24-07-2012

Flame vs. Rock

I went to this one-day festival called Vlamrock this weekend. It was fun. It's a hardcore/metal merger fest.

Comme toujours, I arrived alone. But, comme parfois, I hung out with some familiar faces. Hardcore/punk brings out the most social skills in me.
Anyway, after a while the first band took the stage. It was Violent City, local old school hardcore dudes. Great, great set. I can't say I'm a big fan of that style of hardcore (I mostly like lame melodic hardcore for pussies), but Violent City has the right stuff. The right attitude, the right riffs and the right performance. Vocalist Anthony is a cool guy and he knew how and when to spark the audience. They got quite a few moshers moving, considering it was only 12 pm. Awesome. Daan Adjective did a dual vocal song with hem, which was cool. I can't remember which song. Anyway, they also played Judge's Fed Up, which has been a staple in their set for quite a bit, for the last time. And their own songs are pretty good as well, of course! Back To Basics reminded me a lot of the likes of Carry On and such, which was cool. I forgot to but the new CD, but I will do that next time!

Next up, Soul Control. I've been a Soul Control fan since I saw them in the basement of den Eglantier a couple years ago. Saw them a couple of times after that, but it had been since last summer already so I was stoked. They play really groovy, grung-y hardcore, but not too groovy. It's heavy and it's damn good. I very much enjoyed the show. I even sang almong to a few songs I remember some words to. For some reason I think these guys are one of the best in modern hardcore around. The new 7" slays, once again. Pick it up, it's called Bore Core, so that predicts a lot of goods (dutchism).

Saw the majority of Ritual's set, who are currently playing their last shows as a band. They're breaking up after that. Which is a shame, cause they're really good. They played a good mix of older and newer songs, all with the trusted passion and deliverance that they're known for. Also really heavy. Everytime I see them I wonder how they manage to be so heavy. But I love it. The guitar player still wears silly outfits, but that's not really important of course. Very enjoyable show, I'm gonna miss seeing them.

Then, uhm, I spent time hanging around, catching up with people and generally having a good time. Until at 4:30 pm Midnight Souls started their set. The place was packed, which was cool, but I barely managed to get in so that was close! Anyway, once again a great set from one of my favourite Belgian band around. They give it all every time they play and at the end of each set they have no hearts left cause they played them all out. I admire that.

Polar sucked pretty much. But Pianos Become The Teeth made up for that by being awesome. Musically inspiring, vocally enticing, generally awesome.

Didn't see anything after that until Verse. I saw a bit of Cruel hand but that was too brutal for me. Verse hit the spot again though. They were not as mindblowing as what I thought of them at Groezrock, but they're so damn cool. Such a great band. A solid setlist, a good performance. I loved it. Better than Have Heart.

Defeater, the headliner, didn't really catch my attention though. It could've been my state of mind, my drunkenness, my wandering thoughts or something else, but I didn't get grasped by their set. They played Prophet In Plain Clothes though, which made the entire set worth it. They're a good band but I kinda stopped paying attention to them so I guess that conveyed to their show.

Then I had a weird of sleep and no sleep, but it has been a fun day and I was happy.

22-07-2012

Platte lijners

Before I forget, let's talk about how cool the Flatliners show on Tuesday was. Oh, you were there? Nothing to say then, you would know first hand. You weren't? Well, I'll give you some clues on how it was.

Bamboo Avenue was a ska band, they opened the night. I guess the Flatliners have some heavy ska influences so it made sense, but I wasn't in the mood, maaaannnnn. It was good, but ska is ska to me nowadays and it doesn't do much unless it's spiked up with punk or some kind of -core like the Flatliners do or bands like Farse, Arrogant Sons Of Bitches, ... Okay to get going, though.

Face The Fax. Well, I have to say: wow. Every show I see of these guys I get into it more and more and this show in particular was a blast! One of the best shows I've seen them play. They got a lot of reactions. I'm even starting to sing along and dance along myself, even though they use more than 3 chords/song. Whoa! Seriously though, this band rules and punk rock rules also.

The Flatliners came about. They ripped the place apart. Half of the (sold out!) venue was dancing around, caring about punkrock and having a really great time. It was really fun to witness and participate in having a great time, even though my knowledge of the Flatliners' back catalogue is restricted to their first album and their best song (Open Hearts And Bloody Grins), of which they played little. But I sang along to songs I didn't know anyways, cause that's how I roll. It was a punk rock party supreme in there, and the punk rock was provided by these nice Canadians! They rocked everyone's ass off. Not literally. Figuratively.

Also heavy drinking!

19-07-2012

I bought a record once...

Hey there. Number 2 in the series. This time it's a compact disc!

