Specials

Eurocore reunion Dynamo Eindhoven

posted by: David on 29 April 2007

Finally, it’s the 21st of April, and today it is eurocore day! A line-up that could have been any ordinary show somewhere in Brabant or Limburg during the late nineties now has got me excited for weeks, and finally the day has arrived! So I crop my hair, put on my boots and travel to Eindhoven to have a talk with the singers of the bands, to talk with the organiser of the show, to meet old friends, greet and make new ones, and of course to drink a “bath tub of beer”.

Marco – Violation of Trust

Past
I started out playing in a death/ grind ensemble in the early nineties, and in 1992 we started “Violation of Trust”. One of my earliest memories of the hardcore scene in the nineties is, together with some friends, going to M-Town to see a show of Right Direction. There was this tattooed guy on the mic, screaming his guts out, and the whole vibe of the show caught me – I knew that this was what I wanted too. Those were really the pioneer-days of hardcore in Europe, and I think that we, together with Backfire and RD, were the only bands around in those starting days.
Unfortunately, we declined an early offer to go on a “big” tour, an opportunity other bands did take. They grew to be very big bands within the scene, and although we were highly appreciated by a lot of people, I think we could have been even more successful when we all would have had VOT as our main priority, which was not the case. But I think I can safely say that I am the only Eurocore singer that made it to the big audience by having a (Payback) song played on 3FM. The presenter of the show once called a poppunk-song a hardcore tune, which struck me as so odd that I literally emailed them hundreds of time, attaching a short mp3 of my band from that time. They finally called me back (actually, I was sitting on the toilet that exact moment) and played our 30-second song twice!

Present
I currently have a job as a manager of a gym, and I also organise sport events where we give workshops in (for instance) spinning. The other members of VOT all have steady jobs (2 guys are cooks) and there are even some VOT-kids on this planet! My days are filled with sportive activities, but of course I still have the energy to sing in my current band Payback. Although we had wonderful times with VOT and achieved a lot, I still think that we could have reached more people in for instance Germany, so that is still something I’d like to do with Payback.

Future
I once said that during the recording of our first Payback album, I almost got the feeling like old times re-emerging, but I am certain that those days are over and will not return. Luckily, there is a new scene emerging in the southwestern part of the Netherlands, where people have an attitude similar to the Eindhoven-scene during the late nineties. To me, I currently feel more comfortable playing in that region of the Netherlands than anywhere else, including Eindhoven. As for VOT, I think that today we played one of our last shows. Luckily, we had a great time today; all those people we used to know showing up, it actually was a rather emotional show. Because everybody works different hours, and our VOT-days are growing ancient in our memories, practicing for a reunion-gig gets more difficult every year. But who knows, when the right person knocks on the door… and hey, in 6 years I’ll turn 40, so I can always join Tech-9 by than!

Dave – Righ Direction

Past
We already started this band in 1989, so, although there have been a few breaks, side-projects and other things along the way, we are doing this thing for a real long time already. In our long history, I think we had some bad luck on a number of occasions. Everybody knows the stories with record labels not doing what they should, with bookers in Germany getting pissed-off about the cover of the “To right the wrong” album, or people making a big fuss about our lyrics. Although I do regret one or 2 lyrics I wrote in the past, I still would do everything the same. Let people talk about us: if they want to see bad things, they will see bad things anyway.
But let us focus on the good times: We had amazing shows with amazing bands like Warzone, Slapshot and Pro-Pain, and we got to play huge audiences on DOA and Pinkpop. If you ask me about a show that I recall as one of my worst shows, I think of a show we once played in Hannover, together with OAC. The barkeeper was the only guy there, and even OAC was sitting backstage during our show. Well, at least the bartender did buy a t-shirt from us!

Present
“I look around me and I see the scene is dead.” Although there are new (and good) bands from M-Town and the region around it, it is not a single scene anymore. Unfortunately, those days are over, and I must admit that I do not feel the need to check out all the new bands that emerge nowadays. I do like “modern” bands like Mastodon very much, but it is still the older ones like for instance ZZ Top that I really love.
My distro is doing pretty well at the moment, and I can even live from the benefits of it. I think I got my nickname (the “opliechter”) not because I try to rip people of (I actually sell cd’s at rather low prices) but because I want to make a profit out of everything I do. Name something, and I can get it for you! Want to buy a grave stone?

