Antillectual: 'We can't force people to listen to the whole album'

With a right wing government cutting on everything cultural and environmental friendly it's good to have a band like Antillectual around who still struggle for a better world by singing about change. Their new record 'Start From Scratch' recently came out one more labels than there are documents published on Wikileaks. Without further ado read what drummer Riekus has to say about downloading, guestsingers and punk.

You have spammed the international punkrock community a song a week for the past months. Besides getting some attention from everywhere this also might make people judge the record as a whole based on the snippets they hear. Aren't you afraid of that?
People will always judge a band by individual songs, there’s no use denying that. Whether it’s that one song they hear on your myspace page or the lyrics of a particular song, certain songs will stand out more than others. As a band, we like to think of an album as a whole, more than just the songs by themselves. Not everyone will share that opinion, so be it. We do encourage people to listen to the album as a whole, for example by putting a full stream + free download of our album online after the release date. We can’t force people to listen to the whole album rather than just their favorite songs, nor do we intend to force them. I guess the most we can do is offer the whole package and allow people to listen to it in whatever way they prefer.



'Start from Scratch!' is the record title. Do you also see it as a new beginning for Antillectual, it being the first record with a new bass player?
The album title is a quote from the first song, which is about the crises we are facing these days, and how we feel these crises allow us to improve things or start over. We chose the album title because this theme recurs in quite some of the songs. Of course, we as a band are also facing a somewhat new start, with Yvo leaving the band and Tom joining, and we feel this ‘new start’ has presented us with a lot of opportunities to change and evolve, but that’s not the reason why we chose the title.

As a political band with a somewhat left-wing ideology you guys must be very happy with the new Dutch government. Finally there's something to really be angry about. Or do you rather see a total leftist government?
There is no government like no government! But the new government sure provides us with enough inspiration for a whole new album, if not a double album! But it would be rather cynical to praise the new government for being inspiring for revolt. I’d rather see a government taking care of ALL its people in stead of the already wealthy white males. A total(itarian) left wing government doesn’t sound very appealing to me either, China and Cuba don’t seem very nice places to me. I don’t think any government can fulfil my needs, let alone all people in one country, but I’m sure we can easily do better than what we came up with now. On the other hand, why worry about politics when commercial enterprises have so much more influence on our daily lives than any government can ever have?



I guess working with thousands of different labels on the release of 'Testimony' paid off for you guys, since you have even expanded the amount of labels releasing the new record. So what are the benefits and what are the negative aspects of doing things this way?
Working with several independent labels on “Testimony” payed off really well for us, indeed. The main benefit of working this way is that each label is extremely specialized in their own region. They know where to promote our album, where and how to sell it, and where to book shows to promote the album. I don’t think any one (European) label can cover the areas we cover all together through the different labels, from the USA to Europe to Russia. On the downside, working with 10 labels at the same time requires a lot of time and communication, to have everyone on the same page, and have the same agreements with everyone. With the experience we have from releasing “Testimony”, it has become easier to arrange all this, and in the end we’re extremely glad to have the support of all these labels. The benefits are definitely bigger than the negative aspects.

One of the new songs features Chris Hannah of Propagandhi. From a commercial point of view this is a good thing, because more people got to know the name of Antillectual. But being a punk band wouldn't it be more logical to ask the local tramp to do some screaming? Why of all people you could have asked did you go with Chris?
I don’t really see how ‘being a punk band’ makes this a strange decision? Chris has been in a punk band for years himself. We like to aim high, but we never counted on it to actually work out. When it did we were happy as little kids. Having said that, we also have our local hero Heleen from Midnight Menace doing guest vocals, but I don’t think she would appreciate being called a tramp ;)
On a more serious note: Propagandhi is a band that has inspired us for years and years. To have one of their members contribute to our album is a dream come true. We didn’t ask Chris to contribute from a commercial point of view, and if we had done that i doubt he would even have considered helping out. Actually, according to the Propagandhi Facebook it cost us 7000 dollar to get him to sing on our album, from a commercial viewpoint a very bad idea.


Whereas you probably could write a record full of punkrock hits, you choose the difficult way. Why?
Interesting! We feel this album is a pretty big leap towards a more accessible, poppy sound. Compared to “Testimony”, the songs on this album are far less complicated or technical, and more melodic, so it’s interesting to hear that we still choose “the difficult way”. I guess it has never been our intention to produce only punkrock hit songs and anthems, and honestly, that would make a pretty boring record. We are not such good songwriters that we can actually chose or decide to write hits or not, it’s more trial and a lot of error in our case. Let’s leave the hit albums to the Pennywises and Bad Religions (pun intended!). We enjoy a lot of styles of punkrock, hardcore, orgcore and emo (even some metal), and i think those influences find their way into the styles we play on this record. Difficult? No. Variation? Yes.

You must have done some interviews already about the new record. What was the most original question, and what did you answer?
We’ve been getting quite some creative questions lately, but i think the weirdest one must have been an interview from an English magazine we literally got this morning containing only 1 question: “What was the one thing that has completely changed, or ruined your life? Please use around 500 words”. The answer was a pretty obvious one: this band. On the other hand we got an interview from the Incubate Festival website asking us if we had played in Holland before and, if yes, what was our experience.


