Defeater - Empty Days & Sleepless Nights - cd/lp

Though there are still new bands around that make me all excited about hardcore, none of them manages to release a record that make me want to listen to only that one record for a week in a row. However great a record may be there are still enough other records I want to hear in a week.

Defeater is probably the exception to that rule. I have to admit that the first time I heard 'Empty Days', I was a bit dissapointed. After the 'Lost Ground' ep I expected the band to come up with ten versions of 'The Red, White and Blues' I guess and they didn't.

'Dear Father' is a song that could have been on the 'Lost Ground' ep but tracks like 'Empty Glass' and 'White Oak Doors' show a band that has progressed from their 'Travels' debut and dare to go further. Some parts of those songs remind me a bit of Touche Amore's 'To The Beat Of A Dead Horse' while other songs give me the same feeling as I had when I first heard American Nightmare's debut 7".

With 'Empty Days' Defeater probably released one of the best records of 2011 and one of those few classics that come around each year. If that's not enough there's also 'Sleepless Nights' four great acoustic songs which are as good as any material by Chuck Ragan or other punkrock singersongwriter hot shots. 'I Don't Mind' is a song that finds a place in your mind and doesn't leave for days.

Defeater might not appeal to everyone who's into classic hardcore, but if you're open to a band that has the courage to step outside the borders I doubt you will find anything better then these Boston boys.

The Outsiders - zine

'Start a band, do a zine, put on shows if you know what I mean.' Those words were written by Ensign spin off band Weapon X years ago and still ring true today.

To me a good hardcore scene has great bands, great shows but also zines. With the rise of internet less and less people seem to be doing zines. I understand why it takes a lot of effort and some money if you want you magazine to come out great. Not everyone has that much time.

The Outsiders is a new zine from Belgium done by some guys from Accept The Change. Issue 1, which I got my hands on at the Defeater show, features in depth interviews with rising stars Touche Amore and Midnight Souls as well as some reviews and columns (of which one is written by me, so yes I'm a bit biased here).

Besides all that the editors also managed to interview True Colors vocalist Packo right before their last show ever. He looks back on his time in True Colors which makes for a great read.

I suggest everyone to get in touch with the editors and get yourself this zine, be inspired and do one of your own.

Defeater + Carpathian + Striking Justice, Eindhoven

Hardcore show number 2 for me this year and one that sold out in presale. Since I helped putting the kids in their pj's I wasn't on time in Eindhoven to see Striking Justice play.

However I was in time to inhale all the smoke that was in the bar. In my opinion it really sucks that lots of people are starting to smoke in venues and bars again. Please keep that shit outside.

Australia's Carpathian released a mediocre record called Isolation some time ago. There's nothing wrong with it, but there's nothing special about it as well. It's Modern Life Is War meets the lyrics of Ian Curtis with a Deathwish touch. Therefore unsurprisingly the band couldn't hold my attention on stage. Yet to see so many Dutch kids go wild was a good thing.



The only band that mattered today though was Defeater. Debut record Travels is an okay record but the Lost Ground ep really opened my eyes. When the acoustic track 'I don't mind' found it's way on the internet I was sold.

Suffice to say expectations were high for this show but Defeater made it real. Opening acoustic and the rushing into songs like 'The Red, White and Blues' and the new song 'Dear Father', causing mayhem on stage with singalongs and stagedives and an overall intense feeling made me enjoy this show a lot. I somehow got the same feeling as I had when watching Touche Amore in Belgium last year. Another newer band setting a new generation of kids in flames with an intelligent approach to hardcore.
(Though it still is kind of strange seeing teenagers singing that they're lying in the trenches of World War 1 etc.)



I picked up the new Defeater record, which surely isn't dissapointing as well.

This is the ending of the Defeater set as taped by Nico Welmer:


Pics by Anne Carolien Kohler. Go here for more pictures.

