Reflections Tour wrap up

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.

No Turning Back - Take Control - cd/lp

'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:

Happy New Year and Stay Hungry

Let's start 2011 with an interview with one of the best European Straight Edge bands around at the moment: they're from Sweden, they're hard, they're hungry: Stay Hungry. Staffan Snitting was kind enough to answer some questions.



First of all how does it come that hardcore and punk are such strong scenes in Sweden. People all over the world know bands like Refused, Millencolin and Satanic Surfers. Right now there seems to be a whole new generation of good bands coming from your country like Atlas Losing Grip and yourselve.

First of all I have to say that I can't think of any other country in Europe that has the same level of quality and quantity when it comes to bands as Sweden at the moment. Finland is great as well right now but don't have as many bands. We most definitely have a large amount of bands that are amazing. Punk rock bands, fastcore bands, NYHC-type bands, crust bands, early 80s hc bands, straight edge bands... There is a lot of diversity and for some reason the quality is high all over the field right now. It's hard to say why, or at least I don't have an answer to that. Except for the fact that we have a lot of people in different cities that are working hard as hell to make it happen.

'Against The New Wall' is the new record. In my opinion it's more varied, melodic and a bit less fast. What do you think are the main differences between your debut and the new record?

Is it really not as fast? Hell, we should do a bpm check. Personally I am sort of a speed freak (I once walked into a tattoo studio in San Francisco to get "play fast" done on my knuckles, thankfully they had no open slots that day). There are surely some really fast songs on the first 12" but I think tracks like "Dedication", "Disgust" and "Ingen plikt" are just as fast. Out of the 14 tracks on the new LP, including the intro, 10 are one beat fast ones, that is OK in my book haha.

But to answer your question, I think the main difference is that the small metal influences on the 12" are gone with the wind. We actually stole riffs from black and death metal bands on that one and twisted them around a bit to make it sound HC. Nothing new, Slapshot has done the same. It might be true as you say that it's more varied, but we did work hard to make it a more genuine and focused hardcore record. In that process we scrapped a bunch of ideas and whole tracks that didn't fit in. It's more Floorpunch and less metal, I guess.


Am I right in thinking Against the Wall is also some kind of tribute to older bands I mean titles like 'Against The Wall' and ' Something Must Be Done' sure remind me of other bands. As well as your songstructures which have more in common with bands like Judge than a new band like Defeater.

The idea when we started the band was to do a fast one beat in your face straight edge band in the vein of Internal Affairs. I guess we are closer to that now than before actually. But yeah, there are loads of references to more or less old hardcore in the lyrics at least. Some more obvious than others. Uniform Choice, Minor Threat, Antidote, Battery, Youth of Today... I personally like stuff like that, such as when Skull Crusher used a line from Judge on their 12". As for the music, I think we just went in to do a fast hardcore record without pretentiousness or metal influences. "Against the wall" is what came out.


Are you the kind of older guys who tend to dwell in the past or are you as stoked on newer bands as well and if so which newer bands do you really love?

Nah man I wouldn't say so. Sure we all love the old stuff and most covers we have played are so to speak semi old (as in late 80s, Citizens Arrest, Chain of Strength, Project X etc) but we all follow new music quite a lot. I can't say I enjoy everything that comes out, but who can?

One of the things I have enjoyed a lot the latest couple of years is the new wave of straight edge bands in the US that have sought their way back to the roots of it all, to hardcore PUNK and all that comes with that both sound and attitude wise. I'm talking about Black SS, Blank Stare, Sick Fixx, Coke Bust, Poison Planet... Awesome stuff.


What is the Swedish song on the new record about and why did you decide to keep that one in Swedish.

"Ingen plikt" can be translated to "No duty" and is about people who consider drinking to be their personal business even though it makes them a part of a social problem in society. It's not meant to throw punches at alcoholics and people that have real problems that they need help with, but rather all the people that get pissed on weekends, glorify drinking and refuse to acknowledge that they're a part of the problem. We decided to do a short and really fast song in Swedish and I think it turned out really cool.

I think a lot more people recently got interested in your country since the popular books of Stieg Larsson as well as the whole story about the mystery sniper. Sweden doesn't seem to be the peacefull quiet country were all is good, which I imagined it would be growing up. So what is the situation in Sweden like at the moment? How is it to grow up there?

