Antillectual

It’s been a couple of days since you heard from us, dear followers. The last days we’ve been to Zaragoza, Madrid, Setúbal, Lisboa, Mouriscas and now we’re in Porto. Still curious what we did? Sure? Alright, don’t say we didn’t warn you!

Tuesday February 2nd 2010 – Zaragoza, Spain

We arrived at the venue in Zaragoza and it turned out to be some hardrockbar. We heard that Adhesive and Hot Water Music played there too. We met with Luis, the promoter and his wife, some of the most friendly people I ever met. Not only did they book the show, they gave us food, a place to sleep but they also hosted our friends in This Routine Is Hell that had a day off. The show was opened by a new band called Skeptiks. These girls played some nice punkrocktunes. Only two bands on the bill tonight. At midnight I turned 28, eh… 18 and Bon Jovi sang to me while I got a Tequila. Thanks boys!

After the show we went to the sleepingplace. I was sleeping in a room with 3 cats that jumped on me all night. Guess I made some friends. Before we took off, Luis provided me with some good Spanish punkrock music. Got back to the van and left for Madrid.

Wednesday February 3rd 2010 – Madrid, Spain

This is Madrid, not Barcelona. In front of the venue we had to wait for the promoter and the owner to show up, so we killed time with the remaining episodes of New Kids, verrekte mongol jonge! This night we would play with This Routine Is Hell again. The people at True Believers did a nice job. Again, great food and a wonderful looking venue with posters of great bands like AC/DC, The Who, Green Day, Ramones and Limp Bizkit. Did I just type that? Anyway, the show was nice, although we encountered some minor problems. Hey, it’s still punkrock! accidently called Madrid Barcelo… Sorry folks! Nab, a kid from Nice who booked us shows on some of our first tours, also showed up.

We loaded the van and drove to the sleepingplace. An awesome house in the outskirts of Madrid. Joris Tarrel destroyed a painting, I got attacked by a ferret, but we had fun. Playing some acoustic songs and went to sleep. Next morning would be early because we had to leave at 10.

Thursday February 4th 2010 – Day Off @ Madrid, Spain

First day off this tour. There are worse places to be on days like these. We took the metro to the city, which turned out to be a little disaster. We checked in, checked out, had to check in again. We didn’t check in enough, got stopped by security and we were only replying with “this is a 10 way ticket!”. Apparently, when you do that enough, it works! Took a little walk in the city centre, got some coffee and met up with Nab again. He took us to a Hare Krshna place. Not really our cup of tea, but they served great vegetarian and vegan food. Sweet! We said goodbye to Nab again and split up. Willem and Petit went for coffee and internet, Riekus, Marnix and me went for the Prado museum. Convinced that there were some Picasso paintings here, Marnix went to the reception and asked where they were. Wrong museum! Major lolz @ Marnix. Ashamed to stand next to him, we left for the Reina Sofia museum. I’m not really into this stuff and I was really amazed by a giant piece of poo with metal in it, the Dali painting of The Face of the Masturbator and some Joop Klepzeiker kinda Picasso cartoon with giant falli. Marnix and Riekus were impressed by the Guernica, some big painting that I could have made when I was 10 years old.

We got some dinner in the city and left for the van. We could sleep the night at Marga’s place but we were unable to park the van, unless we were paying 60 euros. We decided to get a cheap hotel instead. Sorry for the troubles Marga! When we were waiting on a parking space outside of the hotel, we met with the police. Four cars, 8 cops. They searched the van, searched our bodies, checked everying. I’m glad we could keep our pants on at 3 AM outside in the cold winter. There was really no reason for doing this, but I guess we had to respect their authoritaah. The 4 Skins were right after all, Acht Cola Acht Bier. We parked the van at the hotel and caught some sleep. Woke up, took a nice shower and left for Portugal. Never been there before, nice to see some new places!

Friday February 5th 2010 – Day Off

Unfortunately we didn’t have a show this day, but our friends in This Routine Is Hell are playing in a squat somewhere near Setúbal and we might be able to sleep there as well. First we went into the boring city of Setúbal. Got some pizza, almost got hit by a car with no lights on so I decided to take off with no lights either. Oops! The squat had no address, but we were picked up by the boys in TRIH and went to the show. Don’t ask how we got there, but we managed. Hellrides, yeah! When we arrived, one of the dogs was friendly enough to pee on the van. Obrigado! The show started really late and some of us got some sleep. The rest watched some nice hardcore bands and saw TRIH play an awesome show. These guys get better and better! Late at night, we all went to sleep. Tomorrow LisBoah is the next stop.

Saturday February 6th 2010 – Lisboa & Mouriscas, Portugal

Today is gonna be a tough day. There are two shows, one in Lisboa and one in Mouriscas. We left for a one hour drive to Lisboa and when we arrived at the venue, Marnix realized he forgot his bag with passport, keys and other important stuff. What an ass! We unloaded the Tarrel-van and Marnix and me took it and drove back to Setúbal. Within less than two hours we were back in the city centre of Lisboa. It reminded me of San Fransisco with the hills, the trams, with the Golden Gate bridge and Jesus on the other side of the bay. Oh wait, I never been to SF. The show was organized by Joao of Infected Records, who put out Testimony. This was our last show with This Routine Is Hell on this tour. We played at some old theatre that looked really nice. People seemed to enjoy the show. Albert Fish played after us and released their new record this afternoon. By the time This Routine Is Hell started playing, we had to leave to catch the next show. Waved them goodbye and took off for Mouriscas

When we arrived in Mouriscas we were picked up by Xico, the promoter of tonight’s show. We entered a large community centre and got some spaghetti and letuce. Good food! We were harrassed by the local dorpsgek, but that was kinda funny. First two bands, Shake Shake And Show Me Your Pussy and The Wild Ones played some rokkerol tunes. Sweet! The third band, Defying Control played fast punkrock songs. I thought they were pretty amazing! At the time we started playing, it was really late, but there were still a lot of people that seemed to enjoy the show. Afterwards, a guy said that I screamed like a girl and Riekus didn’t have enough muscles. Thanks dude! I think we gave a million autographs and even Petit and Marnix signed tourposters. Rockstar attitudes among merchguys, pfff! After a quick bite we went to sleep really late. Guess we really needed sleep. Got up and got fresh fruit and home made soup by the grandma of Xico After saying goodbye we got in the van and continued our way to Porto, where we had to be early for another afternoon show.

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Dear people who are still interested in our stories! Last Friday we started our tour to Belgium, France, Spain and Portugal. We will be on the road for 17 days and try to inform you every once in a while. The touring party consists of Marnix, Petit and of course, Tom, Riekus and Willem. Right now we’re on our way to Zaragoza. Here’s a little update on the first dates on tour. Hope you enjoy!

ANTILLECTUAL TOURREPORT JANUARY, FEBRUARY 2010

Belgium – France – Spain – Portugal

Friday January 29^th 2010 – Herselt, Belgium

Tour kickoff today at the Antillectual house in Nijmegen. I missed my train in Utrecht and when I arrived, the backline was already in the van. Marnix, who is joining us this tour was already there after getting lost in the town where he lives. Luckily we have a GPS this tour. We left for Herselt and arrived pretty early. Other bands this night were Timmy Hillfire, The Ignored and Second Base. In Herselt we hooked up with Petit, who is also tagging along on tour. We had great food made by Petit’s madamme, Karen. The West-Flemmish guys in The Ignored surprised me with New Noise, a Refused cover. Second base played some new songs that were really good. We drank some Juupkes and Orvallekes and left the same night because we had a 1000 kilometers to go to the next show.

The plan was to drive to a hotel South of Paris, catch some sleep and hit the road the next morning. When we passed the first peage, Petit found a nice way to thank the French. We needed to lose weight anyway. After midnight traffic jams, snowstorms Parisienne and a Hors Categorie drive to the hotel, we managed to get some sleep.

Saturday January 30^th 2010 – Fumel, France

On our way to the South, we started with nice weather that changed into snowstorms again. If we wanted snow, we would tour Sörmland, Sweden! Why did we bring swimshorts anyway? We arrived at the venue and the other bands, Open Nightmare and Ivan Rebroff’s Armpits were already there. We had great food and had some nice conversations. The show was at Pavilion 108, a pretty big venue. The other bands played pretty well, especially Ivan Rebroffs Armpits blew me away. Too bad their drummer didn’t play with dinosaur bones. After the show we drank a couple of beers and went to the hotel, had another drink and went to sleep. Guess we were tired after a long day in the van. After breakfast, we drove to Toulouse, enjoy the beautiful French landscape. We went to Pierro’s place and again time for some relaxing.

Sunday January 31^st 2010 – Toulouse, France

We went to the venue, a pretty new squat. Too bad I stepped in a dog turd. Too good, Marnix stepped in one too! Again, we had a great dinner. First band was Monsieurs de Fursac. They played instrumental noisy rock. Like! Second was Ivan Rebroff’s Armpits again. I was hanging out at the merch so I couldn’t see the show, but I guess they rocked as hard as in Fumel. Great band! Before our show, we were asked to play Ordinary, but I don’t know how to play it. Sorry Toulouse, next time I’ll be able to play it! Think we played a decent show. I saw people singing along, that’s always nice to see. During the evening, Marnix was attacked by a drunk French woman. Something with biting I guess. Kinky!

After the show we drove back to Pierro’s house and had a good sleep. Lovely breakfast in the morning and excellent coffee and tee. I can imagine why the people in our tourcrew that have been there before called this their second home. We left, got some gas, got some food and took off for Torelló, close to Barcelona. Weather seems good outside of the van. Have to get my swimshorts out of the bag! Yeah!

Monday February 1^st 2010 – Torelló, Spain

Driving thru the beautiful landscape, we found our way to Torelló pretty easy. The way to the venue was harder. We drove down some muddy roads, watched some episodes of the Dutch New Kids show and managed to find the way to the venue. This night we were playing together with our buddies in This Routine Is Hell. Show was cool. I didn’t expect that many people on a Monday, so that’s awesome! This Routine Is Hell played a lot of songs from their new record. Like! Poke! We tried some new songs too, worked out pretty okay I guess. Think the old songs were also pretty new for the crowd. After the show we went to Toni’s house. Stole the internet of the neighbours and some guys went to a bar. At night, Boris Tarrel stepped on my hamstring, ouch! Then he started snorring really loud. If this continues every night, I might have to think about some punishment. After saying goodbye to the house and the evil cats (the cats had discovered the whole house in shit the day before we were supposed to sleep there, nice!), we continued our way to Zaragoza.

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Last Saturday we played our last show ever with Yvo on bass. A crazy sold out show was a nice way to close this chapter. In Tom we found an amazing replacement presenting us a very glourious future ahead. Our first step is a tour that will hopefully get us somewhere warmer.

– Warm Winter Tour
– Dutch Export
– Recording a New Album
– Tour with High Five Drive

Warm Winter Tour

Belgium, France, Spain and Portugal seemed to be the best destinations when touring in January and February. If you live in the area, please drop by and say hi!

Jan 29 BEL Herselt, De Choke. w/ Second Base, more
Jan 30 FR Fumel, Pavillon108. w/ OpeNightmare, Ivan Rebroff’s Armpits
Jan 31 FR Toulouse, Les Pavillons Sauvages. w/ Ivan Rebroff’s Armpits (release show), Messieurs de Fursac
Feb 1 ES Torelló / Barcelona, l’Eclèctic
Feb 2 ES Zaragoza, Sala Ultimátum
Feb 3 ES Madrid, Sala Barracudas
Feb 4 Available
Feb 5 Available
Feb 6 POR Lisbon, Casa de Lafoes Afternoon show. w/ This Routine Is Hell, Albert Fish, Barafunda Total
Feb 6 POR Mouriscas, GDR Os Esparteiros. w/ Defying Control, The Wild Ones, Shake Shake and SMYP
Feb 7 POR Porto, Bar Altar Afternoon show
Feb 8 Available
Feb 9 ES Oviedo, La Antigua Estacion. w/ Threewordname, Mr. Lafleur
Feb 10 ES Pasaia (San Sebastian), Sala Mogambo. w/ Alaska Pipeline, Curasan
Feb 11 FR Bayonne, Bar Kixkil Ostatua
Feb 12 FR La Rochelle, La Barbarella
Feb 13 FR Brest, Espace Léo Ferré. w/ Speedball, Jeune Seigneur, Last Exit To Brooklynn
Feb 14 FR Lille, La Chimère

As you can see, we are still looking for shows on February 4, 5 and 8 in Spain or Portugal. Let us know if you can help us out.

Dutch Export

Since we are known to tour a lot Buma Cultuur (the Dutch authors- and copyrights organization) mentioned us in their press bulletin announcing that the export of Dutch pop music was raised by 15% in 2008. Read the Dutch version and the English version.

Recording a New Album

A week after we get back from tour we will be entering the studio. It has been almost 2 years since we released our last full length album “Testimony”. We will record 12 new songs with Nico van Montfort at the Erock studio in Panningen. On the upcoming tour and shows we will play a lot of these songs to get them into shape. A release will follow later this year.

Tour with High Five Drive

We never promised to slow down. After we finish recording, mixing and mastering we will embark on another tour. Together with High Five Drive from Canada we will be playing shows in France, the UK and Belgium between April 25 and May 1. Routing to be announced soon. Get in touch if you feel like helping us out.

