I used to love horror movies. It all started with the 'Scream' movies when I was about 13 years old. I saw the first one in the movie theatre, got hooked and rented a whole lot of VHS tapes and later on dvd's. I saw a lot of great movies and a lot of bad ones. One of them that has always stuck with me was the original 'Halloween' movie by John Carpenter.
Fast forward to 2018. I haven't seen a horror movie in a while. I barely watch tv and go to movie theatres anymore. Besides that, my girlfriend isn't fond of horror movies. Being home alone and with some time to kill I watched 'Halloween' again. How I love and missed this! The suspense created by the genius that is John Carpenter, the young Jamie Lee Curtis, the awesome soundtrack,... I love it! Part of what moved me to watch this masterpiece again is the Instagram posts of Tim McMahon (singer of Search, Mouthpiece, Hands Tied,...). He recently posted some pictures of his visits to some of the original locations of the movie. The Myers house, the Laurie Strode house, the sidewalks and streets where John Carpenter shot the movie, the gates to Smith's Grove Sanitarium that Mike Myers escaped,... Great pictures and it must have been great visiting these locations. Makes me a bit jealous.
I also found out he has an Instagram account dedicated to horror movies. Go look for 'Curatedhorror' on Instagram and enjoy all sorts of horror movie ephemera.
Being the nerd and art lover I am I also spotted the James Ensor (probably Belgian's most famous artist ever) poster in Laurie's bed room. Couldn't resist taking a screenshot.
I've got a lot of catching up and (re)watching to do. Maybe it's time to buy a second tv set and dvd player so I can enjoy some classics and new horror movies again. Get in touch if you got recommendations, although I think I'm all set for now with the Curated Horror page. And I'm definitely looking forward to seeing the 2018 Halloween movie in the theatre soon!
Last year I got Eerie Von's book 'Misery Obscura'. My local distro had a copy on the shelves of this book that was published in 2009. It's packed with awesome pictures and full of great stories. Eerie Von played in Samhain, Danzig and Rosemary's Babies and he took the very first Misfits pictures so you can imagine he has a lot to show and tell. From those first Misfits photo shoots to starting up Samhain to touring the world and recording with Rick Rubin with Danzig. This book is totally recommended!
One of my favorite stories of the book starts in one of the forewords. It's written by Lyle Preslar, legendary guitar player of Minor Threat and one of the original Samhain members. He writes about Samhain's first show. He took an Amtrack train from DC to New York City together with his girlfriend and Brian Baker to play this show. He was carrying his trusted Gibson Les Paul with him and had asked the venue (Rock Hotel) to provide a Marshall JCM stack. Upon arriving he found out they only had two Fender Twin Reverb amps. As guitarplayers probably know, these aren't exactly the same soundwise. Luckily he had brought a distortion pedal so he decided the Twin Reverbs would do and was planning on trying to make the best of the whole situation. Next to this Glenn Danzing turned up with a horrible cold, barely able to sing. After soundcheck Preslar went out to eat something together with his girlfriend and Brian Baker.
Here comes the funniest part of the story. Preslar had been told that Samhain wouldn't be a Misfits II. No makeup, no black armbands, no 'devilocks'. No sign of this during soundcheck so he was feeling comfortable wearing his grey Minor Threat sweatshirt (how much would this be going on Ebay for today...?), his regular attire during those days.
Lyle Preslar
Upon returning from his pre-show meal he was in shock. The whole band was in full on Misfits devilock mode. Eerie Von even had a homemade black spiderman outfit on and the whole dressing room was filled with hairspray and black make up. Luckily he was wearing black jeans and a black shirt underneath his Minor Threat sweatshirt but still he felt very out of place. Funny story and unfortunately there are no pictures of this show in the book. By then Eerie Von was holding a bass guitar instead of a camera. I looked for pictures on the internet but haven't found any. The Lyle Preslar/Samhain combination already is a strange one and this story only adds to this.
As said before: this book is awesome. Try to get a hold of a copy. You won't regret it! I flip through it regularly to check out the pictures but last week I took some time to read Eerie Von's stories and look at the pictures thoroughly while listening to my Misfits, Samhain and Danzig records. No need to tell you I had a great night! Below are some pictures of the book.
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
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!
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!"
After reading my Belgian Nuggets review Tony, the owner of Mayway Records, was kind enough to send me a link to pre-listen to the Definitivos record Mayway Records will release on record store day. 'Courtrai Moderne: Definitive Definitivos' will be the first full vinyl release of Kortrijk's punk heroes.
