Scene Cleaner Fanzine Issue 1

NUMBER 1

H A R D C O R E FA N Z I N E

H T U O Y F O T I R I P S CHAIN REACTION

ENEMY OF THE SUN SURGE OF FURY KINSUM RECORDS COMA BOOKINGS AND MORE!

L I M B U R G TA K E O V E R

“ I N O U R M I N D S , A N D I N O U R H E A R T S , W E F E E L T H AT H A R D C O R E M U S I C S H O U L D S TAY O U T O F B I G B U S I N E S S A N D S TAY I N T H E S T R E E T S , W H E R E I T B E L O N G S ! A L L Y O U K I D S O U T T H E R E , A LW AY S K E E P T H E FA I T H ! ”

L.B.H.C. © KEVIENPICTURES

First issue INTRODUCTION Who is behind Scene Cleaner?

Scene Cleaner is brought to you by 3 like minded indviduals from NL/BE Limburg. Our team consists of members from Escape, Crooked Morality and xDevourx. The idea of this zine has been laying around for a while but we never had time to do it.

After a lot of hard work we proudly present to you the first issue. We have dedicated our lives to hardcore music and it is our biggest passion. This zine is meant for people who live and breathe hardcore, fight for what they believe, people who don’t follow trends but most important of all: regular people like me and you who have been at one point alienated from society. That’s why we got into hardcore music in the first place. This first edition is all about that. Our thing and repping our area. With a constant stream of great bands that came from this area in the past we are going to give the older generation some shine but also the newer generation who are working hard to keep this thing alive. With that being said, we present you with pride: Scene Cleaner, the first edition.

IN THIS ISSUE We focus mainly on our own area, Limburg.

BE & NL together as one. This issue will have interviews with the following bands/organisations: • Spirit of Youth • Enemy Of The Sun • Chain Reaction • Surge of Fury • Coma-Bookings And many more things about (local) hardcore, shows, old school and new school stuff, graffiti etc.

Brought to you by Jens, Jeroen and Alex.

Shout out to people who have helped making this possible you know who you are.

© KEVIENPICTURES

This is Limburg, not H8000. With this statement, we try to lay our focus on the Limburg area nowadays and some of the people in it. A lot of people, especially in the US, assume that most Belgian hard- and metalcore bands are part of the H8000 movement. Kinda like thinking that all NYHC sounding bands come from New York. Since the mid 90’s however, Limburg has an unbreakable connection with the infamous H8000 Hardcore scene. So we decided to have a conversation with one of their coolcats (he doesn’t even have to try): Vincent ‘Murph’ Merveillie aka the groovemaster.

Murph! Thanks for having this chat with us. For those who don’t know you, please tell us a bit about yourself: who you are as a person, what your musical activities are now, and were in the past…: I currently play drums for Chain Reaction.

I’ve been active in the punk/HC scene since the mid nineties.

First band I ever sang for was Resist the Pain. After that I was asked by Dominiek to be the singer for Solid, but after playing only one gig he and his brother Frederik reformed Spirit of Youth, which fitted my voice much better because the music was more melodic. When SOY broke up, I switched from vocals to drums and Kingpin became my first band as a drummer. During that period I was asked by Bjorn and Vince to start a new Clevo styled band, so Rise And Fall was born.

My job at that time didn’t allow me to keep up with with the crazy tour schedules, so after a couple of years I decided to leave the band. I layed low for a couple of years, kept myself busy with renovating the house I bought, but after some time I felt the need to start something new and fresh and so Josh (Congress) and I started Mans Ruin, influenced by Danzig, Prong and Only Living Witness we decided to take on a new style of music after playing both in HC bands for over 10 years. After Mans Ruin I played in a band called Minor Thieves, a more soft melodic band with female vocals. After that we started Chain Reaction, were I reunited with Bjorn (Rise And Fall) toghether with my homeboys Sim and Vez who i played in previous bands with.

How much is the family life influencing your part in playing music? Are they into the music you make?

M: Being a dad makes it sometimes hard to find that extra time to play in a band. But since everybody in Chain Reaction has kids, it’s easier for everybody to relate. So family affairs always come first. This does mean that we as a band don’t play that often. For example instead of doing a tour we focus more on doing some weekends, it’s just a matter of finding the right balance.

My wife has always supported me in my musical career.

My kids don’t really like the kind of music I play, but still they are very proud to tell their friends that their dad plays drums in a band.

Your most recent band, Chain Reaction, gained quite some attention in a short period of time. Since you guys released the demo in 2016, how much has changed for the band?

Keep in mind that Chain Reaction never started out as a hyped band. All of us played in popular bands before, but we were never afraid to start from scratch all over again. It does mean you have to grind and fill those opening spots again on bills, but we’re fine with that. I never understood the fact that people did band reunions just to get the easy fame. I’d rather put my energy in something new and fresh. Since the release of our demo we did some bigger and some smaller shows, did a couple of weekends. We released the Hangman 7”, did a split with our boys in Spark and now are currently preparing the release of our new 12” entitled Figurehead, so we’ve always been busy and yeah, we’re pretty happy on the way things have turned out for us. We are not trying to hitchhike on previous fame, this is something completely new.

All of your music so far is released through Control Records (located in Hasselt, Limburg). Did you ever consider another label to release your future records?

M: Since myself and Bjorn have known Geert (Control Records) for a very long time, it just felt right to work together with him on all releases. We also worked with Dave (Six Feet Under) for the Hangman 7” for a US release and for the new 12 “ we are working toghether with Brian Simmons (Atomic Action Records) who’s doing a US version. We always try to work with people who we know and respect, it makes it so much easier at times.

When and why did you wanted to be the drummer in a band, since you fronted Spirit Of Youth for a few years?

As a kid I was always intrigued by drums. Listening to music at a young age I always needed something to hit or to tap so I could follow the beat of a song. My drumparts are always very groove inspired. I have a soft spot for funk/soul and jazz and next to hardcore, I’m a real hip hop lover, so I always need some sort of groove in the music I play. So after doing vocals in both Resist the Pain and SOY I felt more at ease behind a drumkit instead of being a frontman. I love being the one who controls the beat and the tempo of a song, so yeah it felt natural for me to switch.

You witnessed the heydays of the H8000 Hardcore.

Some favorite bands from that area? Tell us about some of your favorite shows (both as a bandmember and attender).

