A4

A4 - Aanklacht

This time I am offering you the ‘Aanklacht’ tape by A4 from Amsterdam. Some of you might know them because of their tracks on ‘Als je haar maar goed zit’ volume 1.
A4 formed out of the ashes of the Workmates (a really great band from Amsterdam with dual female/male vocals, they did a live ep and contributed a song to a compilation lp (Hey You)). Two of the members went on in A4, joined by former Ex drummer Geurt and Charlotte Smits on bass.
The music can be described as post-punk, it is not loud and fast, more complex structures and a definate ‘Gang Of Four’ and ‘Joy Division’ feel to it (if I am to judge ofcourse). Stuff I did not like too much back then, since I was more into the faster part of punk, but I started to like it more and more lateron.
Besides this, I do not have too much information on the band itself, so enjoy the tape!

tracklist:
01 who’s to blame
02 repeated action
03 bayer conspiracy
04 victims
05 battlefields
06 corruption
07 sexist army
08 12-10-82

A4 Aanklacht

AGENT ORANGE live @ Paradiso Amsterdam 24-05-1983

AGENT ORANGE went on where Jesus and the Gospelfuckers stopped. They did two 7" records (one on Graaf Hendrick records, run by Henk 'Hoezo Politiek Correct?' Smit. Henk also was the owner of maybe the best record shop Amsterdam ever had. And the other one on the French label 'New Wave). Especially their first ep is really good and one of the best Dutch records from that era if I am to judge.
Lyricwise AGENT ORANGE took it a step further too, songs about herpes, lingerie, feminists etc surely did not go down that well with the feminist crowd, not to mention the fact they had a female singer too. And she was able to raise hell on her own.............. As you may notice there's a buch of Gospelfuckers songs enclosed in their set too, two of them are also recorded on their second ep (dope and kill the police)

Like Jesus and the Gospelfuckers, AGENT ORANGE got banned from various venues too. I remember we travelled a few times to see them, but they never were allowed to play. So I am not 100% sure if I have seen them or not.
This is a live set recorded at Paradiso in Amsterdam, the venue where most bigger punk bands played as well as special Dutch punk nights. Soon the squats and youth centers took over the function of gig places and for the better too.
The tracklist:
01-fucking up the dogs
02-lingerie
03-factory
04-feminist
05-nothing
06-dope
07-herpes
08-kkk
09-kill the police
10-your mother sucks cocks in hell
11-untitled
12-genocide express
13-polonaise
14-lingerie (encore)
15-herpes (encore)

live @ Paradiso Amsterdam

JESUS AND THE GOSPELFUCKERS LIVE IN ARNHEM

The Stokvishal in Arnhem was not always the best venue to attend punk gigs. I remember the one where Exploited played in particular. Lots of nazi skins and idiot punks and then also a band that encouraged violence amongst the audience as well, a great night (not). We were supposed to go and see Angelic Upstarts and Cockney Rejects there too, they cancelled and I think we should be happy for that, because that for sure would have been a fiesta for the nazis.
One time Paul and myself went to see a couple of bands in small city close to Arnhem and we had to run like hell for the nazi skins and nazi punks attending that gig.
Anyways, the Dead Kennedys played Amsterdam and were supported by an unknown band called ‘Millions Of Dead Cops’. They blew Dead Kennedys off the stage and luckily they stayed in Europe a bit longer to do some more gigs. One of them was at a festival in Arnhem where Jesus and the Gospelfuckers also played. That was an afternoon/evening of mayhem for sure and I recall the singer and bass player for the Gospelfuckers negociating who was going to beat up one of the assholes in the crowd. They played brilliant, it was one of their best gigs (according to Henk Smit) and if I am correct, MDC even mentions this particular gig in a tour report.
Quality of this set is pretty good too, enjoy it!
(photo from nederpunk.nl)

