Antillectual

And we're back! We had a fine tour through Germany. Been to a lot of new places and met up with old friends. On top of that played some good shows and got some people in touch with our music. The perfect tour-combination. In Muelheim we did an interview with Get addicted. Go here to find a review and a video of the show. Featuring a new song! The interview will be up soon I guess. All in German. For us a piece of cake after a week over there. What's next …

Just a small update from the road. Literally actually. At this moment I’m typing this from the back of our van driving from Wurzburg to Nurnberg. So far things are going really well. Good shows and nice people, taking good care of us. Right now we’re a little afraid to be pulled over by the Bavarian cops, since they’re the worst you can deal with. Oh well, we’re good boys, they’ve got nothing on us, nothing. Did we already tell you we’re bringing Gert and Hermien (her actual name is Fieke, but try to explain German people your name is Fieke) and their Shield Recordings distro? Now we did. Hope to see you out here!

Enjoying the winter as much as we do? Can't wait till it's summer actually. Anywho. We put online some new tour reports. First one is from our tour last January/February. Pictures from it can be found at the photo section, the written report here. On top of that we finally posted the report Pitter wrote when he was filling in on bass for Yvo during our USA tour in October/November 2008. Videos from that tour can be found at our youtube site, a written report here. Enjoy!

In other news, new reviews have been written for both Testimony, the remaster/re-release of Silencing Civilization and one of our live shows. Don't understand French? Well, that's no reason for us not to tour there!

And the same goes for German(y). Speaking of which, we'll be on tour over there soon. Hope to see you there! If not, see you in the summer!

This is a report to keep you updated on all the fun we're having on our third American tour. Because Yvo is sitting at home to take care of his newborn during this tour I (Pitter) am filling in on bass for him. On this tour we're being joined by One Win Choice from Tom's River, New Jersey to safely lead us through the greatest country ever.. I hope you are having as much fun reading this as us doing it.

Line up for this tour:
Antillectual:
Willem – Guitar/Vocals
Riekus – Drums/Vocals
Pitter – Bass/Vocals

One Win Choice:
Dan – Vocals
Justin – Guitar
Ellis – Guitar
Tierny – Bass
Solid – Drums
Rob – Roadie / Ladykiller

It's oct 15, 6 a.m. Time to get up and get this adventure started. We're flying from dusseldorf to newark airport. Rody is willing enough to drive us to the airport and after a smooth drive we check in at dusseldorf airport. 10 a.m. we're taking off, an 8,5 hour flight ahead of us. Watch a movie, eat some shitty food and watch another documentary and we're already there.. No biggy! After waiting for an hour at customs and telling the story we memorized by heart about the purpose of our stay we meet Dan and Justin who pick us up at the airport accompanied by a sign saying "Rots band" (the literal translation of rock band in Dutch, but no-one would ever use that word)
We pick up our tour shirts and we're off to Tom's River where most of One Win Choice lives. When we arrive we meet up with the rest of the band and we're all set to begin this thing. Too bad the tour only starts 2 days from now, so we wait. While One Win Choice is doing their last practice session at the house, we're doing one of the things we like to do most.. Spending time on the internet. After a nice dinner cooked by Dan himself we get beers and watch the last debate between Obama and McCain while drinking every time words as "Tax Reductions", "Joe the plumber" and Crisis are being mentioned, which is pretty often i can guarantee you. We've been up for a while and it's time to go to bed, after all, it's already 4.30 for us.

Oct 16: After we slept for a long time i finally can't take the smell riekus and willem are producing any more, so it's time to get out of bed. Today we're going to practice one last time on the One Win Choice backline to get used to the guitars and drums a little. Before we do that we have to get some essential stuff from the music store we didn't bring like strings and sticks, you know the deal.. In the meantime the other guys are repairing the van and mowing the lawn (hey, it all needs to happen!)
After dinner we go to justin's house and zip 40's in the Hot tub.. Yes, i can get used to this kind of touring.

