Onward - Survive Death

A couple of days ago Oslo City Straight Edge band Onward did a reunion show together with Supertouch.
Anyone who knows his classics, must agree that Onward was one of the few bands keeping the spirit of youth crew hardcore alive during the midnineties. Besides Mainstrike and Mouthpiece there weren't that many bands playing this kind of music and especially not many bands doing it as good as Onward. Check this clip and get the These Words Still Pray record.

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

The Defense - Statement - 7"

Let's go back in time somewhere in '97 I think when the Ieperfest was still an indoor festival in a old ramschackle shed. Youth Crew was still on it's way up and kids were eager to see Eyeball and Mainstrike perform.

During that festival I met a guy called David who was the singer for a Spanish band called Refraining. He visited us in smalltown Nieuwkuijk and accompanied us to the Guiding Line release show.

Fastforward to 2003. I was on a holiday in Barcelona and met up with David. Catching up on old times and talking about our current bands. (Afterlife for hime, Heartfelt for me)

Last year Crucial Response Records released Statement the new 7" of David's current band The Defense. It's great to see that almost fifteen years later Im not the only one who stuck to his opinions and favorite music to play. Just like Refraining and Afterlife The Defense is a melodic youth crew band with insightfull lyrics.

'Answers' the first track reminds me a bit of early Trial stuff where as ' The Process' and 'Hard To Find' are two solid youth crew songs. However ' EVP's' is the standout song on this 7". David really sings on this one and the music is one of the most melodic things the band has written. If you like Good Riddance you'll surely love this song as well. The 7" ends with ' Statement' which is a bold and strong song on still being straight edge and believing in choices made.

Though this 7" is pretty good I can't help but thinking that The Defense should concentrate even more on the Good Riddance sound of 'EVP's' because that is a sound in which they standout from most other bands in the genre.

As this is a Crucial Response ep you just know that layoutwise it's looking impressive as well. Nothing original, yet really good.

Myspace: The Defense

True Colors: Consider it packed!!!

Whoa! According to facebook, the source of all knowlegde, 371 people will attend the last show of True Colors. I don't know how many people fit in the venue, but I expect the place to be packed. And rightfully so. Let's all say goodbye to one of the best bands in the youth crew genre.

Spirit 84: Beyond the call of old age

Tomorrow night Fryslan hardcore band Spirit 84 will do a one time reunion show. Reunion shows in hardcore nowadays it seems are more common than new bands playing shows, so what is all the fuss about?

After getting into foreign bands like Shelter and Strife, I was a thrill for me to discover and be a part of the Dutch youth crew scene in '97-'00. Practically every weekend we would travel the country or go to Belgium to see bands like Mainstrike, Reaching Forward, Guiding Line, Eyeball, Degradation and Spirit 84.

The guys from Spirit 84 at the time were the odd ones in the mix. Not the whole band was straight edge and they had these really funny Fryslan accents. They were also way more openminded than a lot of the Dutch youth crew kids, my friends, were. Something I (we) didn't quite get back then, but I do now.

For example when releasing a record they choose for GoodLife Recordings. At the time one of the bigger hardcore labels in Europe but essentialy known for Belgian hardcore bands like Congress and Liar. Not really a label for a youth crew band, yet Spirit 84 did it.

Where most bands were all about singing about changing the world, we all went on wearing Nike's. As did Spirit 84 yet they donated a portion of their 'Beyond the call of friendship' to welfare organisation War Child. Something most Dutch bands at the time didn't do as I recall.

Another nice but not well known fact about Spirit 84 is that the main picture of the 'Beyond The Call Of Friendship' 7" is made by me. Not that I really got the credits for it since the liner notes say 'Speak Our Minds dude'. But that was the fanzine I was doing at the time with Rob who later did Abusive Action.

Spirit 84 reunion tomorrow and I think I'll be going for old times sake.

You try to break the spirit. But we never knew why.

Youth Crew compilation available for download

So you read my review of the Youth Crew 010 compilation but can't find the record?
Positive and Focused has this message for you:

Hi,

January 15th was the official release of the Youth Crew 010 compilation. It was sold out even before the official release. Thnx for your support!

All YxC010 records have been sent to people all over the globe. We're currently looking for a next project.

