Blogging again! (and hopefully sticking with it!)

 Hello

It seems ages since I last wrote a blogpost here. In fact, it has been ages!
A lot of things happened since I last posted here: I got a new job. I'm working at the public library in Ghent. An awesome job that I enjoy very much! I became a father for the second time of a beautiful daughter called Penelope. She's 8 months right now and I'm writing this while she is asleep and before I make her lunch.

I contributed to the 2 issues of Diggers Magazine. Diggers is a magazine curated, edited and illustrated by my friend Tom. He has an awesome recordstore here in Kortrijk: Crate Records. Totally recommended! He's a very creative busy bee because on top of this he also released his second illustration book called 'Accolades'. I'll put links below this post. For issue 1 of Diggers I contributed a short piece on visiting Crate Records for the first time and an interview with Belgian shoegazers Slow Crush. For the second issue I wrote about choice overload in record stores and I did an interview with Julien Baker. Her new album was my favorite one of 2021. Because I don't have new material to publish now (I hope this will change soon) I'll post my piece on choice overload right here.

I recently really enjoyed My War fanzine by my friend Kristof. In issue 9 and 10 he published 2 awesome interviews with Ian Mackaye. I think both issues are sold out already but you might want to get in contact with Kristof here. 

My favorite records right now that get the most spinning are Christian Lee Hutson's album 'Beginners'. Great singer songwriter stuff produced by Phoebe Bridgers. Another favorite is my original press of the Rites Of Spring record I got at FX7 Records. Another highly recommended recordstore in Kortrijk.

What can you expect from this blog in the near future? I read a lot (thanks to working in a library of course) so I might write more about books and graphic novels. I was blown away by the work of Derf Backderf so I'll write something about that.

See you soon and in the mean time: here's that piece about choice overload in record stores:

Whenever I enter a good record store I get slightly moist hands. Partly because of the excitement of being in the company of so many good records but also because I tend to suffer a bit of stress.

You see, I love music. And I love a lot of different genres of music. Here’s what goes on in my brain and my behavior when I enter Crate Records (one of my favorite stores in the country and only a 5 minute bike ride away from home):

I check out the new arrivals first. Because you never know what that section has to offer that I overlooked on Instagram, Facebook, (online) magazines,… If I don’t find anything in there I go upstairs to start browsing the records. That’s when the slightly stressed part comes. I need to check out the indie/alternative section because I have recently fallen in love with Superchunk and the re-issue of their first record is in there. I need to keep up with my Lungfish collection and I know Dischord recently re-released some of their albums so I need to check that out. I slide over to the punk and hardcore section because I know there’s a re-isssue of the Minor Threat EP with a blue sleeve and on blue vinyl and that looks awesome so I need to get it even though I already have the regular version.

I need to check out the hip hop and rap section because I really got into Czarface last year and the new album with the late MF Doom is out. Let’s not forget the soundtrack section because I love Star Wars and there have been vinyl releases of the soundtracks for the movies. Merzbow is in the electronics section and I still need the Relapse re-issue of ‘Venerology’. Choice overload kicks in and I go from section to section. The only remedy to this is to take my time when I visit the store. My brain can’t handle a short 10 minute visit after work.

I work at the public library in Ghent. So I’m at the source of thousands of good books, graphic novels, movies, … You can imagine the choice overload and the stress that brings me sometimes. I recently got Nick Hornby’s ‘Song book’ in which he writes about his favorite bands and songs. I checked out the Spotify playlist based on the book on the train home and got really into Teenage Fanclub so now I need to hear everything they made. It’s a never ending cycle.

Sometimes I’m jealous of people who are only into a couple of genres and stick to those in their collection. But when I’m dancing to Superchunk’s ‘like a fool’ with my four months old daughter or get my mind blown by Merzbow when I’m home alone or blasting Czarface with the windows open during a hot summer afternoon or when I imagine myself at a Minor Threat show in 1981 while they’re playing ‘Filler’ I really wouldn’t have it any other way.

Here are the links I promised:

Crate Records/Accolades

FX7 Recordshop

Record and donut shopping in Essen (and a Judge show)

Me and my friend Maarten started a new tradition two years ago. Each year we go to a show abroad and do some city tripping while we are there. It started with going to see American Nightmare and Youth Of Today in Essen (Germany) 2 years ago. Last year we went to see Burn and Chain Reaction in Arnhem (The Netherlands). About a month ago we went back to Essen to go see Judge and World Be Free.
World Be Free cancelled their European tour a couple of days before the show so we were pretty bummed but planned to make the best of it.

The cool thing about traveling and going to shows with Maarten is that we're on the same page about pretty much everything involved in traveling. I enjoy long drives with him and we always have something to talk/laugh about. We don't feel the need to go the after- or other parties after shows. This year we had donuts in our hotel room after the show and talked some more. The Judge show was pretty good. We watched them from the stairs leading up to some balcony so we got a pretty good view of the drum wonder and machine that is Sammy Siegler. Such a good drummer!