Touche Amore + Midnight Souls - November 18th - Tilburg

Another hardcoreshow that proved me there's still hope for hardcore in The Netherlands.

Rebuild, formerly known as Set It Off, opened up with their mix of Verse-like hardcore and more screaming parts. The band wasn't really tight but did their best.


Midnight Souls; I have seen them a lot of times this year and everytime their performance is good and different from the show before. Singer Donny spend most of his time off stage, stirring up the audience. The band played yet another energetic set. This in combination with the fact that all bandmembers seem to be nice guys, makes Midnight Souls one of my favourite new bands of 2010.


Germany's Lighthouse were up next. The very ugly merch of this band didn't set my expectations on a high level and after a song or two I was already bored. I don't really like bands who pretend to have a whole artistic thing going on. Just play good music or go home and make a painting.


Touche Amore is one of the most talked about bands around. I love their debutrecord and was curious to see how the band would do on stage. Tilburg isn't the place to play for hot and happening bands I thought, well I was wrong. There were a lot of kids at the show and they rushed the stage to singalong with songs like 'History Reshits Itself'. The band played a great set and singer Jeremy Bohm seemed to be really happy about being in Europe and playing great shows. The night ended with 'Honest Sleep' and on last assault on the stage, massive singalongs and all around chaos.



There is still hope for hardcore in The Netherlands.

All pics by Anne Kohler. See more here.

Touché Amoré - ...To The Beat Of A Dead Horse - cd/lp

After 7 different presses on vinyl and just in time for the European tour 6131 records is finally releasing Touché Amoré 2009's debut full length ...To The Beat Of A Dead Horse in a nice digipack.

If you're still looking for the next best thing in hardcore, don't look further. Ever since the release of their demo in 2008 this Los Angeles based band (which is on the road all the time) have been bopping more heads than any other new band in hardcore around right now.

Whereas some people were very quick to categorise the band as a second hand Modern Life Is War or American Nightmare, I beg to differ. There are many similarities between the three bands, yet there are as much if not more differences.

Ofcourse singing about 'going to Morrissey to answer my questions, because Ian Curtis has left me hanging', does place a band in a certain section of the hardcore scene.

And the raw emotion in the voice of Jeremy Bolm does bare some resemblance to the sound of Modern Life Is War singer Jeffrey Eaton. Yet you only have to listen to 'Always Running Never Looking Back', on which Eaton does some guestvocals, to hear these are frontmen with different styles.

Touché Amoré is less straightforward than either American Nightmare or Modern Life Is War. Yet they pull off their 'arty' sound without scaring me and other people into plain and simple hardcore away.

At first I wasn't that much into the sound of the whole record. And I remember even having a discussion with Rob Moran (bassplayer of a certain band) about it. In the end I have to admit he was right. The sound of ...To The Beat Of A Dead Horse is different from what is considered the right sound nowadays. But it's also refreshing, when you have warmed up too it, to hear something different than another Kurt Ballou, Jay Maas or Bill Stevenson production. It adds a flavour to the band.

If you are looking to invest in a hardcore band I would say Touché Amoré is the band to go with. They got the style, originality and personality to become the American Nightmare of this era. The only thing left to wonder is, will they be able to write another full length as good as this one?

Midnight Souls - Colder - 7"

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

Bane in Brooklyn

My wife went to visit New York a couple of weeks ago. On twitter I read Bane, Strike Anywhere and Touche Amore were playing the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn. Since that is a line-up I would love to see, I contacted her and she went. She got me some nice Bane-shirts and 7" and some stuff from Touche Amore.

Bane, they might just be one of the best bands around right now. I was really into their first stuff, but kind of lost my interest around 'Give Blood'. That's also why I didn't pick up 'The Note' untill years after it's release. Since then I'm totally into the band again.

The combination of simple, heartfelt lyrics with some of the best tunes out there plus having something to say on stage make Bane one of the few bands that will stand the test of time.

My friend Jammi York made some pics during the show in Brooklyn: