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De Heideroosjes: It's full time, but it's not a job

posted by: Joost78 on 5 June 2009

De Heideroosjes are a band that you're not supposed to like anymore once you're past puberty. They sing silly songs about soap operas, fruit drinks and the royal couple having sex and their fan base consists of fifteen year old boys in Green Day and Blink-182 shirts.

At least, that seems to be the conception that quite some people still have of this punk band from the Dutch province of Limburg.

But no matter if you take them seriously or not, it's impossible to deny that De Heideroosjes have built up quite an impressive track record. They've been around for twenty years without a single line-up change, have released nine studio albums, are almost regulars at major festivals like Pinkpop, Rock Werchter and Lowlands and they've even toured Japan and South Africa. And they did all that completely on their own terms.

To celebrate their 20th anniversary, the band has now released the double-album 'Ode and Tribute'. On the 'Ode' disc De Heideroosjes cover their own favorites and on the 'Tribute' disc well-known acts such as Bløf, Di-Rect, Peter Pan Speedrock and Backfire! cover Heideroosjes songs.

We asked frontman Marco Roelofs some questions about his latest release and about twenty years of De Heideroosjes.

Did you approach all the bands on the 'Tribute' cd yourself? Wasn't it strange to ask colleagues if they wanted to bring an ode to you?
That process went very naturally. It really started as a joke. When we were on tour, a lot of bands would jokingly say things to us like "You've been around for twenty years? Isn't it time for a tribute then?". So some of the bands really offered themselves. After a while it got serious and then we started approaching bands ourselves. But we only asked them if we liked the members of the band.

Were there any bands that you asked for the 'Tribute' cd that didn't want to be on it? And if so, can you say some really nasty things about them so that I have a more interesting interview?
(Laughs) No, I have to dissapoint you. Like I said, we asked bands that we liked, even if they made a different type of music. Look, it's pretty logical to ask bands like Backfire! or Peter Pan Speedrock. But a band like Bløf is probably a weird choice for some punk fans. But what counts for us is that these guys are sincere and have integrity. They do a lot for the Tibetan cause and we played with them on the Ticket For Tibet Festival. So even though they make really commercial music, their attitude is alright. And that "straight from the heart" mentality fits Heideroosjes.

Were there songs that you wanted to cover for 'Ode' that just didn't work?
Not really. We had way too many songs to choose from. We had a very diverse list of songs that went from Youth Of Today to Sacred Reich to a cheesy new wave band like Adam & The Ants. Musically we like pretty much everything, as you can hear on the cover cd.



Were all the songs on 'Ode' democratically chosen or was there room for every member to pick some personal favorites?
They were all democratically chosen. That's how we always work and that's what works best. If someone really didn't like a song then we just dropped it. It has to be cool for every member of the band to record a song. But we did leave a lot of space for personal favorites. The Stray Cats for instance is a band that doesn't do much for me, but Fred loves them. And the other way around, Fred doesn't care much for hardcore bands like Uniform Choice. The fact that both bands did end up on the album says a lot about the athmosphere in this band.

You started as a juvenile punk band with a lot of joke songs, but through the years your music became more serious. But a lot of people still know you as that funny little band that did songs like 'Ze Smelten de Paashaas' and 'Klapvee'. Is that a burden to you now, or is the past just a part of what De Heideroosjes are?
I did see that as quite a burden for a while. Because lyrically I have a lot more to say than just what I sing on those party songs. Heideroosjes have always had a serious side. You can find it on every album we made. We just like to mix our message with some humor. Partially because we just like it that way, but also because it's better to bring a serious subject under the attention with a bit of humor. Unfortionately for us, the media mostly picked up our light hearted songs. That's how we got that party band image. Nowadays I don't care anymore. Because if someone buys our cd he'll eventually get to hear the serious songs anyway.

Of all punk rock bands that are being formed, the majority never gets much further than a few shows in local bars and maybe a self-released cd. You've released nine albums and played the Pinkpop Festival four times. Why do you think you guys got so much further than most other bands?
Because we worked really hard for it. And we took every chance we got. Of course you need to have a bit of luck every now and then, but even then you have to stay focussed to get the most out of the chance you get and turn it into something that will last. When we started in 1989 is was unheard of for a punk rock band to have any ambitions. You were expected to drink a lot and smoke a lot of weed and shout about how the world sucked. It wasn't really accepted to work all that hard. So when we started designing out own posters and printing our own shirts, some people thought that was weird. Instead of spending our money on booze, we would put it on our bank account so we could make a cd. That was a real sacrifice because I rather would've drank it up, really... (laughs) But if you're dedicated, it's all worth it.