The heydays for the H8000 scene were from ‘95 till ‘99 for me personally. After that people were trying to hold on to an era that didn’t exist anymore. A lot of bands desperately tried to hold on to the H8000 stamp, but the golden era was allready over. Favorite H8000 bands during that era for me were Congress, Liar, Blindfold, Voices at the Front, Vitality. One of the craziest shows during that time I have seen was probably the Congress ‘Blackened Persistance’ releaseshow in Izegem. Nations On Fire also played, but when Congress started the set... all hell broke lose.... crazy times for sure. One of the best shows I played with SOY was probably in Bissegem with Morning Again if I’m correct. I think we just released the Colors That Bleed album. People seemed to dig the style and sound we were aiming for, so that was pretty cool.

You once told me that you are a person that likes to sing along during a show (or at least used to), rather than mosh. How was it for you when the H8000 Crew (rules your) pits started to get more violent?

Let’s go back in time. When did this whole hardcore shebang start for you? And which band(s) made such an everlasting impression on you that it changed your life?

I got to know about hardcore early nineties when I was hanging at my friend’s house who had the Raw Deal demo and the classic New York Hardcore comp “The way it is“ on tape. We listened to that among all other styles of music, but at that time never looked deeper into that style of music. It wasn’t until I went to my first show in ‘95 at the Vortn Vis where Congress, Strain and Rancor played that I was heavily impressed by the raw sound and the massive energy that filled the room. I have never felt that energy before so I was hooked. After that first time I started going to shows more frequently. I saw a lot of shows in the H8000 area, but also alot of European bands (Spawn, Refused, Feeding the Fire, Abhinanda...) and also a lot of touring bands (Lifetime, Despair ...).

Congress was probably one of the local bands that changed me the most, cause I really connected to them both music and lyrics wise. Their live sets in those days were so powerfull and full of energy, witnessing that it felt like a total rush. After that I dug deeper into the history of punk and hardcore and became more familiar with the bands that started it all (Cro Mags, Bad Brains, Gorilla Biscuits, Judge...).

When I first went to shows it was awesome being in the “pit“. It was just friends having a good time supporting friend playing in bands. Stagedives, singalongs... Nobody had a specific style of moshing, so it all looked very goofy and hilarious, but hey we had a great time. After the whole windmilling came to the scene, I really hated that. There was a big gap with like 4 idiots trying to kill eachother and those around them, nah that was nothing for me. I missed the connection with the crowd when that whole movement started.

How was/is your relationship with the Limburg people?

I always had a strong connection with the Limburg Scene. People like Geert Hollanders, Stijn Vliegen, Rudi Dexters, the guys in Kindred and Ashlar were awesome to hang out with. I remember staying weekends at Walter Beckers’ house or Frank Ashlar’s crib, going to shows and local parties afterwards... I really miss those days.

With Spirit Of Youth we played our best shows in the Limburg area. The Hasselt show with Kindred and Degradation was for me one of the craziest we ever played.

Still today I have a lot of friends in Limburg. Shoutout to them, you know who you are...

How big is your influence in the bands you play(ed) in, both as a vocalist and as a drummer?

When playing in SOY I was only responsible for the lyrics. The other guys in the band knew how to write a decent song, so I was in a more comfortable position. In Kingpin myself and Pedro wrote most of the music and in Rise And Fall it was Vince who came up with most of the ideas. He already had a drumpattern in his head, so it was also easy to fit in. Nowadays in Chain Reaction I come up with the most ideas for a song. Keep in mind that I can’t play bass or guitars, so when Sim brings on a riff, I start imitating or humming another riff, something that fits the song and we work around it. After that Bjorn puts vocals on it and he also knows if the song needs further arangement. The 4 of us have been in bands before so we know how it works.

As a big Spirit Of Youth fan I told you before that I can really indentify with some of the lyrics you wrote. Especially those on the Colors That Bleed album. How did you came up with ideas to write those lyrics?

For me personally the lyrics on the CTB album were the best I ever wrote. It was not always easy since we were always writing new songs, but after a while I got the hang of it and really felt at place drawing inspiration from different themes but I mostly wrote about the downside of life such as depression, loneliness, fear, addictions...

What’s your opinion on the hardcore scene (in Belgium, Europe, worldwide…) these days? Any bands we should check out?

Hardcore and music in general comes in waves. We’ve had the H8000 era, after that de Zotte Sfeer era (Justice, Dead Stop, Rise And Fall ) and nowadays there are some great bands out there, but the scene has gotten a lot smaller.

Shoutout to people who still go to shows, organise shows, play in bands, do zines...

European Bands who I currently enjoy are Spirit Crusher, Spark, Weight, Mindwar, Worst Doubt, Higher Power, Big Cheese...

“THERE ARE SOME GREAT BANDS OUT THERE, BUT THE SCENE HAS GOTTEN A LOT SMALLER. SHOUTOUT TO PEOPLE WHO STILL GO TO SHOWS, ORGANISE SHOWS, PLAY IN BANDS, DO ZINES...”

Future plans for you personally and for Chain Reaction?

I hope when this (Covid-19) is over, we will be able to pick up our lives and get toghether again with friends and family. Chain Reaction will play some shows to support the Figurehead EP release, so yeah... looking forward to that.

Come out and mosh!

Alright man, we’re getting to the end of this nice babble. Some quickies: Hip hop or hardcore: hmmmm… hardcore Salt or sweet: sweet Football or basketball: football Kindred or Enemy Of The Sun: Kindred Congress or Liar: Congress Favorite SOY song: Darkroom Favorite Chain Reaction song: Scapegoat Favorite drummer(s) (metal-punk-hardcore): my top 3 >> Mackie (Cro-mags/Icemen), Sammy ( YOT/Judge/Rival Schools), Alan Cage (Burn/Quicksand) Cassette or vinyl: vinyl Touring with Cro-Mags or have a smoke with Wu-Tang: Chillin with Mackie while watchin’ Wu-Tang...

That’s all folks! Share your last thoughts with us, Murph!

Shoutout to you guys for doing this fanzine, stay safe everybody and keep an eye out for the Figurhead EP!

Thanks for the words man. We’re looking forward the Figurehead release! Kick it!

‘The five-piece-working collective finished the construction of our boundaries.’ One of the pieces from that collective is Dirk Neven. As a musician he is still active today as he was back in the nineties. Let’s have a talk with one of the friendliest dudes around.

Hey Dirk! How’s it hanging man? Tell us a bit about yourself: what does define you as a person, what are your musical interests…?

My Name is Dirk Neven. I will be 42 years in a few months.

I grew up and still live in a nice little town called Riemst.

Married to a very nice woman called Anja, father of 2: Michiel and Alexander. What defines me as a person? Overall I am a pretty calm guy with just way too much to do: I try to be a good dad and husband, I do my work to the best of my abillities (I work with children with behavioral and emotional problems), I love playing music with my band From Cocktail To Fire, go to concerts, cycle with my friends, watch movies and TV shows, I try to keep up with politics and everything that’s happening in the world,… and I still try to find out everything there is to know about the metal/hardcore/punk/rock stuff nowadays. What strikes me the most is that I don’t get blown away that often anymore whenever I hear a new hardcore record. Back in the nineties, whenever I heard a new album from one of my favorite bands I could be flabbergasted and listen to it for weeks in a row. I miss that feeling.

Now, when I check out a new band, I very often have the feeling that I’m listening to a copy of a copy. So I try to expand my musical horizon by listening to old(er) things that I never checked out or dabble in genres that I never explored all that much (doom, classic punk, ..). When I was a teenager it was metallic hardcore and some metal that were like ‘my thing’.

Now I listen to everything. My oldest kid listens to Drake and other r&b stuff, my youngest is more into pop/dancemusic.

So I hear a lot of popular music at my place. Some things I like, some things I don’t, but I like the fact that they try to find their own thing in this massive amount of music that is available nowadays. I try to learn them things. They still don’t like Slayer, they don’t like Liar’s Falls of Torment, they think my band From Cocktail to Fire is a lot of noise and screaming but they can appreciate Iron Maiden and Bad Religion. It’s a start.

‘The five-piece-working-collective’ refers to a lyric in the song ‘The Locust Swarm’ of your old band Enemy Of The Sun. Tell us how you joined the (back then) legendary ex-Kindred line-up, and how that experience was for you as a guitarist.

Well, when I was a teenager I saw Strength of the will (pre Kindred) perform live in my hometown.

I never saw such raw power and a moshpit before and it made a huge impression on me. I became friends with Maarten and Jan Beckers. When they started out with Kindred I followed them closely and became friends with the rest of the band. I helped them at their shows with selling merch and stuff like that.

When Kindred ended, Jan joined Facedown and they started Enemy Of The Sun. Jan was recording ‘Beyond All Horizons’ with Facedown and Maarten and I went to the studio to see what was going on.

While we were eating Jan was telling the Facedown guys about Enemy Of The Sun and their future plans.

He said that he wanted a second guitarplayer in the band. Suddenly out of the blue he asked me if I was interested in joining Enemy Of The Sun. At that time I had my own band ‘Strike’ but this was an opportunity that I had to take. It was a huge step for me because I had zero experience with playing for bigger crowds, recording an album and all the stuff that came with being in a band with high expectations. I wasn’t a very good guitarplayer back then, certainly not compared to Jan B so I had to practice a lot to get the songs on point. It was a period in my life that was very hectic with school, doing internships for school, relationship… From the start the plan was that Enemy Of The Sun had to be completely different from Kindred. Soundwise but also everything around it. We recorded 1 album and 1 ep in 1.5 year and played a lot of cool shows. I have very good memories about that time and met a lot of new people.

If you compare the average hardcore show today to one back in ’97-’99, what are the biggest differences for you? And what do we still have in common with our previous generation of hardcore?

Well I can’t say I follow today’s hardcorescene that close so it is difficult to compare. I only know ‘the old guy’s’ that still hang around at concerts. The power of the hardcorescene back in the nineties was that it was an ‘underground’ thing. Most people didn’t have a clue what we were doing. Because of the internet a lot of that mystic has faded away. Back then we went to each other’s houses to listen to records, we made tapes and sent them to each other. I just think you can’t compare it. If an American band played in Maasmechelen we were psyched as fuck. But today’s scene is probably as valuable to youngsters as it was for us back in the day. So I can only encourage young people to stick together. Make noise, don’t bother about mainstream thoughts or what influencers say.

Try to find something you like and search people that have the same passion.

You told me that you saw Kickback back in the days. Their shows must have been pretty agressive. Describe some of the shenanigans that were going on back then in the scene (not only Kickback related).

The first shows I went to were in Dilsen or Maasmechelen.

The raw energy, the violent atmosphere, the crewmentality was like nothing I had ever seen before. I remember I went to see Ringworm and Integrity and a guy got beat up pretty badly. Almost every show there were fights and stuff like that. I was totally not into that but I couldn’t care less. When you did your thing and you didn’t challenge or provoke the wrong guys you didn’t have to worry at all. About Kickback, I have seen them a few times but the first time was when they were on tour with Merauder (Masterkiller – Cornered tour).

Damn, what a show. All those guy’s looked like they came out of the biggest shithole on the planet. That show will always be in my top 5 list of favorite shows. SOB (rip) from Merauder was totally insane. He jumped feet first into the crowd and broke someone’s nose, he was hitting guys with his belt‌ Totally insane but we loved it. If you didn’t like that stuff you better stayed at home.

2020 marks 17(!) years of playing with From Cocktail To Fire. That is WAY longer than the average band. Tell us all about it.

FCTF is not only a band, it is a concept that brings friends together. We play music and love to create songs but the friendship, the hangout is just as important. Most of us are married, have kids, jobs and thursday evening is a moment to get away from our daily lives. We have some laughs, a few drinks. Very often somebody drops by just to hang out and drink a beer. We also have zero pressure. We do what we want. We don’t have the need to play a lot of shows. Mostly we play local shows. For us it is an opportunity to hang out with all of our friends and have fun. Over the years we did play some cool shows do. We played with D.R.I., Agent Orange, Mucky Pup, MOD, and countless Belgian bands.

Good memories. We had a few lineup changes but the core of the band has always been the same.

It cannot be denied that your riffage (together with Jan Beckers) in EOTS is still present in your sound with From Cocktail. You guys released some great albums! How come you don’t play live more often?

I already answered this in the previous question but I do want to get into the riffing part. Jan Beckers learned me to play guitar in a different way. Playing with Enemy Of The Sun had a serious impact on the way I play guitar. My creative input in the Enemy Of The Sun sound was very minimal. I was happy if I could just play my parts without screwing them up and remember the strange song structures.

If you could go back in time, which advise would you give your 18-year old self?

I think I would advise myself to stop worrying about what others think, live life to the fullest, live life the way I wanted to. Back then I would always wonder what people around me were thinking about the stuff that was going on. And I would advise myself to take school a bit more seriously. Damn I lost some years before I took it seriously.

Couches are not meant to live in. What do you think?

Indeed. On a rainy day I can enjoy my couch a lot. I don’t have a typical nine to five job. During weekdays I am almost every evening at work or I’m rehearsing. So if I am at home and have some time to watch television with the wife and kids I enjoy that very much. But every day the same “work – eat – watching television� routine? Oh man, that’s not me.

