Tomorrow night Fryslan hardcore band Spirit 84 will do a one time reunion show. Reunion shows in hardcore nowadays it seems are more common than new bands playing shows, so what is all the fuss about?
After getting into foreign bands like Shelter and Strife, I was a thrill for me to discover and be a part of the Dutch youth crew scene in '97-'00. Practically every weekend we would travel the country or go to Belgium to see bands like Mainstrike, Reaching Forward, Guiding Line, Eyeball, Degradation and Spirit 84.
The guys from Spirit 84 at the time were the odd ones in the mix. Not the whole band was straight edge and they had these really funny Fryslan accents. They were also way more openminded than a lot of the Dutch youth crew kids, my friends, were. Something I (we) didn't quite get back then, but I do now.
For example when releasing a record they choose for GoodLife Recordings. At the time one of the bigger hardcore labels in Europe but essentialy known for Belgian hardcore bands like Congress and Liar. Not really a label for a youth crew band, yet Spirit 84 did it.
Where most bands were all about singing about changing the world, we all went on wearing Nike's. As did Spirit 84 yet they donated a portion of their 'Beyond the call of friendship' to welfare organisation War Child. Something most Dutch bands at the time didn't do as I recall.
Another nice but not well known fact about Spirit 84 is that the main picture of the 'Beyond The Call Of Friendship' 7" is made by me. Not that I really got the credits for it since the liner notes say 'Speak Our Minds dude'. But that was the fanzine I was doing at the time with Rob who later did Abusive Action.
Spirit 84 reunion tomorrow and I think I'll be going for old times sake.
You try to break the spirit. But we never knew why.
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