Well I recently sat down and discussed drug policy with the guys in Coke Bust, who are from Washington DC, and our opinions definitely clashed but we also realized that our perspectives vary due to our radically different environments. They spoke of a "murder rate" and I mean...

Sure people get murdered here as well, but nowhere near that level that they are used to. Anyway, this will be an answer that reflects my opinions since we all don't see things the same way in the band.

Sweden is still a very good country to live in. For sure. But like any other western country we have seen the public sector and welfare system being slaughtered the last three decades. It's a horrible and tragic development that escalated with the membership in the European Union in the 90s. The thing is that the Swedish working class has been completely defenseless against the attacks of the right wing, big business and so on.

Which is a bit ironic since our unions are famous for being large and strong with massive organization levels. The thing is though that it all rested on a system of class cooperation between labor and capital. And when capital ended their part of the cooperation, starting in the 70s and accelerating in the 90s, the main labor organizations just continued dwelling in the past. Absolutely no attempts whatsoever to counter the massive attack on all the things the workers had gained during half a century of positive development. These things take forever to build up and seconds to destroy.

I've witnesses this first hand as an auto worker in the Volvo factory in Gothenburg, where we had to battle both the company and the union sitting idle, silent and obedient in their lap. A couple of months ago the right wing government that has been sitting since 2006 got re-elected.

The political climate it so perverted that the conservative party campaigned as "the new worker's party" and such nonsense. Anyhow, long story, but all this has led to drastic widening of class differences and injustice, which in turn leads to social unrest of a spontaneous and unorganized fashion, especially in areas of the larger cities dominated by immigrants, who rightfully believe they have been left outside in the cold. This election also saw the entrance of a right wing populist party into the parliament, for the first time in Sweden really.

There was one party in the early 90s but it was a one time thing and they didn't pose a threat like these assholes are doing. Unfortunately some workers fall for their crap. I see co-workers sometimes with their party logo. It's very disheartening. But to sum up and return to your question, I think you need to look upon the recent shootings in Malmö through this perspective, even though I am quite sure the guy responsible is more of a looney than a political strategist.

Sweden is getting more and more segregated, the welfare state is dismantled, more social unrest is around the corner. My only hope is that the latter will take a positive form.


You were supposed to do a eurotour with Skull Crusher, why didn't that happen?

That cancellation was a pain in the ass to go through with. We were really looking forward to touring with Skull Crusher, their 12" is amazing. Basically, we had to make some tough decisions when Reflections pulled out of our LP. They were supposed to do the record but in the end had to face the fact that they had too much going on right now.

So all of a sudden we stood there with a recorded LP, a tour booked and no one to release the record. We decided to release it ourselves, which feels great, along with our friends Daniel from Green Menace Records and Dave from Get This Right Records.

Obviously it felt shitty not to have the LP on Reflections, as we truly felt at home there and Johan and Suzanne are just the greatest people alive more or less. But we decided not to whine about it, but rather make the best out of the situation. But with this new development we realized that it was highly unlikely that the LP would be out in time for the booked tour. And we just can't tour without the record being out. We have jobs and stuff and when we take days off, we need to choose the opportunity wisely. So we cancelled, and it turned out to be a good choice since the LPs arrived several weeks after the tour was due to start.


What's the story behind the new swehc website?

We originally started talking about doing an online blog where we could post articles from out of print issues of Law and Order zine, which I am involved in. Then my co-editor Fredrik (of Law And Order Records) started planning a (more or less) free sampler CD of many of the most interesting Swedish hc acts together with Daniel from Green Menace Records. These two ideas sort of merged in Fredrik's head and swehc.com is what came out of it.

It's mostly done by the three editors of Law and Order zine (except for me and Fredrik, there's also Marcus) but we are hoping to get help from more people. We will post news, short interviews, video clips etc that for most of the time have some sort of connection to Sweden and hardcore. Apart from Swedish bands it can also be foreign bands touring Sweden, old video clips that were filmed by Swedes and haven't been seen online before etc. It's a way to cover hardcore and support the Swedish scene that is meant to complement the zine, which is the main focus still, at least for me.

What are Stay Hungry's plans for 2011?

Well we just got the LPs last week and all the pre-orders have been shipped. We're also working hard booking a tour for April. We will do 16 shows. A lot of it is already booked but anyone interested in helping out can get in touch, we still have slots to fill. We are booking this tour by ourselves so our whole operation is pretty DIY now which feels cool. It's been totally mind blowing how helpful people have been so far. So the main focus now is to spread the word about the LP and finish booking the tour.