Oct 17: The Shed – Tom's River, NJ

Day 3 in the USA, about time for a show. The van is repaired, we're all stoked, we're ready for this. No traveling today though, 'cause the first venue we're playing is called the shed, and is in Dan's backyard. The first show is a blast, nice people, quite some people show up. We meet up with Static Radio again, who show up fashionably late.. As well as Jeremy Jumpstart who brings our LP's for the tour and 3 cases of beer.. Nice one!
We end the night with a fire in the yard and make sure the beer's all gone.
Day one of tour is over, and the shed is Antillectual approved. Time to go to bed.

Oct 18: Fire House – Hopatcong, NJ

Time for the first day of traveling. We're trying to stall it though because the package we sent out with our other merchandise still hasn't arrived. Around 3 p.m. the UPS arrives and guess what, no package. So we leave for Hopatcong without the biggest part of our merch.. bummer!
After a short drive we arrive at the Fire House which is in the middle of the forrest. The show is All Ages so there are a lot of younger kids. I feel old. 7 bands on the bill, so the show's kicking off early. In the meanwhile I cook some food in the kitchen over there. The show is cool and afterwards we drive up to Mike and Stephs apartment, which is very nice by the way, to party a little and sleep over. We get introduced to a little part of american culture called "Beerpong" and play till late and the beer runs out. Solid chugs a half a pint of vodka en it's time to call it a night.

Oct 19: Cousin Larry's – Danbury, CT

We leave around noon to drive up to Danbury. We figured to go a little early to walk around town.. Too bad we hadn't though of the fact that we were gonna be there on a sunday. The place was dead, nobody was in the streets and everything was closed. Show was supposed to start at 9, so we had 6 hours to kill in the freezing cold.. After sitting in the van for a while we decided to bring out the stove we brought and bought the little things we could find to make some 'parking-lot burritos' After being too cold we decided to check out the bar. At 9 the promoter walked in and we set up our stuff. After a while we figured that no people would show up and started playing. We played a nice alternative set and when finished we headed out to Albany, where we could crash. Danbury, certainly not Antillectual approved.

Oct 20: The Basement – Kingston, NY

So yeah, after last night we could use a good adventure again. We figured we could take a look around in Albany. The night before, when we drove in, it looked like a Sci-Fi set up, so i was curious. No aliens whatsoever, so kind of a bummer. We checked out the NY State museum, walked around town and figured it would be wise to head off to Kingston after some dinner. We parked the van and cooked a meal on the sidewalk.
The Basement was a nice bar with friendly people, who directly saw what we needed.. Love, and all the free drinks we could think of. After the Fall was also playing, who hooked us up with a sleeping place the night before.
Not many people showed up, but the show was still fun to play. Some of us stayed in the bar after the show to party hard, i however was too tired and went to sleep.

Oct 21: Day off

After waking up and seeing Riekus sleep on the pool table i figured it was time to get up. We had a day off, so no real hurry. We tried to figure out what to do and arrange a sleeping place for the night. In the meantime we watched Roadtrip. Mike from After the Fall helped us out again and arranged a sleeping place at his friend Matt's place in Burlington, VT. So, time to drive. It was quite a drive, but we had time. After a couple of hours GPS us told us to take the ferry, this certainly didn't fit our financial plan and even if it did, the last ferry was long gone. We had no other option then to backtrack to the bridge which was located somewhere in the middle of nowhere. This also meant 2 hours extra driving.
We arrived at Matt's apartment around 11, cooked some food, talked a little and went to bed.

Oct 22: Day off

We found out that the show we would be playing in Burlington wasn't really well promoted and decided to go with the nice old D.I.Y. approach and print flyers to hand out in the city center of Burlington. But first we had to do some groceries and we decided to make a stop at the Magic Hat beer brewery. We could walk around at the brewery because there were no tours going on this day. After that we of course had to try some of all the goodies as well. All though it was pretty cold out, we went into town and hand out flyers to everybody who looked like they might be interested in punkrock the slightest bit. Ellis and Solid went out to beg to rich looking people..
Yes, i felt like a true punk. No idea where we were staying that night, begging and some good old flyering, fuck yeah!
Matt hooked us up with a sleeping place for the night at his friends Derek, Josh and Mike their place.. We cooked some food and chilled a little over
there. The OWC boys bought some cheap vodka and went off for an adventure and found a party. We chilled at the house and went to bed.