Another (maybe next to the company the biggest) highlight of the weekend was finding New Lifeshark Records. Before the show on friday we googled 'recordstores in Essen' and made a list of those we wanted to visit on saturday. On friday we had already visited a store that was really cool on our previous trip but was disappointing this year. I did buy Kanye West's 'Late Registration' on vinyl at the local Saturn megastore.

New Lifeshark Records was something else though. Such an amazing store! It's located a bit outside of the city centre so we headed direction to the store on saturday morning. Stopping for donuts an coffee at Dunkin' Donuts on our way over there. The store is packed with records and has a very big punk, hardcore and indie section. We spent almost 2 hours there and I got some pretty good finds. The owner is a very friendly lady who is a personal friend of Don Fury and knows surprisingly a lot about Belgian music. The second hand and new records are mixed in the bins which I find a nice system. I couldn't spend too much money but here's what I got:

Chinchilla: 101 Italian Hits LP + seven inch on Crisis Records
I remembered this band from a track on the In Flight compilation on Revelation Records. They were on Crisis Records, a subsidiary label of Revelation that (if I'm correct) was founded by Walter Schreifels. They also released the first Farside 7inch. Chinchilla is a great mid nineties indie band fronted by a female singer. Their sound is hard to describe. Sometimes it's catchy indie, sometimes it gets a little more experimental and sometimes they sound like Sleater Kinney and other riot grrrl bands. I fell in love with the intro and first song 'In hiding' the moment I put the needle on this record when I got home. Totally recommended!

Uniform Choice: Staring into the sun LP on Giant Records
The notorious 'hard rock' album of Uniform Choice. Everyone knows and loves 'Screaming for change'. I had that one on a (Lost and Found bootleg) cd for years and bought the LP re-issue on Southern Lord a couple of years ago. 'Staring into the sun' is Uniform Choice moving towards a more hard rock sound. It's cheesy, not a lot of people like it and I can imagine it was quite the shock when it got released back then. But I'm actually a sucker for this sound. Just like I love SSD's 'How we rock', DYS's self titled album and even Day Nasty's 'Field day'.
This is not a hard to find record but I got it for a really great price and am happy to own it and play it a lot.

Iceburn: Burn/Fall clear vinyl 7inch on Victory Records
Another gem that isn't hard to find but that was still missing in my collection. Iceburn released their first couple of records on Victory Records but later moved on to Revelation Records and changed their name into The Iceburn Collective. Great band that got really experimental later on but sound more accessible on this first 7inch. These two songs are great. I also got to know them years ago through the 'In Flight Program' compilation

I also stumbled upon some Hot Rod Honeys (punk band from Kortrijk) LP's and quite some Goodlife Recordings releases (that I already have).

Great store that I would love to visit again! Check out New Lifeshark Records on their site here or on Facebook here.

Me looking through the boxes of 7inches at New Lifeshark Records

Some other highlights of the weekend:

- I found an awesome Santa Cruz shirt in a local skateshop

- Maarten found a Sektor 'Human spots of rust' LP on pink vinyl in a local metalstore

- I finally got to eat Five Guys burgers

- Espresso's at a small Italian bar

- Great chinese food

I love weekends like these!

Essen street art

Interview: Kristof Mondy (Gagged, RDS220, VVovnds,...)

From the start of this blog I had plans to not only do regular posts about things that interest me but to also do interviews. First up was a short interview with Tom, the man behind Death By Coffee. Next up is Kristof Mondy. A busy bee is the perfect way to describe him. I've known Kristof for almost 20 years now and he has always been busy with bands, zines, artwork,...
You may know Kristof from his latest band Gagged, the black metal project RDS220 (who will be releasing an LP on Consouling Sounds), the now hibernating Vvovnds or his previous bands Hive Destruction, Amenra, Black Haven,... Over the last few months we exchanged various e-mails which lead to the interview you can read here:

Kristof playing with Gagged

• Please introduce yourself and briefly talk about your current bands/projects you have going on.

Well I’m Kristof, I’m one of the old farts in the scene (turning 43 this year), and I’ve been playing in hardcore / punk bands for nearly 25 years. Besides bands I’ve also been involved in art around hardcore and zines. Zines and even more… zines! I’ve been doing Yoda, Bats!, WAR and MiniWAR and A Book About Decay. And I’m actually working on something new, low press run, a fresh (provoking) name, and bands I love…

And besides press you might have heard my name regarding (the now hibernating) VVOVNDS, the new hardcore punk outfit Gagged or the black metal project RDS220.

As said VVOVNDS is hibernating (there’s no goodbye’s): when we feel it we’ll come together again and spit out our blend of frenzy, distorted punk. Gagged is pretty new, we just released a demo that has 7 songs of fast, stomping hardcore. We’re doing as much shows as possible and are working on a second demo as we speak (which is on the streets by now - Promo tape 2019), no sleep for the restless! And as far as RDS goes, we’re always making songs, never performing them. RDS is just Matthias and myself making fast, furious bm. Vocals are delivered by friends on invitation. LP coming in october!