We also just added our friend Johan on guitar, so we are now a five piece. We have done two shows with him so far and having two guitar players is a big step forward for the band, without a doubt. I guess we will start looking at new material next year. We live in different cities so we have to sort of focus on whatever lies ahead and is the most important task. Right now that is obviously to get ready for the tour, new songs is kind of secondary I guess.

Ritual - Kissing Pavement - 7"

The German masters of hardcore, style and great shows are back. 'Kissing Pavement' is the new two song 7" from one of the best hardcore bands around in Europe at the moment. Exaggerating? Just put the needle on the A-side of this 7" and hear a band that comes close to the quality of The Hope Conspiracy without truly emulating said band.

The song ' Greenest Meadows' is somewhat faster than the songs on Ritual's previous full length 'Beneath Aging Flesh And Bone'. Whereas the song on side B ' Kissing Pavement' has the same tempo as the songs on 'Beneath Aging Flesh And Bone', yet bring new structures, melodies and great guitarwork to the Ritual sound. Almost making it sound like a mix between The Hope Conspiracy and Refused.

This ep is a teaser of the new Ritual full length which will be released next year. It shows that these Germans have grown and it makes anyone into this kind of hardcore want more.

The 7” is packed in a big fold-out poster consisting of six photographs demonstrating the yin and yang-metaphor that lies within the songtitles 'Greenest Meadows' vs. 'Kissing Pavement' - natural vs. urban elements.

Bane - October 23th - Gent

I loved the early Bane recordings, but kind of lost touch with them after 'Give Blood'. So I never checked out 'The Note' when it came out and only did so years later. It's easy to say that Bane is one of my favorite active bands around. They have the message, the music and the shows that keep me interested.

Their new records are solid. And after my wife got to see them in New York it was my turn for some Bane action.

Johan Reflections, Bust! and I geared up for a roadtrip to Gent. After setting up shop in the venue and eating some fries it was time for the bands to begin. And for me to sell records.

As for the bands: Belgium newcomers Hessian played a solid set of metalcore, not unlike Rise and Fall who in my opinion aren't as good as they used to be. Their set just didn't rip like they used to. Los Angeles band Alpha and Omega have released a pretty good record, but couldn't live up to it in Gent. They seemed to be going to the motions and not really interested in the show. When Trapped Under Ice hit it, they do it good. Though I'm not into their style, I can appreciate a band that knows how to set a whole bunch of hardcore kids on fire. And tonight was pure mayhem.



Bane. Swan Song, Count Me Out, Can We Start Again, Pot Comitted. New songs and old ones. Good words between the songs. Stage-dives and singalongs. Up front with x-es on my hand.



I can still see the reasons
that I opened my eyes to this scene in the first place.
I can still feel my beliefs growing stronger - stronger everyday.


Pics by Anne Kohler.

Ceremony - October 13th - Eindhoven

Unfortunately I wasn't able to go to the This Is Europe fest. So when the opportunity came along to go and see Ceremony a few days later I jumped in the Reflections van and went for it.

The Dynamo youth centre is a great place for hardcore shows. But you never know how the Dutch audience will respond to a band. Will it be 'let's stand and see' or 'let's have fun together'?

Midnight Souls opened up the night. Despite my review and interview the Dutch haven't warmed up to this band so far. Which is a shame if you aks me. Besides the bad sound and a bit of an apathetic crowd reception Midnight Souls played a pretty solid set.

Next up were Sabretooth Zombie. By far the worst band I've seen this year, though other people seemed to think differently. The riffs and weird song structures just aren't my thing.

So Ceremony. I actually only like their latest record a lot and was a bit sceptical about tonight's perfomance. Which soon dissapeared after the band pressed go and went for a highly energetic, entertaining set. A lot of younger kids went wild on the band. Massive pile-ons, weird stagedives and even weirder dances were introduced this night. All around mayhem. With suprisingly Get The Most/ Devotion drummer Aaron behind the Ceremony drumkit.

A nice way to spend a wednesday evening.







All pics are by Anne Kohler. See more here.

Up next: Bane this saturday in Gent and The Real Danger, The Fake Boys and Dave Smalley in Tilburg this sunday! Good times!

Midnight Souls release show - october 1st - Herenthout

Readers of this blog probably know I like the new Belgium band Midnight Souls a lot. Thankfully Johan Reflections asked me to go with him to the record release show in Belgium last friday. Upon arriving with the van we thought this show was going to be a disaster. No one was at the venue besides two or three guys from Midnight Souls. And we were already late.

