Nitwitz

The Nitwitz were one of the second wave punkbands in the Netherlands. They started around 1979 and released two really good ep's (self titled, the worst of the nitwitz) a killer live set on the nitwitz/götterflies split lp and then a rather dissapointing 12" called 'Scorched Earth Policy'. They also recorded a couple of songs for the famous 'Als je haar maar goed zit #1' lp. Those recordings were a lot more polished than their previous ones and at time I liked my punk raw and unpolished, just like I still do.
I think I have seen them live two or three times. One time in a garage in the Bijlmer (same gig as I saw the Bizkids)and probably once or twice more in Amsterdam.
They were playing very close to my house at one point, in Hoevelaken. Hoevelaken had it's own youthcentre at that time (as many cities and towns did) and somehow they invited the Nitwitz and Götterflies to play there. This was when they just released their 'The worst of...' ep.
Money was not always around and I had two options: Go and see the bands live or buy the ep. I choose to buy the record. At that time I had a small side job, taking milksamples at various farms, so another reason probably was I had to get up at 5 on the saturdaymorning.
Anyways, the youthcentre called 'Kazemat' was in the basement of the local music hall (I think it was a atomic shelter actually, maybe Theun knows that for sure?). On the same night André Hazes was performing upstairs. Google his name and listen to some mp3's and maybe you can get an idea of the crowd that came down to see him. White thrash indeed and that combined with the farmer mentality of a lot of them was a nasty combination with the punks that came to see the bands in the basement. When one of them was playing with a buckknife, this was the sign for the upsairs visitors to attack the people downstairs. It became a night full of violence and if I am correct some people were hospitalized as well. So much for punk in Hoevelaken.
Years later we played their ourselves. And ofcourse there was another event upstairs: The Havenzangers played the same evening and yes, they attracted the same crowd as André Hazes did. Part of that crowd found out there was a hardcore gig downstairs and wanted to kick some punk asses. I can't really remember much but I do remember we locked ourselves inside the office and remained safe that way.
Back to the Nitwitz, not too long after they released their 12", the band broke up. Their singer Erik formed a band called 'Outrageous' and the other members formed BGK, who became the first Dutch hardcore band to tour the USA. Tony (the original bassplayer) reformed the Nitwitz years and years later and moved to guitar in that line up.
The recordings in the file are from the 100th gig anniversary, it contains songs off their records as well as a few unreleased ones.
Hopefully there will be a Nitwitz discography some day. The first two ep's and live side will do Tony :-)

Nitwitz 100th gig