• You said it yourself that you have been playing in bands for quite a while now. One thing I’ve noticed is that your newer bands and projects are very harsh, furious and fast. Amen Ra was (and is off course) a slow beast and quite introspective. I noticed that VVOVNDS was kind of slowing down tempo wise and became more experimental at the end. But your new bands Gagged and RDS 220 are really fast and furious. What’s the reason behind this? Why the harshness and the pissed off rage? Is it some kind of answer to the times we’re living in?

Well, you know me for quit some time now, right? I’ve always been listening to faster stuff as well. When I was playing in Spineless I spinned Dissection after Mouthpiece, switch to Charles Bronson and end it off with Swing Kids. When I drove to an Amenra practice I would listen to combatwoundedveterans, Assück and In/Humanity. And then Black Haven already had that upbeat D-beat vibe…

So I guess I’ve always been a fan of the faster stuff, ever since I first heard SSD the faster shit made me crazy. I remember in our circle of friends that we all wanted to start some fast music, but we just never did it.

As for the current projects/bands… You know that feeling when you have been talking/thinking to start something for ages, but somehow you keep postponing because the time ain’t right? Well that’s what we had with RDS. Newsflashes of ongoing fights in Aleppo, Syria, new terrorist bombings in Paris, Brussels, London… I felt so much anger. And suddenly Matthias and I came together and we just had to do something (together again) and unleash that anger. As for Gagged, ah how I love that generic stomping hardcore. Fast riff, chorus, two step fast again and stop! I just couldn’t sit back and relax, I had to do this. Too much love and a need to hang that jazz bass around my neck and rage.

And yes, that last released VVOVNDS song (on the split 12” w/ SoulGrip) is a slow beast, but we weren’t writing just slow songs. Like on the full (songs 'The Light' and 'Peine Forte') we feel that some slower, repetitive songs fit our spastic outbursts. And ‘On A Noose’ just fit the format of a 12”. But, VVOVNDS is not done, we’ll come back some day, and when we do we’ll have a release with fast songs as well… I think/hope…

• You said you have been active playing hardcore/punk and making zines for nearly 25 years now. What was your turning point? What band/record/show made you a hardcore kid and inspired you to start your own band? Same for zines: what was your inspiration to start your own zine?

Well I wasn't suddenly a hardcore kid out of nothing. We're talking 1990. I was a 14 year old skater listening to a lot of grunge / trash and metal. I got my music from skate video's (Peter And The Test Tube Babies, Pixies,…) national radio (Nirvana, Metallica, …) my metalhead classmate (Death and Enslaved!) and the public library. 

And that last one was surprisingly openminded! I remember one record very clearly. It was early 1990 and was flipping through the 'new arrivals’ section when this one recordcover drew my attention. It had a logo in bold letters (only three) and a picture that said 'i'm holding a mic and i'm pissed off'! It was the DYS - Wolfpack 12". And I remember coming home, running to my room where I had this orange portable turntable (looked like a plastic suitcase and had a buit in amp and speaker) and put on the 12". I was flabbergasted! That sound, that energy, the lyrics. I loved it. Strangely it took me 3 more years to get into the local underground hardcore with bands like Blindfold, Shortsight and Congress, and another year to start my first HC band called Spineless. The biggest influence to start Spineless were the three H8000 bands I mentioned. Damn we saw them perform like 3 times a week… Ah, the glory days!

As for zines I think it were the Machination Records publications (was it ‘words and letters’?). And foremost, it was getting them straight into my hands from Jeroen (the owner of Machination and editor of the zines). That was an epiphany. You made this? You just took some scissors and glue and went to xerox everything? And then I got my hands on 'Simba' made by Vique who used to or still works at Revelation records, and those zines were cut and paste AND really looked good and had interviews with bands I loved and admired. So yeah, I just copied them. Bought some good scissors, a new pot of glue and send out several letters (snail mail!!) to bands. Yoda was born.

Extra note: I feel like i'm not mentioning a lot of zines that inspired me to push my writing and overall zine-making. But hey, you asked for the triggers that got me started, well these are the triggers…

• Was there ever a time when you weren’t in a band or busy with a project? Have you ever been demotivated to play music? If so, what sparks the fire in Kristof Mondy to keep doing this?

Hmm, I don’t think there was a time that I wasn’t ‘busy’… I do remember my end with Black Haven though. It was October/November 2007 and Black Haven was on tour w/ In Remembrance. That was 10 days I think. And my better half was at home, pregnant in her fifth month something. And I remember thinking it was time to retire from bands. So I played my last BH gig in december (w/ Coliseum if I’m not mistaken) and turned from a very active HC kid tot a passive HC dad. And that lasted until summer 2008. I missed making music so my better half really urged me to find some band again and that eventually resulted in Matthias and myself hooking up for the first time in Hive Destruction. A project, no gigs. But I also started missing gigs so that changed as well.