If you could do another band, what would it sound like? n 1998 I was in a band named Killer. With Maarten B (EOTS, Kindred) on drums, Ciel (guitar FCTF) on bass, Kris (These Mountains Are Ghosts) and Jan (Strike) doing vocals. We tried to sound like Slayer đ&#x;˜Š It was a very fun thing to do. We played a few shows. A month ago I was watching this old Killer show and I texted Maarten that we should play together again someday. Well, it probably won’t be Killer but I would like to play that style again. More crossover style, like D.R.I. or Power Trip.

We’ll see. If you want to hear how Killer sounded: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QD09MfjuiGw Alright, here are some quickies: Cristal or Jupiler: JUPILER Penspony or bietenkop: PENSPONY Crowbar or Down: DOWN Congress or Liar: LIAR Favorite EOTS song: Then He Grabs Convulsingly At The Last Spark Of Light While Performing A Salto Mortale Favorite FCTF song: The new ones or Strung Out Grey or black: BLACK Favorite movie: pfff, Batman, The Dark Knight Suske or Wiske: Jerom Dream line-up (four bands): Down, Pantera, Overcast and Onyx. 4 bands that I have never seen live.

Dirk, thanks a lot man. Keep on shredding till the world is on fire, rattenmoelen for life!

Thank you for the questions and keep up the good work with the zine. Cheers - D.N.

Realest Reviews C’est arrivé près de chez vous First of all, this film is a mockumentairy. Shot in black and white. It’s made with the intention to ridicule and criticize the media. A group of journalists and cineasts are documenting the life of Ben, a sociopath and a serial killer. Full of passion Ben ellaborates his actions to the film crew. Stuff like : how to properly pack a body before throwing it in a river? Why he doesn’t like to kill kids.

Why he attacks a mailman every month?

Ben is proud of his work and likes to show off to the camera crew. Quickly there is some kind of bond growing between the crew and their subject. As Ben grows fond of the guys and can appreciate the friendship he gets from them, the crew starts to participate in Bens’ crimes.

The murders Ben commits are as cold blooded as one can be. Not a single sign of remorse can be found.

Even when he is suffocating a child he’s explaining very professionally why he does not like to do that. Just for the reason there is nothing to gain from killing a child.

There is no reward.

This film will make you question your perspectives on media and society and yourself. Praised by many like the Quentin Tarantino this film can safely be called a modern classic in the world of cinema today.

- Jens -

Mindforce - Swinging Swords

Choppin’ Lords First things first, to be honest I never really was that in to Mindforce. I thought it was a cool band with cool songs but nothing really special. The day this record was released I got an e-mail from Triple B records with the news this was out. When I saw the cover I was already intrigued to check it out. The art is very cool, and as a designer I like good album covers. This looked very old school but yet refreshing. I put on the first song and was immediately blown away by the huge guitar sound and the riffs. I would recognize this record by only hearing the guitars, which in this day and age is a very good thing.

The whole release reminds me of Leeway on steroids.

Very good riffs, song structures and strong vocals.

There are no bad songs on this release. It seems like everything is right from the artwork to the songs and how the record sounds. Favourite songs: Swinging Swords Choppin’ Lords, Fratello.

- Jeroen -

ZOUS Zous ‘Pandemicon’: Taylor Young (Nails, Tvvitching Tongves, The Pit Recording Studio) one-mans strictly deathmetal project. This is the hardest slab of filth I’ve heard in years. Muddy yet clear, these deafening, evil sounding riffs slog on together with pummeling bass, vocals out of the foulest depth of hell, and tight kickass drumming. The haunting artwork gives me nightmares.

Ffo: the good stuff, Disgrace, Autopsy.

- Alex -

Diapsiquir - A.N.T.I. This may be an older record but until a few months ago I never heard of this band nor this record. Diapsiquir is a band from France with ex-members of Kickback.

It for sure deserves to be on this list and you need to check it out. Diapsiquir initially started out as a black metal band with releases as early as 1999.

But what genre is Diapsiquir exactly? This album to me represents the ugliest, filthiest, most agressive, sad and disgusting part that we all as human beings carry around inside. It’s like this record is trying to get it out of you. Words fail to describe how amazing this is. I put this on at night with my headphones on and listened to it from front to back getting carried away. The atmosphere it creates is unreal. When listening to it for the first time something clicked inside. One second it’s hectic with distorted guitars and screams, the other second you’ll hear synthesizers, hip-hop samples, a waltz or trumpets but alltogether it is a disturbed yet beautiful symphony full of hate. There are translations of the lyrics online and they are definitely worth checking out.

The lyrical content easily rivals any poetry out there.

This is an emotional rollercoaster, this is what art sounds like. This is hate and despair and it’s beautiful.

Favourite songs: Peste, A.N.T.I., Ennui, Fais-Le, Seul.

-Jeroen -

Filmmaker Filmmaker ‘discography’: Faunes Efe out of the notorious Colombia already released 16 instrumental, dark, synthdriven drumbeats albums in a good two years.

Can you imagine? This is out of this world man.

Each album is a different exploration on his sound. So whatever you pick first to check out, it’s always gonna be mindblowing. Cool fitting artwork for every release accompanies the music very well.

Ffo: an occult-oriented soundtrack, sounds from a vault of abduction, cold-blooded sci-fi oriented EBM… Our picks: The Love Market, Bunker Island - Alex -

We could have not left them out of this zine when this edition is about our area.

Repping LGHC since 1997 Surge of Fury are OG underdogs from Toxcity (Liège).

Hi Snorky! How are you doing in these weird times?

Hi Jens! I’m actually doing pretty okay! Trying to keep myself safe with all that shit out there. Respecting the lockdown and all that stuff although I’m still working for the moment… but actually having more time to listen to music and getting a bit creative, which is kind of good in situations like we’re all in nowadays.

Can you give us a short introduction about yourself and Surge Of Fury?

My name is Thomas, but I think everyone knows me as Snorky, which is my nickname for a very long time. I’m born in 1990, I live around Liège since ever. I play bass in a hardcore band called Surge Of Fury. The band started in Liège / Belgium in February 1997. Through the years, the line up changed few times and I’m the last one who has joined, in September 2009. Since then, the line up hasn’t changed anymore, which is Seba on guitar, Sam on drum, Tito on vocal and myself on bass. We have a couple of releases: 4 albums, 2 splits and few more EP, demos and stuff. We mostly like to play shows and keep it simple.

We’re not big on tricks or gimmicks. Basically what you see is what you get!

What drove you into HC and how did you end up playing with Surge Of Fury?

Well, it started a long time ago when a member of my family got me an electric guitar as a birthday present. I was 10 years old or something. It spoke to me straight away and I started playing on my own and I was listening to rock and metal music. Until someone gave me a CD with various artists on it, which I didn’t really like but 2 songs caught my attention and it was Kickback and CDC, I just loved it! Since that moment, I kept looking and searching to discover more bands like that and I ended up in the hardcore scene.

