sunday, february 7, 2010

The Monroes

Yowsa, miracles still happen. I got a copy of the debut-CD by The Monroes. It's out on cool dutch Tocado Records. It's called "Roulette" and (no surprises here, since I released their debut 7") I like it a lot. Back in 2004 (!) after seeing their 2nd show ever (ORKZ) we agreed on releasing a 7" on High Maintenance. And now 4-and-a-half years after that first release they have their second out. This debut-album has their signature soulfull garagesound and some instrumentals added for good taste (no kidding). Female vocals by Josje and a cover of the immaculate Oblivians makes this a cool release. Check 'em out @ their MySpace Profile Page and buy everything they released! All good things come slow.

thursday, february 4, 2010

Brenda Vaqueros

Ha cool new band from Alberta, Canada. They are called Brenda Vaqueros, there's 5 of 'em. Garagesoulpunk with organ, kinda like a mix of The Forbidden Tigers and our local Green Hornet. Believe me that's a big thumbs up! In case you don't believe me: The Forbidden Tigers LP and 7" are awesome and I released an LP by Green Hornet on my own High Maintenance label. Check those canadians out @ their MySpace Profile Page. And while we are in Canada anyway: 8 days to go and the Olympics will start. Offcourse the entire dutch nation (including me) will be following the Speedskating event, way to go dutchies!
And last thing: any Forbidden Tigers' plans for 2010? Still need to see 'em live.
Truly last thing: twitter to @GrunnenRocks in case you feel like chatting me up and also tell me there to follow your bands/labels Twitter account/profile.

wednesday, january 27, 2010

The Cramps Forever

OK, I'm oldfashioned, but do I care? NO! Today the whole "world of internet / gadget - believers" is trying to tell me that an iPad will change my world. And what do I do? I just play old Cramps footage on YouTube. You can find amazing cool stuff, for instance try clicking the image to the right ... And offcourse these gadgeteers all say books will disappear. How come I don't believe that? Twitter to @GrunnenRocks in case you feel like chatting me up. And BTW the Hex Dispensers (with @elalexcuervo) play in @beerlandtexas (= Beerland, Austin, Texas) upcoming saturday!

friday, january 22, 2010

Hex Dispensers

Cool news. Here's a roundup on fave-band Hex Dispensers, they ...

1. released (IMHO) the best LP back in 2007, it's plainly called "The Hex Dispensers".
2. gave the best 2 shows I saw in 2008.
3. released (IMHO) an even better second album in 2009. Again my year-fave, this one is called "Winchester Mystery House".
4. will be #4 with WMH in the VERA album-poll over 2009, with amongst others VERA-booker Peter, VERA-manager Robert, VERA-hotel-host Nynke and yours truly listing the record to be the year's best.
5. reached #44 with their debut album in VERA's albums of the 2000's poll.
6. WILL PLAY in VERA may 6!!! more tourdates at kissnrun.com, Vegas Kings will be opening that night

thursday, january 21, 2010

Jay Reatard, Earthmen And Strangers & Tokyo Electron

HA!
FYI (thanks to pink@you):
Some help on the Jay Reatard list. Sadly missed Jay produced Earthmen And Strangers (newly listed) 's debut LP. That is out on FDH Records. Earthmen And Strangers includes the awesome Ryan Rousseau. And you are damn right: he is the main man in Tokyo Electron. And Tokyo Electron has a 2nd album coming up, also on FDH Records.

Any more info on Jay's prolific career is welcome. Email or twitter me.

BTW 2000's #15 is Wax Museums debut LP (Douchemaster Records).

thursday, january 21, 2010

Best 10 Records Of The 2000's

Two months to go until the astronomical/astrological spring. Can't wait, fed up with snow really. Today the VERA poll will be out. The annual list of what is really cool is published for the 20-somethingth time. Because of humanity actually managing surviving 10 years in the 3rd millennium the VERA poll asked to fill in a list of your personal Best 10 Records Of The 2000's. Here's my list:

1. Dirtbombs - Ultraglide In Black LP (In The Red)
2. Reigning Sound - Time Bomb High School LP (In The Red)
3. Hex Dispensers - Winchester Mystery House LP (Douchemaster Records)
4. Black Lips - Let It Bloom LP (In The Red)
5. Hunches - Hobo Sunrise LP (In The Red)
6. mClusky - mClusky Do Dallas LP (Too Pure)
7. Spits - The Spits LP (Dirtnap Records)
8. Riverboat Gamblers - Something To Crow About LP (Gearhead Records)
9. Okmoniks - Party Fever!!! LP (Slovenly Recordings)
10. Cococoma - Cococoma LP (Goner Records)

Bubbling Under (actually forgot 'em while typing in the first 10):

1. Maharajas - Unrelated Statements LP (Low Impact Records)
2. Forbidden Tigers - Magnetic Problems LP (Dead Beat Records)
3. Tokyo Electron - Tokyo Electron LP (Shattered Records)
4. Box Elders - Alice And Friends LP (Goner Records)

monday, january 18, 2010

Eurosonic/Noorderslag 2010

OK here's my report on the 2010 version of our yearly local Eurosonic/Noorderslag festival. Quite a few remarks appeared on my Twitter-profile but anyway here's the "story". BTW my Twitter-profile is updated quite a lot, so you might wanna watch it.

day #1 - Thursday january 14, EuroSonic #1

Allright this year's version started off with me looking for the main office. Last years it was located at "De Grote Markt" (central square in town) but now it moved to the Ciboga-Area (near Simplon). That is caused by lack of space at the central square due to the Groninger Forum. Since that'll last some years they already decided to move the main office for this year.