But I’ve never been demotivated. There were gigs where the audience was very lame, and show promoters that ripped you off. Those can really give you a bad feeling. But you forget those really quick when you play for a very respecting audience the day after. Music, and hardcore punk music in general always made me feel at home, even when I was 1000 miles from home. So there you go, HC Punk is my spark that sets the world on fire.

Awesome old flyer from Kristof's Amenra days. This one brings back great memories!

• We know you love playing in bands and you love to write and make zines. Have you ever written lyrics or co-written lyrics for the bands you are or were in? If not, would you ever consider doing this?

I remember, a very long time ago, I tried to be the singer but that didn’t work. As far als lyrics go, I don’t know. I’m never satisfied with what I write. They don’t fit the songs, chorusses are lame, the pun’s don’t get there… Nope sticking to my guns, playing bass and making zines! :-)

• Speaking of lyrics. What are you looking for in band’s lyrics? Do you like anthemic sing along lyrics or more introspective lyrics? Or does it depend on the genre you’re listening to at that moment? What are your favorite lyrics ever?

What am I looking for in a band’s lyrics? Well I guess I can answer that from different angles. As a publicist it’s always a plus to talk with bands that have ‘smart’ political lyrics. Like Catharsis for example. Or metaphorical lyrics. As an attendant of shows who’s looking for a good time it’s cool to have some sing along stuff. Winner on that matter would definitely be Bane with ‘Can We Start Again’. Or any Misfits song from the American Psycho album… Or just any Misfits song. I also like singing along with the ‘Sinister Slaughter’ album from Macabre. When it comes to buying merch then the quotes from Converge work very well (AWLWLB) on cotton.

• Let’s travel back in time a bit. Your first fanzine was Yoda. By the time I really got into punk and hardcore you were up to your 8th issue I believe and you started covering subgenres that weren’t really covered before in Belgian (especially in the H8000 area) zines. I’m talking about emo, power violence, sludge,… This really got me into checking out a lot of new bands, especially in the emo genre (which was off course totally different than what it means today…). How do you look back on that? I mean, it’s obvious you’re still really into the power violence stuff. How about older (and maybe newer) emo bands? Do you still rock out to Braid in your car like we did together a couple of times?

Ha, yes! I remember us rocking out to the Braid ‘Frame & Canvas’ LP, that I had put on tape to play in my old car. Good times! I still put that Braid record on on occasion. Really good stuff.

I actually grabbed all issues of Yoda I could find before answering this one… In fact I grabbed all zines I ever made because of your question. Man, that was confrontational though. Lay-out kind of sucked. Anyway, BATS! brought smiles upon my face. And the big and mini versions of Wolves And Rats did as well! But on topic, yes I talked to the other bands, the outcasts if you will. I talked to The Caskett Lottery and to ISIS in one and the same issue. Good times. I just wrote the bands I was listening to at that time.

As for what I’m currently spinning… Yeah it’s mostly fast stuff. Either HC Punk or Black Metal. I spin some older emo from time to time. New End Original, The Jazz June, old Get Up Kids. As far as new stuff goes… I don’t know, is Iron Chic emo? I do know that Pedro The Lion just released a new record…

• You travelled back in time for the last question. Let’s do the same thing for this one. How about ideals and your worldview. Did that change over time? We all evolve and our ideas and ideals do so too. Do you still have the same values now than you did 20 years ago? How do you look at the world and current events? You already answered this a bit with the question about why you mainly play fast and furious music bit I would really like to go a bit deeper into this subject.

Well I guess that growing older didn’t really change my view on society we live in. But being a dad definitely made the edges less sharp. One’s values don’t change overnight. I still believe in certain ideals. I still believe that we need to live WITH each other instead of AGAINST each other. I still believe in a multiracial society where we all learn from each other. I still believe that my children will grow up in a world that is build upon respect instead of racism. But… When you’re reading the newspapers or watch the news on television you only hear something else. All I hear is how centre-rightwing political parties take over. All I read is that multicultural is turning into multi-radical. And yeah, that pisses me off. 

However, softening the edges… I feel that using my free time to ‘play’ with the children is worth much more to me than picking up my pen, and writing about what pisses me off (like I used to…). Picking up my bass and ramming it for Gagged or RDS has replaced that writing.

But I’m working on a ‘zine’ so, who knows. The pissed off guy might pick up his pen again…

Kristof's latest zine (My Words) My War

• RDS 220 is the second time you collaborate with Matthias. You also started Hive Destruction as a duo studio only project that evolved into a real live band. How did you meet and how did you start playing together? And how did the whole RDS 220 thing started? Who approached who? Was it just bouncing some ideas back and forth like most projects start? Or was there a real ‚plan’ behind it all?

Well Matthias and I got together somewhere in 2008 to start Hive destruction. And we connected. Musically there were no boundaries and on a personal level we saw things in the same way. And I think for the whole period we were a duo things went very smoothly. Once we became a band there were two more people to negotiate with...

So fast forward to 2016. I felt the need to lay down some more black metal riffing, I had some ideas in mind, and just knew I had to get together with Matthias. So I approached him with some full blown project plan and he said yes. Agenda wise we had to cram in rehearsals (w/ VVOVNDS being very active at that time). One week in his attic the other at my kitchen table. Other weeks there was no hangout...

But yeah, The cooperation works, we understand each other and know what we expect from each other. RDS is something cool to work on, there’s no pressure, only black (punk) metal.

• You talked about being a father. I have a young son too and there are a lot of clichés out there about raising children. I say to each his own but I sometimes get annoyed about the old „I don’t want to put children on this bad and evil world. I don’t want to do that to a child”. You understand what I’m getting at? I always turn this statement around. Off course my son was first and foremost born out of love but I always answer that cliché by saying that it is the opposite. I see having a kid as a revolt against all the problems in this world. A child isn’t born as a racist or as a homophobe or whatever. Do you agree with this? You kind of hinted towards this in the previous answer.

The nature versus nurture question. Yes, there’s no doubt that every child is born a blank page, without any prejudice. But to me that is not exactly what the (annoying) statement is about. Or that’s not how I translate it. I added ‘annoying’ because I find that statement quit annoying. And sometimes the annoying is in the fact that it touches you in your weak spot. Cause yes, it worries me that i’m leaving my children or my children’s children or even their children in this world that will probably be worn down in some decades from now. And then I’m talking about nature and the eco system, not humans with different cultural and religious heritage that can’t seem to live together. Our eco system is fucked up, when even the permafrost is heating up then you know there’s something wrong. And then hearing our Belgian government saying it’s not that alarming, and condemning the ‘youth for climate’ protests… That really bothers me, that’s the real evil bad world in your statement. Blind politics.

So yeah, what world am I giving my children?

But then again, from the moment your children are born you are loving them unconditionally. They’re the best gift I ever got… And that will always outweigh the statement of putting children on this evil bad world.

• Some weeks ago you announced the release of the RDS 220 record on Consouling Records. What can we expect? Will the tapes be re-released on vinyl and cd? Any new songs? Either way, I’m siked! Gagged seems to be on a roll too with quite a lot of shows coming up. Any plans for a release soon?

Yes, we were finally able to announce the release of the CD and vinyl version of 'Hell Is Truth Seen Too Late'. It's been quite a ride. We started working on this album 2.5 years ago. Then released the whole concept as 2 double cassette editions. And now we've reached the end of the chapters. But behold, this is not just the cassette versions on CD and LP. We've remixed all the songs to a sound that fits better on CD and vinyl. And we added a song to top it off. But it doesn't end there. The CD will deliver the HITSTL concept as it was meant to be. 9 songs, total running time of 1 hour, mastered by Jack Shirley at Atomic Garden. But 1 hour of music on one lp...? So the lp will actually deliver a slightly different view on HITSTL. Only 8 songs (the ones from the cassettes) and an alternate cut on some songs and a different running order. It truly was a challenge I didn't have before with band releases... But we're almost there, lay-out's are coming along, release date should be fall 2019.

And as for Gagged, yes it's going good. A lot of cool shows, a lot of show opportunities even though we've only been around for like 10 months or so... We are actually recording 5 new songs next week. We'll make that a promo tape for labels. We know we want to send it to some people, we'll see what happens. But this tape will give a taste of what's to come. Plan is to record an LP at the end of this year...

Thank you for this lovely chat!

Go listen to Gagged here and contact them through Facebook here.
Click here to listen to RDS220 and go here to pre-order their record on Consouling Sounds.
Kristof has just released the second issue of his new zine (My Words My War). You can order it through the Gagged bandcamp page.

Artist profile/interview: DEATH BY COFFEE

I love coffee. There's not much better than good black coffee. And I love shirts and nice designs. A while ago I stumbled upon Death By Coffee on instagram. Death By Coffee designs coffee and punk/metal inspired merchandise. I had to get their 'Mornings are for coffee and for doom' shirt because it looks awesome. To my surprise Death By Coffee is run by a Belgian guy named Tom. I asked him some questions for an artist profile on Hello Bastards Zine. Pour yourself some good coffee and check it out:

• Please introduce yourself to the readers. Who is behind Death By Coffee?

My name is Tom. 27 years old. I live in Tournai, Belgium.

• If I understand correctly you design a lot of the stuff for Death By Coffee yourself and sometimes work with guest artists. What’s your background in design and illustration? How long have you been drawing and making designs?

Yes that’s correct. I never studied art or illustration at school. My mom just put me in evening art classes since a very young age and I’ve been going to those until I was 18 I think. I’ve always liked  todraw. In my class reports the teachers at school would write « good work but Tom needs to draw less and pay more attention » and stuff like that. I really wanted to go to art school after high school but I had good grades so I guess my mom thought it would be a waste to send me there if I could make it as a doctor or scientist or whatever ( she said art schools were for kids with rich parents who could support them ). 

I did a year in Mons in Biomed and the only class were I got decent grades was animal biology because we had to draw animals. Then I went to Louvain-la-Neuve to get a masters degree in Psychology. 

During that time I was introduced to Illustrator, photoshop, etc.. I started to figure out how to get my drawings from paper to the screen. I was in a band at the time ( The Inequity ) and I started designing our t-shirts, cd sleeves and all. Then other local bands would see our stuff and start asking me to design stuff for them and that’s how I started I guess. It was mostly t-shirt designs for small bands but once in a while I would say fuck it and send some drawings to Impericon or some other big merch website with Comeback Kid or Parkway Drive written on it and they would buy it! So yeah that’s the starting point I guess.

• Where do you get your inspiration? What other artists formed you to become an artist?

Like every t-shirt designer of my age I started looking at websites like mintees and emptees to get inspired by all the artists on there. At the time it was Godmachine ( he actually messaged me once with some drawing advice, really nice guy! ), Craig Robson, Monkeymouth, etc.. I was looking a lot of stuff on internet and some artists just blew my mind :  Charles Burns, Simon Erl, Mike Giant, Contino, Freak City, Wesley Eggebrecht, Nico Bassez, Zach Shuta, etc.. 

Seeing my friends work also pushes me a lot. I consider myself really luck to know people like Florence Roman, Jantie Flyer, Robin Renard, Alex Arrows, Arno,...  and to see how their work evolves. 

That’s what I would call the conscious part. As you grow and keeping training you analyze your work a bit more and start to see things that you weren’t aware of were influencing you. For that part I would say : My aunt Laurence’s work. She’s an illustrator and I’ve seen her drawings around me all my life. Now I watch my doodles and I see influences from her work everywhere. 

There’s also my mom who was the most beautiful handwriting in the world. I used to copy everything she wrote when I was a kid to get the same handwriting. That’s were my interest for calligraphy and lettering comes from. There’s probably much more stuff I’m gonna realize later in life. 

• A lot of your designs are inspired by music. There’s a lot of punk and metal references in your designs. I also saw you designed a flyer/poster for an Amen Ra and Gagged show recently. What’s your music background and what are your 5 favorite records of all time?

I’ve been playing in bands since my teens. Mostly metal punk & garage. I played in The Inequity, Sects Tape, Regal, Full Contact. At the moment I play in Pedigree, B.Polar & the Spacefuckers and Slavemaker. I’m so bad with top 5’s. I have no idea how people can have top 5’s about anything but here you go from the top of my head : 

* the first punkorama compilations : These brought me to punk when I was young. They were the only cd’s you could get for 5€ at the record store and that’s all I could afford at the time. 

* Inter Arma - Sky Burial : I am obsessed with this band at the moment. All their stuff is good but the first album was mind blowing to me. 

* The Ventures - Walk don’t run : Surf rock is my spirit animal in music. Long riffs, simple beats and short songs. Perfect

* Flatt, Scruggs & Watson - Strictly instrumental : This one hits my turntable weekly. You can listen to all the metal you want nobody shreds as hard as these guys. Bluegrass is the punk of country music.

* Suprême NTM - Suprême NTM

• Off course we need to talk about coffee. When (at what age) did you drink your first cup of coffee? Were you immediately hooked on the taste? What’s your favorite brand of coffee? What are your favorite coffee shops?

I’ve started drinking coffee at the end of high school just before going to university. I started drinking it with sugar and milk to get used to the taste at first but I stopped and went for black coffee pretty quickly. At my mom’s place we had this professional espresso machine that was so simple to use you could easily drink 3 or 4 cups before starting your day. When I moved out she gave me her old Alessi moka pot that she used with my dad when they lived in Barcelona. The first 2 cups I made with that one almost killed me. I had tremors so hard it ruined my day. I’ve been obsessed with coffee ever since. My favorite brand is dark matter but it’s so expensive to get it here. I got their collab coffee they did with Mastodon once and it was amazing. A sort of double blend but the beans were aged in old whiskey barrels. It was delicious. I try to get some from Dark Arts too when I go to London. In Belgium I’ll get coffee from Caffenation or OR. 

But specialty coffee is expensive so usually I buy it from the store and the best you can get here in medium grade coffee is the Rombouts Cachet d’or. I think it’s the only one you can get that’s not like they burned the beans to a black crisp.

• As mentioned before: you also work with guest artists. How do you decide to work with someone? Who is on your bucket list to work with?

DBC is mostly a theme and a creative output outside of commissioned work I do so I think that spoke to more people than just me. With Robin Renard and Florence Roman it was I who commissioned them because they’re friends and I love their style. With Marald it was he who came to me actually. It’s still crazy when I think about it. He really liked the project and asked if he could do something with the theme and he absolutely killed it 2 times. With Branca Studio we talked about doing a collaboration on instagram for like a year before I actually sketched something. The last guest artist was ZRO30 from Colombia but she’s actually Venezuelan. I bought some of her merchandise on instagram and we started talking so I asked her to draw something in her style. I just love to see people with very different styles have their take at the black coffee theme. I don’t really have a bucket list but if I had to make one it would be all the people mentioned in my answer to your 3rd question.

• What are the future plans of Death By Coffee?

I really want to make a small batch of DBC666 coffee someday. I haven’t found anyone who wants to collaborate on that yet but maybe one day. Other than that I have no plans. We’re still releasing 2 or 3 new designs every month with Loser Jamboree ( our collective in Canada with Broke&Stoked and Good Chill ) but I’m not really planning on expanding or growing. It’s fun now because I don’t have too many orders and there’s no pressure about it. If I have an idea I draw it and if it’s popular I print 30 t-shirts and that’s it.

Order stuff from Death By Coffee here and go follow their Facebook page here.

One Last Wish - 1986 (Vive la liberté!)

It's no secret I'm a Dischord Records enthousiast and fan. A couple of months ago I got two records of one of my all time favorite recordlabels: Jawbox's 'Novelty' and this peculiar LP by One Last Wish simply called '1986'. It was long overdue that I got that Jawbox record as it is a genuine classic that I already had on tape for a long time.

The One Last Wish record was a big surprise. I already knew some songs from the '20 years of Dischord' box set and the 'State of the union' compilation LP but besides that I didn't know a lot about the band. One Last Wish is kind of a post Rites Of Spring band featuring three former ROS members (Brendan Canty, Guy Picciotto, Eddy Janney) joined by Michael Hampton of Embrace.

One Last Wish was a very short lived band and the recordings they made for this record were released on vinyl in 2008, more than 20 years after the band recorded them. This is a lesser known band of most of these members. I mean, the Rites Of Spring and Embrace records are genuine classics and embodied a fresh air and a change of direction for the DC (and Dischord) hardcore scene during the infamous 'revolution summer' of 1985. Here's one of my favorite Rites Of Spring songs:

So this One Last Wish record might be a bit underrated and overlooked but I was completely blown away once I put the needle on this one for the first time. First song 'Hide' starts off with a very new wave and Joy Division influenced bass line and sets the pace for the rest of the record. Guy Picciotto is one of my all time favorite singers and songwriters and he sure delivers on this record. The songs still have this 'revolution summer' sound to them and you can definitely hear some traces of the bands the members were in before they started One Last Wish. But it's also a step away from them. A step forward. A step forward for the musicians but also once again a step forward for the entire Dischord and DC hardcore scene. Listening to this record also helped me understand how important Guy Picciotto later was to the sound of Fugazi. 

They only existed for 4 months and only played 6 shows but I am really glad they recorded these 12 songs. An essential Dischord record for sure! And a record that showcases a kind of scene and 

sound that was in full development in the mid to late eighties and continued all through the nineties. Get this! Listen to the full album here:

"She's a feverchild gathering flowers in the garden..." a post about SHORTSIGHT

Normally I don't put my iPod on shuffle. I like to be in control of most things in my life (call me a controlfreak), including the music I listen to. A couple of weeks ago I got on the train, turned on my iPod and had no idea what to listen to. The thing is packed with awesome music but after a busy and stressy day I felt restless and had no inspiration what to listen to. I put my iPod on shuffle and the first thing I heard were the opening notes of 'Feverchild', the first song on Shortsight's only full length album 'Cold wounds waking' on Goodlife Recordings. My day and mood instantly got better. It had been a while since I listened to this record so I immediately turned off the shuffle mode and listened to the rest of this album.

As I mentioned already a couple of times my favorite H8000 band has always been Blindfold. Second place has always been a tie between Nations On Fire and Shortsight. I love 'Cold wounds waking' and I especially love those first notes of the album. An album has to start good for me. A good intro or first song is very important and to me that's actually a craft that not every band masters. The kings of first songs is and has always been Fugazi. Every record starts with a banger.

But I'm getting off track here. Let's talk about Shortsight! They were actually a short lived H8000 band. They started in the early nineties with Hans Verbeke (Liar, Blindfold,...) on vocals. After the demo Hans' sister Saskia took over and they recorded a 7inch on Conquer The world Records and Machination Records called 'Why spend time learning...'. They also contributed a song to the infamous 'Regress no way' 7inch on Warehouse Records. In my mind this compilation is an as important document to the 8000 (and later H8000) scene as the 'Flex your head' LP is to the early DC hardcore scene.

The evolution of this band is pretty mind blowing. From the pretty basic but very good song 'On fire' on the 'Regress no way' 7inch to the four songs on the 'Why spend learning' 7inch to the fully grown and mature full length 'Cold wounds waking' cd on Goodlife Recordings (it's a pity I don't have the first demo). It's hard to describe the sound of Shortsight. The guitars are awesome. There's not a single bad riff on 'Cold wounds waking'. I still get amped when I hear the opening riff to 'Screaming trees' (which I first heard as a bonus track on the Green Leaf 'Best of Belgium' compilation). Josh Fury (of Congress, Liar and King Hiss) delivers an awesome acoustic instrumental track on 'Cold wounds waking' (something he continued to do on his own bands' records). Saskia's vocals are always on point and very catchy. I also love the drum sound on this record. Drummer Björn Lescouhier went on to play in Regression and became one of the best and most powerful drummers in the H8000 scene (he actually proved he still is very good on the Regression reunion shows a couple of weeks ago). The lyrics range frome very personal ones (like 'Father', written by Hans Verbeke) to environmental pollution ('Screaming Trees') to pretty original ones for a hardcore band ('Give him light' for example).

Inside of the 'Could Wounds Waking' cd. I have always been intrigued about the awesome show picture. Where was this? Looks like a bunker. Edit: I finally saw the extra's of the H8000 documentary dvd and know the story about this show. Check out the documentary!

Edward Verhaeghe (Goodlife Recordings, Nations On Fire) said it best in the H8000 documentary: Congress, Liar and Shortsight each delivered their 'magnum opus' in 1995 and kicked off a crazy period in Belgian hardcore history. Because 'Cold wounds waking' sure is a very good record. Too bad Shortsight quit so soon. I'm sure they could have done more great things in the H8000 scene. It was awesome to see Saskia sing along to a song during the Nations On Fire reunion show.

To end this I would like to point out that I think Hans and his crew who made the H8000 documentary feel the same as I do about the intro to 'Feverchild'. The documentary starts with the very same notes that gave me goosebumps on that train ride home from work and actually gave me goosebumps again while watching the premiere of the documentary in a packed De Kreun in Kortrijk a couple of weeks ago. I also love every minute in the documentary about Shortsight and the interviews with Saskia and Bjorn. Very interesting and often times funny stuff! I secretly hope a vinyl release of 'Cold Wounds Waking' might be one of the next projects for Hans' FX7 Records label!

Listen to the 'Cold Wounds Waking' record here:

RDS220 - Hell is truth seen too late chapters I - IV review

A couple of weeks ago I finally got my hands on these awesome looking tapeboxes by RDS220 on Svart Blod Records. Sadly my tapeplayer decided to start eating tapes instead of playing them so I had to listen the tracks on the RDS220 bandcamp page to review them.

Let's start with who is in this 'band'. It's actually a duo project featuring ex members (let's get this ex members thing over fast...) of Liar, Amenra, Hive Destruction, VVovnds, Black Haven,... Musical mastermind is Matthias who plays guitars and programs drums and he is joined by co-songwriter, bass player and visual mastermind Kristof. I've known these two for quite a while now so it came to me as no surprise they came up with something this good. Because it really ís good!

Chapters I-II

Chapters III-IV

Ever since I met Matthias more than fifteen years ago he was always busy with bands but also with homerecording, programming drums, puzzling songs together on his 8-track recorder or computer. I remember he singlehandedly pre-recorded the demo's for the Empathy record at home before entering the studio. Same thing for the Liar record 'Murder manifesto'. I always thought that was really cool and showed a damn hard work ethic. Same goes for Kristof. I've known him even longer and he has always been playing in bands or making really good looking and mind blowing art and graphics.

Let's talk about RDS220. It's more or less the same concept as the beginning years (and 2 demo's) of Hive Destruction. Matthias and Kristof record the songs at a home studio as a duo. Hive Destruction was instrumental but for RDS220 they handed over their songs to guest singers. In this case, chronologically from part I to IV, they worked with singers Jenci Vervaeke (VVovnds, Et Dure, Gagged), Hans Verbeke (Liar, Blindfold,..), Paulo Rui (Besta) and Dehn Sora (Throane).

They describe RDS220 as punk black metal and I can only agree with this description. It's fast and vicious. It's really a riff fest and non compromising. Harsh and rough music perfectly fitting to the sometimes harsh and hectic times we live in today but always with a hint of melody in the guitar department. There's also enough variation to keep things interesting. The guest singers do a really good job and add a lot to the brutality and the hateful atmosphere of the songs. My favorite tracks are the ones with Hans Verbeke (you can't go wrong with a title like "Triumphant on the ruins of the world"...) and Paulo Rui (who I hadn't heard of before but man, what a throat!).

The lay out of these two boxes is phenomenal! Kristof and the label Svart Blod Records did an awesome job!You get two booklets with collages that really add some more vitriol and harshness to the whole concept of RDS220. I have always been a fan of Kristof's visual work. He has his own style but always surprises with original and thought provoking lay outs or art. He really should do more printed stuff like the book he did a couple of years ago called 'A book about decay' together with Arne Wastyn.

Go listen and download on bandcamp.
And buy some stuff from RDS220 and Svart Blod Records.