Future
I would very much like to make my distro into a shop, but things are going pretty well the way they are going now. As long as I can be my own boss, and can do everything myself – I never want to have any personnel – I am satisfied. I just released a Karaoke Kings cd myself, and although I once had my own label (Education records), I’m not going to actively release a lot of cd’s anymore.
We are however going to continue with $400-suits, Maurice and me. Actually, we are still looking for a bass-player, so if anyone who is interested is out there? And of course, there is a lot of things I’d still like to do, like for instance a hiphop project in the vein of House of Pain (which I’ve been saying from 1999), but than again, there is only 24 hours in a day…

Hein – Tech-9

Past
Me and Jack have been playing in bands together from 1981 onwards, but in the meantime we only have had about 7 band members in total. We played some amazing shows like Dour ‘99, Dynamo Open Air, the Raybeez Memorial, Eindhoven Speedfest or the first EHCP in Eindhoven. We never did go on big tours; actually, in our starting days that kind of thing did not really exist. Back then, it was much more a punk thing, which has really died out during the nineties.
Of course, during the 25+ years that we have been making music as a band, we also grew as persons. I may sometimes have been mad at the world, the upper classes, or society, but I do think I made something out of myself, which feels good. Of course, I’ve also evolved as an artist. The biggest change occurred when we did our contribution to the “dutch Oi-tribute cd”. I had to sing in a very different style for those songs, but that went very well and we decided to stick with this new and improved sound.

Present
Nowadays, we play one or two shows each month. It may have seemed that we weren’t as active as a band a few years ago, but I think people in the Netherlands forget that we also play shows in Belgium and Germany regularly. It seems a new “eurocore-like” scene is evolving in the Netherlands right now, with bands supporting each other and setting up shows, which is great. I guess that, like many other things in hardcore, this is also something that comes in waves – something is popular for a number of years, then (for some reason) fades away, only to emerge again a few years later.

Future
Right now, I’m feeling a bit tired, but I also did the amateur Amstel Gold Race this morning, so I think I have a good excuse. But still, I do feel we can continue with Tech-9 for many years to come. We have 13 new tracks ready, and are eager to record them. The new album will also celebrate our (sort of) 25th anniversary, and will therefore contain a few surprises like a Dead Boys and a Ramones cover.
I know I once said that we were going to quit playing in a punk-outfit when we would turn 40, but that deadline has already past a few years ago. Who knows when we will stop? I think as long as I am still making sense on stage and people will not take me for an old fool, I will continue!

Joost – DSC

Past
We have made 6 studio albums with DSC, and I think most people will say that we had a big shift in the style of music that we play. I can understand people coming up to us and asking us to play songs from the old records, as long as those people also understand that we have evolved as people and as a band as well. For instance, my lyrics now deal with different subjects than they used to in the past; that is not because I regret things I said on the old albums, but just because I have grown as a person and have different things going on in my life. I have 2 kids now, which are the most important thing in my life.
Recently, we played the BO-farewell show in Germany. My God, it was absolutely amazing to stand there in front of 100.000 excited people. On a “regular” show in Germany we can attract as much as 2000 people, which is a lot, but this was an absolutely overwhelming experience!
In the Netherlands we got very famous because of the tour-report in the Nieuwe Revu (weekly magazine). I am joking of course, but the guy who wrote the article has been a good friend of ours for many years, and it was just a fun thing to do. Actually, there were some people at the gym who recognised us from that article.

Present
We have been playing with substitute guitar-players during the last few years, but finally found a new band member. It was difficult for us to find somebody since we have been together for almost 15 years, and it is hard for a new guy to fit in into a group that shares such a history. However, we have always felt that we needed a second guitarist, and especially the extra power during a live show is definitely a plus.
We play about 2 to 3 shows per month now, and it gets a bit more difficult for us to do tours. Everybody has their own families, which of course are the most important things in our lives. And to be quite honest, I am not that thrilled anymore to sleep on the floor of a squat home in the middle of a pile of garbage. We’ve done that for many years, but there comes a time when you like a normal bed as well.

Future
We are going to record a new album this autumn, and it will contain 12 new covers. To me, it will be a great experience to record some of my favourite songs, and I think the AsIce-readers will love to hear that among the 12 numbers there also is a Cro-Mags cover. Other than that, I’m also involved in Soultamer, a new project started by Victor Nefkens (ex-Badlands). I’ve heard the recordings, and they sound absolutely amazing!
And who knows what the future will bring… where are we going to end up with DSC? I don’t know, probably at home on the couch…

Sander@Dynamo

Past
Dynamo started 25 years ago as a youth centre. Although most people know Dynamo for its shows, we have been doing much more, especially working with kids who got into trouble, trying to get them back on track. I myself am now 35 years old, but my first visit to Dynamo was when I was 15 years old… oh my God, that’s already 20 years ago. I am not quite sure which bands were playing at that first show, but I do remember an old Mucky Pup/ Leeway show that made a big impression on the young sander@dynamo.
For 4 years, I worked at a youth centre in Geldrop (De Joek)…actually, thinking about it, the first show I did while working in Geldrop was a show featuring both Tech-9 and DSC, so today is really a trip down memory lane for me. Because of my experience at De Joek, because I did my studies focussing on social and cultural work, and because I did an internship here at Dynamo, I was finally asked to come and join the Dynamo-team. Through e-zines like AsIce, I came in contact with a lot of the people that now voluntarily help to make Dynamo what it is today.