First band I would have liked to see was The XX. Since I probably wouldn't be able to get into De Stadsschouwburg I went to the EBBA Awards. This event was in De Oosterpoort with Jools Holland. Funny enough dutch princess Maxima called the people appearing "musicians". Well not in my book, as they were quite horrible. A danish (?) girl started off. The Vengaboys would have been better, though her version of Charles Aznavour's "She" (with Jools on piano) was ok. Sliimy from France and Giusy Ferreri from Italy didn't do it for me at all. When the austrian weltschmerz-piano-girl-in-black (called Soap & Skin) started playing I had enough. So I didn't see Esmée Denters or Milow, not a big loss. Main thing was seeing Jools and all-n-all it only took 30 mins.

And now for the real music. In The Opera (a tent really, no pun intended but I thought it was funny) near the main office the festival started off with Agua De Annique. Agua has Anneke Van Giersbergen, former frontwoman of The Gathering, in its ranks. Their show was OK, "Hey Okay" was a great song. At the bar they sold horrible Heineken ice-cones, not that environmental-friendly (and no Grolsch).

Isbells in De Spieghel was packed, couldn't get in. Then off to what is "my" club, the german Kilians were in VERA. OK, but not very good if I might say so.

Then back to The Opera to see the norwegian band Kaizers Orchestra. They were here in 2003 aswell, I never saw 'em and I was quite happy to see 'em, good band, best band of the first night.

day #2 - Friday january 15, EuroSonic #2

Together with debutDJ Stella Druiven I was DJ in VERA. A good night, offcourse we played quite a lot of Jay as did thursday's DJ aswell.
4 bands played:

1. Agent Fresco from Iceland
2. Hickey Underworld from Belgium
3. And So I Watch You From Afar from Northern Ireland
4. The Low Frequency In Stereo from Norway

saturday, january 16, 2010

Cococoma Live in O'Ceallaigh's

Times are busy: Three days of (semi-)alternative music all over town. It's called the Eurosonic/Noorderslag festival. Eurosonic is one of the biggest showcase festivals in Europe and again it was (thu/fri) here in Groningen. Tonight it's Noorderslag presenting the state of modern music in The Netherlands. They won' succeed since The Accelerators weren't booked but anyway. Tomorrow I'll write a (little?) piece on te festival(s).

For now there's just one ANNOUNCEMENT. Brilliant garageband Cococoma will play in a pub in town. The pub is called O'Ceallaigh (Gedempte Kattendiep 13). The pub will open around 21 hour, the band will start around (not before) 22 hour. The gig was only arranged yesterday so that is why it is mentioned this late, but be sure not to miss this AWESOME band.

thursday, january 14, 2009

RIP Jay Reatard

Damn, this morning I read the news that Jay Reatard died at a mere 29 in Memphis. He died in his sleep in the night from last tuesday onto last wednesday. Don't know what happened, I think some higher power lost it once again, but for sure Jay will be sadly missed. Enjoyed his records and the shows I saw with him playing a mighty lot. First time around, 1998, was his awesome, overseen everywhere one-man-band solo-debut 7" on the immaculate Goner Records. The first (1999?) time I saw him play live was with Reatards in VERA, I think I was DJ then. Later on I saw the awesome Lost Sounds at least twice and I'll never forget their best songs, "Plastic Skin" and "I Get Nervous". Back in 2005 there was my sole trip to The Pit's when I saw him with Angry Angles and Reatards again. A memorable day if there ever was one. The AA's "Apparent Transparent" is a song I'll never forget too. I also very much enjoyed Final Solutions' "Eye Don't Like You". And I saw his new "soloband", Jay Reatard, twice, both times in VERA, best songs for me are "Hammer I Miss You" and "Night Of Broken Glass". All together I hate the thought that there won't be another Jay Reatard band anymore, there should have been many more. Love to him, may he rest in what he considered to be peace, and lots-of-strength to everybody else.

tuesday, january 5, 2010

!!! Happy 2010 !!!

thursday, november 19, 2009

Gosse's 3rd Birthday

Gefeliciteerd!!!

The coolest man (aka "the other labour of love") on the planet has his 3rd birthday today. Gosse got his first lego and even more duplo and on the pic he just blew out the candles on his cake.
Don't forget the free vinyl (see below: nov 17).

tuesday, november 17, 2009

FREE VINYL #103

HOLA HOLA HOLA!!!

Old times coming back richt at cha (and at me). Here's the resurrection of a thing called FREE VINYL. Back in the days (2002 and 2003) we had 101 giveaways of free vinyl. Later on in aug/sept 2005 we had #102, so this one is #103. This time we give away 2 copies of the awesome debut 7" by Silver Lion's 20/20. It's out on Sweet Velvet Vinyl.

What do you need to do in order to stand a chance of getting one of those free copies? EMAIL ME!!! and give me any kind of input regarding this website, the music on it etc. Offcourse make the subject of the email like "Free Vinyl #103". The giveaway ends next week tuesday (november 24).

The 7"-sleeve is pictured to the right and was made by mighty cool Tim Kerr.

monday, november 9, 2009

"Big Deal, What's He Done Lately?"

