat, which we shared with a heroin addict.

In May 1980 the band played their first gig at an annual festival celebrating the reconstruction of the inner city of Rotterdam after the devastating Nazi bombardment of 1940. We performed in front of a shoe shop with a couple of local punk bands. We were a shambles, but at least we had achieved our first goal: a gig. From then on we practised every week, and soon we had a dozen or so songs that were actually quite good, or so we thought. “Interesting”, people would say in a polite way. I guess what made us different was that we refused to play run of the mill (faster, faster, faster) punk, trying to avoid clichés with tempo changes and a thumping minimalism. Sometimes we succeeded, often we didn’t, because we were simply too bad. Those who cared about the band aptly called it “psychedelic punk. Favourite bands at the time were Gang of Four, Buzzcocks, Wire and The Clash.

In 1981 we went to the studio of the Rotterdam punk collective Rondos, who were massively political and encouraged young people to fight for change through art, music, writing, whatever. “Destroy The Entertainment” was one of their slogans. Their studio was in the bunker of their huge villa “Huize Schoonderloo”, not far from the wide river that cuts Rotterdam in half. It was a hot summer evening when we went there. I can’t remember if we had to pay or if this was charity, part of the long road to the revolution. The people from Rondos showed us how to operate the recording machine, which was a basic two-track system. Sven’s sister pushed the record button. We laid down all the songs we knew, then we picked three to appear on a punk compilation featuring five other bands: Utrecht punk heroes the Lullabies, all-girl band The Nixe, a slightly younger group called Bizon Kidz, a raging Rotterdam outfit called Neo-Pogo’s, and a band I didn’t know and whose name didn’t sound particularly appealing, The Rapers. The album was released in 1981 on the Rock Against Records label. One thousand copies were pressed. They costed 7.50 guilders in the shops (less than half the price of your average LP at the time). The front cover featured a black-and-white nude photograph of the bassist of the Lullabies, with the bands’ names written on his torso. If you turned it over, you saw his back with the song titles. The label just gave you the names of the bands. We shared side B with The Nixe and Bizon Kidz. The record appeared to have no title. We were all given a few copies (I still have one) as payment. Not long after this release, our band and most of the others fell apart.

Lineup:
[1] 1979-1980
Annemiek – drums
Fred de Vries – guitar, vocals
Loes – bass
Peter – guitar
Sven – vocals

[2] 1980-1981
Annemiek – drums
Fred de Vries – guitar, vocals
Peter – guitar
Sven – bass, vocals

Discography:
1981 – demo (Never released)

Various:
1981 – Untitled LP (Rock Against Records, NL)

Interviews/Articles:
1979 – Raket 1
1981 – De Gladiool 3

Concerts: (selected)
1979.05.19 Oldebarneveltplein, Rotterdam (+ Rondos, Railbirds, Bunker, Berlin) (Binnenstadsdag)
1979.10.26 Kaasee, Rotterdam (+ The Nixe, Lullabies)
1979.10.30 Eksit, Rotterdam (+ Workmates, The Ex)
1979.12.18 Paradiso, Amsterdam (+ The Bugs, Infexion, The Scabs)

1980.03.01 Kaasee, Rotterdam
1980.04.25 O’16, Voorburg (+ Minister Presidents, S5)
1980.04.30 SSR, Utrecht (+ Rakketax, The Nixe, Noxious, Coïtus Int., Hi-Jinx, S5, Lullabies, Bizon Kids) (Rock Against Monarchism)

Source: Fred de Vries