Lyrics and MP3's are available for download here:

Lyricssheet YxC010:
here

MP3's:
here

Youth Crew 010 compilation 7"

A new '88 in 2010? I don't think so but ever since '88 Youth Crew bands have been popping up. After the nineties youth crew revival with Mainstrike, Hands Tied, Reaching Forward, Ten Yard Fight, In My Eyes, Eyeball and Sportswear amongst others there were bands like Champion, The First Step and nowadays True Colors keeping the sound alive.

True Colors is breaking up but fortunately all over the world bands still keep going on in true Youth Crew spirit. On this compilation from Positive and Focused, Monument and Youth Crew records ten bands show what they're capable of.

The record starts with Alert who deliver a song mixing Youth Of Today's No More with an Insted vibe. Portugals' Pressure doesn't have the most unique bandname in the world, but they do have that aggressive youth crew Carry On sound I loved so much on the Roll With The Punches ep. The Italians from Fumbles In Life don't convince me. Somehow I get the feeling something is off with this record, the vocals are way too highpitched. Next band on side A is State Of Affairs, my own band. For the lack of anything better we decided to put a track from the demosessions we recorded ourselves on this compilation and I must say we don't sound out of style productionwise with the other bands. Swedish kids Forever Young are the last band on side A. They have that aggressive Swedish sound we all love.

Side B brings five more bands. Reveal The Truth deliver a short angry song. But it is Half The Battle all the way from the Phillipines who surprise me the most by a song that mixes Plagued with Rage with early Fastbreak. If this was a band from the US kids would be drooling over their ebaymerchandise in no time. Residents of Moscow Rearranged deliver a track that was already on their demo. Still a very good song however. The other band from the Phillipines Staid also come through with an outstanding track leaving place for the Americans in Outlast to really end this compilation in style with a song that shows they're the next best thing after Mindset.

This 7" probably will not reach the legendary level as the Time Is Now compilation or the Growing Stronger compilation did. However it shows there are still people who believe in the combination of aggressive music and a positive outlook. As long as that continues and bands with a youth crew sound pop up, I'm interested.

Me, You... Youth Crew 2009

Show of the year? Who knows. It's nice to play with some of the best youth crew bands around though.

Favourite Carry On records (according to Twitter)

Once again I used Twitter to come up with some sort of list of favourite Carry On records. Now this question was kind of hard on some people as not everyone seems to know exactly what Carry On has released.

1. A Life Less Plagued (2001, Bridge 9 Records) The most favourite record for a majority of people on Twitter. Also the record that put the band on the worldwide hardcore map. Though I love most of the songs on this one and admire the transition that Carry On made in their song and lyricwriting it's not my favourite record. I miss the positivism and youth crew sound of their earlier records.

2. Roll With The Punches (2000, Teamwork Records) Teamwork was known for putting out classics like Floorpunch and Atari. This Carry On record was another 'hit'. It's aggresive and straight edge. And easily one of the best 7" to come out after the youth crew revival. Cause the thing with Carry On is, they just missed that boat. Another thing about this record is the 'Fuck Your Politics' song and the flyer that came with it. At the time the hardcore scene was way more pc than now and Carry On made the daring stance to say they we're there for the fun, not for the debates. They were a bunch of guys who like hardcore, nothing more.

3. The Line Is Drawn (1999, Youngblood Records) My personal favourite. When I first heard it, I was blown away. To me Carry On were the new Insted. The same positive, Californian vibe. The artwork is awesome with all the live pics. I still regret selling the shirt that I ordered with the record.



A lot of people mentioned It's All Our Blood (2001) which is a collection of the Roll With The Punches and The Line Is Drawn 7" so I left those unaccounted for.

Not surprisingly no one mentioned the first Carry On record: Stabbed In The Face (1998) which is a very bad record from a band still finding it's sound.

Tomorrow: Promises Kept

Lyrics | Champion lyrics - Promises Kept lyrics

Mouthpiece - Can't Kill What's Inside

Finally the Mouthpiece discography has seen the light, and it's final resting place is Revelation Records.

If you're into youth crew/straight edge hardcore Mouthpiece definitely is one of the bands you should check out. They kept the flame burning when big shots Youth Of Today and Bold threw in their towels. In fact they were one of the few bands playing this sound when everyone went metal.

