Kill The Man Who Questions - Sugar Industry LP and Union Fanzine.

Here's a short post about a record I completely forgot I owned.
While I was filing away a new addition to my Kiss records collection (how I love Kiss and the fact that my collection is expanding and expanding...) I browsed a bit through the 'K' section of my records (I'm a nerd and I keep my records alphabetically) and stumbled upon the 'Sugar Industry' LP by the band Kill The Man Who Questions.

I remember buying the record at the Pyrrhus record store in Ghent after I had read an interview with the band in the Union fanzine. Union fanzine was a great but short lived (I think only one issue?) fanzine with Rudee from France as the main man. He was also the main editor and graphic design wizzard of the first two 'The Paper' issues. And let's not forget about the awesome 'European Manhood' fanzine he did in the mid nineties. I loved those zines for the mix of bands they interviewed and the fact they were smart, funny and tongue in cheek all at the same time. Together with Yoda Fanzine (what's up Mondy?) these zines were my favorites as they focussed on a lot of different genres I was just getting into (emo, fastcore, powerviolence, sludgecore,...).

Union fanzine

Two issues of the European Manhood fanzine

The Kill The Man Who Questions record is awesome. Fast hardcore out of Philadelphia with both female and male vocals and interesting lyrics. The lay out is awesome and the booklet that comes with the record totally reminds me of the Ebullition record releases like the Reversal Of Man 'This is medicine' record. Smart lyrics with some extra explanations about politics, values, the lack of those in certain hardcore subgenres,... There's even some 'pro-life lyrics' and an awesome Negative Approach quote in the explanations of the lyrics. Those booklets were basically mini zines.

The booklet that came with the LP

The record is released by Coalition Records. The dutch label that was run by Jeroen (of Mainstrike, Das Oath,...) that released a lot of great records by Oil, Charles Bronson, Jr Ewing, Seein Red, Tear It Up, Pretty Girls Make Graves, Das Oath,...

Members of Kill The Man Who Questions went on to play in bands like Limp Wrist, Rambo,...
Listen to the record here and enjoy some late nineties and beginning of the noughties nostalgia with me:

I also found an old Angelfire website (remember these?). Click here

"When the sun hits", "Mogwai fear satan" and buying a record in the parking lot. Cactusfestival 2018.

Last sunday me and my girlfriend made our annual trip to Bruges for Cactusfestival (we skipped last year because our son was only one month old). It kind of became a tradition to go to this festival together. Just the two of us and some nice music. This year's line up was pretty awesome and I especially was looking forward to seeing Slowdive and Mogwai.

Suuns dissapointed. I didn't get into it. Not a band to see in daylight on a blistering hot sunday (I did like them when I saw them in De Kreun in Kortrijk a couple of times).

I didn't know Strand of Oaks but they were a pleasant surprise. Nice singer songwriter stuff with a bit of psychedelic rock. Perfect for such a hot and dry day. I really enjoyed this.

Slowdive was awesome. They proved that they are still one of the best shoegaze/dreampop bands out there. I was siked to hear their classics like "Allison" and "When the sun hits" live and enjoyed the new songs that I didn't know. Great show. And their singer was wearing a lovely dress with a cactus print. Perfect for the festival.

Slowdive

I have to write something about the food and drinks at Cactus Festival! Because that's an extra reason to visit the festival every year. Together with Ieperfest this is the best festival to enjoy good and healthy food. They offer a wide choice of food and drinks. This year I was a regular customer at a stand that sold fresh homemade iced tea. And I had a delicious vegan pita. This ranks high in my top vegan food list. I enjoyed it so much I had two of them.

Delicious vegan pita

Next up was Mogwai! Third time I saw them at this festival. In my eyes they are still the kings of the post rock genre. I don't really listen to them a lot at home anymore but we were in for a treat live! They played while the sun was setting. A perfect moment to enjoy some Mogwai! I think they are at their best when they really rock out and play loud. Closing with "Mogwai fear satan" was perfect!