Oct 23: 242 Main – Burlington, VT

Jan´s Room – Allentown, PA

Today is the day i'm gonna meet Chris from Square of Opposition records, who did the waves 7" for the last Antillectual US Tour and a whole bunch of other friendly people, so i'm stoked. When we arrive in Allentown we head over to Jordan's house, which we know from our first US Tour so things get cozy from the moment we enter Allentown! We decide it's a good day for a change in our diet and shop a little. Curry it's gonna be and Dan is not too excited, because he doesn't like spicy food. Too bad for him. After dinner we head to Jan's Room, which is actually a rehearsal room. Also on the bill today are Jonesin' and Iron Chic from New York, two other bands touring towards Fest and back. The room is crowded when OWC kicks off, we play a cool set as well. After that Jonesin' is up who play raw punkrock with vocals which remind me a lot of Chuck Ragan in his No Division days. The drummer is a goofy player and after they finish he stays to play for Iron Chic as well. I expected a lot from this band, because i heard they had some Latterman members and I love Latterman!
Iron Chic was amazing and Allentown was one of the better shows so far.. After the show all 4 bands stayed at Jordan's house, so that's 18 visitors at once.. Respect!
We got some brews and after a while Jordan's roommate 'Snack-man' (bad ass Bad Brains tattoo) claims he has the phone number of Rick Ta Life and decides to prank call him. Too bad we get a voicemail, but still it's hilarious.. You should have been there. The night is still young, a wannabe gangster called Camacho get's it and so are some 24hour restaurants and a liquor store where Justin and Ryan work. We end the night trying to get in a deserted building but halfway everybody chickens out, ah well.. Time to go to sleep.

The Fire – Philadelphia, PA

It's sunday! Today is gonna be the day we're gonna see our friends in Jena Berlin again and I know I am excited to see them. The show is gonna be early because the local baseball team 'The Phillies' have a good chance to win the World Series and nobody seems to wanna miss that. A Wilhelm Scream is going to be headlining this show so high expectations.
After parking the van in an alley behind the venue we load in and chill a little with Jeff. The neighbourhood is supposed to be a pretty rough one and Willem couldn´t agree less when he tells me he just had a gun pointed at him by some drunk. A raid is the result of that and finally the guy gets caught carrying a fake weapon and gets arrested for having some outstanding warrants and stuff. The show is cool, although you can notice that some people stayed at home for that game.
After the show it´s party time! We´re being taken to a bar near Jon and Chad´s house, get drunk and yell a lot. Phillies win! It´s awesome!

Day off – Philadelphia, PA

Today is another day off and we are staying at the same place as yesterday again. We get some delicious pancakes for breakfast and chill a lot. In the afternoon everybody heads in to town except for me. I stay in the house with Jon and Meg to do some work on the computer and after that eat some of the best vegan burgers in town. That probably wasn’t a lie, because it was delicious! Back home i hear stories of store owners boarding up their windows because tonight could be the last game if the Phillies win. With that in mind we head over to the same bar, hoping they’re gonna win tonight.. Riots in town, hell yeah!
Too bad the game gets postponed half way and tonight isn’t gonna be the party it could/should have been. Bedtime it is.

?? – State College, PA

After a short drive we arrive in the college town called State College (oh really!?). We arrive a little late but it isn’t too bad we hear. The weather’s freezing cold and loading sure isn’t a pleasure today. We park we the car and when we walk back to the venue we see some ad. About cheap shots, so we figure a little warm up before we play isn’t a really bad idea and so it happens.
The venue today is some sort of christian hang out so we get asked not to curse. We agree, because the promoter is cool and the venue agreed to have us. But while we’re playing I get a little confused with the lyrics and how not to curse too much, so after 2 songs I just give up and do the normal thing. The show is cool, a little tame, people seem to be a little shy, but hey, that happens. After the show we go home with Bill, Ellis’ friend from home and he smokes a lot of weed, we watch some movies, drink some beer and watch Riekus sleepwalk. When it’s 5 o clock in the morning I decide to get some sleep as well. However Rob and Solid aren’t really felling it yet.