Still I have mixed feelings about this release. One the one hand the booklet looks amazing, and the songs are awesome. But that's the negative aspect of it as well. If you're into the band you probably already have most if not all of these songs. The three previously unreleased bonus tracks don't add much to that catalog as they are livesongs. The sound quality isn't all that and the third song is an instrumental outro entitled 'Massive Outro'.

I would have like to see more information in the booklet as well. Maybe liner notes on the songs or short interviews with the members. I mean a full list of all Mouthpiece shows is nice and all but they never played in Europe. And I don't want to be remembered about that.

Broken Distance - Hourglass 7"

It goes without saying that you should never judge a book by it's cover. Most often publishers try to sell a very poorly written story with a beautiful cover. And things happen the other way around as well. So I do know the cover of a record doesn't always so much about the music. Still the 'Hourglass' 7" by Portugal's' Broken Distance is the exception to that rule.
The artwork consists of two main ingredients. Generic, and always great, live pictures of the crowd singingalong, guitarists jumping and fingerpointing action. The other ingredient is more 'Background'- era American Nightmare. Coffee stains, torn notes, handwriting. You know the deal.
So what does that say of Broken Distances' music? Well, the band consists of ex- Pointing Finger members and comes close to the missing link between Carry On's youth crew period and the darkness of the 'Life Less Plagued' full length. It's not one hundred percent posicore. But it's also not exactly the Boston sound made famous by American Nightmare and Panic.
Lyricwise the same can be said. Lyrics are more personal than on your average youth crew record, but they are not as vague and -look at me trying to be poetic, i listen to the Smiths- as can be found on similar records by bands trying to copy American Nightmare.
I loved American Nightmare when they were around, and I loathe most copycats around today. But Broken Distance manages to not fall in the latter category by maintaining a sound of their own, a sound quite original and a sound that should get kids back on track.

Because the bottom line is this band plays hardcore and most Trustkill/Deathwish bands obviously don't. With Go It Alone out of the picture Broken Distance might be the band carrying on that flame.
Myspace: Broken Distance
Label: Take The Risk Records

How I spent Edge Day

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Originally uploaded by xroldx

Edge Day, can it be more cheesy? Little did I know that I made an appointment with Frankie Deny of Cracks In The Wall fame to get tattooed on Edge Day.

Frankie has been my best friend ever since I joined Heartfelt, he was even my best man at my wedding. He's now learning to become a tattooartist and gave me a tattoo for my birthday.

What more appropiate than finally getting the Youth of Today fist. So I sat down for a couple of hours and endured the pain.
Knowing this is only the seventh tattoo Frankie has done, I really think he did a great job. I'm gonna get more by him for sure. So he can practice and I have some nice ink on my body.


Go here for pictures of the work in progress.

Go For Broke - Open Your Mind (7")

Outlast, Refused, Abhinanda. Just some names of great hardcore bands which come from Sweden. Well lets add Go For Broke to that list.
This 7" has been out for a while, and the band has recently released a new record, but is still worth mentioning. 'Open Your Mind' is all what you expect from a Youth Crew band: melodic hardcore with some mosh parts, positive lyrics and a tight layout with live pictures.
So what sets Go For Broke apart from the rest? Firstly bands with these sound are few and far between at the moment. If you're into this style of music you're happy with almost any release there is.
However that doesn't mean Go For Broke are a mediocre band. No way! Songs like Out of Reach and Left Behind are great.
What really sets this band apart is their singer Kalle. He doesn't try to gnarl and growl like Ray Cappo or sing like Civ. His voice reminds me the most of that of Pat Fastbreak. In fact this could be the record Fastbreak made between their Don't Stop Trying 7" on Third Party and their 'Whenever You're Ready' full length. Go For Broke uses the same combination of gritty hardcore and melodies.
Bottom line: check it out, you won't be disappointed.

Myspace:Go For Broke
Label:Take The Risk Records

Birds X Of A Feather: The Past The Present

One of the bands that inspires me the most at the moment is without a doubt Birds Of A Feather. Come on how can you not be inspired by a youth crew band consisting of members who are in their thirties and forties and are still as dedicated now as they were ages ago? It's not only their long lasting 'career' in hardcore that makes this band interesting, they actually have a thing or two to say about punk, religion and growing up as well. Doing this interview are Birds bassplayer JP, guitarist Marc and vocalist Bigma.