At last the show started 1,5 hours after scheduled with Fundamental. This is a fairly new band form Belgium who remind me a bit of Rise and Fall. They played 'Paint It Black' by the Rolling Stones which is okay, but not if you fuck it up. Meanwhile the venue got more and more packed, I think in the end at least 150 kids were there. If this show took place in the Netherlands I think there would only be 30 people attending, so expectations were set for the rest of the night.


Belgium youngsters Accept the Change put up an impressing set. I'd seen the band before but love the new direction they're taking. Think Have Heart meets Undertow and done really intense. These guys should record these songs soon and get on the road. Definately a band that stands out in the crowd.


Together is a band from Germany. I never heard of them before but boy did they also play a solid show. Defeater and Verse come to mind when seeing this band. They have a new record coming out which I'll definately check and it was great to see the mayhem when they kicked in a Modern Life Is War song.


Though the crowd was moving and appreciating all the bands, none got as much response as hometown heroes Midnight Souls. Stagedives and singalongs, pit action and all around chaos ensued when they started playing. They gave everything and received even more from the kids. This set alone was worth the drive.


A hard task for Ritual to finish up the night. But if there is one band capable of doing so it's them. They played lots of songs from the awesome 'Beneath Aging Flesh and Bone' record and some songs from the upcoming 7". This band is such a tight live unit it's incredible. I will for sure check them out this saturday at This Is Europe Fest.

With the show over, it was time to put the merch back in the van. That's when we noticed it was pouring. After an okay drive back to Johan's place I got on my bike for the last fifteen minutes home. I was soaking wet when I got there, but it was worth it.

All pics by Nous Davidse. See more of this show here.

Youth Of Today - September 19th - Den Bosch

Youth Of Today in 2010. I can't compare this show to the one they gave in Den Bosch in 1989. I didn't start going to 'bigger' hardcoreshows till '96. One of the first ones was in fact Shelter in the W2 in Den Bosch.

Since it was a sundaymatinee lots of people who told me they were going eventually cancelled, leaving Johan Reflections, my wife and me to hop in the Reflections van, drive to Den Bosch, unload the distro, set-up shop and go upfront to see This Routine Is Hell playing a tight set with lots of songs from 'The Verve Crusade'. It still beats me why everyone is all hyped on Ceremony and Trash Talk whereas this Dutch band has equally great songs but don't get that much attention.



Next up was the fastest raging Dutch hardcorepunk band around: Citizens Patrol. This band is everything you want in hardcore. They're as good as Dead Stop. Check them out. (To be honest I only caught a short glimpse of their set since I was behind the Reflections distro talking people into buying records. This also goes for the Spermbids. Though what I could hear from others these legendary Germans did a great job.)



Time for Youth Of Today to show they're still as vital as 20 years ago. Somehow I liked this set more than the one I saw in 2004. I was upfront and had fun singinalong to classics like 'Can't Close My Eyes', 'No More', 'Break Down The Walls', 'Disengage' etc.

Sammy ofcourse did a great job behind the drums. Porcell seemed to be enjoying himself and Ray entertained the audience with anecdotes from the past as well as his signature jumps. All in all a good show.




That's me upfront and singingalong.

All pics by Nous Davidse. See way more here.

Midnight Souls - Colder - 7"

'And I curse every streetlight
Run away and find myself at the gates of Leon's old factory
Where my father used to work
Before they fired him
The economy takes its toll old man
Here's your check now raise up that chin'

Belgium's Midnight Souls have already made quite a name for themselves in their own country. With 'Colder' they show that they're ready to take the band to the next level.

There's no denying the band is influenced by the school of American Nightmare and Modern Life Is War. Especially vocalwise it could be Jeffrey Eaton behind the mic every now and then.

But to put the band aside as merely a clone wouldn't do them any justice. Midnight Souls bring their own history in the mix. Hence the lyrics about growing up in a Miners town on 'Black Lung Disease'. Much like the way Modern Life Is War described Marshalltown, USA on 'Witness'.

Songs like 'Black Days' and 'River Town Rains' show that Midnight Souls aren't afraid to step out of hardcore borders on their way to a style of their own. Though they aren't there yet 'Colder' offers five angry outbursts of life in Belgium. People into American Nightmare, Modern Life Is War, Touche Amore and The Hope Conspiracy can definately add this 7" to their collection.