"Big Deal, What's He Done Lately?" was said by Johnny Ramone about Phil Spector when Spector was going to produce a Ramones album. That album was going to be the by-far-not-so-cool-as-usual-for-the-Ramones "End Of The Century". Thanks for telling me folks!

sunday, november 8, 2009

Thee Vicars = Brilliant Brittish Beat

Damn, that was a great gig. Yesterday "Downstairs At Gibby's" in VERA we had Thee Vicars. These Dirty Water Records recording stars make Brilliant Brittish Beat ranking among the best. All self-written (by lead singer and bassplayer Reverend Mike Whittaker) songs and 2 covers. The Sonics' "Strychnine" and The Kinks "You Really Got Me". Those covers clearly indicate their musical style, but they sure make it into their own thing.
BE SURE TO SEE 'EM LIVE when you can, a truly great band.

And now I have to cope with that nasty "Pain In My Head" (while humming Sinister Six).

Last and least: "Big Deal, What's He Done Lately?" was said by Johnny Ramone about Phil Spector when Spector was going to produce a Ramones album. That album was going to be the by-far-not-so-cool-as-usual-for-the-Ramones "End Of The Century". Thanks for telling me folks!

friday, november 6, 2009

Thee Vicars in VERA

Next livegig I'm gonna see: Thee Vicars in VERA (downstage). These Dirty Water Records recording stars will be trashing the place tomorrow (saturday november 7) 23:00 and onwards. Be there or be stupid. And again brought to you by the IMMACULATE Kiss N Run European Tour Booking, thanks to Robert (again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again).

thursday, november 5, 2009

Cococoma's 2nd: "Things Are Not All Right"

Some more on 2009 - record of the year candidates ...

First let's mention another personal candidate. It's Cococoma's "Things Are Not All Right" LP on the coolest imprint of the moment Goner Records. It's the second album by this Chicago threesome. Organ-driven garagerock of the highest level. Their debut record scored a 10 with me, this one does a "mere 9.5" sofar. I take it that'll be a 10 after some more spinning of the record on the recordplayer. In case you wanna know: their debut has been the most played record at home for half a year or so. This new record has something to live up to. So it's a great album, you need it for certain and be sure to especially take notice of the title-track. There's a dutch greeting saying "Alles Goed?" ("All Is Well?"). The honest answer should be NO all the time, since "Things Are Not All Right"! great track! great album! great band!

Mark Van De Ploeg (thnx!) writes:
The Brimstone Howl record is called "Big Deal, What's He Done Lately?" (Evert: are they referring to Michael Jackson?) and it's out on Alive Records.
Another cool record is "In The Valley Of Sickness" by Thomas Function on Fat Possum.

monday, november 2, 2009

Best Records of 2009

OK, here's the "hot 3":

1. Grunnen Rocks @ myspace.com
2. Grunnen Rocks @ facebook.com
3. Grunnen Rocks @ twitter.com

Through email and the use of the "hot 3" you and me chose the sofar best records of 2009. Below there is the current shortlist. If you think there's anything missing / wrong / incomplete / incorrect: go ahead and email me.

• Reigning Sound - Love And Curses LP/CD - In The Red
• Hex Dispensers - Winchester Mystery House LP/CD - Douchemaster Records/Alien Snatch Records
• Box Elders - Alice And Friends LP/CD - Goner Records
• Cococoma - Things Are Not All Right LP/CD - Goner Records
• Silver Lion's 20/20/Hans Condor - split 12"EP - Classic Bar Music Records
• Vegas Kings - You'll Never Work In This Town Again CD - Merenoise Records
• Tyvek - Tyvek LP/CD - Siltbreeze Records
• Ty Segall - Lemons LP/CD - Goner Records
• Brimstone Howl - 3rd LP/CD - label?
• The Smith Westerns - The Smith Westerns LP - Hozac Records
• Wizzard Sleeve - Make The World Go Away LP - Hozac Records
• The Drones - Havilah 2xLP/CD - label?
• Heartless Bastards - The Mountain LP?/CD?- Fat Possum
• Thee Oh Sees - Dog Poison LP?/CD? - label?
• The Legendary Tiger Man - Femina LP?/CD? - Rastilho
• The Omens - Send Black Flowers LP/CD - Hipsville Records
• Accelerators - Accelerators LP/CD - Stardumb Records
• Gravediggers - El Still Digging LP - Selfreleased
• Test Patterns - Test Patterns 12"EP - Tic Tac Totally
• Greg Cartwright - Live At Circle A LP - Dusty Medical Records
• Pirate Love - Black Vodoun Space Blues LP/CD - Voodoo Rhythm Records
• Nobunny - Love Visions LP - 1-2-3-4 Go! Records
• The Okmoniks - Party Fever!!! LP/CD - Slovenly Recordings

saturday, october 31, #3, 2009

Classic Bar Music

Cool relatively new label from San Francisco: Classic Bar Music Records. Besides the aforementioned awesome split 12" with Silver Lion's 20/20 and Hans Condor there's more cool stuff, here's the full list:

1. CBMR-001 Western Dark/Brutal Knights split 7"
2. CBMR-002 The Legendary Stardust Cowboy/Western Dark split 7"
3. CBMR-003 Top Ten, Easily Unkind 7"
4. CBMR-004/SVV 002 Silver Lion's 20/20/Hans Condor split 12"EP
5. CBMR-005 Top Ten, Girls Understand 7"
6. CBMR-007 Leaders/Guitar Magazine split 7"

By the way the label is run by Erin McDermott.

saturday, october 31, #2, 2009

Funny Night @ The Office

Yowsa, tonight is a funny night. Need to work from 17:30 till maybe 02:00. And even more funny: I need to be present but if everything is going allright I only need to be present. In other words for the upcoming 5/6/7 hours I'm behind my computer all the time. To the right you can see the team that is working tonight. If you ever felt like emailing me and asking me to update anything on the website: TONIGHT IS THE NIGHT! But when there is anything going wrong I'll be doing somethin' else. Anyway try me and email me.

saturday, october 31, 2009

Box Elders

Allright, here's another candidate for "best record of the year 2009". After the Hex Dispensers LP and the Reigning Sound LP we now have a debut album even.

It's by the new Box Elders. The band is from Omaha, Nebraska. It's two brothers named McIntyre and drummer Dave Goldberg.
Last year they released a debut 7" on Grotto Records (which I don't have) and this year august they released their AWESOME debut LP on Goner. It's entitled "Alice And Friends" and it's an awesome psychedelic collection of melodic lo-fi recorded songs. Best description I can think of is a mix of Black Lips and Guided By Voices. A MUST HAVE indeed!

Oh and btw ... The Drones in VERA were pretty good and cool. Though it's an utter shame that they don't play any songs of that especially great debut CD anymore, a big miss imho.

wednesday, october 28, 2009

Silver Lion's 20/20 aka "The Return Of Cheetah"

I'm very happy to tell you that I got a new record with Chet(ley) "Cheetah" Weise. This mighty cool man nowadays is in Silver Lion's 20/20. Together with drummer Craig Pickering he still makes puinblues (thanks to Lo-Lite for that wonderful genre-name).

Silver Lion's 20/20 just released a split 12"EP with Hans Condor. It's out on Classic Bar Music Records/Sweet Velvet Vinyl. And I love it. I'm very glad our former ILCK-er still has the bluespunk, like me basically. A great, cool, and worth every penny record, buy it!

Oh and btw ... Tonight there's The Drones in VERA.

tuesday, october 27, 2009

The Drones in VERA

Say ooh la la.
Tomorrow (wednesday october 28) for the 3rd time in VERA:
THE DRONES.

This aussie band and me, myself and I go a pretty long way ...
#1
Back in december 2002/january 2003 or something like that I got a mail from Spooky Records' Loki. He emailed me they were going to play @ SXSW in march 2003. That was a nobrainer really. I mean if you are from aussie-land and you're gonna play in Texas you can fly two ways. It's either across the pacific or over Europe. I emailed Loki to suggest they should do the latter and play in VERA. They did, I think they ended up playing in Berlin, London, Amsterdam and Groningen. The VERA gig was really great, march 20-something 2003 it was.
#2
In 2005 they were featured at the 10-year anniversary party of this website, see the poster to the right. Together with The Monroes and E.T. Explore Me they made a very cool evening on sept 22.
#3
Later on I saw'em @ ATP 2007, april (?) in the UK, again a mighty cool show indeed.
#4
Now they're back for the 3rd time in VERA and for my 4th time. Great australian swamprock in the best tradition.

Be sure NOT to miss 'em, I won't either.

monday, october 26, 2009

Kizmiaz Records

HA a cool new (again french) label. It's called Kizmiaz Records and I take it they got their name from the brilliant "Kizmiaz" by the Cramps. That is an amazing track, released as a 7"/12" and on their epic LP "A Date With Elvis". Cause those records and their sleeves are truly great I added them to the page, just for old time's sake basically.

Back to the new label. It's a french label, they are from Nantes and they released a CD and 2 7"es sofar.

KZ 001 is a 7" with 2 acclaimed french one-man bands King Automatic and Bud McMuffin.
KZ 002 is a mighty cool compilation CD in a cardboard box (pic to the right). It's entitled "One Foot In The Grave". Included are 17 one-man bands from all around the globe, a must-have.
KZ 003 is a 7" by Automatic Pussycat. A cooperation between King Automatic's Jeremie Malisz and Sam Agostino of Digger & The Pussycats. On this 7" even the Cramps "What's Inside A Girl" (also on 7"/12" and "A Date With Elvis", but I cannot find a good pic of that mighty cool 7"/12" cover) is done.

Well you know where it's at: GET 'EM ALL!.

And last but not least:
Yannick & David who run the label also have a radioshow called A Date With Elvis.

sunday, october 25, 2009

The Omens

Again a short message today: The Omens are mighty cool indeed. I saw 'm back in 2005 @ SXSW but they still do their thing amazingly well. Their thing being 60s garage done without any punk, rock, rock 'n' roll or blues influence, just "pure garage" in there basically. BTW in another way this also goes for The Okmoniks. I would like more bands to be reminiscent of the (at least my personal) heyday of garage (1992-1995, Estrus label). The Omens made me hum some great classics afterwards, The Mystreated's "You Better Run" and The M 80's' "Seeing Things" to name a few. Cool and good band! A shame though they didn't bring that girl from the picture below ;-)

The Madd from Rotterdam were OK, technically perfect covers of originally 60s tracks. Great vocals added to the mix. I think they played one track by 'emself. They should do that way more. Problem with the band is that it is a little too polished/sweet for my taste. But be sure to check 'em out and especially girls love this band (you can use that to your advantage haha).

tuesday, october 20, 2009

The Omens + The Madd

Today there's an even smaller update, but this one is important.