I always thought Birds Of A Feather started out as a one-off thing, when and why did that change and did you decide to become a real band?


JP: Let me clear up one thing. I've approached Bigma to start a 30+ edge band right before he headed into the studio with Jonas and Pepijn to record the Our Aim 7" that came out with the first issue of Voice Of A Generation fanzine. Bigma was into doing the band and so were Pepijn and Jonas. So even before the Our Aim 7” got released we were a real band and not just a project. Ever since we went through 2 line up changes. The first one was when Pepijn couldn’t combine the band any longer with his job. And the second line up change was when Jonas threw in the towel. Too bad, but it couldn’t stop Marc, Bigma and myself to continue the band.

For some reason I always thought the band was going to stick with Crucial Response Records. Why did you choose to release records on different labels and how did you come in contact with Refuse Records.

Marc: Well, we offered all our upcoming records to Peter of Crucial Response. First we had the idea of releasing the vinyl in the USA, Europe and Asia as a 14 song LP with 13 of the same songs everywhere and a changing song on each continent. Peter wasn’t interested in doing “license”-records elsewhere and since some other record labels had already approached us and showed interest in us it was no big deal to move on to new record labels.

We found four people who have their hearts in the right place and that really wanted to work with us. Short and simple. We feel honoured that Refuse, Commitment, Crucial Times and Seven Eight Life Records all put their efforts into us.

Releasing three different records in three continents turned out to be just too hard to realize, so when we were working on the LP we decided to release one and the same album worldwide. We realized that we had three or four songs too much for the album. During the recording session we decided to use the extra songs for a 7". That we ended up releasing a 7" on Commitment was actually a sort of coincidence because we asked Robert Voogt to do backing vocals on our recordings. Strangely enough we were sort of shy to ask Robert if he was interested, and it was the same the other way around. He was also a bit to shy to ask us directly. I think one way or another Bigma and Robert discovered that, so being on Commitment with its past and status, we felt like coming home. We really like how the Chapter 5 7" turned out, the music, lyrics and artwork, it all turned out great.

Robert Matusiak of Refuse asked us to come to play on his 2006 open air festival, and he is just a really nice guy. He knew about our past, was really interested in us and when we emailed him to ask if he wanted to work with us he was enthusiastic from the beginning and really supportive about our "ridiculous" idea with book. The CD is done and released, so we played a "release show" in Warsaw at the 15 years Refuse Records fest. That was pretty awesome, the atmosphere was great with bands like Regres, Tangled Lines and Seein Red, and since some people already knew our new stuff we had a great response. Besides that Robert had arranged everything perfect, we had a good ride from the airport, a great all-you-can-eat-vegan-breakfast at Tofu Attack, and a great sight seeing tour through Warsaw set up by our American friend Ken. So props to Robert!


'The Past The Present' is supposed to come with a book, can you tell me a bit more about that?

Marc: When we started to work on the album we felt that we shouldn't glorify the old days nor that we should rely on "previous results" from our mutual past. So instead of looking back we thought that we should use our experience to look ahead, to the future, and emphasize "development", personally, as a band and as part of the scene. It made us realize that we should put our energy in "being the scene", hence we also started to book some shows for other bands, etcetera etcetera. One thing lead to another, and seeing straight edge where it is today I firstly realized how the European straight edge scene differs from its American counterpart, secondly that it basically started 25 years ago and thirdly that I am becoming really old (41) and that the past is slowly slipping away from our common "shared memories".

Other people documented parts of our hardcore and punkrock history in books. But most books that are published nowadays focus either on hardcore in the USA or on punk in Great Britain and mostly deals about "the beginning" and how cool/hard it all was. Which is okay, but the limited timeframe ("the early years") as well as the limited geography of those books really annoyed me, as well as sometimes the manner of writing like for instance in "Please Kill Me", which is basically one quote after another and that really bugged me whilst reading that book. But I also see the strength of the "eye witness concept", so I decided that it was good to document the first 25 years of straight edge in its origin and development somewhere in between the style of writing of "Our Band Could Be Your Life" and "Please Kill Me", so a story with quotes.