What are the plans from here? Touring, touring, touring? Any new countries you're going to explore?
Yes, touring, touring and more touring! We sure wish to play at least all the countries where our record is released, and that includes the USA and Russia, of which the latter is new to us. Besides that we are planning to play shows and festivals in places we haven’t been before, Slovakia for example. We’re always interested in going new places and returning to places we’ve enjoyed playing. Willem will be doing some acoustic shows too, something we haven’t done for a while. And we will be doing everything we can to get our record out to people. To begin with, we’ll be offering all our music for free download at http://music.antillectual.com as of November 1st. Please go on, download and enjoy!

Dave Smalley + The Real Danger and more - October 24th - Tilburg

Still somewhat tired from the Bane show the night before, my wife and I decided to go and support Shield Recordings by attending the show they'd set up in Little Devil.

Because of dinner we missed Ravens but were right in time for Swiss punkrockers Hateful Monday who played a very nice set of uptempo punkrock.

Gert and Fieke of Shield Recordings had been on tour for two weeks with The Fake Boys and this was their homecoming show. Though I like The Fake Boys on record, their live shows are a bit too boring for me. I do have to confess that I've spend much of the time behind the Shield distro selling records.

The Real Danger were up next and ripped through a set of their best songs. It's always a pleasure to see this band. Uplifting, energetic, catchy punkrock.

As a last minute headliner of the show, Dave Smalley of DYS, Dag Nasty and Down By Law fame took the stage, for an acoustic set. I didn't really know what to expect, but it was good. Dave played songs from Dag Nasty as well as Down By Law, shared lots of anecdotes on his past and played some covers by bands that inspired him. In the end I ended up doing his merch at the show. Which is always a good way to spend a night.

Antillectual - Start From Scratch! - cd/lp

Antillectual has been spamming punksites for the past couple of months, streaming one track of their new record once a week. To be honest based on those streams I expected a record that I would enjoy less than 'Testimony' their previous full length. Well I guess I am an old fashioned 'album guy' because hearing all the songs together has made me change my thoughts.

If you don't know who Antillectual are, they're Face To Face with the political mindset of Propaghandi and borrowing the acoustic guitar from Tom Against Me! once in a while. Or you could say they're a bunch of Dutch leftwing punks who listen to nineties skatepunk, contemporary emo and sometimes grow a beard to appeal to the recent orgcore crowd.

Today the Obama government has lost a lot of votes to teadrinking, conservative, crazy Republican candidates. You kind of wish everyone of those voters who made this happen received 'Start From Scratch!'. Antillectual seems to cover part of the election topics being the crisis ('Every Crisis Is A Moral Crisis') and the fact that the US is not longer the superpower it used to be ('Chinese Takeover').

I do doubt if conservative Americans would like to hear a catcy song about America as a negative role model ('America's Worst Role Model') and that eating meat isn't all that good ('Some Of My Best Friends Are Meat Eaters'). Well I guess the band would be missing their reason to exist if they didn't fuel the left wing fire here and there.

'Start From Scratch!' is the most melodic Antillectual record to date. The band tended to get lost in their own music on previous releases thus making their songs less catchy than they could have been. This time however the band has succeeded in writing a record that balances their political views with enjoyable punksongs. The additions of guestvocalist like Chris Hannah from Propaghandi doesn't add that much to the song ('Out The Ground From Under Our Feet') but it's cool for any band to have a person they are inspired by cooperate on a track. Then again the extra vocals from the lesser known Heleen from Midnight Menace ('Buyer's Remorse' and 'So Much More') do add that extra flavour.

This record is a new highlight for the Dutch punkscene and together with The Real Danger they are the leading force not only in The Netherlands but in the whole of Europe. Both bands are as good as any of the bigger US bands.

'Start From Scratch' can be downloaded from music.antillectual.com but I suggest you head over to the Shield store because the artwork is amazing enough to get the 'real' thing.

Dead To Me - Wait For It 7"

Apparently I wasn't joking when I wrote that Dutch based Shield Recordings had no intention to slow down. Almost out of the blue (if you don't count endless Facebook messages by the labelowners they had big news to announce soon) probably the best European punk label around announced that they were going to release a new three song 7" by one of the most talked about bands of recent years: Dead To Me.

Let's make one thing clear. Like everyone I love the Cuban Ballerina and Little Brother records. But boy, did I have a heard time digesting the African Elephants full length. Was this band going to get back on track? Or were they lost to uninspired reggae and grunge? Who would have thought a Dutch label would be the first with all the answers.

After African Elephants the band apparently shifted bandmembers once again and a revatilised line-up brings some crushing new songs to the Wait For It 7".

The titletrack is a return to form sounding melodic and catchy yet somehow gritty. Here the band stays on the good side of the Clash discography. 'Attack Form' features those Jam inspired vocals which were my personal highlight on the African Elephants record. Closener 'Paystub' is a more experimental, harsher song which takes a bit longer to sink in, thus being the right 'crossover' between the material on African Elephants and a new full length to come.

