I have been looking for their first lp 'Schliessbaum' for ages. It was one of those records I did not pick up when it was released, basically because I did not have enough money to buy all records released and choices had to be made. Paul and Olav taped it for me though and at that time, it did the job really well. I know someone in Amersfoort has a copy too, but despite all my trying and begging, he did not want to part with it.
You can imagine my joy when my friend Theun sent me a textmessage: 'Schliessbaum without lyricsheet in good condition, interested?' Ofcourse I was and for an ok price I am finally owning this record. Another one crossed of the list.
The Tröckener Kecks were part of the second wave of punk bands in Amsterdam. What makes them stand out of the rest, are the lyrics. Often poetic, but also critical and therefor interesting. Listening to them these days, they could be compared to the Undertones at some point. Musicwise that is.
They once played about 5 km from my house. I think I mentioned that gig in the post I did on the Nitwitz.
Tröckener Kecks were also featured on that mega-festival in the UK called 'Christmas On Earth' where they played among a lot of UK82 bands as well as Black Flag and Lama (!). Henry Rollins wrote about this festival in Get in the Van.
Personally I lost interest in the Tröckener Kecks after their second ep, that is when they moved on from punk to more rock. They actually became a quite succesfull band lateron, with different members than the Original line-up.
I have uploaded their 1980 demo, recorded at Oktopus Amsterdam. Most of these songs can be found on the Rik Ringers ep or the Schliessbaum lp. Sometimes in a different version that the ones on the records. There's also some unreleased songs (as far as I know).
In his book 'Johan was punk an dhe knows it' , Johan van Leeuwen wrote about the times he joined the Tröckener Kecks on the gigs they played. Being fanatic fans of Heineken, every time they passed the brewery on their way to a gig, the van stopped, everybody jumped out and kissed the walls of the brewery. Hence the song 'Heineken Beer', which is a non stop ode to this beer brand (and we all know it tastes like shit right?). Dutch punk band Outlawz wrote a song called 'Chocomel' (chocolate milk) as a reaction to the Tröckener Kecks ode.
I will upload the first ep and the Schliessbaum lp somewhere in the future.
Enjoy their demo
Tröckener Kecks demo
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