And yes the artwork is done by Linas Garsys (known for his work for American Nightmare, Count Me Out, A Fire Inside and a dozen other bands), so you know it's good.



I have a white copy. Reflections also released a black version.

Midnight Souls - July 15 - Tilburg

It's bloggerin' time. My vacation is over, so it's back to the computer and back to my blog. Posts about Right Idea and Rearranged are coming up soon. But first I want to share the show of Midnight Souls in Tilburg on July 15.

Midnight Souls is the latest addition to the Reflections roster. A 7" entitled 'Colder' is coming soon with artwork by Linas Garsys.

The last time I saw the band was when they opened up for The Hope Conspiracy in Antwerp. Big stage, big venue so I was curious how these new Belgium heroes would do it in the small intimate setting of the Little Devil.

Boy they blew me away. Midnight Souls is somewhere between Modern Life Is War and American Nightmare. While many bands play a similar style, Midnight Souls bring something extra which makes them stand out from the rest of the wolfpack. They have a very intense show. The future is bright for these guys, though their lyrics are kind of dark.

Can't wait for the ep to arrive.

True Colors: Consider It Done!

After five years of doing shows, tours, two full length records and three ep's one of the best straight edge hardcore bands around called it quits. But first a final show in Mol, Belgium just across the border of where I live.

So last saturday I cyled to the Reflections HQ and got in the Reflections van with Johan for a day of record selling, catching up with friends and saying goodbye to True Colors.

We took the backroads to Mol and after arriving decided to set up the distro outside the venue. Since the weather was great and most people were hanging outside between bands this was a very good decision.

The first thing I did after setting up, was getting a copy of the Get The Most - Together full length out of the distro for myself. By far the best youth crew full length I've heard in a while and I love the classic layout as well.

I have to confess that besides True Colors I didn't see any bands since the weather was so good and people kept on coming up to the distro to buy records or hang around.

Now imagine 400 kids packed in a small venue. People from Belgium and The Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Italy and Eastern Europe all there to see True Colors one last time. It was a show I'll remember. There was no tough guy moshing but there were plenty of stage dives, singalongs and fingerpointing.

Too bad the show had to be stopped for a while because a girl was injured so bad that an ambulance had to come and pick her up. From what I heard she's doing fine now and True Colors picked up the show where they left off.

Ending with 'Focus On The Light' the band left a long lasting impression on me and everyone else. Consider it done.



Pics by Live Your Heart Photography

HRVST: Death - book

A part of the underground hardcore scene seems to be in one big mindtrip back to the roaring nineties. Bands do reunion shows, new bands pay hommage to the nineties sound. Yet there was one thing missing. What I also remember about the nineties (besides baggy pants, sweatbands and the Rain On The Parade - Full Speed Ahead 7") was that there was a big fanzine trading culture.

Every kid and his mother seemed to do a zine at the time. There were zines about the local scene like the H8Zine in Belgium. There were the professional looking ones like I Stand Alone, Value Of Strength and Tension Building. And there were the more arty, in-depth zines like Sculpture and It's Raining Truths.

Zines were made by people in bands, people who just found out about hardcore and people who had seen it all before.

I loved zines back then, did a couple myself and through that got in contact with other zinemakers from all over the world.

Nowadays we're all stuck behind the internet doing a blog here, reading an e-zine there. Some people still make zines, but it seems a dying profession.

Zinemaking inspired me to go and study journalism and I know at least three other guys who made a 'career' out of something they started in the hardcore scene.

So you expected to read a review of HRVST: Death the first book put out by Reflections Records and wonder what the above ranting is all about? Let me explain.

Zines were a platform to educate, advocate, promote and get things of the editors' chest. Some articles were emotional, others political or full of activism. (And you had the interviews with bands saying their new record was the best they had ever made).

HRVST: Death is a book, not a zine. But it gives me the same feeling. It's a collection of stories around one topic, this time death. Chuck Ragan (Hot Water Music), Chris Colohan (Cursed), Mark McCoy (Charles Bronson/The Oath), Wes Eisold (American Nightmare/ Some Girls/ Cold Cave), Steve Brodsky (Cave In) and Rob Moran (Unbroken) are amongst the contributors.

That's an impressive list. But all these people are known for the music they created. Not for winning a Pulitzer. There are also stories by less well known people with interesting thoughts about death.