Dead To Me shows a return to form on this 7" and it's awesome that the band joined a lesser known label to spread that word.

Right Idea + Rearranged - July 30 - Tilburg

Finally the day was there, almost a year after putting up my first hardcore show with The Effort and Teenage Lust, the time was right for number 2. Despite Incarnation cancelling it was a nice show after all.

Right Idea was already hanging out at the venue when I arrived so I quickly brought the food in I made for them and Rearranged and took the time to catch up with Robert Refuse Records.

The first time I met Robert was when I was driving Reaching Forward all over Europe. Robert released a Reaching Forward tape and got the band a show in Warsaw. He also accompanied us on some shows of that tour. Got us out of the hands of some corrupted cops and was one of the many in the van who suffered from food poisoning. The last time I met Robert was in 2002 so we had some catching up to do.

I also talked a bit with Nate from Right Idea about their tour so far and then the van full of Russian and Ukranian guys pulled up the curb. Rearrange had arrived and it was time to set up gear and do some soundchecking.

Eventually people from Birds x Of A Feather, Johnny Forward and more old and new hardcorekids showed up at the venue. Right in time to see Rearranged play a long but solid set of Uniform Choice, Dag Nasty inspired hardcore. I always love seeing a band on stage who got something to say. Vic from Rearranged was no let down on that part. I quickly picked up the band's new record 'New Forms'. I personally think the limited summer tour sleeve is better than the original artwork.



After our set (which went pretty okay considering State Of Affairs once again didn't practice for months) it was time for Right Idea to give Tilburg the Right Idea. These Cleveland guys played a solid set including songs from the 'Our World' record and the new 7" which I picked up as well.





The guys from Right Idea slept at the Shield house and the next morning my whole family got on the bike, went over to the Shield house and together with Jelle we bought them some breakfast and other stuff before they left for the next show in Belgium.

Though I met many bands throughout my years and heard a lot more stories about bands I can truly say I never encountered such a well mannered band as Right Idea. Before leaving they did the dishes, checked if everything was tidy. That band truly has the right idea.

After The Fall - Collar City - 7"

It's amazing what Shield Recordings has accomplished ever since their first release (which was an ep from my old band Heartfelt). Not only have they managed to release some of the best more recent records by Dutch bands as The Real Danger, Said and Done and Smash The Statues, they also worked with bands from Slovenia (In-Sane), Sweden (Atlas Losing Grip) and the United States (The Fake Boys).

Having grown so much these past 5 years doesn't seem to slow labelowners Gert and Fieke down. Besides putting together an European tour for The Fake Boys in October (they still need help on some dates), releases for Antillectual and After The Fall are already scheduled as well.

New York's After The Fall is the latest addition on the Shield roster. The band already gained quite some popularity with their 'Fort Orange'lp. This October a new full length entitled 'Eradication' will be released.

To tease fans of aggressive punkrock a bit Shield Recordings recently put out the 'Collar City' 7" containing three of the fastest and most furious punkrock songs I've heard in quite some time.

Titletrack 'Collar City' is all about working hard to get your band going just to give it all up after a while to lead a normal life.

'Coaster' seems to be all about NoFX not being the band they used to be (just check the lyrics: I was that kid who used to buy your records on the day that they came out. And I went to every show I could. I used to care but things have changed. I'm not the only one who feels this way, this shit is played out and really fucking lame. I still remember the first time hearing The Decline. I even placed some bids and won your first seveninch, the pmrc can suck on this (but I sold it). I just want to let you know that I'm giving up , and it's about time you do the same.)

The last song 'Comatose' is a personal song about expectations and love.

As said earlier this 7" is aggressive and hard. Don Fury did a good job getting an in your face sound for this band that soundwise kind be described as Propaghandi without the trashmetal, or a less melodic version of New Mexican Disaster Squad.

As a teaser for the upcoming full length 'Collar City' sure does its job. I for one am really curious how the new record, recorded by Jay Maas and featuring guest vocals from that guy from Make Do And Mend, will sound.

Still here, sincere, after all these crazy years

H20 in a small club. Any hardcore and punkkid in the right mind would love to see that. So it was no surprise to me that the venue was sold out on this sundaymatinee.
What did surprise me however when entering the venue together with the fine people of Shield Recordings was the absence of H20 merch.

First band Noyalty opened on time and did an impressive set of American Nightmare meets StretchArmstrong songs. Personally I didn't like the full sound of the band. On the record the melodies are way better than live.



When Noyalty was done, there was still no sign of H20. People were getting itchy and more restless by the minute (the ones who weren't drinking at least). Cindy of All For Nothing couldn't bring a better message than 'H20 are in the building'. But first All For Nothing was up to show the Netherlands why all over Europe their early Comeback Kid hardcore with a female singer is recognised as awesome. I guess the Dutch are finally learning as well since there was plenty of crowd movement and singalongs.

After 10 hours in a small van, the last day of the tour, away from family on mother's day we all got a more pissed off and aggressive H20 than I've seen in years. From song 1 the whole place exploded. Divers everywhere. Massive singalongs, fingerpointing, moshing. Sweat, bruised knees, people on the floor. Hardcore 2010 can be as excited as the first H20 shows 15 years ago.



The band played a lot of songs from their latest record as well as some old hits and covers. Their Cro-Mags intro was hard!

Ofcourse I was x-ed up and waiting for one of my favorite songs 'Still Here'. When that one came along I did my best to singalong and do some stage dives (My first in I think three years).

I sticked around up front and decided to do some more dives on the last song 'What happened'.



What a sunday. If you told me 15 years ago I would still have much fun if not more at a H20 show I might have looked a bit confused but this was definately one of the best shows of 2010, hell of everything the recent years.

pics by Live Your Heart Photography.

Here's a short clip from the show:

The Real Danger

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.

Watch the tourvideo/clip for 'Cutting Ties' here

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:

Sunday matinees will never be the same

Sunday matinees have never seemed the same

Since you turned our hardcore shows into a football game.

But you're not the only one to blame, Because we sat back for so many years And watched you play all your stupid tough-guy games

We took your shit and now we're lying in it.It's time to make a change... MAKE IT FUCKIN' CHANGE

If there's 200 kids and only there total dicks, Which of us do you think should get to say

I WILL STAY 

Battery - Go Back To The Gym

To be honest the above lyrics to one of the better Battery songs have nothing to do with playing the sunday matinee in Aarle-Rixtel. If anything there was no macho behaviour just a diverse group of people having a good time.

I had never been in the OJA before. And was surprised to find such a great venue in The Netherlands. Belgium is known for these kind of places but to find a small club in the middle of a small village in The Netherlands where local kids come and see bands, it's still great

The matinee started with Belgium newcomers Accept The Change. They remind me a lot of Have Heart and the singer has a great stage presence, really focusing on the music and withdrawn to the extent that as an outsider you get into it as well. They played a good set and set the tone for the rest of the day.

You know those show with lots of bands playing, taking their time to set-up and do another soundcheck? Those shows that go on and on forever and really get behind schedule. Well this was not one of them. In fact To The Test were already done playing their mix of Madball metalcore and our drummer and guitarplayer still had too arrive. Fortunately they walked in just in time to set up their gear and get focused. Ray brought one of his sons, which made me want to bring my kids to a show someday as well.

Our set went way better than last week. And we even sold our demos, compilation 7" and stuff. There's only one shirt left so we're going to try and have a new design ready for the next show on May 7.

Aarle-Rixtel was Dutch hardcore history in the making since after five years MM returned on stage, with a new singer. They weren't as rusty as expected and their songs inspired by 7 Seconds were still enjoyable. It was somewhat strange to see our drummer from the other side of the stage as he is also in MM.

What other band could close off the day then Said and Done. Everytime I see this band they are just one step better. They ripped it again. Beforehand Pim told me he was not sure his voice would hold, but it did. Everyone was grooving, singing along and enjoying one of the better bands in the Netherlands right now.

After that it was time to head back in the Shieldrecordings van and go back to Tilburg.

I WILL STAY

Easter 2010: Three shows in four days

Ten years ago it wouldn't be special going to multiple shows in a week. At this stage of my life however it is special enough to write about it.

After cleaning the house and the car on friday I drove to Merksplas, Belgium for a show together with A Strength Within and This Routine Is Hell. The drive there was really nice. Because Merksplas is right across the border I was able to avoid the dull highway and drove through small villages and stuff.

The show was well organised and a good amount of people came up to see us play one of our worst shows so far. Probably because bassplayer Marijn thought it a good idea to get tattooed on his elbow just hours before the show. And that might be the reason he didn't hit all the right chords. Despite all that people seemed to be into our set. Which left me pretty exhausted to be honest. Since things were already behind schedule I decided to skip the other bands and head home cause with kids you just knew that it will be an early morning. I heard This Routine Is Hell brought the house down. And I can't wait to see them play on May 7.

Saturday: no show

And then it was sundayevening. Time to get off the couch and head to the Little Devil venue. Gert and Fieke of Shield Recordings had been on the road with The Fake Boys and The Real Danger the past weeks and it was nice hearing about the tour which came to an end in Tilburg.

The Fake Boys played a decent set, somehow reminding me of Serpico. And I wish I could tell you more about The Real Danger (other than that their new record kicks ass and I bought a shirt) but I can't since I left before they started to play. (Don't blame me but a bunch of Americans who heard there was a coffeeshop close to the venue so they got back late).

However there is footage of the show wherein The Real Danger does a Misfits cover:

Frank Turner had the honour to close the list of shows on monday. And he did a great job. The band was having fun on stage. They interacted with the crowd. Turner said some funny and some serious things. He played all the 'hits'. He's just one of the newer bands I really like. It's great that his liveshows are even better than his records. Because where his records have their dull moments, live there is enough going on to keep your attention. I also picked up his 'First three years' record.