What do you think are the main differences in punk rock in 1989 and in 2009?
In 1989 punk rock hardly got any attention from the media, let alone the corporate stores. H&M for instance sells Ramones shirts now, that would've been absolutely impossible then. When you started getting into punk rock it was a lot harder to find good new bands. Now you surf on MySpace for one afternoon and you know a hundred new bands. In 1989 you had to go to a record store and hope that the guy behind the counter wouldn't throw you out if you would spend the whole afternoon listening to LPs without buying anything.

In twenty years you never had a single line-up change. Can you image De Heideroosjes without one of the original members?
No, I can't imagine someone else joining the band.

If you had to do twenty years of De Heideroosjes all over again, what would you change?
Nothing, apart from choosing a name that the whole world could announce without stuttering. (laughs)

Do you think you would've had more international success with an English name and if all your songs would've been in English?
I'm absolutely certain that Heideroosjes would've gotten further internationally with an easier name. The cool American bands can never pronounce our name, let alone remember it. So it's hard to get any further by word of mouth. When we got signed by Epitaph we considered changing our name for about a second, but by that time we were already around for almost ten years. And we didn't want to throw away our roots.

Do you enjoy playing with a band like BZB in festival tents in small towns just as much as playing with Pennywise in De Melkweg?
Well, if I have to choose I'll go for playing with Pennywise in De Melkweg. I have nothing against BZB, they're great guys, but I just don't really like playing the party tents. Like I said, I have an urge to voice my opinion and talk about my point of view about anything that's going on in this world. You can do that in De Melkweg but in a party tent it just won't work at all.



If De Heideroosjes never got past that local bars and self-released cds stage that I was just talking about, do you think you still would be playing with this band?
Yes, I think so. We started as friends, not as colleagues or anything. We started for the simple reason that we liked each other and wanted to make music together. There are thousands of bands that continue that way for years. They play five shows a year and they're fine with that.

In the mid-nineties a lot of people were introduced to punk rock by commercially succesful bands like Green Day, The Offspring and you guys. Do you think the Dutch punk rock scene would be different now if De Heideroosjes hadn't been around at that time?
I don't know. I would see it as a compliment if we helped in making people musically aware. I do often meet people that are much deeper in the hardcore or punk scene now and "admit" that they started with Heideroosjes. They often thank me for introducing them to more alternative styles of music instead of the crap you hear on mainstream radio.

Many of the "serious" punk rock fans don't really take your band seriously. Does that bother you?
That's also something that fades after twenty years... Those people can just go ahead on their little internet forums for all I care. We don't care and just keep doing our thing. You can think of Heideroosjes whatever you want, but after twenty years we're still here and doing everything 100% on our own terms. We don't kiss anyone's ass and we don't let the unwritten rules of the scene tell us what to do. Usually it's the young kids who take themselves much too seriously. When I was 18 I was like that too. You just think you have ultimate wisdom. But many of those so called real punk rockers still live with their parents or are living on welfare, being supported by the state that they say they hate. It's all really mixed. But every once in a while I enjoy getting into a discussion like that.

What's the biggest compliment you ever got?
We played in Bosnia right after the war. A girl came up to me and told me that her entire family was killed in the war and that she was raped for several days by the muslims. She said that ever since then, she thought about that damn war every single minute. She still saw those images at every moment of the day. When she was at our concert, that was the very first time that she didn't think about the war for a while. And than she thanked me for that. That was an incredible moment. It's great to be able to do something like that for someone. That's what gives music extra value for me.

And what's the most remarkable insult you ever got?
Someone once said to me that we were dirty capitalists because our van was a Mercedes. And that was right after we'd played for free at an anti-racism manifestation in Austria.

Could you say in short how you listen to the Heideroosjes albums nowadays?
- Noisy Fairytales (1993)
A starting band. Picked a whole lot of strawberries to be able to afford that one.
- Choice For A Lost Generation?! (1994)
Saved a bit longer for this one. Took ten days to record and mix, sang with a shot voice.
- Fifi (1996)
Breakthrough album. Sound could be better but the passion is 100%.
- Kung Fu (1997)
Angry album by boys trying to deal with sudden success.
- Schizo (1999)
First album by a professional band that could keep up with the international bands in the genre.
- Fast Forward (2001)
Cool album, good sound. You can hear we toured a lot around that time.
- SINema (2004)
Dark album.
- Chapter Eight, The Golden State (2007)
Our best album so far. Great sound too.