That was around 2004. I started going to shows early 2005 with a few friends and got to meet the guys from the hardcore scene in Liège. Everything was kind of new to me, but it was like I could never get enough of it. A lot of shows were happening in those times and they carried me around to go see shows away from Liège or Belgium as I was the young one without a car and money. I played in a lot of small bands as guitar and bass player back in the days with different people but it never ended up going anywhere, until Tito asked me one day if I could replace the bass player in SOF who was not able to make it for one show. He knew I was already playing music for a long time and he called me like: « we have a show on Saturday and Dave can’t make it, do you think you can? » I accepted, and got only 2 rehearsal with the band and we played the show on that Saturday! It was in September 2009. It happened few more times after that, until Dave decided to leave the band a bit later. That’s when I joined them.

What are some of your fondest memories with Surge Of Fury?

I’ve been playing with the band for almost 11 years now, and there’s so many memories! I think my first show with the band was really something special to me. I was already going to shows for a while, even to go see SOF but the fact to be a part of it was something new and it felt really different to be on the « other side » for the first time! Especially because the line up was insane, I’m talking about Kickback, Arkangel, Rise and Fall,… So many people would kill for a line up like that nowadays! I was really stressed about performing in front of that many people and beside so many good bands! it went all fine I guess but yeah, very good memory for me! If I have to choose an other memory to share, it’s probably our USA tour with CDC during the summer of 2015. First of all, CDC has been one of my favorite bands for years and it was just unreal for me to go all the way there for my first real tour and sharing it with them! Although we knew each others for a while when this happened. Everything was new to us over there! New country, new cities, new venues, new people… and it felt a bit like the American dream! I really tried to enjoy every second that we spent together during those 11 days. We don’t have the chance to tour a lot like some bands do because we all have jobs, family life and stuff,… so that make it less easy to go away from everything for longer than a weekend or so. We have so many things to tell about that US tour and I can talk about it for hours! But touring is not always as easy as people think! You’re finding yourself packed in the van with 7 other dudes for 10 days, you eat shitty food all the time, you sleep on the ground at someone’s place that you met 4 hours ago,… but for the ones who know, it’s part of the game, and at the end, we all love those moment and keep looking forward to the next ones! That’s what makes it such great memories all the time.

If I can share a last one, it will be the time that we played with Biohazard in the Netherlands. Not that our show was crazy, because our guitar player couldn’t make it, so we asked help to one of our good friends Ben to take place on the guitar for that show. He’s the one who recorded our last two albums and more, and we have a really good bond with him, and he was happy to help us and play! It was the first time for me sharing the stage with such « big » band as they are.

I mean those guys are in the game, for longer that I’m alive!

I think their first demo tape went out in 1988 and I’m born in 1990! I didn’t really know what kind of attitude I could expect from people playing in a well known International band, famous since more than 20 years and used to hit big venues and main stages in festivals. And they really surprised me as they were really friendly, so far from the rockstar attitude that some bands give to themselves as everyone is clearly there for them,… I remember Billy, the singer, even came to watch our show, applauded and stuff,…He even helped our drummer who had some trouble with his drum kit while playing! It felt good to see that even guys like them, could still enjoy the music, and the live experience and not hide in the backstage like I thought it would have been!

Which bands influenced you personally? And why?

There’s a lot of bands that I really like, in different kind of music styles or even different hardcore styles. Everyone has their own message or feeling to give and share in this scene. Some are doing it for the money or the fame, some are more about the fun and the music itself, I’m not here to judge on that. I can enjoy bands who are really pro in what they’re doing or not,…with a very violent and dark thoughts behind or on the other hand, bands with positive attitude. But if I have to speak about the influences I would rather say something about bands who have a great energy around while playing live. For me the crowd can play a big part of how good or bad the show is. You might not be the best band on the planet, but when you share a good connection with the crowd, that’s what makes the best hardcore shows for me. If you take Cold World as an example, everyone knows they’re far from the tightest band, but almost all their shows are crazy though!

Because of what’s happening, all the stage dives, people moving, singing along,… That’s what I want when I’m on stage!

Unfortunately it doesn’t always happen, but I always try to do my best to give that energy to the people that come to see us play. So I’m just gonna name few bands that I’ve seen with my own eyes, playing incredible shows and who fit with what I talked about earlier. Cold World , Turnstile, Suburban Scum, Down To Nothing, Kickback, Rotting Out, Nasty, Incendiary, Have Heart, Grove Street Families, Knuckledust, Blacklisted, The Mongoloids, King Nine, Es La Guerilla, Xibalba, Desolated,… and many more, but you get the point right?! ;-) It’s pretty subjective but great shows to my eyes are what influence me the most I think.

Can you give us a personal story that explains why Liège is called Toxcity?

You just have to walk around in Liège to realize that there’s quite lot of homeless people, and a lot of them are hard drugs addicts. There can be drug addicts everywhere of course, but you can see them in Liège way much more than in some other cities in Belgium. It’s not me telling it, it’s just a fact. You can spot some needles, aluminum, and shit like that so easily aswell, even in the city center,… Through the years Liège got that reputation of Toxcity because of all that shit, dirt and what we call « les tox » (it’s like crackheads in French) who are hanging outside all year long. There’s not really crazy personal experience I can share with you, but everyone living around here could tell you that he or she already experienced it in a way or an other,to be in contact with those people. I’m not particularly proud of it, but Liège has so many good sides to offer that we just live with it I guess. Some people might be chocked about it, for us it became normal, it’s bad to say but yeah, that’s Toxcity!

What interests do you have besides hardcore and which other kinds of music do you listen to?

I can basically listen to a lot of different kinds of music, rock, metal, punk,hip-hop, blues, jazz, pop,… I have of course the most interests for everything which is hardcore related. I like when the music is played with real instruments. I feel kind of bad about people getting worldwide famous making music with a computer and getting millions of euros for it! All those electro or those auto-tuned voices from hip-hop nowadays… I feel like it’s really unfair to all the bands or artists out there who break their back to give us some quality tunes to enjoy!

But it has to be different for everyone I guess…

I have a lot of hobbies that are unrelated to Hardcore actually! I like pretty much everything about motorsport and racing since I was a kid. I like photography and art.

Not that long ago I became a really big fan of ice hockey, it’s an amazing sport!

Alright that was it. Thanks for the interview Snorky!

© LAD & MISFIT

One of the people who has been dedicated to the scene for years and years since the beginning, since the days of De Boerderij in Geleen. He is putting up amazing shows together with his crew in Café de Meister in Lindenheuvel Geleen on the regular. Marco Mattheij from Coma-Bookings.