This Routine Is Hell

They're Dutch, they're the kind of band most moshers will think way too fast and politcal. They should be the band everyone talks about on the Bridge 9 board. Their record is everything you look for in a hardcorerecord. They're This Routine Is Hell. After delevering one of the best records of the year and being featured in the NY Times, I thought it was time to send singer Noam some questions.

There’s a Paint It Black vibe all around the new record. Is that band a big influence on you?

Ever since the first demo people have compared us with Paint It Black. Musically and lyricswise Paint It Black has been an influence. Yet while writing the record we tried to get a sound of our own, in which I think we succeeded.
Paint It Black is an influence because their music is progressive but stays within the borders of hardcorepunk. They have the right attitude which combines aggression with intellect. This shows in the way the band goes about and is something we try to do as well.

Where does the name This Routine Is Hell come from?

It’s about the majority of people who live their lives without passion, always taking the easiest way. Never thinking about the consequences or the possibilities of their lives. It also represents the danger of how easy it is to live such a life.
We play in this band because we want to do something that goes beyond established paths. Creativity and constructivism to fill the routine’s void. Yet one can wonder if the current hardcorepunk scene with it’s myspace, facebook isn’t part of that establishment.

Even before your recordrelease show you offered it online as a free download.

During our talks with Shield Recordings, who released the vinyl, we told them we wanted to put the record online. We have always been a ‘try-before-you-buy’ band. And it is fair since we all have a lot of records on our iPods as well.
A lot of records are available online anyway. Doing it ourselves enables us to be sure that the quality is allright. This way we also were able to enclose the lyrics.
I don’t think it will reduce the sale of ‘The Velvet Crusade’ in the end.


What is the story behind the song ‘Tied Down’?

How easy and the amount of joy with which people choose to spend their days before the television, accept a life full of work and the total depression and passive society we’re all a part of.
Mass culture, mass production and mass entertainment make it possible to live a ‘great’ life without ever having to really try and make something special of it.
For me it was an important decision when I realized that I don’t want to become a part of it. I want to inspire myself and others to be special.


You just got back from Africa. What have you done there?

For two months I have worked in a remote area of Rwanda, trying to get local highschools connected to the internet. One of the goals of the project is to bridge the big communication gap between the big city and the rural areas. To school the youth and make them less depended on the agrarian culture.
It gave me a good view on their lives and made me think about the positive and the negative sides of development aid.
The song ‘Crooks & Robbers’ is about the IMF and the Worldbank passing out the wrong loans which don’t fit in the economical structure of third world countries. As a whole the western economical policy destroys more than it builds.

Myspace: This Routine Is Hell

The Hunger - Hope Against Hope (cd)

As you might or might not know I'm not a huge supporter of metal influences in hardcore. So when promotional talk is about Entombed, I'm not really looking forward to hear a record. I've had my cup of tea of bad Slayer riffs, weak Morbid Angel grunts and wannabe blast-beats.
Surprise, surprise! Dutch band The Hunger has some metal in their sound, but they hide it well enough for me to enjoy the record. 'Hope Against Hope' is Unbroken and The Hope Conspiracy colliding with Insted. I know that sounds weird and I guess I'm the only one making the comparison but between the gruffy, heavy sound and edgy lyrics there is a hint of light, a positivism unseen with these kind of bands.
It's that the glass is half full feeling combined with the great vocals of Nico (ex Omission and ex Paint It Black fill in) that sets The Hunger apart from the Deathwish catalog.
Songs 'Angels To Ghosts' and 'Never Cry Wolf' make me wanna sing a long and join the Hunger on their path through the dark forest to the shining lights. With only six songs on this record the Hunger keeps me hungry for more.
The record is going to be released as a one sided 12" as well, keep your eyes out for that one!
Myspace: The Hunger
Label: Shield Recordings

Atlas Losing Grip or the comeback of Swedish Punkrock

Swedish punkband Atlas Losing Grip pleasantly surprised me with their debut record ' Shut The World Out' on which they manage to put me in a timemachine and warp me back to an era when Swedish punkbands like Satanic Surfers and No Fun At All were on top of the foodchain. Time for a little chat with bandmember Stefan.

Please explain the bandname to me because it's not a common name for a band I think?
Ok dude, the band name is not so hard to understand with some fantasy and some knowledge about stuff like greek mythology. According to the original myth Atlas was a titan and was punished to carry the weight of the heavens on his back. A common misconception of the myth says that he was forced to carry earth on his back. Anyhow, feel free to interpret as much as you want, the world will remain fucked.

During the nineties bands like Millencolin, No Fun At All and Satanic Surfers were really popular worldwide. What happened with the Swedish punkscene afterwards cause I can't recall such bands coming out of Sweden for a while except for maybe The Hives.

Actually I don't know what happened. I spent the nineties going to a lot of concerts with both swedish and international bands and we were really spoiled here in Sweden since a lot of the bands from here got so appreciated worldwide. You could check out great bands all the time. That created a huge interest for melodic punk and when the interest of that music started to fade away back in the late nineties I guess people just bought what happened and moved on. I believe that crust got bigger for a while and then the emo crap started to persist to torture our ears. I really hope that the melodic punk rock will find its way back somehow, now that everything is supposed to be soooo retro. By the way, I personally hate the Hives, haha!

