Antillectual

It’s been a while since we updated, for various reasons: we’ve been very busy preparing our set with “new guy” Tim, went off for a few shows in the UK and, well, we’ve been busy updating our facebook status and twitter messages.. Which is exactly what we wanted to talk about!

Besides playing a very enjoyable showcase at the Eurosonic festival in groningen (video below), we were featured in Niels Aalberts‘ Noorderslag panel titled “successful use of social media for bands”. Basically it was a panel about the use of the twitters, facebooks, bandcamps and whatnot. Members of other Dutch bands Blof and Only Seven Left also shared their experiences in this panel, which you can watch further on. It’s all in Dutch, but definitely worth watching if you’re in a band and wondering what the h*ll to do with all those social media. Enjoy!

CMC 1 Noorderslag: succes met nieuwe media from iMMovator on Vimeo.

We also spent some time with Niels and Gert-Jan from NCRV’s Ongekendtalent, who shot a little feature about our (lack of?) preparations for a show. No noisy, sweaty content, just a little more conversation (little less action)

And a tiny reminder: if you happen to be in the Utrecht / Amsterdam area tomorrow, come out and join us at the ACU for Tom’s goodbye show. Tim will be playing a solo set, Utrecht’s Break Character will hurl you back into the 1990’s and a few Swedish guys by the name The Indecision Alarm will probably drink your beer.

First of all we want to wish you a happy new year! We welcome the new year by new tours and a new bass player. All this to promote our new album “Start From Scratch!”.

Germany and United Kingdom tours

To promote “Start From Scratch!” we will be touring our asses off as much as possible. Starting smoothly with 2 weekend trips through Germany (with Red Tape Parade) and the United Kingdom.

Germany:

• Jan 5 GER Köln Sonic Ballroom w/ Red Tape Parade
• Jan 6 GER Augsburg Ballonfabrik w/ Red Tape Parade
• Jan 7 GER Finsterwalde L 86 w/ The Red Tape Parade
• Jan 8 GER Berlin Scherer8 w/ Red Tape Parade + Man the Change
• Jan 9 GER Available!

United Kingdom:

• Jan 26 BE / FR / UK Available!
• Jan 27 UK London The Gaff w/ The Human Project, Code Blue
• Jan 28 UK Bath The Green Park Tavern w/ The Human Project
• Jan 29 UK Hull Hollywood and Vine
• Jan 30 UK Leeds Royal Park Cellars

In February we will go back to France (get in touch for dates!), and in April we will head to Russia for the first time ever!

New album

For those living under a rock: we have a new album out, “Start From Scratch!”. You can order an LP/CD through us or stream or download it together with all our music (for free or for a donation) at music.antillectual.com. When you are at our webshop, check out our new shirts, zippers and girlies!

New bass player

A month ago we brought the news that Tom leaves our band and Tim replaces him. Some of you might know Tim from his solo work as Tim Vantol. You can read Tom’s statement here. His farewell show will be at the ACU in Utrecht on February 4, including a solo set by Tim Vantol and other TBA bands.

Eurosonic/Noorderslag & other shows

We are very proud to announce that we will be playing the Eurosonic/Noorderslag Festival in Groningen (NL). The festival is a showcase for hip and happening bands from Europe. And us. We will play a regular set and an acoustic set for Live In Your Living Room. See below for details. Do you want to hear our songs in your town? Email!

Eurosonic/Noorderslag shows:

• Jan 13 NL Groningen, Eurosonic/Noorderslag: Shadrak, Main w/ The Picturebooks, Waines, Thee Attacks. Starts 20:00 sharp!
• Jan 15 NL Groningen, Eurosonic/Noorderslag: Live in Your Living Room (Hoekstraat 42a) *Acoustic!* w/ Klerkx & The Secret, Awkward I

Other shows:

• Jan 22 NL Arnhem, Mallemoere (Yvo’s Vegan Cafe!). w/ DJ Santina Runaway
• Feb 4 NL Utrecht ACU Tom’s farewell show w/ Tim Vantol, Break Character, more
• Feb 22 FR Bordeaux, Hold’em Saloon
• Feb 25 SWI Geneva, Le Tiki’s
• Mar 12 BEL Ecaussinnes, Festival Arc-en-Musique, Maison du Peuple
• Mar 17 NL Nijmegen, De Bijstand. *Acoustic!* w/ PJ Bond
• Mar 18 NL Castricum, De Bakkerij. *Acoustic!* w/ PJ Bond, Tes
• Mar 19 BEL Mechelen, Metteko. w/ Straightaway, The Octopussy’s, Not So Much
• April 27 – May 3 RUSSIAN tour!
• Jun 17 SK Cadca, Bagdad Mosh Festival
• Jun 24 CZ Prague, Dejvická Klubovna
• Jun 25 CZ Hradek nad Nisou Hradek, Rock Summer Festival. Projekt Parabellum, Atari, Terror

After a very enjoyable “tour” through the Benelux and a little Germany we want to spread the word about our new album in other territories as well. Starting in Germany with our friends in Red Tape Parade we will do a nice weekend trip. At the end of January we will be crossing the channel to invade the UK. For that we still need some shows. Great Britain, be great and help us out! Or not, and come to the shows! New album and merchandise available!

Jan 5 GER Köln Sonic Ballroom w/ Red Tape Parade
Jan 6 GER Augsburg Ballonfabrik w/ Red Tape Parade
Jan 7 GER Finsterwalde L 86 w/ The Red Tape Parade
Jan 8 GER Berlin Scherer8 w/ Red Tape Parade, Man the Change
Jan 9 GER Available!

and

Jan 25 UK Available!
Jan 26 UK Available!
Jan 27 UK London The Gaff w/ The Human Project
Jan 28 UK Available!
Jan 29 UK Blackburn Muzic Factory w/ The Human Project
Jan 30 UK Available!

Get in touch!

Nope, Tom is not going to play acoustic or solo. Tom has decided to quit playing bass with us. As much as we regret his decision, we support him making it. After more than a year of fruitful cooperation, including recording a new album, Tom has decided to focus on other things. In Tom’s words:

Quitting something you love is never easy, so neither is this. For the last 15 or 16 months I have been a part of this touring machine and I will be a part of this until early February. In these months we recorded an album, did awesome tours to lots of countries that I haven’t played or even been before, played a quickie at Groezrock, went on tour with the great guys in High Five Drive and played with some of my favorite bands of all time. Besides that, I was able to play with some of the best musicians and best guys I know. I had a great time in this band, but the time has come for me to pull the plug. Putting my heart and head into this band is something I really loved, but I can’t find the time anymore to do it the upcoming year. Other things in my life ask more time than I have and that means I have to choose between different things. Unfortunately, a lot of things couldn’t continue without me, but the band can! And will! I’m happy that Riekus and Willem will continue this band and have already found another great guy to take over my duties. The last thing I wanted, was to give Antillectual a hard time, but it seems that touring a lot to promote the new album will be easier than ever!

And for me? I will focus on the things that need to be done and probably pick up a guitar when I have time again.
For now I would like to thank Riekus and Willem for giving me the opportunity to play in this band. Also thanks to Etjen and Thomas for helping out in so many ways. Although it was a short time, it has been a blast!

Ajuus!
Tom

Since we seem to be able to change our line up more often than Lady Gaga changes outfits, we haven’t given up hope and we will continue without Tom. For those of you that already knew of Tom’s departure, we also have news: a guy named Tim will take Tom’s place. Some of you may know Tim better as Tim van Tol. We have played together with Tim in the past and come across his name throughout Europe and even the USA. When we coincidentally got in touch with him we talked about Tom’s departure and he seemed willing to take his spot. Riekus and I are very happy to welcome Tim to our bass player-guzzling machine called Antillectual and we are looking forward to play shows with this gifted musician. Tim will of course continue his solo work next to playing bass for us.

Tom’s last show with us will be at the ACU, Utrecht on February 4. Other bands playing: Tim van Tol (the coincidence!) and more to be confirmed …