Teenage Lust - There Is A Light That Does Go Out

Belgian band Teenage Lust announced that they're on an indefinite hiatus as for now. In normal words: they're breaking up.
Though this news will not hit as hard as that of another Belgian band breaking up I'm still sad to see Teenage Lust go.

I wasn't around during the first youth crew wave or the rise of communist European hardcore. Though I witnessed the rise and fall of the second (or third) wave of youth crew with bands like Mainstrike, Atari, Floorpunch and Reaching Forward to me the most interesting moment in hardcore happened right after that. Bands like American Nightmare, Panic and Count Me Out were a great inspiration to me. And Teenage Lust was one of the few existing bands able to pull of that same style without going for the more slower Unbroken-esque attitude.

Besides being a good band, the guys in Teenage Lust were so nice to let State Of Affairs play at their recordrelease show. At the time of the show they didn't have the 7" out yet, but that never killed the fun I had that night. In return I asked them to play in Tilburg with The Effort, something they put off nicely.

Teenage Lust is no more. The last time I saw them live was opening up for The Hope Conspiracy in Antwerp. A great show yet I rather had seen them one last time in some small Belgian youth centre.

Teenage Lust 2007-2010

One last thing: if guitarplayer Flip Lust wants to do a hardcoreband combining sxe pride with morrissey-esque lyrics and Carry On riffs, he should get in contact with me.

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.

Brainwreck Records

I know I've been slacking in posting interviews here. Well that's going to change, starting now. In this time of people downloading records for free, it's a big jump to invest money in a new label. So it's kind of exciting to see two guys starting a new label and investing their time and money in new bands. Without further ado here's an introduction to Brainwreck Records and it's owners Rick and Teun:

First of all why did you start Brainwreck records? What are your intentions with the label?

R: Hey Arold! We just want to help out new bands by offering them a helping hand on releasing their demo. Brainwreck Records is basically just two friends putting out music together. Initially the idea started with Teun who offered to help out Outlive (their drummer, Erik, was in the same band as us at the time) and I came in along the way.

The first three releases are all tapes. Are you going to stick to tapes only or are you also planning to do vinyl releases in the future?
R: As for now we will only release tapes. We just want to see how everything will work out and hopefully we will release some vinyl in the future as well.


How does a Dutch label come in contact with a Russian band (Rearranged)?
T: Cesco Youth (A Step Apart fame) just pointed out a band some of his friends were doing and said they were still looking for a label to get their demo released. Since we really dig their tunes we just dropped a message and things started rolling.



Why did you choose Outlive, Rearranged and Teenage Lust as bands on your label?
R: Outlive have been friends with us from early on and we really like their new songs. Rearranged is just an amazing upcoming band with really cool tunes. The guys in the band are really nice guys as well and hopefully they will start touring in the near future. Teun knows Gilles (bassplayer Teenage Lust) for quite a while and when he heard their songs he booked them for a few shows. We kept in touch when we were in Calloused and the guys from Teenage Lust appeared to like our songs. So we came to the idea to release their songs.

I noticed that both Rearranged and Outlive also offer their songs as free downloads. Aren't you scared you won't sell any of the tapes this way?
T: First of all, if you never buy any releases then I don’t know what you’re doing in hardcore in the first place. I feel there are still a lot of people around that enjoy collecting music so it shouldn’t be a problem to sell tapes.

Myspace: Brainwreck Records