This band out of my hometown Kortrijk has quite an interesting history. They started out in the late seventies when the first wave of punk craze hit Belgium. In well known punk tradition these four guys didn't really know how to handle an instrument but they were eager to start a band. I could be mistaken but I guess they were the first punk band in Kortrijk. They recorded their first single 'The modern dance' in 1980 and it became an instant indie hit in Belgium and France. When listening to the song I can easily understand why. It's catchy, easy to sing along with and has an awesome and raw guitar solo (I guess they quickly learned how to play those instruments).
Their second single 'Courtrai tonight' was released in 1982 and was produced by Serge Feys of the legendary band T.C. Matic. Reviews were raving again and they could do some touring in France and The Netherlands. 'Courtrai tonight' is a post punk anthem with that typical eighties bass sound that I love so much. I guess this is their most known track and it hit the alternative charts upon its release.
Their sound evolved and was influenced by eighties cold wave and post punk. They had some line-up changes and recorded a 12inch EP called 'Sight seeing'. Unfortunately the band died a silent death after this release. The band was never forgotten though and their releases and songs became cult classics.
Fast forward to 2010. Thanks to social media (these things are both a curse and a blessing...) people got really interested in the band and they started playing again. I saw them play some great shows. They released a best of cd and proved that they still have it and sound pretty fresh. Last year they presented their first new recorded song called '2017, the worst I've ever seen', a protest song in true punk tradition which will also be included on the vinyl anthology. Since 2018 they play with the original line up like in the early days. The punk spirit is still very strong and these guys are real Kortrijk punk heritage.
I can't wait to hold their vinyl anthology in my hands and put it on the turntable. The lay out looks awesome and I have been listening a lot to the tracks Tony sent me. They will play the awesome Textival festival in Kortrijk on the 22nd of april together with some great bands (click here for the full line up and some more information about Kortrijk's cosiest and eclectic festival). Go see them live and buy this record!
The record will be released on the 21st of april, on Record Store Day. More info: Mayway Records.
"You gotta make a choice, stand up and raise your voice!"
I have been wanting to write about this little gem even before I started this blog: The Love Truth & Honesty 7 inch on Machination Records, released in 1992.
I was born and raised in Kortrijk, the mecca of H8000 hardcore in the nineties. H8000 hardcore was well known for its edge metal bands like Congress, Liar, Regression, Spineless,... that had a huge following, not only locally but also international. I was pretty young when all this happened and I was mostly interested in skateboarding, skate punk (I was a huge fan of Green Leaf Records, a subdivision of Goodlife Recordings, the label that released most of these edge metal bands) and chasing girls but I did attend some shows and bought some records.
My favorite H8000 band has always been Blindfold, who played more of a melodic and emo influenced style of hardcore. You can expect some Blindfold posts later on this blog.
Through the Blindfold 'world of fools' 7 inch I got to know Machination Records and through Machination Records I got to know more of those earlier bands when the scene was still called 8000 scene. Somehow those earlier days and bands interest me more than the more metallic H8000 scene (although Congress and Liar, the trailblazers of the H8000 scene were amazing off course). There were some awesome bands active and a couple of local labels: Warehouse Records, PMA Records and Machination Records. The motto of the scene back then was 'Positive, political, powerful', something I can totally relate to. The 'Regress no way' compilation 7 inch on Warehouse Records is a classic and has songs from the 4 most important 8000 bands: Nations On Fire, Blindfold, Spirit Of Youth and Shortsight.
Machination Records only released 7 inches, mainly of local bands (the awesome German band Acme being an exception) and they are all recommended. Even though these records are over 20 years old I still enjoy listening to them and this small label has always fascinated me somehow.
The Love, Truth & Honesty 7 inch was released in 1992 and is in my eyes a very underrated record. You can buy copies on discogs for only 1 euro. The band consisted of Edward (also in Nations On Fire and later of Goodlife Recordings) on vocals, the 2 brothers Dominiek and Frederik (of Spirit Of Youth, Solid, Blood Redemption, ...) on guitar and drums and Ignace on bass. These four songs were also on the Spirit Of Youth demotape on Warehouse Records, recorded by the same line-up a while earlier. So I guess Love, Truth & Honesty is Spirit Of Youth using another name for a short period of time.
The music always reminds me of Dag Nasty and later era Minor Threat. Good, fast and melodic hardcore. Lyrically two of the songs are in the same vein as the Nations On Fire ones and reflect the 'Positive, political, powerful' motto of the scene. Two other songs are more personal dealing with relationships and friendships.
I've always liked the lay-out of the Machination Records releases, they were always simple and to the point but nice to look at. This release is no different. I always wondered what the medieval looking illustration on the cover meant until Edward told me it was his hommage to a series of classical music compilation cd's that he was a big fan of. Nice anecdote and reference!
Get this record. Spend a euro wisely and remember: "Together we can turn the impossible dream into reality..."
