Antillectual

Friends First Fest will be the very last thing we’ll do in 2023. So even though our year isn’t 100% over yet, we already made a little recap of the things we did in 2023. Despite the world burning, with the continuing war in Ukraine, a new war igniting in Gaza and extreme right winning the Dutch elections, we as a band had an incredible year: Releasing TOGETHER definitely was the highlight of our year! Our first new album in 7 years, a mix of previously released singles and brand new songs, with beautiful artwork on LP/CD/tape, together with help from a lot of friends! It generated such heartwarming feedback!

We played many lovely shows this year; from supports and festivals to tours. Punk Rock Holiday definitely stands out with an overwhelming welcome at the European scene gathering in Slovenia. We had a blast supporting No Fun At All and Strike Anywhere at their Dutch shows; playing independent/DIY places, our homes away from home like ACU, Plupub, De Opstand, Immerhin, Bahndamm; doing fun festivals like Heng Loose, Skate & Destroy Open Air, Stemweder Open Air, Bearded Punk Fest, Limewood Fest; getting to do an Italian tour meeting up with longtime friends, and having a blast at the our Jahresabschluss at the Sonic Ballroom in Köln!

Pic by Roos de Huu

To all the other amazing cities, venues and festivals we were lucky enough to play this year, thank you! Despite our van breaking down twice and costing a fortune to fix, we didn’t have to cancel a single show. Humongous thanks go out to the people without whom we wouldn’t be able to do all this: our road crew Roos, Aaron & Chris; Hage at Spider Promotion, and of course our families and friends supporting this silly project that’s been going on for over 20 years now… See you on the other side!

Pic by Peter van Esch

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Leftist and centrist segments of Dutch society in general and we as a band are still in shock over the election results. Despite its liberal image the Netherlands have always been a right-wing leaning country. But an extreme right party winning the national elections is something that is still hard to imagine, let alone come to terms with (which we won’t!).

A lot of protests have already been organized and many more will follow. People are calling to bring together the majority of Dutch people that did not vote for Wilders/PVV. To those with perspectives that go against everything Wilders/PVV stand for, or to people feeling unwelcome because of Wilders/PVV winning the election: you are not alone in this, we got you, let’s do this together!

Geert Wilders and the PVV have been a subject since our anti-anti-Muslim song The New Jew for 2010’s Start From Scratch. Heads You Win, Tails We Lose was written after Trump and Brexit happened, but feels relevant during this post election hangover. Support Bands is an audio version of an emotional support animal; music to reinforce those with political/moral viewpoints that aren’t necessarily understood by people around them. Last week’s disaster will probably result in new songs and charity shows for those that now need additional help.

These stickers have been on my guitar since 2010. I thought about removing them every time I cleaned my guitar. I never did, realizing they were still relevant. The current one will remain on my guitar and we will make more, until they become irrelevant…

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Our TOGETHER fall run was truly incredible; warm welcomes at all the shows and people singing along to the new songs! 2023 is almost over, but we still have some cool stuff coming, and we’ll unveil our first 2024 plans…

Italy

One of the first countries we ever toured is Italy. Over the last decades we met many people that we still call friends to this day. After not visiting for a couple of years, we now finally get to go back! All shows with LineOut:

Nov 09 IT Rho (Milano), Rock ‘n’ Roll
Nov 10 IT Cantu (Como), Arci Terra E Liberta
Nov 11 IT Livorno, Surfer Joe
Nov 12 IT Carmagnola (Torino), Margot Club

After Italy we get to do three more shows in 2023 and we’ll spoil a couple of 2024 dates:
Nov 18 NL Arnhem, Skeerfest/Seawatch benefit show
Dec 01 DE Köln, Sonic Ballroom
Dec 29 NL Nijmegen, Friends First Fest
Jan 19 NL Eindhoven, The Jack
Mar 29 UK Manchester, Manchester Punk Fest

Info and tickets for all shows (incl FFF!) via our site. Wanna book us? Get in touch!

Early days package

We’re very excited that a lot of people get to know us through our new album TOGETHER! But we have some older releases as well… For everyone interested in our early days we created 25 special discounted bundles containing our first 4 albums. We only have 25 of these packages available, simply because we don’t have more copies of our debut album Silencing Civilization left. The holidays are coming, so don’t miss out! Available in our web store.

