28-05-2014

Election day punk

I put on a show for my friends in Misgivings last Sunday. It started early and was supposed to end early. It kinda worked out, but as per usual, it didn't really.

After baking a ton of pancakes, making food for the band and getting everything ready in the venue I welcomed The Goodluck Party. They playes a jolly set full of jolly tunes but not as flawless as it could have been. The hangover might have had something to do with it. Fun Nerf Herder/NOFX covers though, and great songs of their own. Very good band, not their best performance though.

Red Cloud played some acoustic jams in between bands, that was fun.

Every Stranger Looks Like You, whose new EP Life In The Abyss is streamable today, played a rad show. Heavy as fuck. They played a lot of new songs and they sound angrier and harsher than before. Total sweethearts though. Great set, maybe not the best setting at 5 in the afternoon with the sun shining brightly outside, but okay.

Red Cloud played some more songs, which was a great help cause Misgivings were later than expected. With lost amps, a car crash and bad luck in general, they had driven 11 hours from Leisnig to Leuven, normally a 6 hour drive. But they made it, they arrived at 7pm, an hour after they were supposed to play, and set up like champs without amps.
Some people luckily stayed and watched the band patiently. Like, 5 people maybe. It's something. The set started out sloppily cause, you know, they were tired and bummed and rushed and all those things. But it all got together and I really enjoyed the remainder of it. Cool band. They got an EP coming out some time, called Delete History, so stay tuned for that I guess. They'll be back in August as well, so if you missed it, get your second chance then!

Afterwards I took the guys to the Face The Fax show and we all got very drunk and stuff. Amazing people. It was very cool to catch up with Joe, and the other dudes were all super rad as well.

TheCracks

Last Friday, I saw the tightest motherflippin' band in the world play. Yes. Absolutely. Yes. DeeCracks. Yes. You're right.

But first! The Capitalist Kids. I really wanted to check them out. I once check out their Sarah Palin single and that was rad. They started out and immediately grabbed my attention with a fun, energetic song and performance. Just fun and energetic. I need no more. Sold. Very MTX-ish, they even covered You Today, which was rad. Band rules, check 'em out. Hey! Gay marriage is okay!

Priceduifkes played their last show on Belgian soil til after the summer. They're about to embark on a US tour with Direct Hit! and Masked Intruder, and god know what they'll do this summer. The show was rad, as always. Lots of dancing and singin along to the tunes. The tunes, man. The tuuuuunes.

Deecracks are the best fucking (live) band in the world. Fucking hell. 8 songs in 8 minutes, flawless. I didn't time it, but it must've been something like that. Fucking hell. So good. And it had been such a long time since I'd seen them (which is weird cause they tour non-stop), so that was rad. Lots of old songs/crowd favourites and a couple of new tunes from the amazing new record Beyond Medication. Rad set, incredible show.
Also I was a bit star-struck cause Eric from the Jetty Boys was playing bass for DeeCracks and he's a) a total babe and b) in the fucking Jetty Boys. That's cool. I guess.

There was a surprise aftershow by the Jesus Police, which was cool cause I had always missed them before, so it was my first time seeing them and they're pretty rad.

Afterparty was rad as well, piekmusic and all that.

23-05-2014

zine #10 fucking finally right

The new zine, This Ain't Noise #10, is OUT NOW. So, you can get one of those from me. It features interview with Unfun, The Murderburgers and Wolf-Face, buncha reviews and a rant about how y'all should listen to Fade To Bright instantly.
50 cents a copy, 20 pages, A5 format, black-and-white


Release party will coincidentally and conveniently be this show on Sunday, that I am promoting or whatever. www.facebook.com/events/1398503247091964


14-05-2014

Rush hour

Friday night. After a day of hanging out I went to Leuven to go to a show/play a show. After rushing to pack for a trip the next day and eating something and getting my gear and some other stuff I hurried to the Sojo to see my buds in Outline play on the Smash the Statues release show.

Petit had sent me the new tracks a couple days before and they sound awesome, and I hadn't seen them live for like a year or so, so I was really curious to their show. They did good. I mean, they did well. Old songs sound good, New songs are really cool actually. They have tapes, you should buy them. Well, apparently you already did, cause they told me they sold a bunch at that show, so that's cool. The EP is called Noose and is meant as a soundtrack to tie knots or something.

After that I hurried to Den Bijsluiter, where the Spazzys would play and I was asked to do a afterparty set. Always/never a good idea.