Next gig I'll attend: Cool The Madd and Mighty The Omens in VERA. They'll be destroying the place next thursday, october 22. Really looking forward to see both of 'em, but ...

Be sure not to miss the opening band, they are AWESOME!!! THE OMENS will start 21:00 so you must be there 21:01 at the last!!! Don't say I didn't tell ya ;-) And in case you don't believe me, to the right there is a little teaser. This is how they looked in LA earlier this year.

monday, october 19, 2009

Human Beinz classic "Nobody But Me"

Today there's a small update.

Heavily inspired by Nobunny I made a full list of Isley Brothers covers. Basically there's only one listed here: "Nobody But Me". This track was a monsterhit in 1968 by Human Beinz, but it is actually from 1962 by the aforementioned Isley Brothers, cool stuff.

BTW The new Nobunny LP will be on acclaimed Goner Records.

sunday, october 18, 2009

Thanks Helene, Billy, Jason, Justin, Marcos & Sammy

Yowsa, what a great night that was in Amsterdam.
For the bands it was the 6th show in 7 days and it also was their 6th country (and 5th european capital) to gig in. This after Spain (Benidorm), Sweden (Stockholm), Norway (Oslo), Germany (Berlin) and Belgium (Brussels).
Anyway for me the club (Pacific Parc) ruled. The DJ (Stickerguy) ruled. Lots of people I know were there and on top of that three great bands (with all-in-all only 6 people in 'em) on stage.

Rock And Roll Adventure Kids opened up:
lots of energy, cool songs, hard to pin 'm down on any style or genre (again), cool cover of the Tamrons' "Wild Man", great show.

Okmoniks followed:
this was the best gig of the night, though that feels like choosing between Claudia, Gisèle and Heidi ;-) great songs (they only forgot my fave "It's Not You"), great show, a girl on stage (sorry Helene), vaguely (in a blur) reminding of the early 90s Estrus and Bay Area-stuff, Estrus being the label that got me to starting this website in the 1st place.

Nobunny closed:
mighty cool and not funny at all (LOL) punk, if I won't see the Hex Dispensers this very likely will turn out to be the best livepunkband (as seen by me) of 2009, Justin is busy with a new album, watch out for that.

BTW #1 if all is well we'll be linking up some footage shot last night somewhere next week, hope that's gonna work out.
BTW #2 will try and list all 6 appearing rockstars on the 3 band-pages asap.
BTW #3 next time any of these 3 plays in Europe I would like to see 'em in VERA.
BTW #4 would be cool if the Wax Museums came along.
BTW #5 say hi to Erik, Nelline, Jasper, Paloma, Jan, Yvonne, RobK, Kevin, Ox and all the rest of you.

friday, october 16, 2009

Countrypages Introduced

Howdy, good news today. Rarely last 3 years there was some new functionality announced on this site. Today there is something new here. Let me introduce to you: countrypages. Per country (all 36 of 'em) you can find bands, labels and people listed on this website. The lists aren't fully done yet, but you can see them in their elementary form ...

1. Algeria
2. Argentina
3. Australia
4. Austria
5. Belgium
6. Bosnia
7. Brazil
8. Canada
9. Croatia
10. Czech Republic
11. Denmark
12. Finland
13. France
14. Germany
15. Greece
16. Ireland
17. Israel
18. Italy
19. Japan
20. Luxemburg
21. Mexico
22. The Netherlands
23. New Zealand
24. Norway
25. Poland
26. Portugal
27. Russia
28. Slovenia
29. Spain
30. Sweden
31. Switzerland
32. Taiwan
33. United Kingdom
34. Uruguay
35. United States Of America
36. Yugoslavia

Every page has bands first, labels second and people third. If you feel there's bands, labels or people missing or listed with the wrong country: DO NOT HESISTATE and be sure to EMAIL ME asap.

thursday, october 15, 2009

Me = Silly Twat

I won't bother you with too many details, but fact of the matter I am (was actually) a silly twat.

Why? Well there's a number of reasons.

But today I'll admit I'm a silly twat because I managed, about 3 years ago, to have an insanely stupid idea. I added pages to the website for any band on any record listed on the website. When a band didn't have a page before I decided to set them to be american as a default (instead of something like "unknown"). Ever since lots of bands have been listed as coming from the USA while they are actually from somewhere else. In case you feel like emailing me corrections: I'l be happy to receive 'em.

xxx, Evert "Twat" Nijkamp.

wednesday, october 14, 2009

ELPEE Twitters

This is useful for dutch-reading capable locals (Grunnegers) only ...

Local recordstore ELPEE uses Twitter a lot. They do Twitter-only offers, ads, etc, all in dutch but nevertheless cool. And what's more you can also reserve or order records through their Twitter page. Cool indeed, funny, true and very useful, recommended.

tuesday, october 13, 2009

Okmoniks + Nobunny + RnR Adventure Kids in Amsterdam

Haha! It hardly ever happens: me travelling outside the city to go and see a band or even some bands. But next saturday (oct 17) we'll go and enjoy the triple gig of these 3:

1. Okmoniks
2. Nobunny
3. Rock And Roll Adventure Kids

It's gonna be @ Pacific Parc, Polonceaukade 23, in Amsterdam. The DJ is gonna be Pete Slovenly Menchetti and you better be there.

monday, october 12, 2009

Accelerators on Stardumb

Newly added: dutch poppy punkrockband Accelerators. Their debut LP/CD rocks my socks off! It comes recommended for fans of Apers, Queers and the like and offcourse everybody who likes decent hooks in punky songs.