And could you say in short what you think of these bands?
- Sex Pistols
Thought up by a manager, but Johnny Rotten is nevertheless an icon.
- The Clash
One of the first punk bands that had to guts to break the frame. Joe Strummer is king.
- Black Flag
I respect them as pioneers. You really should read Henry Rollins's book 'Get In The Van'.
- Minor Threat
The ultimate straight edge band for me. Ian MacKaye had the guts to preach about soberness in a time when punk still stood for destroying yourself.
- Gorilla Biscuits
One of the first straight edge bands that I saw live in 1989. I wore out the grooves of their albums.
- Uniform Choice
Pat Dubar had a great throat. The later stuff was a bit too far out for me.
- NOFX
The ultimate kings of humor. They don't give a shit about anything but they just keep going for it.
- Bad Religion
The first melodic punk band I discovered. Intelligent lyrics.
- Undeclinable Ambuscade
Musically they were a better band than Heideroosjes at the time, but they didn't have as much ambition and drive as we had. Too bad their original line-up fell apart. Definitely had great songs!



Do you still listen to a lot of new hardcore and punk bands or do you limit yourself to the classics now?
People often give me cds and I try to listen to everything I get. I've been listening to the new cd by The Accelerators today. I try to keep up to date because I still love to see young new bands struggle to get somewhere.

What advice would you give to young, new bands now?
Never mind the bollocks... Do your thing, work hard and don't lose yourself to dope and drinking. At least, if you want to get anywhere with your band.

Have you decided for yourself until which age you will continue singing in a punk rock band?
No. I will go on as long as I feel like it. And when I don't feel like it anymore I'll stop.

Are De Heideroosjes a full time job?
It's full time but it's not a job. It's a paid hobby. We do pretty much everything ourselves, from folding the t-shirts to repairing the tour van. So there's always something to do for the band.

What are you going to do when the band is over?
I'll continue writing as a journalist. That's what I learned for and you don't just forget how to do that.

Do you still have any ambitions with the band?
Yeah, to stop doing such long interviews! (laughs)


Interview by Joost.
Pictures by John Klijnen.

Views: 2334

Related bandprofile: De Heideroosjes

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Comments

Author	Message
sander@dynamo	Posted on 05.06.2009 (11:38) goto top
	Damn ik had graag een HR cover willen horen van Sacred Reich. HR, gave live band, super relaxte band en crew. Een ondergewaardeerde band op dit board...
martheun	Posted on 05.06.2009 (11:40) goto top
	ik vind ze op dit board nog overgewaardeerd.
kendog	Posted on 05.06.2009 (11:54) goto top
	Helden.
collision-tamm i	Posted on 05.06.2009 (12:01) goto top
	ruig stukje
Daniel aka Ali	Posted on 05.06.2009 (13:25) goto top
	Cool interview!
T.Hoebers	Posted on 05.06.2009 (13:34) goto top
	ondergewaardeerde band en het boeit met niets maar die eerste 3 platen zijn voor mij klassiekers in het genre
Onnovdw	Posted on 05.06.2009 (13:36) goto top
	Muzikaal vaak niet mijn ding, maar muchos respect voor wat ze bereikt hebben en het door blijven gaan...
Pim	Posted on 05.06.2009 (14:03) goto top
	Leuk interview Joost!
HopeKillsDream s	Posted on 05.06.2009 (14:13) goto top
	Wat een uitgebreid interview! Alleen het Engels irriteert me bij vlagen wel ontzettend.
Joost78	Posted on 05.06.2009 (14:43) goto top
	Het interview is in het Nederlands gedaan, als het Engels rammelt is dat dus mijn schuld.
HopeKillsDream s	Posted on 05.06.2009 (14:49) goto top
	Grammaticaal niet veel mis mee, alleen de zinsbouw is een btje gek af en toe.
Joost78	Posted on 05.06.2009 (15:04) goto top
	Kan wel kloppen. Ik heb het zo letterlijk mogelijk willen vertalen omdat ik mensen niet graag woorden in de mond leg die ze niet gebruikt hebben. Dan kan het wel eens gebeuren dat er een zin tussen zit die wat onnatuurlijk overkomt.
richardrockt	Posted on 05.06.2009 (16:39) goto top
	cool interview!
Andre Weststrate	Posted on 05.06.2009 (16:43) goto top
	Cool!
kingkong	Posted on 05.06.2009 (18:37) goto top
	live super, laatste platen niet gecheckt, ook mega coole gasten
nielshond	Posted on 05.06.2009 (18:37) goto top
	die uniform choice cover... niettedoen.
hannes	Posted on 06.06.2009 (12:35) goto top
	Gewoon respect voor het feit dat ze na 20 jaar nog steeds staan, in de orginele line-up. Andere bands zijn volgens mij op 1 (nouja, misschien 2) hand (-en) te tellen.
trueal	Posted on 06.06.2009 (16:26) goto top
	nice interview idd! niet echt fan, maar sympathieke band.
realhatehardco re!73	Posted on 07.06.2009 (15:49) goto top
	superband!

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