Marco how are you doing? Can you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about what you do?

Hey, I am fine. I am Marco Mattheij,married with Dagmar,and live with our dog Memphis. I am 46 years old working as a train mechanic. In the spare time left I try to keep the scene alive here in our region together with Laurent from Cafe de Meister and a lot of people helping.

It’s no secret that you always are (and have been) very busy with organizing shows and with hardcore in general. But what got you into hardcore?

I was a thrash/death metal dude around late 80ties and early 90ties. Always like a lot of kids watching “Headbangersball” on MTV. Triple thrash treat and so on. I was was watching it in 1993,and there as an “Dynamo Open Air”special showing an interview and live performance from Biohazard. “Black and white and red all over” titled. That blew me away. Normally I listened and saw the dark things with death metal but that Biohazard had so much energy and a message. I was 19 at the moment,and that really catched me by surprise. I immediately bought the album “Urban Discipline” ,and bought more like Sick of it all, Agnostic front, Madball, Cro-mags and so on. Next year in 94’ we were there at dynamo open air. And from that my love for hardcore developed more and more till now.

So you have been involved for quite some time now.

What are some memorable shows that you still remember from the old days or from now?

I’ve been to so many shows. But the 1st show from Madball on DOA in 1995, a show from Blood for Blood and The Bruisers together in As Belgium. And ofcourse never forget Warzone who i had the chance to see live on stage 2 times. And more recent at Cafe De Meister we have seen a lot of good shows.: Merauder, E town concrete, Cold as life,Sworn Enemy,Slapshot, 25 ta life,First Blood and so on and on. All great shows to be honest.

The past years you and Coma-Bookings and Laurent Hennekens have been putting up shows in Café de Meister in Geleen. How did that all start?

Rob Cosemans and I talked about doing a show with Six ft Ditch at a place called “De Kelder” in Urmond our hometown. And it took place and was a nice one.

So we managed to do some more. We even got to do some at “The Curve’ in Echt. At one point we got the chance to do some shows in “Volt”Sittard called “Weerstand”. That last one didnt work out liked we planned. The costs were to high unfortunately.

We were a little stuck at that moment,the youth centre in Urmond had some limitations. At that point Rob told me we had to talk with Laurent because he said this was an open minded guy and open to all kinds of music. So we did and not much later we did our first show there. And it was a huge succes. It was an immediate match between us and Laurent. The rest is history There is always a steady flow of hardcore shows being organized by you guys. Due to COVID-19 alot of shows got cancelled (All Out War / Subzero etc.) Are there any updates as of now? Putting up those shows has been a lot of work so it sucks that they have been cancelled.

Yeah 2020 really looked like it would gonna be a superb year. And then came COVID-19, and its gone.

Offcourse health for everyone is the most importantbut for me i was really looking forward to all what was coming. For now we are trying to reschedule both Subzero and All Out War. And I hope I have good news soon.

So now that there’s no more going to shows, what bands have you been listening to recently?

To be honest I listen to hardcore everyday. Checking out new blood. Its passion. And lately I am checking my older cds a lot, putting on some classics.

Too much to mention actually.

Any new(er) bands worth mentioning? Locally of from elsewhere?

Offcourse Hometown Crew is banging at the door in Hardcore land,doing a great job. Offcourse you (Jeroen) are busy with a lot of cool stuff. I personally like “Inclination”a lot from the states. But to be honest there are so many new cool young new bands,you just need to check them and stay busy in finding out. We had some great bands in the past but the new ones will keep this alive.

© LAD & MISFIT

We can say that you are in the game for a long time. What are some of the most remarkable shows you’ve been too?

Top 5 shows Meister: E-Town Concrete, Merauder, Slapshot, Sworn Enemy, Cold As Life (6 and 7: Get the Shot and 25 ta Life) The most memorable shows from back in the day for me were Warzone in Maastricht and Geleen. Several Kickback shows in the late 90’s early 2000’s with all the fights going on etc. Blood for Blood and The Bruisers together.

Redline and One 4 One in the Boerderij Geleen I will never forget. But one of the craziest experiences ever was a show with Rimmshot, Born From Pain and Cold As Life with Jeff and Johnny Hate that took place in a driveway in Elsloo somewhere in 99’ I believe. This took place at the house of the parents from one of my friends. Rimmshot are good friends of mine and they were on tour with Cold As Life and Born From Pain. I believe there was a day off. So the thing happened in the driveway from one of the parents of the guitarplayer from Rimmshot with some cases of beer. People in the neighborhood didn’t know what was happening to them. We also went to our local pub in Stein with Cold As Life. Rick ta Life was also there. Next to that pub was a cafetaria. Cold As Life ordered all the snacks from the cafetaria because they don’t have that stuff in the states. They ate them all, frikandellen, berenhap etc etc hahaha.

That was it already. Thanks for you time Marco! We appreciate all the work you’re doing. Anything else you want to say?

Thanks,no problem. Good luck with your zine,keep it up. Further I wanna give a shout out to my wife Dagmar, Rob, Laurent ,Café de Meister,and all the people helping there in any way possible. My brothers in crime Omar, Eelco, John,Bas (and Becca). All the great people who I have met at shows and the last years at Café de Meister talked to and drank beers with and had a good time with. Too many to mention. I will never forget. Last but not least, my people in Los Babas Worldwide, SPPL.

Marco, Dagmar and Omar with Skarhead at De Boerderij, Geleen 2001.

Zine Limburg Hardcore

2020

Some stuff to check out: Kevien Pictures Maybe you want a print of one of the charming faces you made at a show or maybe you want to frame a picture of yourself getting kicked in the face. Take a look at www.kevienpictures.com/printsfor-sale. Thanks for letting us use your pictures!

Stronger Signing We all know times are hard at the moment But we also know Martijn from No Turning Back does a lot for our scene. If you wanna do something back take a look at Stronger Signing.

If you need anything that involves singmaking (signs, flags, banners, stickers or masks for COVID-19) check them out.

Keeper of the fade Are you looking like a hobo? Rocking a quarantinecoupe? Or do you just need a haircut?

Clint is the man to see for professional haircuts, beardtrims and clean shaves. Check out his insta: x_keeper_of_the_fadex and slide in them dm’s fool!

Nothing

Rats don’t belong in this scene.

but filth “Snitches get stitches!”

“The thread on your cheek must itch!”

- Leeway - Mark Of The Squealer-

Hardcore, Hip-Hop and Graffiti go hand in hand. It’s been that way ever since the beginning in the 80’s From the Beastie Boys starting out as a hardcore band and becoming a very influential force in the rap game, to Lord Ezec (Danny Diablo), Mackie (Cro-Mags) and many others being deeply involved in their local graffiti game besides hardcore. We are going to dedicate this part of the zine to some of the best local graffiti artists.