And while on the job here's the 7th post in the "this cool label has its discography up-to-date (once) again".

The Accelerators album is released on the outstanding Stardumb imprint. Their discography now is up-to-date once again. Great label!
The album btw is cooperation of Starumb with Squinty Joe Records, a new UK poppunk label. Check 'em out!

saturday, october 10, 2009

Grunnen Rocks

Not that I myself needed any confirmation but last nite showed that Grunnen City severely Rocks.

Lots of people in VERA showed up to see 3 local bands. The announced Mark & The Spies (not from the city) sadly had to cancel (due to illness) and that's why the evening ended up being local bands only.

The party was opened by The Rumblers. Good instro-music all around, as expected from surfbeat-alumni Evert-Jan, Harry and ErikA. No releases yet.

Second were the Gravediggers. They presented their new LP, "El Still Digging", which is their 4th release on vinyl and the first since 1999. Album is and the show was mighty cool. Crampsy-psychobilly with small additions of neue-welle-electro(!) and more. Check 'em out.

Third up were rightfully acclaimed The Monroes. Tarantinopop as they state themselves, I think it's more a more guitar-driven version of Detroit Cobras with a Vanessa Paradis like girl named Josje on guitar and vocals. Their debut CD "Roulette" is out on Tocado Records. Do check this awesome band aswell and offcourse email me about their debut release. That is a really good (!) 7" on my own (do not trust me here) label High Maintenance.

friday, october 9, 2009

The Saints

Seminal punkband The Saints just released a CD with a live-recording. It was recorded at a reunion gig, at The Pig City Festival in Brisbane, 2007. To the right you see a fake sleeve, I couldn't find the correct one on the internet. That probably is caused by this CD being extremely NEW released ;-)

thursday, october 8, 2009

The Monroes

Tomorrow night in VERA finally the debut CD of The Monroes sees the light of day. If you're in town be sure not to miss that. You might even get a free copy of their debut 7". Asking me might do the trick. Getting me a beer too ;-) That 7" was released 4 years ago on my own High Maintenance label. It still is available. To buy (through paypal or by sending cash) or for trades: be sure to email me.

thursday, october 8, 2009

Trouble In River City Up-To-Date

So here's the 6th post in the "this cool label has its discography up-to-date (once) again".

By popular demand:
Trouble In River City's latest 3 releases have been added:

1. The Nevermores CD
2. Left Arm 7"
3. The 75s CDEP

wednesday, october 7, 2009

Yakisakana Records Up-To-Date

And yup here's the 5th post in the "this cool label has its discography up-to-date (once) again" series.

This time it's what I consider the most consistent and therefore coolest label in Europe. It's the acclaimed french trashgarage label Yakisakana Records.

Latest additions to their roster are two 7"es:
Dead Ghosts and
Manic Attracts,
both canadian bands, be sure not to miss these!

tuesday, october 6, 2009

Bootleg Booze Records Up-To-Date

And here's the 4th post in the "this cool label has its discography up-to-date (once) again" series.

Next up is the acclaimed punkrock and swedish rock'n'roll label Bootleg Booze Records. Latest releases are by swedish acclaimed bands, a 7" by neo60s band Dee Rangers and a 10" by punk-rock-n-roll band The Accidents. This label's page aswell is fully updated now, buy 'em all!
BTW for the wiseguys: my guess is as good as yours but I take it a release with catalogue number "Booze 024" does not exist. If anybody has seen it be sure to tell me through email.

And in case you wanna make my day. Get yourself connected to me through my facebook profile. As the attention-needing sucker that I am I'll accept any requests, trust me ;-)

monday, october 5, 2009

Dusty Medical Records Up-To-Date

So here's the third(!) post in the "this cool label has its discography up-to-date (once) again".

By popular demand:
Next up is the acclaimed Wisconsin punk-and-garagerock label Dusty Medical Records. It's page is fully updated now, buy 'em all!

saturday, october 3, 2009

The Test Patterns Rule

HA! Last night a great nite in town. In the acclaimed Crowbar there were 2 punkbands.
Opening up are a fab4 from Grunnnen City called The Junohoos, cool garagepunk!
Main act were The Test Patterns. A cool catchy powerpunky foursome. Three ugly guys from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and one pretty girl from Tokyo. Cool self-crafted songs and on top of that some covers added. They even played M.O.T.O.'s "Dance Dance Dance". They actually learned to play that in the car while driving to Grunnen hometown. Be sure to check 'em out on vinyl or if you have to on that darn MySpace. Great club, great bands, great nite!

BTW today I altered the stylesheets for this website a bit. In case you see anything that appears wrong be sure to email me!

friday, october 2, 2009

Frantic City Records Up-To-Date

So here's the second post in the "this cool label has its discography up-to-date (once) again". Next up is the acclaimed french punk-and-garagerock label Frantic City Records.