Besides that, the Dutch influence on the European straight edge has been pretty big, so I focused on bands like Larm, Manliftingbanner and Mainstrike as the thread throughout the story. Besides those three bands we interviewed about 40 people through email or skype, and tried to make a balanced story. In which I didn't succeed (laughter), some people and bands refused to answer or to cooperate, so some countries and bands are underexposed. Nevertheless, we tried.


However I feel really sorry for not including some people like for instance Kokie from Belgium, or Lecky from the UK, of whom I couldn't get a hold of. Also I found that writing is really hard (42.000 words is something different then 800...) so I learned to be humble to anyone who delivered great books like Michael Azzerad and John Joseph, and I also discovered that my English is pretty crappy.

On a different note it is also interesting that some stories of for instance bands like X Acto and New Winds - whose stories were unknown to me - are very interesting whilst others (I will not name and shame here, because they didn't make into the book anyhow) don't have anything more to say then "we started a band, we made a record and then we split up".

What I found really interesting is the struggle of the early straight edge and the conscious decision it was to turn straight edge for a lot of people. I included a chapter "thoughts on straight edge" which contains personal ideas of a lot of the interviewed people, which turned out a "must-read" for anyone interested in straight edge. Anyway, it will be a book like those Dead Kennedys books that I love so much, 12" by 12" and inserted in one side of the gatefold sleeve (the other side will contain the record).

The Eastern percussion at the beginning of the full length might give listeners the idea they're dealing with a Krishna band, but is that the case?

JP: Yes! The bells and percussion are krsna related. Altough it doesn't have any personal meaning to me - at all - I'm really into the beginning of the record tough, and aside from that I know it's important for both Big and Paul. I see the 20 seconds of Eastern percussion as a perfect kick off for the 22 minutes of pissed off youth x crew tunes that follow...

Marc: As far as I know it is done with drums and bells that are used by krishna's. Personally I am not spiritual nor religious at all, I am actually quite the opposite. Bigma is an IRM-devotee, and both Paul and Jeff are krishna conscious. That is their choice, they really inspire me how they are dealing with that choice on a day to day basis. So we are not a krishna band, but it is obvious that with 3 out of the 5 members that some ideas/imagery from their krishna philosophy gets a place within the band. Bigma writes all the lyrics, and I find his lyrics very inspirational too, although I really believe that I will never transcend (as is sung in "Appreciate"). Anyway about the beginning as well as the ending of our record, if it pisses some people off, that is fine with me. Goal accomplished, we are punk, aren't we?

Is the song 'Behind These Walls' about BOAF not being allowed to play a show because some of its members are devotees? What do you think about that in a day and age where religion in hardcore seems to be more accepted than in the eighties and nineties. And do you understand that people still get 'itchy' when hardcore gets involved with religion?

Big: Actually this song is about the fact that most of the people in the hardcore/punk scene are a bunch of hypocrites. Who are you to tell me that I am brainwashed, who are you to tell me that I cannot think for myself? Tell me where your ideas are coming from. Is it really your own opinion or did it shaped overtime by your favourite bands and the people you hang out with?

If we are not alowed to follow any written word, then why put so much stress in having your band lyrics print in the cd booklet? Then why is it so important that bands speak out on stage. I won’t listen and I won’t read it because I have to think for myself. Luckily it is not this black and white, but isn’t it weird that you are only allowed to have an opinion that fits what is hot at the moment? People seem to forget that if you follow a certain path in life you do it because of some decisions you made in life. The decision for me from more than 20 years of punkrock and hardcore is a path of self-realization.

I don’t think that religion is more accepted today than it was in the eighties and nineties. I think it is more a matter of that people don’t care anymore. The tendency today is more like “oh if you are happy that way than it’s o.k. with me”. Of course I understand that people get “itchy” when I comes down to god consciousness that is because the Dead Kennedys told them to, just kidding (laughter).

I think it is because people really think you get brainwashed and have to surrender to some master who is about to exploit you. But that is ignorance by not knowing the facts and understanding the philosophy. I understand that people are against organised religion and dogmatic cults, I am against that too, but we've to realise that has nothing to do with the philosophy.

On the other hand I totally do not understand why people put so much stress on the word “organised”, do you stop going to shows because it is “organised”? And that is exactly what this song is about; people are so caught up in their opinion that they are unwilling to see the other side. I still struggle for injustice, for freedom, a world without racism, sexism or any other form of oppressive “ism”. But I came to another conclusion and see the solution in another form of revolution. Not a political one but a spiritual one.

