Whereas I initially planned to be a part of this tour for all ten dates due to circumstances I only ended up attenting the first two shows of the tour and the last one. But hell it was a great time.
Reflections Records turned 15 years old this year. I still remember getting to know Reflections through the magazine they did which eventually grew into a label releasing bands like Reaching Forward, American Nightmare, Modern Life Is War, Paint It Black and No Turning Back to name but a few.
To celebrate this six current bands on the label played ten shows together all over Europe.
The whole thing kicked off in Ibbenburen Germany where a full crowd moved to the likes of Deal With It, Ritual and No Turning Back as you can see here:
The second date was in Mol, Belgium at the same venue where True Colors said goodbye last year. This show was great as well if only for the awesome hangouts behind the distro and the boys of Deal With It singing boisterous songs.
The next couple of days I couldn't attend but I sure as hell didn't want to miss the last show in Den Bosch. Deal With It did an impressive cover of Life Of Agony, Midnight Souls and New Morality both showed why they're the future of European hardcore each with a style of their own and Ritual raged as usual. No Turning Back finished it all off with one last set full of singalongs.
To have such a package of bands go on tour with only great shows... amazing.
'Take Control, take a stand, take the world in your hand'. Ever since getting the new No Turning Back record at the record release show in Tilburg these lines keep popping up in my head.
I have never been the biggest fan of No Turning Back, though I prefer their later records over the early more beatdownesque stuff. I've seen this band grow and do things not many other European hardcore bands have done before. For example the 'Stronger' world tour which brought them to all continents except for the North and South Poles.
Unlike most bands No Turning Back never went for a drastic change in the music they play, they always keep things within the bounderies of hardcore.
'Take Control' might therefore be received as an another No Turning Back record. If you hear one, you've heard them all. If that's your opinion, you're not really listening. Play 'Damage Done'(probably the best NTB record to date) and after that 'Take Control' and you'll hear the subtle differences.
'Take Control'is in a way similar to Terror's 'Keepers Of The Faith'. There are hooks and guitarmelodies which make the songs more melodic without resulting in a melodic hardcore record.
If anything 'Take Control' is as much about anger (Justice) as it is about looking back (Always Will Be). It's the comfort of meeting up with old friends, discovering not everything has to change over the years (Strife).
'Take Control' is a new milestone in the discography of No Turning Back and shows a band that's cool with what they've acomplished so far, yet still eager and hungry to take things to the next level.
Here's some footage of the record release show in Tilburg:
So you went to This Is Hardcore fest and saw Kid Dynamite and Hands Tied or enjoyed the mayhem at React! Fest? Big deal. Tonight and tomorrow Europe will have the best fests and I'm going.
Who says hardcore is dead? The Effort will drop a new record soon on Panic Records, Skull Crusher and Stay Hungry will tour Europe in autumn as well as Bane and Alpha and Omega, Kid Dynamite and Hands Tied are reuniting for This Is Hardcore and Said and Done, No Turning Back, State Of Mind and New Morality show the world there's still life in the Dutch scene as well.
The Real Danger shouldn't need an introduction.Dutch melodic punk band THE REAL DANGER are DESCENDENTS and LIFETIME enthusiasts, and the styles of those two bands propel just about everything this band does. is what Pastepunk say in their review of The Real Danger's excellent new full length 'Making Enemies'. If there is one record worth the title Summer Record of 2010 it is 'Making Enemies'. Enough flattery let's talk with frontman Michiel Walrave.
It seems during the shorter period that the band exists as The Real Danger you’ve gained more recognition than when you guys were doing Uppercut. Don’t you ever feel you should have done The Real Danger sooner?
Not really. We did already start The Real Danger when we were still performing as Uppercut. As far as I can remember we did a couple of The Real Danger songs as an encore at one of our last Uppercut shows. We already knew that we were done with Uppercut at the time. Still I think we couldn’t have started The Real Danger at a better moment than we did.
The main difference between Uppercut and The Real Danger, besides the style of music, is the addition of guitarplayer Sharkee. Why did you get him in the band?
Sharkee played in Uppercut for a while when our guitarplayer Robin accidently tried to saw of his hand. Me and Sharkee go back a long time. We were in bands together when we were 15 years old. He’s also been in bands with Robin. I don’t know anyone who is better in playing guitar so it wasn’t a hard decision to ask him to join The Real Danger.
‘Making Enemies’ the new record receives awesome reviews. Wouldn’t your rather be in a band that is able to tour for months in a row, thus really being able to promote the record.
To be honest I don’t. Playing every weekend and short tours are perfect to me. There’s nothing I like better than playing shows, yet my job is as important and as much fun. Besides we knew when we started this band we wouldn’t be a fulltime touringmonster. We play in Belgium and Germany every now and then and we’re able to play in Austria, Italy, Spain and French on two tour. We do have plans for more.