The first record added is a corelease with Heartbeeps Records. It's a 7" by The Heartbeeps called "A Boring Life With No Guitar".
The second is a 7" by Wild Zeros, "Homesick".
The third one is by the acclaimed dutch (actually grunnen-self) garagepunk band The Beavers. It's called "Silly Girls". Funny thing is that Beavers' (and Waistcoats') Jack Outhuis actually is my neighbour nowadays. His youngest son Renger plays half the week with Gosse, funny but true. Needless to say that 7" in particular is awesome ;-)
The fourth and newest one sofar is a 10"/CD by the Wild Zeros.

thursday, october 1, 2009

Hozac Records Up-To-Date

So here's the first post in the "this cool label has its discography up-to-date (once) again". Starting off with the acclaimed ultra-hip Chicago Hozac Records label.

Recently they got a shitload of records out. Their 2009 Hookup Club (first 2 threesomes are HZR-27-28-29 and HZR-30-31-32) includes 7"es by
Dum Dum Girls,
Idle Times,
Woven Bones,
Art Thieves,
Mother Of Tears
and White Mystery.
Their latest batch includes 3 more 7"es, by
Francis Harold And The Holograms,
Davila 666
and Cave Weddings,
and the label's first ever LP release by The Smith Westerns.

tuesday, september 29, 2009

Greg Cartwright Solo Album

Another no-brainer: BUY the Greg Cartwright Solo Live LP on the acclaimed Dusty Medical Records. One man and a guitar can only make equally beautiful music if the man's name is Daniel Johnston. Note: the music doesn't resemble Mr. Johnston, it's just equally beautiful. A truly great album!

And what's more the LP is accompanied with a 7" with Greg and all 4 members of Goodnight Loving.

sunday, september 27, 2009

Barbara Stok Rules!!!

Here's a big thumbs up and congrats to Barbara Stok. This weekend she got, quite deserved I think, the most important national (dutch) prize for comic-artists. Read (in dutch) all about it @ the site of Het Stripschap. And offcourse check her website often, it's at www.barbaraal.nl

thursday, september 24, 2009

TESTING

It's sad this website ran nice and smoothly without ads or 14 years, but ... I need money to be able to buy records ;-(

wednesday, september 16, 2009

Pirate Love in VERA

Let's do a quick update today ...
If you're in Grunnen Rocks City be sure not to miss Pirate Love in VERA, thursday sept 17!

And for the rookies:
VERA re-organised opening times. Back in the old days it was 22:00 opening act, 23:00 main act. NOW it is 21:00 opening act (if any), 22:00 main act. So tomorrow the club will be open at 21:00, since there is no opening act you can enjoy the DJ (not me) til 22:00 and then the band will destroy us dutchies. The doors will close at 22:30, do not say I didn't tell ya ;-)

Entrance is only 5 euro, that's less than 1 euro per norwegian garagerocker performing, so BE THERE or be kinda square.

tuesday, september 15, 2009

Google Search On This Site?

Here's a minor question:
Anybody care for a box like the one below in the menu (that is to the left) of this page?

Email me if your answer is: YES PLEASE!
Thanks to the guys from ELPEE.

monday, september 14, 2009

Pepr Rocks Once Again

Who the hell is Peter Weening? If you don't know the answer ... well ... eh ... your loss. The most influential man in cool dutch music now has his own "blog". Since one of his nicknames is "Pepr" he called it "Pepr's Corner". Sad thing is that it is in dutch, so all you foreigners need to learn our language ;-) A must read!

Pepr publishes his own chartlist since 1986. Every 2 weeks it's printed in the VERAkrant. Here's a selection from the current list:

As ever a neat list. I myself would have the #1 position shared between Hex Dispensers and Reigning Sound. #3 would have been Tyvek. #4 obviously is the power-hardrocking Vegas Kings and #5 is pretty vacant, as is the rest of my list ;-)

friday, september 11, 2009

Gosse Rocks Once Again

Several people asked how cool Gosse is looking these days. Here's a picture of him. He's wearing my new wireless headphones. Mighty cool little man. He'll turn 3 on november 19. Since august 8 I myself am 40!:-( and the website will turn 14 next week (september 19). Gosse now calls CD's "kleine muziekjes" (little pieces of music) and LP's "grote muziekjes" (big pieces of music), ain't that smart? ;-)

Those wireless headphones come in really handy. You can play the new Reigning Sound LP on your recordplayer while listening to it in the whole house. The kid stays asleep, the neighbours do not complain and all the time (in the bathroom, in bed, in the garden, wherever) you hear the music as loud as your ears will tolerate without hurting too much. The coolest thing is that you need to return to your recordplayer when any side of the record is finished. Best song on that album is "Debris", awesome track.