Mogwai

In between Slowdive and Mogwai I made a quick walk to the parking lot to meet up with a guy I met on Facebook to buy a record. Pretty old school way of buying a new record and this actually brought back a lot of memories. Waiting outside for someone to show up with a record you are looking forward to buy. I got Shelter's "The purpose, the passion". Definitely not their best record (that's "Attaining the supreme" in my eyes") but you can't deny these are some very catchy tunes and it's nice to add it to the collection (I used to have it on cd). I'm pretty bummed I won't be able to see them at Ieperfest this year but I will be in the Italian sun with my family instead so not too much to complain about!

We didn't stay for Nils Frahm. It had been a long and hot day. 

Great annual visit to the Cactusfestival! Looking forward to next year!

"All you got is life time... Go!" - Henry Rollins in 5 Youtube clips

I don't really have a lot of heroes. Not in the 'celebrity' kind of way. There's more people I look up to in my family or circle of friends than in a tabloid or a music magazine.
There are a couple of exceptions. Henry Rollins is one of them. I love Black Flag and Rollins Band. I have seen a couple of his spoken word shows and always left the room amazed and totally blown away. Lately I have been reading some of his books and listened to his radio shows and podcasts and they are nothing short of inspiring.

Photo: Getty Images

The body of work he has created, the things he has done, the countries he has visited,... Totally mind blowing and inspiring. As is his work ethic. If there's one thing that I admire and am inspired by it's his work ethic, since his early days singing for State Of Alert in Washington DC and scooping ice cream for a living until now, constantly writing, making radio shows and touring and traveling.
You see, much like most people I'm guilty of procrastination more than I like to admit. Be it professionally or in my personal life. I can be pretty lazy and most of the time I regret it afterwards. If there's one thing Henry Rollins learned me lately it is to step it ut a notch. On every level. Also with this blog. I started with a lot of plans and enthusiasm but started slacking real quick. I'll try to update this thing more.

For starters: here's my 5 favorite youtube clips involving Henry Rollins (not his bands or music but documentaries, quotes,...)


1. A dutch documentary recorded in 1995. He talks about his life and is brutally honest about his childhood, relationships, his solitary life, his work, ... Be sure to check this out. I wasn't going to include music of his bands but there's some footage of the Rollins Band at the pinkpop festival as a nice extra!

2. Some early spoken word clips and interviews from the 1980's. He also talks about why he enjoys doing spoken word shows so much. He says it's way more direct than singing in a band, even in the confrontational Black Flag. Funny spoken word clip: 'Henry Rollins' pro tips on what not to do with girls on the first date.'

3. Henry Rollins on 'what's in my bag' at the Amoeba recordstore in 2011. Henry Rollins goes shopping at Amoeba Records in Hollywood and shares what's in his bag. Strange sidenote: in recent years Henry Rollins has been an avid vinyl fanatic and I have seen pictures of his massive record collection. But in this clip he only buys cd's or cd-r's. Very interesting and nice picks though!

4. Henry Rollins on Ian Svenonius' Soft Focus. This is a pretty long but interesting and funny interview done by Ian Svenonius (of The Make-Up, Nation Of Ulysses, Chain And The Gany,... and probably the most interesting dandy in punk) for his 'Soft Focus' series. A lot of topics are covered here, like why Rollins isn't that worried about his FBI file.

5. There's a couple of Youtube clips of Henry Rollins talking about his favorite vinyl records for a channel called 'The Sound Of Vinyl'. He picks some awesome records and classics (from Joy Division's 'Unknown Pleasures' to John Coltrane's 'A love supreme' but I especially like this short clip where he explains how and with who to listen to records (although he prefers to do this alone of course). Check it out:

That's it. Of course there's tons more interesting clips of spoken word shows, documentaries, interviews,... on youtube. Go check them out. Some of them are pure gold!

I'm going to the 'Henry Rollins travel slideshow' later this year in Kortrijk where he will be showing pictures and will be telling stories of his many travels. I'm really looking forward to this!

In the meantime, remember this: "No such thing as spare time, no such thing as free time, no such thing as down time. All you got is life time... Go!"