Marc: That song was actually written before this incident happened. We were not banned because some of our members are devotees, but because on beforehand we had to promise not to distribute any flyers concerning Hare Krishna, since the promoter had nothing against religion, but against "organised religion". So I reckoned - since it really pissed me off - who the hell is he telling other people like Bigma - who is an active member and contributor to our scene for over 20 years - how to behave?

So we were not really banned, but on those conditions we refused to play. Like Bigma is going to brainwash some innocent teenagers and lure them into the cruel krishna movement. Come on, going to that show you get more brainwashed by all the commercial ads you will see on bus stops and posters then Bigma will ever accomplish.

Coming to the second part of your question, personally I still do get itchy about religion. But instead of banning it out of my sight I try to see what people moves to act the way they do, and see if I can use that knowledge in my own personal growth (oops there we go, you see, I am already brainwashed too). It is interesting though, since I don't know what I would do if we were asked to play a Krishna festival...

JP: I would play the Krishna fest, if for the food only :)

Big you once started Mainstrike because there weren't any full on youth crew bands around any more. Now ten years later the situation is much the same as then, how do you look back on the Mainstrike period and the downfall of straight edge in The Netherlands after Mainstrike and Reaching Forward broke up? Can you tell me where did we go wrong?

Big: Back then the hardcore scene was ready for that type of music and attitude because there was a lot of negativity and a lot of bad metal bands. I guess you cannot compare today with 14 years ago because the scene back then was a lot smaller and not so divided in all the sub-scenes we have today, but it was the beginning of the youth crew revival I think and probably we are a part of the problem because we created our own scene which was a breeding ground for a lot of ignorance. So where did we go wrong? I think it goes wrong when you adopt a certain lifestyle for the wrong reason. Back then it was a “cool thing” to be straight edge and almost not done to be different from that. So the problem is/was that people don’t give it a real thought why they are straight edge and if they have a clear mind. Besides, what are you gonna do with it? And that has nothing to do with any style of music or any dress code, it’s a matter of sincerity and determination.


Marc you have lived in the US for some years. What did you think about the dutch and european hardcore scene when you came back?

Marc: I lived in the USA basically three times, but the last time was in 2006 with my family, so that had a different impact, with my kids going to school there. First of all, at that time I lived in Minneapolis/St Paul, in the mid-west, which is something different then both of the coasts. I found a very tight knit scene in the Twin Cities, where people really stuck together. I mean in the Memory Lanes bowling alley they have punk rock bowling each Monday, with punks bowling and one or two bands performing. Bands work really hard, drive long distances to play for no money and "no service" (no sleeping places, no food, no drinks and so on). What I noticed in the Twin Cities that the scene was less separated in "subscenes" and that a lot of people just went to "shows". When I came back I thought that - compared to the USA - the scene over here was less "punk", less "DIY" and that there are a helluva lot of shows. Also I think that a lot of USA bands have more "personality" then a lot of the Dutch bands.

What do you mean with "personality"?

Marc: With that I mean that American bands seem to have more authenticity. I saw a hardcore punkrock country singer at a show, I saw bands dressed up as nurses, naked women on high heels in the pit, bands made up out of five totally different insane guys.

People in the hardcore scene justaren't as moulded in their subscene-standard-form. At the St Paul PunxFest there were 400 to 500 people, and obviously they were punk andhardcore people, but there was so much diversity, you know from commie-hating skinheads to crusties to just weird looking people. In the midwest the straight edge people don't look like "youth-crew straight edge" people. They look like punkrockers. People just express themselves in crazy ways, there is so much more individual expression without the idea "look at me I am oh so cool", and instead of being judged by others people get respected for that. And also I think, but maybe that is a Midwestern thing because of the long, cold and dreadful winters, people
also work harder to have a good time and some fun as well. Hence the punkrock bowling. As someone said to me "after all, hardcore starts with ha".

Most of you are old enough to have seen bands like Youth Of Today and Gorilla Biscuits in their prime. What do you think about their reunion shows?