Artist Underground Café – Richmond, VA

When we wake up the next morning Solid is still awake and hasn’t slept a bit. We take a nice shower and step outside where it is snowing at the moment. We’re leaving for Richmond.
After a pretty smooth drive we arrive pretty early and have nothing to do so we decide to go to our favorite American restaurant, Taco bell! After we got some food we drive back to the venue and the promoters calls us to say the first band has to start in a couple of minutes, so we get back as fast as we can and play the show. There aren’t many people and the main reason for that is all the bands touring down towards the Fest, so tonight there are 2 or 3 shows going on, which off course is way too many for a Wednesday night. Tomorrow’s a day off so the next show is gonna be in Gainesville.. The Fest! We decide to drive after the show is done and pull an all-nighter. Some people try to sleep and Riekus, Willem, the Hazel twins and me have a vodka and beer party in the van and teach some proper Dutch to these Americans. The night gets blurry….

Day off – ……, FL

After driving all night we arrive in Florida, where the weather is super! Today we got invited at Ryan’s aunt who lives near Gainesville. When we arrive Ryan’s aunt is still at work, so we’re hanging around for a while, doing shop groceries and some more hanging around. We get an awesome dinner and play scrabble all night. Just another day, but a nice one.

FEST

Unfortunately this is where the report ends. For tour videos (including the fest!) check out our www.youtube.com/Antillectual

Tourreport January/February 2009

This is the tour report for our first tour of 2009. Taking us to Eindhoven, France, Switzerland, Italy, and back to Switzerland, France and Raalte. Besides the band Etjen from Just like your mom, toursupport was helping us out on this trip. It was for the first time since May he was coming along with us.

January 28, 2009
Venue: Effenaar
City + Country: Eindhoven, Holland
Other bands: Only Crime, No Use For A Name

First day of the tour is in Holland. And what a show to start the tour… We’re supporting Only Crime and No Use For A Name. Now I have to be honest; NUFAN is one of those bands I’d listen to everyday ten years ago. And it’s fun to play with your youth heroes.
The show itself wasn’t too good. We played on one of the biggest stages we’ve ever played and we all had the feeling it wasn’t going too well. But on the other hand, we were having a blast because so many friends came out to see us. Especially some old friends who we hadn’t seen in ages. It’s always great to catch up!

January 29, 2009
Venue: The Soap Box Club
City + Country: Laxou, France
Other bands: Expect Anything

I got up early because I had to stop by the garage and put winter-tires on the van. I kissed Suzette, Jippe and Raaf goodbye and off I went. After the pitstop at the garage, I picked up Willem and Riekus in Nijmegen. Next stop was Luik where our friend Etjen was waiting to hop in the van.
Etjen is a good friend of us who has been with us on trillions of tours. He has his own toursupport company (Just Like Your Mom Toursupport) and is on the road pretty much all the time. We both have busy schedules so this was the first time he would come along again. We were all really looking forward to it!
The drive to Laxou wasn’t too long, but I was tired because of all the stops. We arrived at the Soap Box Club and it was the perfect venue. A small stage, food and drinks waiting for us, beds upstairs. Ah, those beds… I was so happy to lay down for a minute before playing.
Alex (Youthway Records, The Twisted Minds) organized the show and he did a great job. Unfortunately there weren’t too many people, but some have traveled for an hour just to come and see us. It was flathering to hear. We had a good time.