Jesus and the Gospelfuckers live @ Stokvishal Arnhem, The Netherlands

DIE KRIPOS

Die (German for 'the')Kripos were a band from Arnhem, a small city in the east of the Netherlands, close to the German border. The most well known 80’s band from that city is probably Neuroot.
There was quite a large punkscene in Arnhem and most activities took place in a venue called ‘Stokvishal’. I have seen quite some bands overthere together with Paul and Olav and other punks from our area. One time we went to see the UK SUBS overthere and this was when they had just released their Crash Course lp. A mindblowing gig it was, we pogo-ed from the start till the end of the gig and decided we would go see them in Amsterdam again.
At that gig, Die Kripos were the support band. Apparently most punks came to see the UK SUBS, because they ddi not really get a lot of response and/our positive support. I remember that their singer wanted to make an impressive entrance on stage, but nearly tripped....
They recorded one ep, with two songs: Canera Security and Action Girl. A lot of their ep’s wee sold without the cover, my copy doesn’t have one either. It is an ok ep, not really a milestone. Their demo though has better songs and you can understand better why the UK SUBS were a big influence on them. You’ll also find a live set with a really long intro.


demo

live set

BIZKIDS

Holidays seemed to be the best time to upload a lot of stuff. Well, I did not do that because I did not feel like spending a lot of time inside this summer. So after a big break, here’s another blog.

In 1980/1981, Paul, Olav, Alex and myself travelled a lot to see punk bands play. Utrecht was a city that we visited often and sometimes more obscure places like Nunspeet and Ermelo. Amsterdam was a city that offered a lot of gigs for punk bands, international and national ones. Sometimes these gigs were organised in odd places and I remember a sunday afternoon when the 4 of us went to a part of Amsterdam called ‘De Bijlmer’. In this area of Amsterdam most of the inhabitants had their roots in Suriname and not many other people wanted to live there for either that reason or another. It was also considered a not so safe neighborhood, at least that’s what people from our area said. That particular sunday afternoon, there was a festival in a Parking Space underneath a small shopping mall if I am correct. The bands that I remember playing were The Ex, Nitwitz, World War Rockers and Bizkids. There were more bands playing but I forgot their names. The Ex just released their first ep as did The Nitwitz, so we knew those bands already. The World War Rockers were quite a raw band (listening to their recordings lateron I still wonder wether my ears were damaged at that time or not) and The Bizkids. The singer for the Nitwitz kept talking about disco fighting gangs in between the songs, so we were getting scared a bit, but nothin happened.
The Bizkids (note: not the Bizon Kidz!!) were one of the many band that were fronted by a female vocalist. They certainly fitted more in the melodic part of punk and were really enjoyable. There is not much information I can give you besides the fact that they contributed 2 songs to the Parkhof compilation lp and did a tv session for the VARA (labour television network).(I corrected this part, because the Bizkids drummer left a comment that it was a tv session, not a radio one)
In the file attached, you’ll find the two songs from that compilation as well as the radio session.
They are also featured on the dvd that was put out by Geurt, former drummer of The Ex. A small preview can be found on the following website: ALS JE HAAR MAAR GOED ZAT
I think the dvd itself is sold out.

Tracklist:
01 OPB (Live @ Parkhof, Alkmaar)
02 VIPS (Live @ Parkhof, Alkmaar)
03 SECRET (Live @ VARA tv)
04 VIPS (Live @ VARA tv)
05 SOMETHING GOING ON (Live @ VARA tv)
06 ADVERTISE (Live @ VARA tv)
07 CAPTIVITY (Live @ VARA tv)
08 SHOOT (Live @ VARA tv)