 Mr. T Experience - Yesterday Rules (Lookout records, 2004)

1. She's Not A Flower
2. Fucked Up On Life
3. Oh, Just Have Some Faith In Me
4. Big, Strange, Beautiful Hammer
5. Sorry For Freaking Out On The Phone Last Night
 6. The Boyfriend Box
7. London
8. Elizabeth Or Fight!
9. Everybody Knows You're Crying
10. Jill
11. Shining
12. Institutionalized Misogyny
13. Take All The Time You Need

This is, to date, the last album by the Mr. T Experience, or MTX for the friends. While I wasn't that big on Alcatraz, I did start to heavily like Yesterday Rules about, like, a year ago. It's good stuff.
I bought this at Bilbo Antwerpen. That store doesn't exist anymore. It used to have, I think, 4 stores: in Antwerpen, Leuven, Gent and  Brugge. Nowadays only the store in Leuven is still active. Sad story.
Anyways, you know how all those stores have a "heavy" section? They have all kinds of labels, "hard & heavy" "punk/metal", ... I don't remember what it was called in Bilbo, but it was the fursthest corner from the entrance where those records were hidden. Typical. I got really excited when I found an MTX cd there, cause, y'know, how many times do you find an MTX album in a regular record store? Not often. Lookout! records is not really a popular label, huh. So I bought that, along with another record, possibly The Vandals' Peace Thru Vandalism.I don't remember perfectly.
At first it was just cool to have an MTX record. I had the vinyl for Revenge Is Sweet And So Are You but other than that I didn't listen too much MTX. Yesterday Rules has been a backburner record for quite a long time, but now it's become on eof my regular spinners. I love the Dr. Frank-ness of this record. There's some of his solo songs on it and there are a few slower, quiter songs like Jill and Institutionalized Misogyny that I really dig. And his voice is oh so recognizable.
It's a punk rock album, though, no doubt about that. It's catchy in its entirety. But as I've experienced with a few other MTX records, it doesn't click on the first play. It's not musically complex but there's a quality to the songs that carry the band away from standard pop punk.

Anyway, great record, bought about 4 years ago I think in a store that doesn't exist anymore. I'm getting old.

15-07-2012

I bought a record once...

I'm gonna try to start a series of blogs about records I have, allegedly called "I bought a record once...". In my latest zine I wrote something about records and record purchase so I thought it'd be cool to go some cool gems in my own collection, in extension to that.

This first part is actually about a very recent record, both in terms of release as in terms of purchase.

Drug Church - S/T (No Sleep records, 2012)

A1. Mohawk
A2. Northway
B1. Latham Circle









I bought this at the No Sleep webstore. I intended to buy the new Mixtapes lp, which I did, but obviously I looked around a bit further and I picked up the Tigers Jaw/Balance & Composure split and this 7". Drug Church.
I'd never heard the music, but I knew Patrick EOAYSDF "sings" (read: does vocals) so I was pretty curious about it. It's their first EP, apparently they've done a demo too but I haven't heard it. So it's a general introduction to the band, as well as a personal introduction. A first glance at the cover art tells you nothing because there is so much going on. Most notably a woman with a skull facing her ass towards you, a skating nuclear zombie reaper, an a-bomb explosion and a broken nuclear plant. Other than that a lot of faces, bombs, a peeing dog, and people in weird positions.
Anyway, after I rewired the amplification system of my record player (which sounds cooler than it really was) last week I got around playing a bunch of records I had laying around from buying the past few weeks. A lot of Ramones-inspired pop punk, so that was cool. After a few I got to the Drug Church 7" and I was still curious about it. But, I put the needle on and something magical happens. It figuratively dropped an a-bomb in my room. Maybe all this poppy punk rock has softened my mind but it doesn't often happen that I am fully enthused by a hardcore/punk EP. Drug Church did that. The moment Mohawk started with that riff and then that bang I was hooked. It's got a groovy, post-hardcore vibe but it's energetic and fast like more old school hardcore. The first lyrics immediately brought Cincinatti Harmony by the Dopamines to mind: Heard you got that job, Heard you got that truck, heard you got of drugs, heard I should give a fuck. versus So you got a raise this week? So you got a new car? Oh how have I been doing lately? Wouldn’t you like to compare. I don't think the guys in Drug Church would appreciate a pop punk reference, but hey, I did it. The other A-side is pretty heavy as well, while the B-side is more slowed down and has a weird outro.
It also doesn't happen a lot that I keep playing a 7" over and over again (it's really a hassle to turn it every 4 minutes or so) but this is an EP I can listen to on repeat for a couple of times

So this is a prime example of how you can sometimes buy records of bands you've never heard but heard of in good contexts (SDF, No Sleep records) and love them. It's funny how music works.


So, this isn't so much supposed to be a review, but rather my personal experience with the record. How, why and when I bought it; what it did to me/what it does now; why I value it; ... Hopefully there'll be a couple more episodes of the record-blogging.

03-07-2012

NEW NOISE/NEW ZINE

Hey! Hey! Hey you! Listen up!

I've made a new (slightly improved) zine! It's full of letters and images and stuff!
Check it out!

This Ain't Noise #6


Content:
- interviews with Mikey Erg, the Respirators, the Helltons
- all kinds of reviews of records
- rants
- a (vegan) recipe for the punx
- online mixtape with music featured in the zine
- other stuff that will make you go 'oh yeah, totally!' or 'OHMYGOD HAHAHA YEAH' or maybe 'hmmm, perhaps' or possibly 'what kind of bullcrap is this?'

Buy it please!
Same price as always, 50 cents for 20 A5-format black/white pages.
Available from me:
- talk to me at shows
- message me on facebook
- mail me at thisaintnoise@gmail.com
- order from thisaintnoise.bigcartel.com
- find other ways to contact me

Upcoming shows:
17/07: Flatliners (Sojo, Leuven)
29/07: Municipal Waste (JH Comma, Brugge)
10-11-12/08: Ieperfest (festival site, Ieper)

There's still some copies of #4 and #5 too, and I have 2 (two!) copies of #3 left, so if you want that, act quickly.