Rodrigo from Satanic Surfers did some vocals on three of the songs on the 'Shut The World Out' record. Why did you ask him?

Well, Rodrigo is a good friend with a great voice. It felt natural to ask him, I thought the melodies in those songs would suit his voice perfectly. I've always loved Satanic Surfers, hold them as a strong influence of A L G and thought it would be cool to have him sing a couple of lines on our album.

How does a Swedish band end up on a Dutch label?

We got a deal with the Japanese label Bells On Records at first and we spoke to the guys of Antillectual after a gig and they told us to contact Shield Recordings which we did. Shield liked our shit and we liked theirs so everything worked out just fine.
There are also other labels included in this release. No Reason Records in Italy and DV..s Records in France.
We also have distribution deals with some other labels such as Eating Shit Records in Spain and one for Portugal coming up.

The song 'Tearing International Treaties' is about the US governement and their refusal to particpate in the Kyotoprotocol. But what does the Swedish government do to protect the earth? Is that enough? What do you do yourself?

In Sweden people are pretty aware of the climate issue and I think that people try to live there after. Yet with the government we have here today I'm not so sure that the climate issue is one of the highest priorities. The international work to limit the climate changes is mostly regulated by the UN and I don't really know Swedens part in the whole situation.

All the members of the band support fairtrade, vegetarianism/veganism and recyceling for example.

Can you tell me what the song 'Affordable Solutions' is about?

It's about the care of old people, people with psychological problems and how a lot of them are stuffed with drugs instead of having their real issues and the roots to their problems dealt with, how money and lack of empathy lay ground for suffering - both mental and physical.


One of the songs on the new record is an Adhesive cover, why that band and why that song?


I love Adhesive and they are friends of ours. The lyrics of the song are sane and true and it is a great song. Thats why.

Can we expect more new bands coming out of Sweden and if so which bands?

If you like more aggressive hardcore check out our good friends in Balance and also check The Indecision Alarm (if you did'nt already), Sista Sekunden and We Live in Trenches.

Thanks for the questions! Heavy Mental! / Stefan

Myspace: Atlas Losing Grip
Label: Shield Recordings

Said and Done interview

With the release of the 'Endless Roads' ep Said and Done have truly found their own style. No wonder the record is well received worldwide. The band just came back from a tour in Southern Europe and vocalist Pim recently finished his own fanzine. Reasons enough to shed some more light on these youngsters from Brabant.
'Endless Road' has received lots of good reviews. People compare you to Underdog or say you're the band putting European Hardcore on the map, did you ever expect that to happen?

Ofcourse we didn't expect that! Man! We're just some kids from a small town in the Netherlands. When our drummer and I started jamming together back in '99 we never expected something like this to happen. At the very best we would play some shows in the local venue without people walking away.

These days we are getting compared to such great bands, I almost feel ashamed. It's unreal. Not only Underdog, but also the Cro Mags and Leeway were mentioned a lot. It's so strange, I mean those bands are nothing but amazing. I listen to those records all the time.

As for saying Said And Done are putting European hardcore on the map... It's a great compliment, but it's untrue. We're just doing our own thing. It's bands like No Turning Back that are putting European hardcore on the map. They're out there all the time, giving it all, making sure everybody knows exactly what's going down in Europe. Or the lovely Brabant area to be exact. Anyway, let there be no mistake though, we're really flattered with all the positive feedback we're getting. It's great to hear people talk about our band like that. It keeps amazing us. Don't think that will ever change.

Critics who have seen your shows do say the band live is not the same as on recordings. Personally I think you all come over a bit to nice in person to be so angry on stage. Is that something you have worked on as a band, or doesn't it bother you as much?
Critics, schmitics. I don't know man. I personally think we're just as "angry" on record as on stage, or as "nice". I don't care that much to be honest. To us it's not about being as angry as possible. It's an outlet, not an act. We're not puppets on a string putting up a show. We're just doing our thing. We always give our best, no matter how many people there are. I will be the first one to say that shows were people are moshing or singing along or whatever are more fun though. It creates a good atmosphere, energy flowing back and forth. You know how it is, you've been on that stage yourself.

'Endless Roads' was recorded in De Studio with Dirk Miers, previous record Everyday was recorded at 195 with Patrick Delabie. Why the change of studio and producer? What is the main difference between Miers and Delabie?

Well the sound of Studio 195 fitted the stuff on "Everyday" great if you ask me. And we always had a blast working with Patrick but we just wanted to try something new. We wanted a bigger, heavier sound for the new songs. We absolutely LOVED working with Patrick Delabie at Studio 195 though. He is a great guy. I would love to record something with him again someday.


As for the differences between Dirk and Patrick. To me it felt like Patrick was more focused, more into the project he's doing at the time. Dirk did a great job, but was gone to do some other stuff now and then and let his assistant do the rest. Not that that wasn't okay or something, it all worked out right, but it felt differently. I don't know, I'm really satisfied with both recordings. Soundwise I'm going with Endless Roads, producer wise I would pick Patrick.

