And dude, do they kick ass ...
Niels, is there a 7" in your collection that you would consider especially valuable for yourself, a record that you feel more attached to than to other records? Which 7" would it be and why?
Well, I feel attached to all my 7"s, but if I had to choose I'd go for the My Reply -- Braindead 7". I bought it in 2005 at a show with My Reply, The Shining, The Crack Ups and The Struggle in our local pub 'De Oude Ketel in Heist-op-den-Berg.
Many legendary shows happened there: Ratos de Porão, Social Chaos, Direct Control and many, many others! But I know when I've seen My Reply I was just blown away by an overdose of rage. I was only turning 17 then and buying my first LPs, 7"s and so on. I went to the merch table to by that My Reply 7". On the cover: a guy with his mouth sewn and his brains taken out! A masterpiece drawn by Rob Nabbe from Lifespite, Blind to Faith and formerly Insult.
When I listened to it for the first time on my dad's old turntable it sounded like crap (because that turntable needed revision) but at the same time it made it so pissed off.
I remember I kept playing this 7" for quite a while before it was put with the others.
To understand what I'm talking about people should check this out:
This 7" also looked far better than the others I bought. Instead of having the lyrics written on the inside, there was a small poster with the cover zoomed out on it and the lyrics written on the back of it in a very DIY style. CLASSY! Oh yeah, today's Citizens Patrol features members of My Reply! Check them out!
So, one of your first records had such a huge impact on you? Great!!! What kind of music did you listen to before discovering My Reply? And how did your musical tastes develop after that?
Before that I had to get into this kind of music through punk rock when I was like 11-12 years old. I was a huge fan of NOFX (Punk in Drublic, duh!), Satanic Surfers (Keep out) and Millencolin (For Monkeys). But then at a school party, I saw For What it's Worth, a local oldschool hardcore band. That was something new for me. Oh well, I was young and discovering a lot afterwards. I met my best friend at a local skate park around that time as well, and we shared similar interests. So we started doing shows together ranging from hardcore punk like Direct Control, Dead Stop and Carreer Suicide to 90's metal and hardcore like Liar and Congress. So yeah, I grew up with different styles. Even today, I still like metal influences in punk music. The more extreme the better, the happier … the more I hate it. Give me something fast and heavy, some good riffs that make me recognize the band and it's pretty possible that I will like it!
Did the My Reply 7" influence your style of (guitar) playing and/or your song-writing? If yes, how so?
Not at all actually … even though I really like it. It was at an early stage of my musical development and my way of guitar riffing only developed during the last couple years. Where My Reply plays fast-forward hardcore punk I am more of an unorthodox guitar player. I love experimenting with notes, chords and song structures. If I need to mention some bands that highly influenced my riffing I'd say: Spazz and Dropdead for the way of playing, Fuck the Facts for the structures and the metal influence. In Travølta you will probably hear a lot of different stuff ranging from d-beat to powerviolence and fastcore to even grind-a-like stuff. This is all due to listening to different genres within extreme forms of punk.
What are the lyrics about on that record? Were they equally important to you when you first listened to the 7"?
The lyrics on that record all talk about teenage frustrations we all encounter in life. They range from people telling you what to do to, people not doing shit with their lives and being shitfaced all day long. Well, as a teenager I was fed up with lots of people around me. Instead of skateboarding people were smoking and drinking in the local skate park. There were always people laughing about the music I was involved with (Yeah, you're involved in punk and hardcore, hahaha). Screw them! So when I read those lyrics (which is not a given), I could totally find myself in them. In this case the extremely pissed off music perfectly guides the lyrics. Perhaps it made me angrier at the people that frustrated me so much at that time and made me say "Fuck you!" to all of it.
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| Definitely some handsome lads: Travølta from Belgium. |
Being involved in a starting DIY record label (Loner Cult Records) and playing in Travølta … well it would be stupid not to support the music scene myself. So yeah, I regularly buy records. My main criteria for shopping are:
– I must find the music awesome!
– I must have the feeling that the band has put a lot of work in the songs.
– I must have the feeling that the band thinks of how to present their music. So, I like neat artwork!
– I need to find the music honest/real. It should have a specific atmosphere. Most copies of copies of bands do not create a specific atmosphere I look for in music.
That being said, I really don't care whether it's black vinyl, or green or blue. I think it's funny when you open the LP and suddenly there is an orange splattered vinyl record inside, that's cool. But the music is priority! I hate it when they ask a few Euros more just because it's colored … fuck that!
Can you come up with five records that really floored you in 2016?
Eh, YES! Not in any order:
Martyrdöd – List
Wormrot – Voices
Ulver – ATGCLVSSCAP (OW yeah, this might be a bit off, but it's so good! Perfect chill music)
Magrudergrind – II
Darkthrone – Arctic Thunder
And please put Haymaker – Taxed...Tracked...Inoculated...Enslaved also in this list!
My Reply -- Braindead 7", Records Records (2005)