Antillectual

It feels incredible being an active band again! The first run of shows we did was amazing: kicking off at our own Shred Fest, joining Bad Religion at Paradiso and supporting Pussy Riot in these troubling times. The rest of 2022 looks quite promising, and 2023 won’t be too bad either… did anyone say “album”?

First of all: we previously announced “an army of bass players” instead of one single person joining us. But after playing shows and discussing the situation with Ben and Gijs we mutually agreed that Ben is our dedicated full time bass player! We’re very thankful that Gijs helped us out in the meantime!

Upcoming Shows

We’re very excited to see you in real life:

• Sep 03 DE Ulm, The Broken fieldset. Info / FB event
• Sep 24 DE Saarbrücken, Studio 30 Fest. Info / FB event
• Oct 28 BE Leuven, Het Depot. w/ Heideroosjes (sold out!) Info / FB event
• Oct 29 FR Le Havre, McDaids.
• Nov 11 Available
• Nov 12 DE Bochum, Turbo Fest (Die Trompete). Info / FB event
• Nov 19 DE Wiesbaden, 12 Jahre Keep It A Secret (Kreativfabrik). Info / FB event
• Dec 02 Available
• Dec 03 DE Glauchau, Festival/Cafe Taktlos.
• Dec 17 DE Würzburg, Happy Accidents Fest.
• Dec 29 NL Nijmegen, Friends First Fest #6. FB event
• Jan 20, 2023 BE Liège, La Zone.

Wanna help out with the “Availables” or book us some other time? Get in touch!

New Album

In 2018 we promised/threatened that we had stopped making albums. But we kept getting requests for a physical release. So after releasing a handful of digital singles we are very excited to announce a new release to our penfriends! A full length album bundling the singles and extra songs. The album is almost done, but we can’t announce a release date yet because vinyl delivery times are crazy long. We aim for a spring release, fingers crossed! We will keep you up to date, you’ll hear it here first!
(If you’re a label interested in releasing/distributing, please reply to this email!)

Merch

After selling out the Bijstand Mural shirts so quickly, we decided to make some extra, and include the Cheetah design, since a lot of people liked those as well. Find them together with our LPs/CDs, discount bundles and other goodies in our webshop!

That’s it for now, next time we’ll share more concrete news about the new album!
Thanks for reading, till next time; Ben, Riekus & Willem

PS: have you seen our TikTok hit yet? 666k people can’t be wrong, right?!

Missed our previous newsletter? Find it here!

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It’s time to reveal a big chunk of info for SHRED FEST at Waalhalla in Nijmegen on April 2nd: Dick Perrie and Patch The Sky are coming to shred with us! Both are brand new bands formed by scene legends, bringing you a delicious mix of rock, grunge and punk. You can now get tickets, which include access to the skatepark and gear to skate!

More band, afterparty and skate updates still to come…

Poster artwork by Dark Roast

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Shred Fest & Fresh Merch

After a false start last fall live events are really back this time! We can finally reveal the new festival we’ve been hinting at: SHRED FEST, a combination of music and skating! And there’s a pre-order for great looking new shirts and sweaters:

Fresh Merch

With shows on the way we wanted to make new merch. We made a poll and people picked the Bijstand mural design by Mike Nicolaassen. You can pre-order a shirt, crewneck or zipper with an album of choice! We have all items in 3 color options (black/navy/burgundy) and a wide range of sizes available for pre-order only! Pre-orders are up until Sunday Feb 27, orders will be sent out at the beginning of April.

Unfortunately our financial reserves have vanished during the pandemic, this is the ultimate way to support us. Thank you for helping us out this way; it means the world to us, and makes new recordings possible(!)

Shred Fest

When Friends First Fest #6 got postponed to Dec 2022 we wanted to do “something” as soon as measures would allow it. SHRED FEST is our impromptu festival happening at skate park Waalhalla in Nijmegen on April 2nd. Combining a rad line-up (announcement soon!) with skate demos, contests, jams and food! You heard the announcement here first, keep an eye on our social media or the FB event for updates! Bring your board / bmx / blades / scooter kid or borrow some gear from Waalhalla and come SHRED with us!

Deconstructing I WROTE THIS SONG

To kill the downtime we’ve been doing all sorts of pandemic projects: a drum chronology, acoustic shows and covers. The latest (and hopefully the last) one is a series about the deconstruction of I WROTE THIS SONG. The first 3 episodes give a peek at our songwriting process through demos, instrumentation breakdowns, the song’s structure and music that inspired the songwriting. Subscribe to our Youtube channel for new episodes!