Most of the stories in HRVST are heartfelt, well written and touch a nerve here or there. Personally I like the non-fictional stories better about how persons deal with death, their first experience with death or how they try to avoid it. The more non-fictional stories I find harder to grasp.

HRVST isn't a zine. It's a book that inspires, makes you think and gives me that feeling a good zine did back in the nineties. It's also a work of art with a great lay-out.

I first got in contact with Reflections when it was just a zine, later they started releasing records as well and got the imprint words|music. The past years the label seemed to mainly focus on the music part and I'm glad that words are back in business as well.

Since this is HRVST 1 I guess and hope more issues will follow around other topics and with other contributors. Just to inspire a new generation of hardcore kids and get the message across that it's still more than music.

HRVST: Death from Hendrik Thiele on Vimeo.

Groezrock 2010: Ash and dust

No Sunny Day Real Estate, no Saves The Day and no Snapcase. It almost made me wonder why I bought a ticket for day 1 and not for day 2 of the annual Groezrock festival. Well if Mother Nature doesn't want these bands to play, she must know something I don't.

Groezrock, the yearly festival full of drunk punks, bad emobands, shitty sounds and more. Yet I find myself there every year. The atmosphere is great, it's a nice way to see some bands I wouldn't normally go and see in a club and it's not like I have anything better to do anyway. 

To summarize this edition:

This Is Hell is American Nightmare mixed with too much mosh, okay for a song or two.

Glassjaw is the most boring band I've seen in a long time.

Banner Pilot are okay though.

Face To Face made worth the ticketprice, the dust on my car, the dirt on my shoes.

It's always good hanging out in the merchtent with the people of Shield Recordings and Reflections Records.

+ I picked up the new Mindset 7"and the book Sober Living For The Revolution.

Still I would love to have seen this

And this:

Skull Crusher - Blinded by Illusion - 12"/mcd

Is it possible to do a dark, heavy record while sticking to your hardcore roots and not going for the metalsound? Only a few bands manage to do so. Mostly old bands like Leeway, Cro-Mags and Judge. In my opinion the only band that ever got close to the Judge sound was Collateral Damage. It took another thirteen years before I get to name another band: Skull Crusher.

With 'Straight' Ed McKirdy (formerly of The Suppression Swing, Hands Tied, The Killing Flame and Triple Threat + founder of Livewire Records) on vocals and Gordo (one of the main guys behind everyone's favorite blog) on drums, Skull Crusher is no newcomer to the scene. Some people might have high expectations of this band. And they won't be dissapointed.

Ed McKirdy really comes close to the heavy yet emotional vocals of Mike Judge. But vocals are nothing if not backed by good music. Well Skullcrusher is all about good music. Imagine Judge, a bit of Underdog and some Icemen members going all out and the result would be close to the four songs Skull Crusher brings to the table.

This great music comes with amazing artwork by scene favorite Linas Garsys. It also features a famous sample from the movie Taxi Driver:
All the animals come out at night - whores, skunk pussies, buggers, queens, fairies, dopers, junkies, sick, venal. Someday a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets.

Usually I am no big fan of four song ep's. By the time I'm into the songs, the record is already over. Skull Crusher however manages to pull me right in and doesn't let go till the last second of the last track. There's so much going on in the songwriting that hitting the repeat button again and again comes naturally.

In a day and age where bands like Terror and Born From Pain are considered hard and heavy it is good to see a new band like Skull Crusher taking inspiration from old bands to create a sound that is authentic, different and agressive without falling for the metalcore stuff. Looks like Reflections Records have got themselves another winner!

The Hope Conspiracy - January 9 - Antwerp, Belgium - show

When The Hope Conspiracy plays anywhere near your town don't hesitate. Go and see them. They don't play too often but, at least in my opinion, they're the only existing band to come out of the American Nightmare, Panic, Suicide File, Count Me Out - scene.

That said when The Hope Conspiracy plays an hour drive away from you but the weather forecasts are really bad, you must check all weatherforecasts from minute to minute to see if there's just a slight chance the weather will be better the next hour.

After some calls between Johan Reflections and myself we decided to try and get the new Reflections van on the road and see if we could arrive in Antwerp safe and sound. Well the roads were way better than the news told them to be (never trust the media, and yes I'm a journalist myself) so after only 75 minutes we arrived in Antwerp safe and sound. We unloaded the van and brought the crates filled with vinyl, cd's and books inside the club.

