Cracks In The Wall (part 1)

Slowly but surely the world is moving towards the release of the first Cracks In The Wall 7". Since I've seen this band grow over the years and some members of it I consider close friends I thought it would be nice to pay some attention to one of the fastest Dutch hardcore bands around right now. What always strikes me when seeing the band is that all members are totally different in age, where they come from, what kind of work they do etc. So I interviewed all of them seperately. Here's part 1 with guitarplayer David.


How did you come in contact with hardcore and punk and is CITW your first band?

I was never really into music as a kid. Being from a small village in Brabant, all my friends listened to things like 2unlimited and all those cheesy eurodance songs, but I was never really into that(now I am though haha). I was more into the things my brother listened like Guns n Roses, Iron Maiden(sort of), AC/DC, Metallica and a shitload of reggae. But mostly Guns n Roses. At age 12 I moved to Rotterdam. I still listened to Metallica etc. One day me and a friend of mine wandered into a big record store and they were selling cd’s at ridiculous prices, he bought The Offspring and I bought Stranger than Fiction by Bad Religion, cause I’d seen the name somewhere. Pretty good choice I think, still one of my favourite records. From there on it was mostly punkrock from Epitaph and Fat Wreck Chords.

As far as hardcore goes, I think the first albums I bought were the Manliftingbanner discography, Seein Red discography and a Backfire album.

Going to shows: Full credit goes to Uppercut. They got me and a friend into driving around the country for shows. Awesome times. And from there it got worse and worse.

CITW is my first real band. Before that I played with some friends for a few years, but never really did anything besides trying to make the heaviest slowest doom possible.

So which band is a bigger inspiration to you Black Flag or Tear It Up and why?

I don’t really know what to say. I’m not very good at these things. I Think what both bands have in common is the sheer energy, the anger and a bare bones approach. Play to destroy, as you will. That is the kind of thing that appeals to me.

What did you think about your fellow bandmembers after the first rehearsels as you all didn't really know eachother?

It started with me wanting to do a fast hardcore band and posting this on a messageboard(So yeah we’re an asice band haha). At the start it was just me and Willem. Later Frankie and Theun.

As far as what did I think about them? Nothing really, didn’t know em. Over time I think we became good friends and that’s awesome and the best thing about this band. We’re all really different I think, but it works perfect. Never any trouble or arguments or any bullshit like that.

What's it going to be Tilburg or Rotterdam?

For now Rotterdam. I think in a few years we’ll definitely move back to Tilburg. Really love that city, always things going on. And you can hardly get a decent pizza in Rotterdam. RIP Maestro.

Are you happy with the 7" or are there already things you wish you could've done otherwise?

I’m probably the wrong person to ask as I tend to hate things immediately when they’re finished. I think we improved a lot, but also a lot could’ve been done better. Especially in the guitar department. I’ve never felt 100% satisfied over anything I did. Maybe not even 50%.

What was your best moment yet with CITW and what was an all time low?

If I have to pick one, I think the UK trip with Reproach. Non stop awesomeness and the excitement of going on the road for the first time. Last year was awesome as a whole. We played a pretty good amount of shows, we progressed a lot. Went on tour. Released a record etc etc couldn’t ask for more.

As far as lows? Don’t think we really had any real lows, besides the occasional weak gig. Maybe when Frankie had his surgery on his hands. I feared we couldn’t do anything for a long time, and wondered if he could keep on playing bass at all(you never know!) but in the end that wasn’t the case luckily for Frankie and for us.

What do you want to do with the band next?

Just playing as much shows as possible and touring. After that we’ll see. We’re already writing new songs and I think we’ll definitely end up in the studio somewhere in 2009.

Can you give me you top 3 of current dutch bands and one of old dutch bands?

That’s hard and it could change from day to day. I won’t do the place 123 thing, cause I don’t think that holds any value.

Current:
* Citizens Patrol(awesome band. I love how far they’re taking it and the response they get everywhere)
* Room 13(best single of 2008 easily)
* No Turning Back (An inspiration as far as what you can achieve when you put your mind to it and put in insane amounts of effort. Many big bands talk the talk, but this band walks the walk. Just look at the amount of shows and the places they play….Insane.)

I also have to mention Reproach. Best euroband if you ask me and AxSxHx( dudes slayed short fast and loud Tilburg.Check m out!)

Old:

* BGK(up there with the best hardcore bands around. Truly classic)
* Lärm (DUH! )
* Manliftingbanner

Myspace: Cracks In The Wall
Label: Crucial Attack

Now I really feel like a dad

Jelle, Birthday, 4-10-08
Originally uploaded by xroldx

Wow that was a hectic weekend with the celebration of the second birthday of my son and playing the Short Fast and Loud festival in Tilburg.

Last Saturday afternoon family and friends came by with presents to celebrate Jelles' second birthday. While my wife and me asked people to come at different times in the end almost everyone showed up at the same time. Making things very hectic. Well at least Jelle was enjoying himself unwrapping his gifts and running through the room.

When everyone was gone, the kids in bed and the place tidied up, I got on my bike to the Hall of Fame skatepark. Frankie Deny did a great job organizing the whole fest. The whole idea behind it is brilliant. All bands play over the same backline, and are only allowed to play for 10 minutes. The organizer walks round with a stopwatch clocking each set.
I really wanted to see Cracks In The Wall, Citizens Patrol, Reproach, Seein Red and more. Unfortunately is was way to tired from all celebrations. So I only checked Shredder and then played with my own band. We were the odd ones on the line-up being the only youth crew band between all fastcore, grindcore and other fast punkbands. I finally managed to pick up a Seein Red shirt though. I always wanted one ever since seeing the band play in '97. But they never had one with them. Now I have a Seein Red Japan tour shirt!

Then it was back on my bike heading home. Jelle got the garage from Fisher Price so I found myself in the living room putting it together with my screwdriver. 'Now I really feel like a dad' I said to my wife.
But it's all worth it when you get a reaction like this early the next morning:

Only fast bands allowed

This show is going to be a blast!

Enter Room 13

While most of us can only drool when reading Steven Blush's American Hardcore and wonder how great and dangerous hardcorepunk was back in the eighties there are still bands out there right now proving hardcorepunk can still be aggressive, confronting and out of control. Though a lot of bands try and emulate what they've seen from old footage of Minor Threat and Black Flag, only a few actually pull it off without coming over as a copycat. Room 13 definately is a band that cleary doesn't give a shit and do their own thing. And they're good at it. With a 7" coming out soon it was time to enter the room with vocalist Niels. (All pictures by Casper de Bruin)

Where does the name Room 13 come from?
Room 13 is ofcourse a song from Black Flag's 'Damaged' lp. But it’s also a line from a Circle Jerks song. Sometimes i like the name, sometimes i don't. I definately like the two songs and the lyrics -keep me alive, don't know if i can do it- very desperate and harsh. But i hate the fact there are bands called room 11, room 101 etc. It's just a name. Before we got this name we were called Sniff Some Glue, so i guess Room 13's a pretty cool name.

Did the band start out with the intention to play early 80's hardcore punk or did you have other plans?

When we started out we were just fooling around. Me and Luuk wanted to play the songs 'One Track Mind' from Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, and Herman Brood and his Wild Romance – 'Rock and Roll Junkie'. Rock and roll / punk rock with piano's and stuff, but we sucked big time.

Then when we were rehearsing someone played the first riff from the song 'Minor Threat' and the rest jumped in. We forgot about the rock and roll bullshit and played what we liked the most. At first we played some songs from Circle Jerks and Government Issue and then we started to write our own songs.

You aren't the original singer of the band, so how come you got the mic after a couple of shows?
Luuk, Marco, me and Gijs, who played guitar when we started out, play in bands together for ages. From 15 year old local punkrock cover bands to our hardcore band called Ceasefire. At one time we were fed up with making music so we switched instruments. Luuk wanted to sing and Marco wanted to play drums. I played bass and then, when Gijs quit, Luuk brought Alex and his brother Jeroen to play guitar.

The thing is, we sucked, but we liked what we were doing so we knew, if we ever wanted to record something better than the almost hilaric demo songs we did in this formation, we had to switch back.

You guys seem to have a kind of nihilistic attitude about everything you do. So do you really don't care or is that just the way things come across?

We don't care about being tight or well organised or something. Speaking for myself, i don't rehearse to be tight so the audience will like us more. I want my songs to be an expression for the things punching my mind whole day long. When we play it's almost the only opportunity i get to do something with them. If people like it, fine, if they think it sucks, that's o.k. with me too. It's not my intention to enjoy people...ofcourse it's also about fun, but it's definatelly not about disco.

You recorded the 7" with Patrick Delabie what was the best story he told you and why did you choose 195 studios for the recordings?

It’s no secret that this man is very enthousiastic about hardcore and punk and delivers good work, so easy decision. No clicktrack bullshit etc, in the 10 hours we spent in his studio, we finished everything. Yeah ofcourse he told a lot of good stories about the Bad Brains, Black Flag, nNirvana etc. but I was too busy finetuning my lyrics so I can’t really remember haha.

My favourites are: Delabie teaching our drummer Luuk “how dead stop would do it”…Delabie telling me i should listen to the Replacements – 'Sorry ma forgot to take out the trash'…Delabie who tried to give us the same sound as the Saints’ 'I’m stranded'…Delabie yelling: more Darby Crash on vocals…Delabie telling us: people who think there’s too much feedback on these recordings suck. Good times.

The new 7'' is called User/Abuser what is that song about?

The song is about being a model citizen… about how fucking snobs look down on you… about ending up in the gutter… that’s it.

Can you tell me where the inspiration for 'Ball and Chain' comes from?
The inspiration for that song comes from being a couch slouch, having big plans but always fuck them up… I wrote it when I lived on my own in the worst fucking city of Holland, Breda. The room was just a small white prison cell. I was a total wreck back then, and I’m still glad a good friend of mine gave me a room in the house in Tilburg where he was living at that time…thanks Haak.

Anyway, I was sitting in that room, listening to one of my favourite songs ever, 'Ball and Chain' by Janis Joplin, or Big Brother and the Holding Company whatever…and the lyrics really got stuck in my head. So I stole them. I’m sorry Janis.

Why is Breda such a bad place to live in?

Well, sure this will sound stupid to a lot of people who've been living there for ages, but my school sucked, all of my jobs except the one at the mercedes car dealer but especially my factory nightshifts sucked, the bars sucked, the fancy students sucked, nac sucks big time and all (except from 1 girl ofcourse) the people i met there sucked. I come from a real small Brabant village and the change to some randstad wannabe shitplace just freaked me out...

Which current bands do you think earn more support and from which bands can't you understand people still go out to see them play?

Let me think, I’d say Marked Men, a US punkrock band that reminds me of bands like the Weirdos and Ramones, but with a modern sound like Leatherface or something. They’ve got some very awesome records out. And after you checked out Marked Men, listen to Total Abuse.

A band I really don’t like? It would be to easy to name a band that plays a style of hardcore I don’t like anyway…so I say..Municipal Waste.

Are you still as much into hardcore as you were three years ago or in a different way?
I don’t know. I listen to some other bands and I don’t go to shows as often as I once did, but I still like hardcore for the same reasons as when I came into it…maybe even more.

What are your reasons for listening to and playing hardcore, and how come you like it even more now than when you first came into the scene?

The reasons i started listening to it were that it was harder and more agressive than anything else i've ever heard, and probably i was looking for something like that. I saw Reaching Forward play its last shows. I knew shit about hardcore, but my favourite songs were from the Agnostic Front 'United Blood' single, that and Minor Threat, i didn't knew shit about people and some kind of scene...i went to some RxF gig, not many people showed up but i didn't care. They played their set and it drived me insane, fucking powerfull, and on top of it they covered 'United Blood' and my blood boiled, it gave me this feeling nothing else ever gave me before. I went to shows more regular with my friends and the handshaking bullshit began. Sure you meet cool people, but a lot of morons too. Nowdays i care less about the social scene thing and i walk my own way instead. I don't see some friends as often as i used to and that sucks too but those who are true stay true. If this sounds likes hippie shit, so be it.

How come almost everytime you guys play something odd seems to happen ;-)

Haha you tell me! Stupid behaviour, alcohol, bad luck…I guess some kind of combination.

Myspace: Room 13
Label: Crucial Attack