JP: Seeing YOT play some reunion shows was a disaster. The GB reunion, on the other hand, was awesome! I even went to see them play in the US in 2006 just because I'm way too much into their music. I was happy enough to see their final two shows of that tour. The one at CBGB's that wasn't easy to get in to. Lucky enough a friend of mine was able to hook up a group of 4 euro's. I'll never forget that show as it was one of the final CBGB's shows ever.

Nowadays, too many bands from back in the days are reuniting should no longer be allowed to do so. I keep on telling myself over and over again not to go see any bands play reunion shows, but at the same time I've caught myself numerous times ending up going to these shows. I enjoyed the Underdog and Gorilla Biscuits shows best. And let me tell you this, if Inside Out are ever going to play another show, I'll go out to see them play, no matter where that show is going to be... Other than that, I hope the entire 'reunion shows saga' will be over soon.

Marc: Besides YOT and GB I have also seen Judge, Chain of Strength and Inside Out amongst others in the late 80's. Which is just a matter of age, nothing more, nothing less. Reunion shows suck. They should be forbidden. Just when I decided not to go to any reunion shows anymore Bigma was playing with Manliftingbanner. So I went to see them out of curiosity and again I was disappointed since it never ever lives up to the original performances.

To most people hardcore and straight edge is a passing phase. How do you keep yourself committed and have there been times when you were so fed up with hardcore you wanted to leave the scene and never come back? If so what made you come back eventually? Do you notice that people look up to you because you've been in the scene for a long time?

Marc: I can't do anything else, laughter. Music wise a lot of the things that I hear nowadays I have heard before, and I couldn't care less. But the energy of hardcore, the complete DIY mentality, the worldwide "brother/sisterhood" to me that is unique. And I really like to see bands such as Gewapend Beton, Tenement Kids and Bratpack. So musically my horizons are wider then ever before. Because I drifted away to 'alternative rock' and 'intellectual music', started a family and so on, I missed out on the '98 youth crew revival. That is sorta funny, I don't think I have ever seen Mainstrike play, maybe once in their early years, but I can't recall (although being straight edge since 1985 I can't recall a lot of things, like Bigma always points out to me: "remember when we went to see..." "eeh no?"). And if people look up to us, I have never noticed that, I think they rather pity us...

JP: To me hardcore and the edge are no passing phase. You pretty much gave the answer to this question yourself. I've never been fed up with hardcore and you know why? Because I don't care about what other people do, how other people dress and how other people interpret hardcore. I'm just doing this for myself and it's just awesome to have a bunch of great friends around me that I'm doing this band with. Should I get credits for being around so long? Nah, just have everybody do their own thing and not idolise certain bands and/or people. To answer your last question, the only thing I notice is that kids don't really pick up my band Birds Of A Feather, which is a pity because we're damn good! :)

Myspace: Birds X Of A Feather
Label: Refuse Records

Birds X Of A Feather - The Past The Present (cd)

Starting of with Eastern percussion you might expect a band influenced by Shelter. Than the music kicks in and you know it's that other Ray and Porcell band that gets these five guys (or should I say man?) from the Netherlands going.
Birds X Of A Feather take their influences from '88 bands like Youth Of Today, Chain Of Strength and Judge, as well as second wave bands like Ten Yard Fight and In My Eyes. 'The Subject Changed' for instance has some catchy hooks which wouldn't be misplaced on the Hands Tied 7" whereas the titlesong hints towards Mouthpiece and Ensign during the 'Direction of Things To Come' era.
Still you can't accuse the band of sounding like their US peers. The overall sound has much more in common with European bands like ManLiftingBanner, Mainstrike and Reaching Forward. The ManLiftingBanner and Mainstrike connection is very obvious here since singer Bigma was in both bands.
Besides Bigma Birds X Of A Feather consists of members who all been involved in hardcore for a long time. Most of them already attend shows when Youth Of Today and Gorilla Biscuits first toured Europe in '89. Therefore it's great to have a band like this around to show younger kids that hardcore and straight edge doesn't have to be a youth cultured thing. You can still be as committed and 'punk' aged 40 and over than you were in your teens.
The Dutch straight edge scene has reached an all time low nowadays with only a few bands keeping things strong, hearing an inspired and furious record like this hopefully brings the situation around again.

Myspace: Birds X Of A Feather
Label: Refuse Records