Present
I think we at Dynamo try our best to program many different styles of hardcore and punk (we are now only talking about the hc/ punk “branch” of Dynamo) and shows are often very well received. Of course, sometimes you have to conclude that certain subgenres just don’t work. For example, The Apers played close-by not a week ago, and only drew 40 people to their show. On the other hand: look at the crowd today: we have a sold out house, and everything is going great. I was so excited to do this show with this line-up, but thought it might be difficult to get all the bands on board. But boy was I wrong: It took me only a single day to set up this show, all the bands were so excited and willing to cooperate!
Besides planning these bigger events ourselves, we also want to provide a platform for younger people and bands to put on their own shows, and do their own thing. We’re also starting to rent out practice rooms, and have hc-related activities like the infamous dodge ball tournament.

Future
This year we’re going to do an outdoors-fest here, a bit like the “Houdoe”-fest we organized when we had to temporarily close down the Dynamo because of the construction works. If that is a success, we’ll make it an annual thing, and I hope that one day we will be able to fill the market square here just in front of our building. Other than that, if it’s up to me, shows like the classic-fest and the dodgeball tournament but also a show like today can grow into annual occasions, and I hope to work here for approximately another 5 years. Than it is time for me to leave behind the “noise”, and maybe go and use the experience I got here working with young people as a teacher.

THE SHOW

VOT (By RikfortheKill)
In an already packed hall, VOT is ready to kick-off the first Eurocore revival show. The self-pronounced “Kings of Crap” never were the most popular band of the Eurocore movement, but they most certainly were one of the most entertaining ones.
Although VOT officially quit years ago, the guys can not withstand the urge to hit the stage every now and again to throw a reunion-party. And a party it is when Marco and his mates bulldozer a nice overview of their own repertoire into the crowd. Dressed up as a true NYHC-tuff guy (completed by a bandana) Marco storms the stage during opener ‘Forgive & Forget’. Is the crowd-participation below Marco’s standard? No problem, Marco jumps into the pit and does a circle around the room on the hands of the audience. Classics like ‘Time Will Tell’, ‘I Will Make You Pay’, ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’, ‘925’ and ‘Wiseguy’ feed the hungry crowd, and Polle (The Butcher) joins VOT on the stage to help sing “Behind my back”, the lyrics of which were written by no other than, yes, Polle. The inevitable Carnivore-cover ‘Sex & Violence’ rounds up the set perfectly. According to Marco, this show is definitely VOT’s last show. Of course we don’t believe this so – See you next time boys!

DSC (By Hellmondtrooper)
One day you find yourself playing a crowd of tens of thousands of people somewhere east of The Netherlands, the next day you find yourself playing a sold-out Dynamo for approximately 500 enthusiastic Dutchmen. The majority of the spectators are fans from ‘back in the days’, who took this opportunity to once again see Discipline perform in a small venue. The band enjoyed the reunion with this crowd and played a setlist containing both songs from their older and from their more recent albums. Especially for todays show, the band played ‘Our Pride’ from their old ‘Guilty as charged’ album, and the crowd just exploded. But also a new song like ‘Hooligans Heaven’ gets the crowd to move and to shout along. Near the end of the set the old unity of the Eindhoven-scene revives when Marco-VOT hits the stage to participate in a song, but my feeling after the show is: DSC came home.

Tech-9 (By Ilyatequilya rsd)
Today I witnessed a band that started its 5th youth, or perhaps is even beyond that. After all those years, they still manage to hit the stage with an enthusiasm, a power and an attitude that makes a sold-out venue like todays just explode! It doesn’t even matter whether it’s a golden oldie like “Survival” or a new song like “I’ll never drink again” that is thrown at the crowds, the people just go nuts.
Tech-9 is a well-oiled machine, that has many years of pure and honest hardcore in front of it, that plays their music as tight as a 16 year old girl, and has a frontman who doesn’t have blood but pure hardcore pulsing through his veins (and knows how to play a crowd). Tech-9, a band with only classic anthems in its luggage, they just can not play a bad show. I’m already eagerly anticipating their new album!