The Tantras played and got the crowd in a good mood with their infectious pop punk tuneage. They haven't played for a long time but most of the set was similar to before. Some new songs, I hope they keep it up.

The Spazzys ruled. Started out with Zombie Girl, all uphill from there. Technically better than in Geel, lots of fun and singalong with a couple punks and a lot of Erasmus students who were there to watch "live music" and drink fake Desperados for 50 cents (those killed me, lemonade at 6% abv).
After The Spazzys show I was way too drunk to play my guitar correctly so my MC Karel set sucked but it was a lot of fun. I played Please Listen To Transilvanian Hunger With Me, which feels like it could be a real crowdpleaser, some classics and some covers. I think I did Teenage Kicks, I Like Vegetables and New Jersey Girl. It all sucked probably.

Book me for all your shows. If you want it to be sorta good, don't give me free drinks. If you want it to be entertaining and worthless, give me free drinks by all means!

Underground T.O.Y.S.

You know those weeks when you feel like listening to all of Todd C's bands? You know 'em, one of those typical Toys That Kill/Underground Railroad To Candyland/F.Y.P. kinda weeks. Well, Belgium was lucky enough to experience such a week live on stage.

On Toys That Kill Tuesday I went to Diest, JH Tijl, because that's were the action would be. A couple weeks ago I bought a TTK/Rivethead/D4 live dvd and so I had an idea of a Toys That Kill show. I also saw half of their set at Fest, but trust me, I don't remember how that was. Due to, you know. Booze That Kills or something.
Anyway, I was excited.
The Dutch Rudders and Sunpower provided support slots or whatever. The atmosphere was very Tuesday-like and the venue wasn't too filled, but the music was good and the vibe was alright. I love the new Dutch Rudders songs a lot and can't wait to hear them recorded. Sunpower is always a blast, literally and figuritavely.

Toys That Kill was rad. Great set, full of fun tunes, all embraced in a sorta exhilarating aura. They did some weird stuff, like hit the floor tiles with drum sticks, but most of all provided a limited but excited audience with edgy garagy punk rock jams unheard of in the real world.
Bought a Citizen Abortion LP, which is just a really great record

Underground Railroad To Candyland Wednesday was next. Missed their sets at Fest and Pre-Fest, and Jordi and Siebens assured me and kept telling me how good they are live, so I was just incredibly stoked. Yes, stoked. As the kids might say.
Teen Creeps are cool. I don't really have more to say about them. 90s sound, husky. Creepy probably.
Silver & Gold started out and played a cool set as per usual. Great guys, great beards, great punk. I got to sing Teenage Kicks with them and screwed up a bit but it was lots of fun. I like having fun. I love Silver & Gold.
I didn't necessarily pay attention to the Raunchy Rumors, but tI've seen 'em before and they're pretty cool. Kinda misplaced here maybe? Don't know.

The Underground Railroad To Candyland was indeed, as expected, fun musicified. Not your standard band, but that's part of the interest and mystery this band upholds. With a name like that, what do you expect, right? Whoo!
I guess I ended up pretty drunk. You know, again...

F.Y.P. Thursday was upon us on, you know, Thursday. Probably my favourite band out of the three.
I missed Coma Commander cause I had to do some stuff but I did see the Priceduifkes play. In one week from the biggest punkrock festival in Belgium to the smallest metalbar in Belgium. Why not? They played a rad show, liek always. PDS Jugend en al.

F.Y.P. ruled. Hits, more hits and also songs, tunes, jams, tracks and whatever they had up their sleeve. Lotsa Toys That Kill stuff, which is good cause that record rules. Energetic show, closed off with Die Young. Small bar, excited crowd equals great fun.

Three days of fun actually. This was a really cool concept and I'm glad I live in a country where the punk scene is cool enough to allow for something like this to happen and the country is small enough to travel to all three shows. That was rad. Lots of people did all three or two out of three of the shows, so it's cool to hang out with your friends a bunch too.

Birdow

Groezrock’s done, what’s next? More shows, obviously. Although my friend jare had a cool living room show planned out with Migre Le Tigre of Rentokill fame, I decided to go to Antwerp and check out Birds In Row for another time. I’ve seen ‚em twice before and every time it was definitely an interesting show.

First up was No Vacancy. I get what they’re trying to do, but bluntly put, it sucked. The drummer, mainly. I’m not one to criticize musicians, but if you can’t keep a measure in a punk-affiliated band, it’s gonna suck even harder than when you can keep it. Anyway, the intention was there and pretty okay, the result was just bad. The descriptoion "new Gent-Antwerp band, that sounds like Nirvana forgot how to play their instruments and decided to play punk instead" was to be taken more literally than I expected.