1. What does graffiti mean to you?

I like the fact that if I die tomorrow My “name” will still be out there.

2. Why is hardcore and graffiti such a great combo?

Who said it is?

3. What influences you to do graffiti?

Hip Hop and the fact that i’m still single 4. What can you tell us about the lost boys?

It’s one word. Lostboys.

5. Top 3 writers -Mecro -Memzer -Meganice 6. Top 3 hc bands -Beastie Boys -Expire -Escape BUCHT

LOST BOYS

SCENE CLEANER

BLACK LIVES MATTER WE, SCENE CLEANER, SUPPORT THE BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT. EDUCATE YOURSELF, DONATE TO YOUR LOCAL FUNDS AND DO NOT REMAIN SILENT. NEVER FORGET THAT HARDCORE GAVE US ALL A VOICE WHEN WE DIDN’T HAVE ONE. USE YOUR VOICE TO SPEAK UP AGAINST RACISM, SEXISM, HOMOPHOBIA. AND IF YOU SEE SOMEONE WHO IS FALLING VICTIM TO THESE THINGS, JUMP IN AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. HARDCORE HAS NEVER BEEN A PLACE FOR PREJUDICE. AND THERE HAS BEEN LITERALLY AND FIGURATIVELY FOUGHT FOR THIS. BY ALL MEANS NECESSARY KEEP RACISM OUT OF OUR SCENE.

Shaved for battle busting heads

throughout the night Feeding off our enemies We’ll knock them down to their knees Our night’s not complete Until we make some boneheads scream.

- STOUT-

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Limburg hardcore playlist Backfire - Not Impressed Right Direction - Where Were You Homethrust - Choke On It 400 $ Suits - Somebody Stop Me Angel Crew - Strength of One Born From Pain - Harvest Superior - Risen Determined - Old Habits Die Hard Rimmshot - Gunsmoke Crawlspace - The Chapter Full Court Press - Slam Surge of Fury - Boogiedown Rancor - Baphomet Kindred - Forecast Enemy Of The Sun - AK 47 Ashlar - The Fratricide Distract - Enslaved Stalker - Triumph Of Darkness Chimaera - Inquisition Stroke Of Grace - The Garden Hecate - Mankinds Equal To Misery Blade - Stalemate Pressure - The Transition Verify - Narcist Nation The Dying - Gotham Redemption Denied - Nothing Remains Absolve - Victim of Life Long Way Home - Long Way Home Hometown Crew - Guard Up Losing Grip - Sore Steele Justice - Donna Kombat - Stripes On A Tiger Disinterred - Once Bitten Heartfelt - Strange New World Rigged - Hang Out

L B H C

Read these

Tried & True

Rage!

European Discipline

That’s a fact. You own a record store and you know a lot about music. But how did you end up listening to hardcore and being a part of it?

As young kid I can remember that I bought my first singles. I must have been 8 years old. And what I bought was already pretty heavy stuff at the time. You know stuff like Cheap Trick, Kiss, Queen, you know powerful stuff. And from one you evolve into the next thing and you become a metalhead. Listening to AC/DC, Ozzy Osbourne. You start to expand your boundaries so those bands turned into Venom, Metallica, S.O.D. And than you see guys like that wearing shirts from the Misfits, Suicidal Tendencies, and you just check that out.

And that’s how I rolled into it.

Yo Dave, first of all thank you so much for letting me interview you in the shop I know you’re a busy guy. Can you tell us a bit about yourself and who you are?

Well, my name is Dave. I’ve been the leadsinger for Right Direction for 30 years. Besides Right Direction I did One Night Stand, Ultimatum, $400 Suits, Karaoke Kings. It’s been 30 years and now I definitely put an end to it. Next year I’ll be 50, time to give it up. If I see a band like Agnostic Front right now I think dude, you should’ve called it quits 110 years ago man. I don’t want people to think that way about me.

Alright thanks for the short introduction. So besides all the band stuff you have a store. How did that happen?

That has been a dream from eversince I’ve been a little kid.

Since I was 15/16 years old I’ve always wanted to have my own store but you know that’s a dream that will never come true. You’re always busy with other things, your band and you’re you know to young. I don’t know it just never seemed to happen really. Eventually due to circumstances like getting divorced, selling the house you know the band that wasn’t going so good anymore I figured I’m getting older I really need to get something going. And that’s when I made my dream come true. Now I need to start my recordstore because if I don’t, I’ll be working in a bar or restaurant or in a factory. You know I see a lot of my friends and they are so unhappy with what they are doing right now. That’s when I decided to make my dream come true and to fight for it by any means necessary. And that’s how I started.

I can imagine it’s quite hard to set up a plan and to make it work out the way it did right?

You know, I could have started earlier. But it may have never worked out. Through all the years of being in a band I made so many connections with people and after some time you know exactly what people want to have. But that goes only fort he hardcore and metal scene you know. But you can’t make a living out of those two. Certainly not in Maastricht.

Can you remember the first hardcore band that you were really into?

I think Suicidal. The first Suicidal record to me is still my favourite number 1 record ever.

So after all these influences you decided to form your own band(s). Was Right Direction your first band?

Basically was Right Direction the first “serious” band. Before that I did some stuff with Daniel and Chris (the two Brothers) under another name. But that was nothing serious. We just did a cover of Excel and that was really all we had to offer. It really became serious when Maurice and Richard joined the band. And that is when we became Right Direction.

Right Direction did pretty well for a hardcore band. The records you made are still relevant to day. Me and my friends still spin them occaisonally. Besides AF and stuff those records became some of my go to classics. What are some of your best memories of that time?

The first single that we put out without a label, on our own.

There were500 made. I remember when I received it. I was staring at the cover for hours. It felt amazing and unbelievable that we made our own single. We did everything ourselves, that’s one of the best memories. And ofcourse we’ve been on tour with Yuppicide and Warzone. I remember seeing my hero, Raybeez for the firs time. I was a fan of that dude for over 10 years and all of a sudden in 1995 we went on tour with those guys. That’s really cool you know, meeting your hero for the first time and going on tour with them.

That was one of the coolest things ever you know and ofcourse Pinkpop, Dynamo Open Air. That was very cool.

Actually Raybeez is on the cover of our zine. When you think about hardcore, or NYHC in particular, you can’t help but to think about Raybeez. Back in the day things went totally different than nowadays. How did you guys manage to do a tour with Warzone?