BIZKIDS

Punk live in Brouwershoek

Last weekend we went to Leeuwarden for a couple of days. Gerard had never been there before and I have only been there for work purposes. On the internet I found a recordstore called ‘King Kong Records’. A great store indeed and amongst other records, I found a good copy of the ‘One Way, Subway!’ 12”. The owner told me that the guy who released that record had a cd/dvd shop across the street and he might even sell some vinyl too. Ofcourse we went over to that store and I asked the owner if he was responsible for releasing the Subway 12”. He said he was and immediately grabbed a brandnew copy of the compilation lp ‘Punk, Live in Brouwershoeck’. Stupidly enough I asked him if he had any idea how much that record would be worth nowadays. He immediately took away the copy and there was no further discussion possible, I was marked as someone who made money by selling punk records.
Anyaways, it was rather interesting to talk to him about the early days of Dutch punk. He had stories about the Speedtwins, Panic and more early Dutch punk bands. He also explained why the label 1000 idioten is called 1000 idioten (1000 idiots). The guy who owned that label thought that would be 1000 idiots stupid enough to buy his releases.
According to the owner (Wobbe) he had 12.000 records stored in boxes in the back of his shop, but he could not be bothered to unpack them. Semi not caring, he then grabbed a Beatles record from one of the shelves behind the counter and showed it to me. Apparently it was reeleased on a very obscure label in the 60’s in the USA when no one overthere cared about the Beatles. He also mentioned that he had the original golden record for Never Mind The Bollocks and tod us about the Speedtwins/Sex Pistols gig in Leeuwarden. ( I am not even sure if they ever played there).
2 days later we were at another record store in Leeuwarden and that owner told us not to take all of Wobbe’s stories that seriously. It seemed that he always showed the same records to customers and tells the same stories. I hope he will reply to the email I just sent him and that he gets me a yellow vinyl copy of the Speedtwins lp.
The Live in Brouwershoek is a rather weird compilation, there have been other blogs about it already, for instance on 1000 aspirines and there’s wuite some information (in Dutch) on the site of the Frisian Pop Foundation. The picture is taken from the 1000 apspirines blog too, my copy is a coloured one, or is the photo just in black and white?
A1 chops - wodka
A2 chops - the world we live in
A3 chops - doomed to masturbate
A4 murder inc - why
A5 malicious damage - dope ain't anything for me
A6 malicious damage - viva fryslan
A7 spoiled sperm - i'm bored
A8 spoiled sperm - no way out
A9 the t-shirts - go away
A10 pin baskets - does it matter
A11 pin baskets - hate and fear
A12 mortal remains – secluded
B1 captain sensible - children of the damned
B2 captain sensible - jet boy, jet girl
B3 the outtakes - when you're young
B4 the outtakes - working for the yankee dollar
B5 the outtakes - money
B6 the outtakes - cars
B7 the outtakes - are friends electric

PUNK LIVE IN BROUWERSHOEK

The Squats - Demo

The Squats were a punkband from Nijmegen in the east of the Netherlands. They produced the ‘Chaos in Nijmegen’ ep, which is a very valuable collectors item nowadays and also a demo. I am putting that demo up for download. Recorded in 1980, they deliver 17 songs, includinga cover of Sham 69 and one of The Cockney Rejects. That should give you a clue on their biggest influences, indeed UK (oi!) punk.
Their reputation was not that good, they call themselves ‘obnoxious’ on their own website and I guess that is pretty accurate indeed. Their following was rather dodgy at times as well, punks and skins from the Arnhem/Nijmegen area were not very nice most of the times (not trying to generalize here) and I personally had a ‘nice’ encounter with some skins at a Neo Pogo’s gig in that area. Paul and myself have never ever runned faster than that evening.
Back to the band, they existed from 1979 till 1982 and,as many other punk bands, they consisted of bored teenagers, dropped out of school or unemployed, too much time on their hands and too much boredom as well.
Long after they had split up, I remember their singer coming up to us at a Lärm gig and accusing us of destroying all what punk was about, simply because we were Straight Edge and dressed in a different way than a lot of other punks at that time (In your non conformity you are so fucking conform!). Well, shit happens eh?
Their demo was self released on their own ‘Nep en Bedrog’ label. Enjoy it!
Photo taken from the official Squats website, where you can download their ep as well as a live set. Squats website
Tracklist:
1: Stupid students
2: I'm on the dole
3: Disco victims
4: Stress
5: Land of hope and glory
6: Pistols swindle
7: Don't listen to the fascists
8: Holidays in spain
9: We hate school
10: They don't understand
11: Nijmegen city
12: Doomed generation
13: Kotsen na het zuipen
14: Military insanity
15: Fuck the queen
16: Hippies are through in '82
17: Greatest cockney rip off

Squats demo