Other shows:

Feb 17 NL Utrecht, ACU. w/ Nothington, Bivouac
Feb 19 BEL Wachtebeke, VZW MaNo. w/ Bound In Blood, Rumble Fist, The Dancing Morons
Feb 20 NL Krommenie, De Groote Weiver. w/ Sweet Empire, Union Town
Feb 27 NL Nijmegen Waalhalla. w/ Static Thought
Mar 6 NL Hoogeveen Het Podium. w/ Nuestros Derechos, Nuclear Driven Animals

If you feel like the recession is over and your liquidity is increasing (what?!), please consider visiting our webshop to fund our upcoming recordings. In the next issue of your favorite newsletter you will find some news about our new release, and more new touring plans. We hope.

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This weekend Buma Cultuur (the Dutch authors- and copyrights organization) released a press bulletin mentioning Antillectual as one of Holland’s main export products in 2008. The press release was published in mainstream media (online and offline) like De Volkskrant, Nu.nl, de NRC, Het Parool and many, MANY other media. For an English version of the article go here.

Apparently Dutch pop music generated 50,2 million euro, 15% more than the year before. Now you know how we can afford our lifestyles!

Other Dutch artists mentioned:
André Rieu, Epica, DJ Tiësto, Peter Pan Speedrock, Armin van Buuren, Ferry Corsten, Within Temptation, Laidback Luke, Born from Pain, Marco V, Sander Kleinenberg, No Turning Back.
What a great company!

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This is the end of our winter break. Behind the scenes a lot of stuff has happened for us the last couple of weeks. And it’s about time to get out again. First of all “us” isn’t the same people anymore.  Second of all: despite that our ambitions are bigger than ever. Third of all: please read on below:

– NEW bass player
– NEW tours

NEW tours
Tom has been working hard to learn our set and the newly written songs. To get both our new bass player and the new songs kicked into perfect shape we planned a run of shows close to home:

Nov 21 NL Sevenum, OJC Walhalla w/ The Real Danger, This Is Cowboy Poetry
Nov 28 NL Breda, Kraakkroeg Voorerf Benefiet Klimaat Actie Kamp. w/ Blame Coca Cola, Rat Label
Dec 4 Bel Antwerpen, de Koevoet w/ Kingterror, Bitedown, GBO
Dec 5 NL Tilburg, Little Devil Shield recordings 5 year anniversary party. w/ Smash the Statues, The Real Danger, Argetti
Dec 19 NL Emmen, Huize Spoorloos w/ Barley Wine
Dec 24 NL Meppel, Cafe Clouso Xodus Kerstpunk. w/ Smash the Statues, Ravens, Omission, The Hunger, The Arrangement, Knekelput
Jan 16 NL Barneveld, Villa / Stedsj
Jan 23 NL Nijmegen, De Onderbroek Yvo & Smash the Statues Farewell show w/ Smash the Statues, In-sane, The Acoustic Alarm

After that period we embark on a European tour and record the new album. Below you find the tour schedule. As you can see we are still in need of shows. Please help us out if you can!

Jan 29 Fr Valenciennes, Available
Jan 30 Fr Lyon, Available
Jan 31 Fr Toulouse, Les Pavillons Sauvages w/ Ivan Rebroff’s Armpits, Messieurs de Fursac
Feb 1 Sp Barcelona, Available
Feb 2 Sp Zaragoza, Available
Feb 3 Sp Madrid, Sala Barracudas
Feb 4 Sp Burgos, TBC
Feb 5 Por Lisboa, Available
Feb 6 Por Porto, Available
Feb 7 Sp Vigo, Available (or Por)
Feb 8 Sp Giyon / Oviedo, Available (or Por)
Feb 9 Sp Bilbao, Available (or Fr)
Feb 10 Sp San Sebastian, Available (or Fr)
Feb 11 Fr Bayonne, TBC
Feb 12 Fr La Rochelle, La Barbarella
Feb 13 Fr Paris, Available
Feb 14 Fr Lille, La Chimère

NEW merch and web shop
Since we are almost out of shirts, patches and zippers and we have new touring plans we ordered some new merch. For the first time we will be doing girly zippers. Don’t let us down girls! If you pre-order our news designs you will get 2 free extra posters, 2 buttons, 2 stickers and 4 samplers, not a bad deal I assure you. Check out the designs and let us know what you think. Zippers come in 2 fancy colors, shirts and girlies in 3 colors.

In case this didn’t lead you to our site yet, please reconsider, since we have a completely new merch store, which makes it even easier to get what you want. Those of you privileged to receive this newsletter can also just reply and place your order.

That’s it for now. Because of the winter people are looking for HOT stuff. And we’ve heard twitter and facebook are HOT. So if you want us to feel appreciated interact with us on Facebook and Twitter.

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