People started coming in shortly after and I guess there were at least 250 more kids who ignored the weatherconditions and decided they would take their change to see The Hope Conspiracy. Well not before Belgian bands had their say.

The show started with newcomers Midnight Souls who sound a lot like Modern Life Is War. Sometimes those influences were a bit to obvious but they did have a great presence on stage. I liked them better than the next band called The Jonah who were all about nineties hardcore riffs I couldn't stand back then and still don't enjoy. They played a way too long set before Teenage Lust hit the stage with their fast American Nightmare-esque songs. I love this band but think they could still improve writing songs that really stick in your head.

Then the audience was up for a surprise when Rain came on stage. This band broke up some 12 years ago and apparantly is now back. I liked the two new songs they played.

Rise and Fall are a worldwide hardcore machine by now but I think the amount of shows they play really takes its toll on singer Bjorns' voice. The new songs sound great though and they sure got the Belgian kids rocking.

But we were all in the club for one reason. To witness the band that released records like ' Cold Blue' and ' Endnote' a long time ago. The band that didn't play Belgium for the past six years: The Hope Conpspiracy.

And damn what a great performance. They played lots of songs of ' Endnote' with ' For Love' as a highlight as well as songs from ' Death Knows Your Name' and the ' True Nihilist' ep. It has been a long while that I saw an American band having so much fun on stage, playing their hearts and guts out. If this show was in 2009 I would have said it was the best show of the year. Since it's just early in 2010 I won't go as far as say that, but I predict it will be in my top 3 of the year.

After the show was over, Johan and me loaded the van and went back home. Both with a ressurected love for hardcore I guess.

Stay Hungry - No Beginning, No End - 12"

When is the last time you heard a pissed off straight edge band that didn't play metal? Fortunately Sweden's Stay Hungry recently released a killer 9 songs lp on Reflections Records. It's fast, it's hard and it's great.
You can definately hear some of the Swedish sound known from bands like Outlast, Final Exit and even DS-13. Yet Stay Hungry is less trashy as aforementioned bands and stick more to the hardcore groundrules of fast, short songs with some breakdowns and singalongs.
Songs like Bottoms Up For The Weak and Loud And Clear are brutal displays of great hardcoresongs. Record closer Bloodsucker is just brilliant in it's own mind and the I can't wait to start hammering people sticks in your head for a long time.
Stay Hungry is a great addition to the Swedish and European straight edge scene. Get this record and play it loud (and clear).

Stay Hungry

Ritual - Beneath Aging Flesh And Bone

Honestly up to now I haven't paid that much attention to Ritual from Germany. Somewhere in my mind I had the idea the band was a would be Modern Life Is War.

But man was I wrong. Well at least where it concerns their new full length Beneath Aging Flesh And Bone. The record starts off with an instrumental track that could be written by Modern Life Is War had they actually managed to write a song with this much atmosphere.

Then all registers are open and the band crushes all current releases with their dark, emotive and original tunes. This is better than Blacklisted and up there with Modern Life Is Wars' Witness. Only Ritual isn't about the working class American but about the lost generation of Europeans which somehow makes a difference. They also have a bit of an Unbroken thing going on, without sounding like an Unbroken rehash.

I even dare to say Ritual is a bit more sophisticated than the aforementioned bands. Yet they don't come across as a band of know it all nerds.

Where lots of bands and records sound the same. This is definately a record for my yearlist and one of those few and far between releases that make hardcore interesting.

Ritual Beneath Aging Flesh and Bone on splatter
Originally uploaded by xroldx

I managed to pick up one of the limited to 250 copies on blue/splatter vinyl.

Myspace: Ritual

Reflections Records

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.

New Morality - Fear of Nothing

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.

Myspace: New Morality

Fast times at the Reflections sale

Reflections Sale 2008
Originally uploaded by xroldx

Reflections Records, one of the best hardcore labels around held their second annual house sale this weekend. Without thinking twice my wife and I put our kids in the car and drove up to the Reflections office in Arnhem to go through the boxes with records and shirts.

Little Jelle had a great time running around the place and playing with magnets, me and my wife had a good time catching up with Johan and Suzanne.

Of course I also 'needed' to buy some stuff. The Radio Silence book (great more on that later), the HostageCalm record and another Paint It Black eurotour shirt for only 5 euros. Johan gave me the latest Trash Talk record for free as well.

I'm already looking forward for the next sale!


Go here for some more pics of the Reflections office.