There’s one coversong on ‘Making Enemies’. Why that song?
That song ‘Skip Steps 1&3’ by Superchunk is a personal favorite of both Sharkee and me. I found out about the band in the early nineties through Alternative Nation on MTV and loved them for the start. My sister bought the record ‘No pocky for kitty’ and at the time it was the only thing I would play. To make a long story short, it’s nostalgia and a really great song to do.
You’ve done artwork for many bands like Mental, No Turning Back as well as venues. Still the artwork for The Real Danger is done by other artists.
I did design some Real Danger shirts. When it comes to the artwork for our records I think it’s more fun to ask someone that I think is a great artist to design it. I have a pretty good idea how I want to visualize The Real Danger and try and find the right artist who fit my ideas. In the end I’m still in control of the art direction.
Has Fat Mike already got in touch?
Some American labels did contact us, but Fat Wreck wasn’t one of them. So far we have released three records on Shield Recordings and the good thing about it is that we know them well. Even more important is that it are great people, they work hard on the label and releases many great bands. The communication with the label is very good. Gert and Fieke just went on tour with us and I don’t think we could have a better deal.
Did you make enemies on the latest tour?
We only made friends. The bassplayer of The Fake Boys, whom we were on tour with, did throw out some moron out of a venue in Innsbruck. But that guy tried to put something in someone’s drink. As for us we behaved like the good boys we are.. I think.
The fact that (what I think) one of the best hardcore labels has moved to my hometown Tilburg from Arnhem is awesome. (Though my wallet might think otherwise) So why did Reflections Records moved to Tilburg and what can we expect from the label in the near future? Time for labelboss Johan to fill me in. Now I know Johan for quite a long time. I remember Reflections Magazine being one of the first zines I read, and a major inspiration for me to start a zine myself. Which eventually led to a career in journalism. So let's have a word with the man in charge:
You've participated in some big hardcore festivals in Arnhem. Most Reflections band also played a show there? Can I expect the same thing happening in Tilburg? That's something we will start working on in the future. Tilburg simply has a better climate for loud music and more opportunities than in Arnhem. The coming months we will try and participate with others to get more promotion for hardcore and punk in Tilburg and have more bands play here.
Besides the label you also have an online shop. Do you think you will become a competitor for recordshops in Tilburg? The online shop is as important as the label. Still I don't think and don't hope we will be a competitor for recordshops. So far too many recordshops had to stop. As a musicfan and self-employed person I think it's a shame. Besides we are very underground and mostly sell vinyl. The other side is that lots of recordshop owners complain about mailorders and say that internet has taken away their business. Personally I think that has more to do with illegal downloading.
Is doing a recordlabel still relevant these days? I think it is and I hope it is. I know there are people who say you don't need recordlabels anymore. But a lot of people forget recordlabels have the network, ways of distribution and promotion to push a band to the next level and get more people into them. Labels can help bands get on tour and in touch with promoters. If a band joins a label like ours they immediately get more attention because we are kind of well known in the hardcorepunk scene.
How do you still manage to sell enough records despite all the illegal downloads? The only thing you can do is release good records that look good as well. We sell enough records to keep our head above water and make the profit we need to release another record. Fact is that where three, four years ago we were able to sell twothousand cd's from one band, nowadays we often sell less than a thousand. Vinyl sales has increased the past few years and that makes up for a large part. But illegal downloads affects us as a label. That is certain.
Why did you move the label from Arnhem to Tilburg? For a long time we wanted to get out of Arnhem. With the birth of our son Jules it would be more practical to have the label and mailorder in house once again. Tilburg was a logical choice as Suzanne (Johan's wife) got a new job here.
What can we expect from Reflections in the near future? Though it is not made official yet we're going to release a record by a new US band called Worship. As well as a 12-inch by Stay Hungry from Sweden, they're over thirty and still all about straight edge. We're working on some new things with our sidelabel Monumentum and of course No Turning Back is still playing all over the world and will release some new stuff this year. We will continue for more years. Especially now with a new office in a new town I'm all inspired to do new things.
While Dutch youngsters New Morality are often compared to fellow European powerhouse No Turning Back, the comparison does the band a bit short. Both bands have definitely some things in common, besides sharing the same label, they also play that kind of hardcore that Madball once played (before they thought using hip hop influences was a good idea). Both New Morality and No Turning Back know how to rage at the world and at themselves and most obvious both bandnames start with a N. (duh)
So is New Morality the new No Turning Back? No. New Morality has a style of their own. Less fast and a bit darker than No Turning Back. Where NTB takes a lot of influences from Youth Crew hardcore, New Morality goes for Crown Of Thornz, Subzero and Yuppicide (who they cover).
I'd like to see the band use even more Yuppicide influences or other ways to stray off the NYHC path that way the songs will get more diverse.
If you like your hardcore from New York, New Morality is the new thing for you to follow.