January 30, 2009
Venue:
City + Country: Cirié, Italy
Other bands: Notfound

Again we had to get up early; a long drive to Italy was waiting for us. A good seven hours in the van, yay!! We had some breakfast, loaded the van and headed to the country of pizza, strong coffee and insane driving.
The drive was long, but beautiful. Coming from (probably) the flattest country in the world, I’m always excited to see mountains. And I just love to stare at the landscapes passing by, with some music on the background.
We met up with an old friend; Fabio from Notfound did a show for us two years go. The venue was a cultural place where a lot of things were happening. They had meetings, theatre-plays, kids playing tablesoccer and random punkshows. It was nice. It was the first day in Italy so we had to eat some good pasta. And good pasta was served!
I never understand how they make it. I try my very best to make the pasta like that and it seems so simple. But somehow the Italians have some secret I can’t discover. The pasta is so tasteful with only a few ingredients. I figured I might never discover their pasta-secret so I just decided to enjoy the jolly good pasta for what it is. I finished my plate and went for a refill.
It was a free show and the best thing was that there were all sorts of people at the show. Not only the average punk-kids, but also some hiphop dudes checking out the loud noise and the average people who just were interested in what was going on. 
The show was really nice. A lot of people were interested, some already knew our music but also a lot of the people had no clue who we were. No one was walking away, so I guess that’s a good thing. We played loud and fast, I liked it.
The show ended at a reasonable time, which is not always the case in Italy. Shows tend to start really late, and when you’re playing last it’s no exeption to play at 02:00 a.m… but not this show. Thank you very much!

January 31, 2009
Venue: Kirchgemeindehaus
City + Country: Davos, Switzerland
Other bands: endless speeches and long talks… and a violin player.

I’ve been to Davos once to protest against the World Ecomic Forum (WEF). It’s a forum where all the worldleaders come together how they can exploit the world in the most effective way. The protest was a pity because at the day of action the cops at the foot of the mountain blocked all activists. We arrived in Davos the day before, but it was frustrating that our ‘comrades’ were getting their asses kicked while we were surrounded by military police, snipers on rooftops and more muscles from the state. What a democracy…
In the last few years there weren’t a lot of protests against the WEF. One of the reasons is because what I’ve just explained: it’s pretty much impossible to get close to the bastards. So I was kinda excited to hear some people are organizing something in Davos again. We were asked to play after the demonstration and it sounded like a great plan.

As we were getting closer to Davos, more and more police cars were at the side of the road. More men and women in uniforms with guns. More mustaches. And eventually we were stopped. What a surprise…
They asked us for our pasports and they wanted to check what’s inside of the van. When they saw the instruments, their response was: “Oh, you’re the band that’s playing. No problem, go ahead. Have a nice show.”

WTF….

By then we were suspicious. Maybe the cops were shooting us in the back as soon as we drove off and would make it assume we wanted to run. Or we were playing at a party-politician gathering. It was the latter.
We arrived at a church where all the protestors where. Some punk-kids, mainly “normal” people. We went inside and met up with Jurge who set up the show. He explained what was going on. They just had a good demonstration with around two hundred people. And there were speeches and discussions. At the end of all that we would play.
We went inside and there was a guy in his fourties with a beard talking about something in German. People were silent and listening.

Four hours later…

There was another guy in his fourties with a beard talking about something in German. This time he had the lamest powerpoint presentation ever. People were still listening. One old lady was asleep. Ugh.
I had the feeling we weren’t in place. I thought this would be a powerful and inspiring day to show the leaders high up in their ivory towers that there are people who actually give a shit about life on this planet rather than number on a bankaccount. But this was a bit sad. It was called an action day, but I didn’t see any action apart from the amazing diner that was prepared in the kitchen.
Now let’s be clear about this. I do think it’s good they organized this day. I mean, there were the average people listening to what was being said. So that’s a whole lot better than do nothing at all. It’s just not my approach. And I doubted if we were in place.
Finally we set up everything. It was a relief to see the chairs in front of the stage were removed. It was a relief to see quite a lot of young people came from everywhere all of a sudden. And it was a relief quite some people stayed. We played and we had fun. People were dancing and singing along to our songs. It was good. Very good indeed!
Now for those who don’t know it, we also have a political bookdistro
at our shows. And it was nice to see so many people interested in the anarchist literature we brought. Obviously there were some frowned eyebrows, but overall the reaction was very good. Thanks to Jurge for this adventure!