Fever followed and they put things in perspective. With members of among others This Routine Is Hell (as if those guys needed more bands, right), Fever is as straight-forward as ever and captivate a strong turn-of-the-century hardcore vibe. Carry On, early American Nightmare, xChampionx like. I liked it. Dedicated to the genre and the performance, fueled by anger and angst, and driven by a passion for fast and ferocious hardcore riffs, Fever put down a rad show consisting of the promising songs from their demo tape and a cover I can’t quite remember.

I like seeing VVovnds play. They intrigue me. They’s a breath of fresh air in between the stomp-mosh, mid-tempo generic hardcore bands thta often come from the regions of Antwerp. West-Flanders has a history of metal-infused hardcore and VVovnds dug just a bit deeper in that puddle. All-round violent, powerful and heavy as fuck. Cool show, they give it their all every time which makes for a very desireable live performance.

Finally, Birds In Row. Short, French and angry. Playing a small show in Music City Antwerp before going on tour with Touché Amoré. Their set was fun. Always a pleasure to witness and they add a certain vibrance to the genre. There’s a lot of passion and frustration in the music and the vocals, and I love that. They just rag on on their instruments and produce riffs that make me go into fuck-all mode. Which is good.

Great show. I re-met Max, who I first met during Groezrock but sorta forgot. He’s a really cool guy so I’m glad I found him again! Fun night, great start of a busy but rad week.

07-05-2014

Groezrock I guess?

I'm not feeling like writing a lot, and festivals are always lurry and hazy, so I guess I'll just write a wee bit about Groezrock.

The best band on the festival was probably the Priceduifkes. I'm just saying this because they're one of my favourite bands, I know them personally and they very much deserved to play the fest and furthermore pulled it off so well. Lots of crowd reaction in the vein of "alles kapot", "alles is frut vaneen" en "wereldoorlog drie". Apparently the tent was quite crowded, so I hope they conquered some more hearts by playing Groezrock. Also seeing Fets sing along to Creep Like Me was amazing. So cool.

Then there was Screeching Weasel. Or, Ben Weasel And Whoever He Could Find. As the only original member, it felt a bit weird to see but the band was tight as fuck. Going in with I'm Gonna Strangle You and continueing the show with nothing but hits, up until the closer Cool Kids. Ben's rants were both uncomforting and genius, just like I imagined it would be. Sound at the mainstage wasn't all that, and the stage maybe wasn't all that for a band like Weasel, but it being their first ever European show I'm just glad I got to see them.

I love Drug Church. They played a rad show. I moshed a lot, often on my own. I like Pat's rants, although he doesn't or isn't allowed to go on as miuch as he does with Self Defense Family. Amazing show, I went all-out during Mohawk, such a sick song.

I lost my PARTY TIME watch and Skintight cap during Alkaline Trio's set. That made me very sad. Also a girl kept kicking me in the legs pretty hard because I was punkdancing. What the fuck? That wasn't necessary. It's a punk show, I should be allowed to be upfront losing my shit over my favourite band, right? No need to hurt me intentionally. Fuckwad. Anyway, the Trio actually played one of the best shows I've seen them play and played a lot of their best tunes, including Every Thug Needs A Lady, Sadie, Hell Yes and Jaked On Green Beers. Sounds amazing, right? Yeah it was.

Touché Amoré was incredible. I mean, they are incredible. Such a talented band. Uhm, Descendents ruled. Red City Radio. Iron Chic. Kids Insane. Brand New's set was very different from the show in Zwolle, maybe more enjoyable cause it was shorter and a lot more of the hit songs were played. I mean, starting with Sowing Season is just a really good idea.
I also loved Apologies, I Have None's set, even without Dan, and I am digging the new tunes more and more. It was the xth time I saw them but I enjoy every show they play. Cool to see Giles Great Cynics guest-guitar on some tracks.

Saw bits and pieces of a lot of bands, had great fun with my friends, made some new friends, drank a lot of alcohol and all the usual. My girlfriend gave me an Idle Will Kill 12". She's rad.

I missed Modern Life Is War (except for D.E.A.D.R.A.M.O.N.E.S.) and Piekpries, both for very stupid reasons.

That was Groezrock in a nutshell. It's always a nutshell.