Upcoming Shows

We’re very excited to see you in real life again at one of these:

• Apr 02 NL Nijmegen, Shred Fest. FB
• May 28 DE Unkel, Belly Up Fest.
• Jun 03 DE Essen, Café Nova. Info / FB
• Jun 04 DE/FR TBC.
• Jun 05 LU Esch-sur-Alzette, Mad Ones Fest. Info / FB
• Jun 16 DE Göttingen, T-Keller.
• Jun 17 DE Leipzig, Beard Ättäck Fest (Conne Island). Info / FB
• Jun 18, 2022 DE Minden, Kraetzeval. FB
• Jul 26 NL Utrecht, dBs w/ Strung Out. Info / FB
• Jul 27 NL Vlaardingen, Kroepoekfabriek w/ Strung Out. Info / FB
• Dec 29 NL Nijmegen, Friends First Fest #6. FB

Wanna see/book us/make this list longer? Get in touch with us or Steve at Merit Based.

Next time we will hopefully share even more new shows with you! That’s it for now, thanks for reading, till next time…

Missed our previous newsletter? Find it here!

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It’s time to unveil the Friends First Fest plans we’ve been hinting at! Are you ready?!

We’re very excited that we can do FFF with the current Covid measures in our favorite venue: De Onderbroek! Happening on Wednesday December 29, check the FB event to RSVP. The setlist will consist of our 11 old: START FROM SCRATCH! We’ll play it from left to right, from front to back. Tom Nieuwenhuis will join us on bass for this one, he recorded the album with us, and rehearsing the songs has been amazing!

Unfortunately, we still have to take into account that future anti-Covid measures might make FFF 2021 impossible. That’s why we will wait with ticket sales and line-up announcements. To be continued!

So, fingers crossed for now, and either way we will do our best to throw the best FRIENDS FIRST FEST ever in 2021!
(Painting by Willem’s mom!)

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This is the news we’ve been dying to send you: WE ARE DOING SHOWS AGAIN! After being on our biggest break ever, doing some small projects and missing you a lot, we are very excited to make new plans, and music! We actually have some shows lined up, which we will be playing with new line ups…

Pandemic Projects

We decided to lay low for as long as we couldn’t do “normal” shows. We did do some things though:
Riekus recorded a “Drum Chronology” : all 54 of our songs in 5 minutes! While normal shows were impossible, Willem did some acoustic online shows. Here you can check Willem at SBÄM Online Fest 3. Unscripted Moments aka the Propagandhi podcast did an episode with Willem talking about Mate Ka Moris Ukun Rasik An for which he did an acoustic cover with the Punk Cellist. It was scheduled well in advance, but the release of our Covers EP happened in the middle of the pandemic. While vinyl sold out in the pre-order, we still have some tapes and it’s on all digital channels via our website.

New Line Up

As you read in our latest newsletter Toon has left the band. During the downtime we had plenty of time to think about what to do. Instead of looking for one and one bass player only, we decided to build an army of bass players. This makes it easy for us as a band to be flexible and doesn’t require people to cancel their own lives when helping us out. At the moment Gijs (Zero Zero Zero, Tenement Kids) and Ben (Dependent) are jumping in. The spirit is high, we’re very excited to play with them, come welcome them at the upcoming shows!

With the prospect of new band members, shows and tours, we should also think about new releases, right? Check! We’re working on new songs that we would love to release. Perhaps as an “album”? No deadline, release date or any other timeline yet though. You’ll read it here first!

Upcoming Shows

Even though this list is shorter than usual, we’re very happy with the fact that there is a list period!

• Oct 22 DE Wuppertal, Die Börse. w/ Venturas
• Nov 27 BE Wommelgem, Fort Fest 2021.
  w/ The Kids, Crackups, Dee Cracks, Priceduifkes, Captain Kaiser and many more
• Dec 29 NL Nijmegen, Friends First Fest #6
• Jun 18, 2022 De Minden, Kraetzeval

Wanna see/book us/make this list longer? Get in touch with us or Steve at Merit Based. Steve (you might also know him from his band Belvedere!) is taking care of all our European bookings, including Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Merch

As you know, we’re not in it for the money, but it does make our van go round. If you wanna support us keeping our heads above water, paying our bills now that we’ve been running dry for over a year: please check out the merch in our webshop, it’s the best way to help us out. We have all full length albums (LP+CD) available, some Covers EP tapes, the Fever and “Ramones” design and some limited leftovers. We’ll cut your shipping costs if you add the comment “Newsletter Friends First”!

That’s it for now, thanks for reading, till next time!

Missed our previous newsletter? Find it here!

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