February 1, 2009
Venue: Happy Hour Rock Bar
City + Country: Lodi, Italy
Other bands: Los Fuocos

I forgot to say the trip to Davos was absolutely breathtaking. The landscape was completely covered in snow, wonderful. And as we drove to Italy again, we could enjoy the view once more.
Lodi was a last minute show. The owner of the club where the show originally would take place was arrested. Incredible. So we were happy to hop on this show. And again the show was starting quite early for Italian standards. And again the show was free entrance.
We met up with our good friends Ste, Dami, Dani and Sarah. Ste and Dami are from No Reason Records who released our record in Italy. And Sarah is taking care of us. She cooked the best meal… sort of quich and pizza as a side dish. As a desert she made chocolate cake and cherry pie. Holy shit!!
We played first and that was probably a good idea. After the show I collapsed. If we would’ve played later on the evening, it would’ve killed me to death. There was this noise band playing after us with a drummer, a guitarist, a saxophone and a whole lotta screaming. Not my thing.
The last band was a sort of a snotty Hellacopters. Quite nice actually.
 

February 2, 2009
Venue: Lazzaretto
City + Country: Bologna, Italy
Other bands: Linterno

We stayed at Dami’s place after the show in Lodi and after a good espresso we headed to Bologna. A city where we hadn’t played in a couple of years. A city where the shows were very good at the times we did play there. A beautiful old city. A city with towers that are about to tumble and fall…
We got there early because Claudio wanted to show us the city. We walked around and enjoyed the city, the food and the coffee. Claudio was really friendly and very talkative. A bit too talkative for his own good so to say… He managed to insult an English woman in a bar, and get away with it. What can I say? “Italian style…”
I was looking forward to play in Bologna, but it was a mondaynight. Like always, the shows can be rough on weekdays… but not in Bologna. We were having a good pasta at the squat where we were playing. We were having a good time with the guys from Linterno. I didn’t notice the venue was already open and when I walked in, the place was full. Wonderful. I was getting more and more excited to play, especially when I ran into Enrico, our friend who organized the first shows in Bologna. Linterno played special cover just for us: 7 Years by Undeclinable. A song we all grew up with.
The show was amazing. The place was packed; people enjoyed the set and were asking for more. There was this one guy with a Face To Face tattoo so we couldn’t resist playing Ordinary. People were singing along, perfect!

February 3, 2009
Venue: Lio Bar
City + Country: Brescia, Italy
Other bands:

I woke up from working people drilling and pounding as if they had to remove the Berlin Wall. Good morning to you too! We headed off to Brescia on an easy drive, stopping by Ikea. Ikea is really the new hype among us. Let me explain.
Ikea is always next to the highway. I don’t give a shit about all the nice house lighting or the latest sofa-design. It’s all about the cheap restaurant Ikea has. Always organic, always with vegetarian/ vegan options. And best of all; always with free refill coffee. Dandy.
We arrived quite early in Lio Bar. It was next to the railway. Nothing much around. Tuesday. Would this be a good show? I honestly had no idea…
Lion (the owner) opened up and offered us cup of coffee. A real sweet guy. He explained how they are doing live-music since a couple of years now and it’s going really well. The venue looked amazing and Lion made us feel at home.
We had all the time in the world to sort out the merch, do some emailing and reading in the books we brought. It was good to relax a bit. This tour I’m reading From Dusk Till Dawn by Keith Mann. No, it’s not from the Quintin Tarrantino film. This book is about the Animal Liberation movement, mainly in the UK. It’s inspiring and easy to read. I recommend this to anyone, vegan or not.
I was doing the merch and more people were coming in. Nothing spectacular. Then Etjen came rushing to me with excited eyes. “You really should take a look outside”. So I stumbled to the door, opened the door and there were around two hundred people outside. Holy molar…
We started playing and I don’t think any more people could get inside the venue. It was hot. It was fantastic. People went nuts. And again we played the Face To Face cover ‘cause people were asking for it. This time I played half of the song crawling on the audience. Insane. It’s a Tuesday! Don’t people have to work/ study/ eat garbage from their neighbours trashcan the next day? Not in Brescia I suppose…

February 4, 2009
Venue: Tiki’s Bar
City + Country: Geneva, Switzerland
Other bands: none