Righ Direction (By HC Gandalf)
And then, last but certainly not least, it is time for Right Direction to finish the show. I cannot name many hc bands that can go on for more than an hour, but Dave and his guys pull it off! Unfortunately, tonight’s line-up of the band is not the original line-up (as was announced), with substitutes Lando (Sparrow falls) and Igor (Backfire) forming the new rhythm section job. But what a magnificent show it turned out to be!!! These M-Town rebels played like they did in their finest hour when Eurocore was at its most popular, and tonight Dave once again proved that he is an excellent entertainer.
During the show, a few tracks from ONS and $400 Suits were mixed in between the RD-classics. Songs like War Criminal, Another Year, Today I Dream, My last Bullit, Kids on the Streets,The Show Must go on, they all were spit into the crowd which, even although it was past 12 and had already given a lot, could simply not get enough. Dave and Maurice told me they were going to continue playing shows (with $400 suits), and who can blame them – these old guys know exactly what to do on stage. Right Direction came, they saw and they won!

At 4 o’clock in the morning, even the last of the many beer barrels is emptied out, and we stumble out of the door. Tonight was a real trip down memory lane… although; it used to be that most people shaved their hair because they liked it that way. Now, it seemed nature has gained something on a lot of the visitors, and the bald heads were there for a different reason. But still, I had a great time, got reunited with many old acquaintances, met new friends, drank beers, shouted along… just too many experiences to describe in a few words. And who knows, next year “same time sample place again, we’re gonna get pissed with all our friends”?

Interviews by Stefan Engels.
Pictures Hanneke Hannes, Karin Furie and Casper de Bruin.

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The Judge

Posted on 29.04.2007 (15:30)

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Mooi dat de spelling van de EHCP #1 poster nog steeds actueel is.

Cool stuk!

rob de nijs
EBC

Posted on 29.04.2007 (15:31)

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HC Gandalf als onpartijdig journalist,de weg naar de top ligt voor hem open.Machtige review.

Bardamu

Posted on 29.04.2007 (15:55)

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Tof stuk

Ron Fury

Posted on 29.04.2007 (15:57)

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a good friend of hours for many years

Nonsense

Posted on 29.04.2007 (16:31)

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Wat een helden!!!!

Rik For The
Kill

Posted on 29.04.2007 (17:47)

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Nette special Stengels!

richardrockt

Posted on 29.04.2007 (19:07)

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goed stuk!

rrrockboy

Posted on 29.04.2007 (19:57)

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cool!

cdbfotografie

Posted on 29.04.2007 (21:51)

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netjes!

Tim de tweede

Posted on 29.04.2007 (23:15)

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Supercoole special!

born to expire

Posted on 30.04.2007 (00:55)

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Deel II: Backfire, Ryker's, $400 Suits, Hard Resistance, Brightside.

PaybackCrew

Posted on 30.04.2007 (01:11)

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Stengels en Rik: THNX MATES!!!

HC Gandalf

Posted on 30.04.2007 (11:17)

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Het is gaaf geworden Stefan !!!

ilyateqilya
rsd

Posted on 30.04.2007 (11:41)

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Mooi werk Stefan,blij dat je iets kon maken van m'n inbreng,volgende x eerder laten weten,dan kan ik een veel betere review schrijven ,ik zou het graag nog eens doen.

Noot

Posted on 30.04.2007 (12:09)

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@Ilya: Komt door het verzaken van een bepaalde Bosschenaar. Onbetrouwbaar kutvolk ook.

sander@dynamo

Posted on 30.04.2007 (12:38)

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Vooral veel dank aan de hardcore@dynamo crew!!!!
Verder mooi stukske!

ilyateqilya
rsd

Posted on 30.04.2007 (13:04)

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@Noot,dat wist ik,maar wilde het niet openbaar maken,ik heb al vaker opruim werk mopeten verrichten door dat kutvolk!! :-) :-P

mooneyes63

Posted on 30.04.2007 (20:21)

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Koooooool !!!!!!!! Thanx

Billy Gibbons

Posted on 01.05.2007 (09:21)

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Wanneer je Unfortunately zou vervangen door Fortunately was je Right Direction review hélemaal perfect Gandalf...

Blunt RWHC

Posted on 01.05.2007 (10:06)

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Luckily, there is a new scene emerging in the southwestern part of the Netherlands, where people have an attitude similar to the Eindhoven-scene during the late nineties.

Yeah Baby!

ernesto

Posted on 01.05.2007 (21:09)