Packages include *:

• SILENCING CIVILIZATION – 2005 – White vinyl / Jewel case CD
• TESTIMONY – 2008 – Gray vinyl / Jewel case CD
• START FROM SCRATCH! – 2010 – Green vinyl / digipack CD
• PERSPECTIVES & OBJECTIVES – 2013 – White vinyl in gatefold sleeve(!) / digipack CD

4 CD package: 35 euro – 4 LP package: 45 euro
* cat/band member not included!

France – Spain – Portugal

TOGETHER was released together with labels from many countries. A lot of help and positive feedback came especially from France, Spain and Portugal. So there was only one thing to do: book a tour! More shows and details are coming, but here’s a newsletter exclusive preview of the upcoming dates:

March 06 FR Paris
March 07 FR Lyon
March 08 FR Montpellier
March 09 ES Girona, ATV
March 10 ES Barcelona, La Deskomunal
March 11 ES
March 12 ES Madrid, Wurlitzer Ballroom
March 13 PT Lisboa
March 14 PT Porto
March 15 ES A Coruña, Mardi Gras
March 16 ES Oviedo, Lata de Zinc
March 17 ES
March 18 FR Bordeaux
March 19 FR Nantes

That’s it for now, thanks for reading our newsletter! Don’t be shy, hit reply; we love hearing from you… In the next episode you will find the full lineup for Friends First Fest and details for the FR/ES/PT tour, and maybe some more nice plans for 2024?

Take care, Ben, Riekus & Willem

Missed our previous newsletter? Find it here!

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Be a smart cat, don’t sleep on it: the Early Days discount bundle!

We’re very excited that a lot of people get to know us through our new album TOGETHER! But we have some older releases as well… For everyone interested in our early days we created a special discounted bundle containing our first 4 albums. We only have 25 of these packages available, simply because we don’t have more copies of our debut album Silencing Civilization left. The holidays are coming, so don’t miss out and order the package via our web store! Packages include*:

SILENCING CIVILIZATION
2005 – White vinyl / Jewel case CD

TESTIMONY
2008 – Gray vinyl / Jewel case CD

START FROM SCRATCH!
2010 – Green vinyl / digipack CD

PERSPECTIVES & OBJECTIVES
2013 – White vinyl in gatefold sleeve(!) / digipack CD

4 CD package: 35 euro
4 LP package: 45 euro

Thanks for keeping our band afloat with your support!

*cat/band member not included!

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Now that our new album is out and summer festivals have been a blast, it’s time to hit the clubs! We’ll be playing fun shows in Germany, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands, and we’d love to see you at one (or more!) of them! To spread the word about this TOGETHER tour we made a music video for Action Reaction. And of course you can still check the album physically and digitally.

We’re very excited to play our new music to friends in cities we’ve been to before, and make new friends in places like Retie and Oberhausen. Expect many tunes from the new album on the setlist! For all tour details, tickets and Facebook events, visit the tour section on our website.

As a bonus announcement we have an Italian tour coming up:
Nov 09 Milano
Nov 10 Verona
Nov 11 Livorno
Nov 12 Torino
More news about that soon…

Wanna book us? Get in touch via email!

Action Reaction

Our friend Bram Bergs made a music video for ACTION REACTION to accompany the TOGETHER tour announcement! When releasing TOGETHER this track got a lot of positive feedback even though we never released it as a separate single. Now we’re making up for that with this great video starring your favorite decadent elitist populists! Check the video on our YouTube channel!

Together

We’re still getting a lot of feedback for our new album! Some really love hearing the singles in an album context, others appreciate the theme and coherence of the album. To get an LP/CD/tape or check it at Bandcamp, Spotify and all the usual sources, visit the album page on our website! Find shirts and other albums in our webshop.

That’s it for now, thanks for reading our newsletter! Don’t be shy, hit reply; we love hearing from you… In the next episode you will find details for the Italian tour, and maybe a tour announcement with dates in the south-west of Europe?
Take care, Ben, Riekus & Willem

Missed our previous newsletter? Find it here!

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