I was really impressed as I walked in the Tiki Bar. I’m not trying to sound like Quentin Tarantino, but it reminded me of that scene in Pulp Fiction where John Travolta and Uma Thurman are going to this diner. She orders this five-dollar milkshake and such and such… Anyway, I was impressed. Everything was really clean and it had a perfect sixties feel. Peg welcomed us and I was already looking forward to the show. Luc (owner of the bar) came in after some time and ten minutes later we got probably the most interesting meal ever… it was sort a vegan happy meal! It was a small pink Cadillac with French fries and a vegan burger in it. Served with ketchup and vegan (non-) alcoholic beer. Fantastic! It made the whole scenery complete!
We were the only band playing that night. No local support. On a Wednesday. Hmmm… but more and more people started coming in and by the time we started playing, it was quite crowded.
The show was fun. We heard from our friends of Smash The Statues the police shut down the show when they were playing in the Tiki Bar a week before we were there. I’m glad the bastards left us alone.

February 5, 2009
DAY OFF

We decided to drive to Etjen’s place, Oostende (Belgium). It was a long 11 hours drive, but it was definitely nice to sleep in Etjen’s comfortable house. Especially the vegan chocolate Maureen (Etjen’s girlfriend) brought from her work! Not to mention the incredible English breakfast the next morning. Oh, just like your mom…

February 6, 2009
Venue: Les 4 Dames
City + Country: Valenciennes, France
Other bands: Midway Home

It was time to say goodbye to our good friend Etjen. Again it was good to have him on board, Just Like Your Mom did his job more than great!
We have some good memories in the north of France. However, we’ve never played in Valenciennes before. We arrived in the city and it was nice. We decided to walk around a bit and found out most city centres are the same with the same fucking H&M, FNAC and Bodyshop. Ugh…
When we came back, Rom (promoter) also arrived. Rom is also playing in Midway Home and I was looking forward to see them live. The venue was really small and cosy. When the first band started playing, it was already crowded. I got more and more pumped up for the show.
By the time we started playing, the place was packed and everyone started dancing, some were singing a long. All and all a jolly good time!
But by the third song the owner of the bar laid down a piece of paper in front of us, saying the neighbors would call the cops if we continued to play after the song. Bummer. We were having a
good time; the audience was going nuts. It was simply impossible to stop! So we just kept on playing until the owner came and really apologized. The guy was really nice to us and we didn’t want to get him in trouble. It was a short set, but good. Hopefully we can come back soon and playing a longer set.

February 7, 2009
Venue: Pedro Pico Pop (festival
City + Country: Raalte, Holland
Other bands: Midnight Menace, Striking Justice, Mala Vita, Kudra Mata and more…

What a day. We had to drop off vans, pick up merch, drop off merch, get to Nijmegen and such and such… It ended up driving for six hours. But when we arrived at the festival, it was all worth it. This festival was really well organized.
It started six years ago by some punk kids who just wanted to organize something for themselves. It grew to this festival with the capacity of 1500 people. And those same people are still involved. Amazing… they really know how to take care of the bands, of the volunteers, of the audience. They keep the entrance low (only five euros) so everybody can come. And it seemed that everybody was involved; whole families!
We were in somewhat of a rush because we really wanted to see our friends from Midnight Menace. I’ve never seen them before (it was only their fourth show) and they were playing in the afternoon. We ran and were just in time. They played a good solid set!
We played in Raalte years ago, in a squatted farm. Now (years later) I saw quite a few familiar faces that were also at that show. A lot of those people are still involved with the punk/ DIY/ squatting/ activist movement, doing amazing things. This proves that not only good things have to start in bigger cities.
The show was a bit chaotic for me. Before we knew we started playing and I had the idea the sound wasn’t very good. Willem had the time of his life, so that was nice to see. I looked at Riekus and he was hitting as if his life depended on it. Or so it seemed. That motivated me more and more. I stared into the audience. People were moving. Familiar faces staring back at me. It got me more and more excited. By the end of the show, I was having the time of my life!
I guess this was an amazing end of and incredible tour. The day before we played in a small bar, completely packed. The next day we played in front of a thousand people. I was exhausted but more than satisfied.