We put out a record called “All Of A Sudden” through Lost And Found Records. The guy of LAF suggested that we’d go on tour to promote our new record. He said there was a band called Warzone that was coming to Europe and he asked if we wanted to go on tour with them.

Ehm, yeah, duh? Badass. So we had to take a couple days off from our jobs and we had no clue about what was ahead of us. Everything was being arranged for us.

The record label arranged that we could go on the bus, that’s were we slept. We also got a lot of cd’s to sell and stuff and they arranged the t-shirts. We were young you know and we thought it was cool but in hindsight, the guy made a lot of money. We didn’t earn shit. After those weeks ended we didn’t earn a buck. The records we sold, I believe we got 200 for free and we needed to buy the rest of it. But anyhow we went on tour with those guys and it was awesome. We instantly clicked with those guys. Especially with Vinnie (R.I.P.) what a cool dude.

I became very good friends with him and ofcourse Raybeez (R.I.P.). At the end of the tour we had developed such a good friendship that those guys didn’t wanna go home anymore. So we figured if we come back here, in two weeks it’s Carnaval in Maastricht. That’s something you guys have to see. So Raybeez and Vinnie stayed at my place for over a month. We went out every night. We explained the concept of carnaval to them, they even put on costumes. They went along and celebrated 3 days of carnaval. That was just a fun time man. Around that time they also got to know the guys from Backfire.

They became friends with Richard (R.I.P.). And when they came back to tour for the second time they went with Backfire.

That’s so cool man. A total different time. For us, the new generation, we read about this stuff in zines or see it in documentaries. But what you see is that so many guys back then where a bunch of characters.

There were so many people like Raybeez and Richie that had such an impact on their friends and their surroundings in a positive way. You were very close with Richard. How did you guys end up being such good friends?

Well, I got kicked out of school and I had to go to another school. I knew nobody there. I was just sitting there, very lost on the schoolyard. I think I was about 16 years old. I was standing there you know, as a hardocker/metalhead, and the only guy that really stood out was Richard. He was also standing there all by himself wearing an S.O.D. shirt. He was just standing there, looking around. He also knew nobody there. So I went over to him and we got to talk. He was 1,5 years younger. I think that we became friends in less than a day. He got to know my friends, for example Roy, Richard the guys from One Night Stand.

And I got to know his friends. His friend was Mauriceke.

And before we knew it we had a whole group of friends who listend to metal. And later on we all discovered hardcore music. Richard was such a cool dude. He became one of my best friends.

If you see him on pictures you see him jumping on crowds, you see him going at it behind the kit, just a lot of energy. Are there any memories you have from him that you instantly think of?

Man I think about that guy daily. He was a unique person. Not only in the band but we just pulled off so much stuff. I mean we got involved with the police on numerous occassions and stuff like that. It’s not something to be proud of but that’s just what we went through and experienced as kids. That’s just something that will remain in your memory. That crazy guy feared nothing. He just did things without even thinking about it. If he thought about something, he just did it. Not like, should we even do this? He just went for it. Ofcourse we got in trouble a lot because of this but so many times it worked out positive for us. When other people thought that something was a bad idea or that they couldn’t do it, he just pulled it off. He was such a cool guy. That’s just a once in a lifetime that you get to meet someone and be around someone like that.

I always hear from people who knew him that he really brought people together and that he had an inmense drive.

Yeah ofcourse. He really had a vision and he wanted to go for it. If we didn’t have him in the band in the beginning, yeah we would have fucked around but we would not really know what to do. He had a vision from the beginning and he knew what he wanted to achieve.

That is special. You know, Richard, when behind the drums, you instantly know that it’s him. And that is something special that most drummers don’t have.

Drums sound like drums. It’s not like a guitar player who plays in a different style with a certain guitar or amp that creates a recognizable sound. He had style.

In old video footage of a rehearsal you see him really steering the writing process. He was very influencial.

Yeah he had been only for a short time in Right Direction, I believe 4 years or so and also in One Night Stand. He didn’t come with the riffs, that was something the guitarplayers did but he always had the last word about how something was gonna be played in a certain way. And about his style, Vinnie from Warzone, he had that too.

A complete developed style. But just like Richie, that’s someone who taught himself everything. You can put on every band, for instance Grey Area, S.S.S.P. or Warzone, you instantly know it’s Vinnie. And that’s something that I think is cool.

From that era, are there any shows that you really remember? I know I have a couple that I really loved and will remember forever.

You know that’s what it is. When you’re young you look to a band from a whole different perspective as when you get older. Even if a band is shit, but the atmosphere is cool, or it’s crowded all these impressions are a part of how you view and experience a show. But the very first time I saw Excel, I thought man this is the coolest thing I have ever seen. And we’ve been on tour with Pro-Pain. We really experienced something cool back in the day. Their drummer couldn’t make it into the country. I believe it was somewhere in Czechoslovakia or somewhere. He could not cross the border and there was all kinds of stuff going on with his passport. The tourmanager said, you know what? I’ll stay here with him, you guys just go ahead. We’ll make sure that we’ll get there. 100%, we’ll be there. Just start playing. If we’re not there (because Pro-Pain was headlining) just wait. Let the other bands begin. So the first band started, and then $400 Suits went on. After that the Spudmonsters played. It was a big venue, maybe 1000 people where there. I think it was about 22:30 and it was time for Pro-Pain to go on. But the drummer wasn’t there yet. So the organisation said we have to wait for the drummer. But they will play, 100%. You can wait but if it takes to long you can go home. So a lot of people stayed around and maybe 100 people went home. And after a while people were falling a sleep, the lights went out and stuff. So we were going backstage to hang around. And all of a sudden the lights went on, and the drummer came walking in like okay I’m here let’s get busy. It was 03:30 in the morning hahaha and everyone was like what the fuck is this. And so they started playing. That was one of the coolest things I ever witnessed.

Rest In.

Power.

Dave, you are a music fanatic, without a doubt. What are your 3 records that you revisit everytime.

3? That must be 300. But if it has to be 3.

1.

2.

3.

AC/DC - Powerage Suicidal Tendencies – Suicidal Tendencies ZZ-Top Deguello

This is ofcourse a hardcore zine, but what non-hardcore records do you recommendation for our readers?

Well I have a very wide taste in music. I really have to think about this. Do people still listen to Soul or ZZ-Top, Deguello. If you show that record to someone they may think “Auwkut maan, wat is dat veur inne awwe lulle meziek, zeikmeziek” (This means basically in Maastricht dialect: What’s this kind of music? This is for old farts).

But hey that record is awesome. And you really need to check out Candy Staton. That’s something that I discovered recently. What a voice. And maybe old Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Alright Dave, that was it. Thank you very much for your time!

M T O W N