Anyway, we wanted to try something new and so we did. We're really pleased with the result, the sound we ended up with fits the new songs perfectly. Ofcourse there's always room for improvements but it was good to change settings for once. I don't know if we'll record at De Studio again next time, or go back to Studio 195 or maybe try something new all together. We'll see. Only time will tell.

Going back in history, Said and Done in the same line-up started out as Stab Back, very soon after releasing the Stab Back record you guys changed the name and the sound of the band. How did that decision come about and wouldn't it have been better not to release the Stab Back material but wait six months and only have the Said and Done songs out?
No, I don't think so. It was just all part of a natural progression. The Stab Back MCD was from 2005. Before that we did release two demos. We did pit out "Everyday" with Said And Done in 2007. That's a bit longer than 6 months. Anyway, I never thought of it like that. It wasn't a "sudden" change or something for us either. At the end of the "Stab Back era" (to give it a name) we already had songs that would later become Said And Done songs. "Wake Up" from the "Everyday" album was written right after (or maybe even before) we recorded "Breaking Out" with Stab Back. It was just the fact that all new songs were starting to sound like that and I no longer felt like abusing my voice like in Stab Back. Aside from that we got to hate the bandname, people were taking it the wrong way. Not like we intended it. But then again, maybe it was a bit naive from us to pick that as a bandname. Anyway, all in all that made us change the bandname, to make it feel more like a fresh start. I think we did right, we can't complain you know.

You all originate from small villages in Brabant. How did you come in contact with hardcore? The band also started out because of a lack of better things to do? Have some of the bandmembers ever considered moving out of Brabant?

First thing first: Moving out? Whaat? No dude! Never haha. To be honest, I have no idea. We never talked about any of us moving out or something. We all have our lives here. We've got all we need right here. For now, we're bound to Brabant. Anything can happen though, we'll see.
As for how it started it out? I think it all started with Nirvana man. I got in touch with that band through someone who was helping building our house, he had a Nirvana tape of a liveshow. It took me some time to get into it (I was used to crappy top 40 house like "the lalala song") but when it did hit me, it did hit me hard. It made me want to pick up a guitar myself, write my own songs. So that's what I did. Joost (our drummer) was the son of my parents friends and when they got together one day we just started to jam (aside from my guitar stuff I also picked up a second hand drumkit (from the same guy that got me in touch with Nirvana)) and we liked it that much that we never stopped jamming. Skip forward a year or maybe two and that's where I ran into Erik (Gio, who was the guitarplayer of No Turning Back at that time), he asked me to come to their show the day after. And that's what I did. I loved it, the energy, the DIY aspect, no boundaries between the band and the crowd. Everything. It was great. I was hooked. Still am. It was never about "a lack of better things to do" though.

You just came back from the second tour in Southern Europe. Do you see the difference between the first tour, like more people knowing the songs or attending shows? And is there a difference between shows in Spain and in The Netherlands?

We had a blast! And yes, there was a difference, more people knew our songs this time. In France people even knew the newest songs. They were singing along to almost all the songs. Really cool. Hooray for downloads I guess ;) I really loved the first time we went over to Spain because it was all new, but this trip was a lot better show-wise.


As for differences between countries, yeah there are I guess. I think we play our best shows outside of the Netherlands. I don't know why. People are more into having a good time in Spain instead of the "we're here to judge you"-crowd in the Netherlands (I'm guilty to the exactly the same thing myself) probably. You know the "arms-crossed, watching the band" kind. In Spain and France people were tearing the place down. But then again I don't know if I'm capable to judge that on a couple of shows. Maybe we just played the right shows over there. I don't know if that's the case at every show, there are always differences between shows. You have good and bad ones.

You're also the main man behind Pressure Release Records. How did that come about? Don't you think tapes belong to the past and are there any new releases scheduled?
Aah that was just Rob and me talking on MSN some night. You know, the usual talk, about how much we both love the Cro Mags and stuff like that. Some months before that conversation I mentioned to him that I wanted to do a small label or something. He was doing Light The Fuse Fest at the time and I think he was still involved with Light The Fuse Records as well. Anyway, he wanted to release the Tenement Kids demotape with Light The Fuse, but the rest of the guys of the label didn't want to do a tape. He just said to me "Isn't that a good band to start your label with?". The rest is history, I loved the idea as much as I loved that Tenement Kids demotape.

As for tapes belonging to the past? Is that a serious question? I mean a lot of stuff in hardcore could be labeled as "a thing of the past". I don't know. I love tapes. I love vinyl. I don't think it's a thing of the past. You're putting out a demotape with State Of Affairs yourself as well man ;)

As for any new releases coming up. At the moment none whatsoever. We had a pretty cool idea that fell through, maybe that's going to happen sometime later when we all have more time, but I don't know. We still have the We Are Idols from Poland and Maaswater Veenlijk from the Netherlands demotapes for sale. Both really cool demos if you ask me. Not your typical hardcore or something, but that never was our intention. We'll see, maybe in time we can do some cool new stuff. Bands can always contact us ofcourse, if we're totally blown away by a demo I can promise you we'll put it out for sure.

The Endless Roads vinyl version came with a free download. The first record on Shield to be released like this. Was this an idea from the band? Do you think this will be the future of (hardcore) music?


Yeah that was an idea of mine. You see labels doing this everywhere now. I think 1917 Records was the first hardcore label I saw doing it. Deathwish jumped aboard pretty fast and now pretty much all labels are doing it or have atleast plans in that direction. I contacted Gert-Jan of the label about it and he liked the idea, I think all his new releases will get the same treatment (if the bands agree) but I'm not sure.

If it's the future? Yes I think so. I mean, our 7" was put on a blog the day after it got released, so you're not going to stop downloading anyway. So why fight against it? Just give it to em, the more promotion the better. People that picked up your 7" will still do it, people that didn't but downloaded it will still do that. And maybe some people will pick up the 7" or MCD when they hear the MP3. The best thing though is that people know the words to the songs, making live shows a lot cooler.

Can you tell me a bit about your fanzine. What can readers expect, why did you make it? How long have you worked on it. Were there any setbacks and can we expect a second issue?
I'm so glad I finally did it. I had plans for one for a long time. I even started working on one called "Glory Days" some years ago. But I never managed to finish it, I just didn't know how or didn't had the time, you know how it works. But it's done now, it's out there. The feedback it's receiving is really great. It makes me wanting to do another issue. I'm not sure yet, but I guess there will be another one. If not I'll probably do an online blog or keep doing interviews for asice.net or something. We'll see.

As for the content, it features more personal, in-depth, longer interviews than you usual read in zines I think. At least that's what I tried to do. Inspired by the almighty Anti-Matter zines. I was missing those kind of interviews from other zines. I love reading those zines don't get me wrong, but reading the same questions over and over again about the new record gets a bit boring. The people behind those bands have way more interesting stories to tell (well... most of the time).
I worked on it for a couple of months. From the beginning of 2008 till the day before we left for Europe with Said And Done when I picked up the zines from the printer. That's like half a year I guess. There were no real big setbacks aside from re-doing some layouts a couple of times because I wanted the font to be bigger and the actual printing was giving me a bit of an headache. Oh and ending up with a price of 4,50 was more or less a setback too. I'm not making any money on it, but I thought that was a bit much. I originally wanted to include some label ads for free, but with that selling price I decided to contact labels for some money. I hated to do that but luckily enough the kind people of Shield Recordings, Reaper Records, Dead And Gone Records and Reflections Records kindly agreed. Now I can sell the zine for 3,50. So kudos to them! For the next issue I'll look into that stuff a bit better or just print some more zines. We'll see.

When is Said and Done going to conquer the rest of Europe and the USA?

You tell me! We did a couple of trips through Europe now, probably more to follow. But we're all working or in school so we can't leave whenever we feel like, we have to use our free days wisely. Anyway we talked to some people about an USA trip and hopefully we can put that into magic next year as well. Would be great. Maybe some small trips again. I would love to go back to the UK and France as well.
As for now we're writing new songs (got a couple ready to go) and learning Henri (from Maaswater Veenlijk fame), our new drummer for half a year, all our songs. Yeah, that's right. Joost, our drummer, the dude who I jammed with for years is leaving us for half a year to check out Taiwan, to learn. We're all going to miss him for sure. The good thing is, Henri is a really cool dude and things will work out for sure. He was with us on our trip to Europe (not drumming yet) and he blended right in. The two rehearsals we had so far went great. We'll use the summer to learn him all the stuff so we can blast ahead full speed again after the summer.

Anyway, I guess that's all there is to tell at the moment, thanks a lot for giving us the chance to speak out man. Good luck with your blog Rold!

Myspace:Said and Done
Label: Shield Recordings

Atlas Losing Grip - Shut The World Out (cd)

You remember that time when you bought a record from Epitaph and you didn't have to listen to it to know it was quality punkrock? The same days when everyone in Sweden seemed to be playing in a hardcore or punkband? When Satanic Surfers, No Fun At All and Millencolin were able to sell out venues? That was the time when I started listening to punkrock and going to shows. It's clear that those days are gone but here comes Atlas Losing Grip with a record that puts me in a timemachine and slings me back to those days.
You can't misinterpret the influence that early Strung Out, Ten Foot Pole and Satanic Surfers must have had on this band. Still 'Shut The World Out' doesn't come over as a relic or as an outdated record. That has to do with the quality of the songwriting, which is great, and the production as well.
What is also good about this release is that most of the songs are very political instead of other typical subject for bands in this genre, being girls, summer and skating. Opener 'Decreasing Development' is about the western world funding civil wars in Africa and 'Tearing International Treaties' is about the US government not participating in climate control.
If this band was around in the mid nineties they would have a bright future ahead of them for sure, still their music and message is as relevant now only the style they play isn't the big thing anymore.

Myspace: Atlas Losing Grip
Label: Shield Recordings