For the tough rockers: be sure to check aussie Vegas Kings' 3rd album "You'll Never Work In This Town Again", it's on aussie Merenoise Records.

thursday, september 10, 2009

TYVEK's "Debut LP"

And another candidate for record of the year, it's Tyvek's debut album. Tyvek/TVK/Tyevk is a weird, arty and mighty punkband from Detroit, Michigan. They released some cool 7"es already (most notably their recently rereleased debut 7" and the tracks "Needles Drop" and "Frustration Rock" from the 2x7") and now there's this debut album. It's out on excellent Siltbreeze Records.

wednesday, september 9, 2009

HEX DISPENSERS' "WINCHESTER MYSTERY HOUSE"

And here's another candidate for record of the year. In 2007 they had the album of the year. In 2008 they were among the best gigs I saw. Now they're back with their second album. Again rocking as hell and a must for every punkrocker-with-brains on this planet. It's The Hex Dispensers' "Winchester Mystery House". In Europe it's on cool as fuck Alien Snatch Records and in the US it's on cool as fuck Douchemaster Records. It's a must have for sure. And ... what's more: they're added to the "class of september 2009", so any update on their info is welcome as hell.

tuesday, september 8, 2009

"CLASS of SEPTEMBER 2009"

Just updated the lay-out a bit, now you can recognize a "section-heading", neat huh? First up the 5 most important bands of this (and most other) month(s):

1. Black Lips
2. Dirtbombs
3. Gories
4. Oblivians
5. Reigning Sound

When you have anything to ADD to the pages for these 5 bands:
BE SURE TO E-MAIL ME!
Take care messages through sites like MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. might be (and usually are) neglected. Good, old-fashioned e-mail is a bit like the vinyl of the computer ;-)

monday, september 7, 2009

REIGNING SOUND's "LOVE and CURSES"

Second post of this month ...

Best record of 2009 so far: Reigning Sound's "Love And Curses". Bought it last week and I think I'll play this constantly at least this coming week, maybe the next month, we'll see. Socalled "critics" might say: hey it's the same band doing the same thing once again. I know, offcourse, but HEY! ... why care if they do it this UTTERLY GOOD? Looking to women never bores either, right? And yes listening to this record is better than looking at beautiful women, NO KIDDING.

sunday, september 6, 2009

GORIES and OBLIVIANS

Wow a new month and a new post in the first week. Might even happen I'll be getting the hang of this once again. For those who worry: DO NOT FEAR, this website will be back, no worries.

OK, here's a a short review of the best music-night(s) of 2009.

July 8: Oblivians opening up for Gories in wonderful VERA, Groningen. Funny day, like an ex-girl after years comes to life the MAGNIFICENT Oblivians were back in the club, I was DJ and life was as cool as it can get. They played a bit long, but who cares, GREAT BAND, thanks to Greg, Eric and Jack once again. After them like an historical impossibility my "personal fave band of all time" stepped out of the pics on the record-sleeves into real life. WOW, what a great show, THANKS Peg, Dan and Mick.

July 11: Gories opening up for Oblivians in cool-as-fuck Paradiso, Amsterdam. Me was DJ, debuting out of my hometown. The Gories were a bit not woken up yet, but cool as fuck anyways. The Oblivians proved they could have been my "personal fave band of all time" aswell. Might be the only thing they should have done for that is breaking up after the first eurotour, with me missing that, and come back after 17 years ;-)

Last thing: VERA was the only club in Europe hosting The Gories both in 1992 and in 2009. And the Oblivians played VERA for the 4th/5th (?) time? Thanks to Ankie!!!

wednesday, august 26, 2009

POPQUIZ 6

Allright first up a small report on VERA's annual popquiz. The 6th in a (straight) row. We had this annual trashquiz august 1 this year, so the report is not quite in time ;-)
This year we had 5 questions. Offcourse like always not much VERA-like or Grunnen Rocks-like music. Everybody's gotta be able to join in and enjoy!
These were the 5 questions (sorry for the Wacko Jacko question, it had to be done):

1. "music fragments" - "2008-2009" - 4 hits from 2008 and 11 hits from 2009
2. "trivia question" - "Father And Son" - 10 questions about father and son combo's in popmusic
3. "music fragments" - "Michael Jackson" - 15 hits with or by MJ, fill in the years
4. "trivia questions" + 1 music fragments - "We Are (No) Family - 10 questions about bands with "Mother", "Brothers", "Family", etcetera in the bandname
5. "music fragments" - "Cars" - 15 tracks dedicated to Cars, Car-Brands, Hotrods, etc

Maximumscore was 130 points. Here's the full results:

The winning team had 5 members, all selected around and from the best local recordstore: ELPEE. These 5 had to play the final. For me as compiler and presenter of the quiz a decently organised, non-fully-chaotic final for the first time. Krontjong-Devil Gerhard won, VERA-writer Arnold was 2nd, "a girl !!!" Marieke 3rd, ELPEE's own Jan K 4th and a guy named Daniël 5th.
Next year I'll be trying to think of a way not to have the ELPEE-team win the quiz (again) ;-)

wednesday, july 8, 2009

GORIES + OBLIVIANS ... TODAY!!!

Today the two coolest bands ever (for the deep-down-losers: it's Gories + Oblivians) hitted the streets of Groningen, hometown of me, this website and VERA. 4 more hours and one of 'em will open up another great night in the world's best club. Be there or be ultra-square!
To the right the 2 boxes with all the 7"es that can be played tonight.
"Live-coverage" (if I'm not drunk, tired or busy) through GrunnenRocks @ Twitter.

wednesday, july 1, 2009

GORIES + OBLIVIANS ... 7 days left (and counting down)

Time to get this page a little updated again.
In two days the two coolest bands ever (for the morons: it's Gories + Oblivians) will hit europe. In seven days they'll be playing VERA and me = gonna be DJ, HA. There's something to cheer me up!!!
This gig/eurotour is probably this millenium's best chance to prove yourself a moron. If you miss 'em you must be one for sure.

tuesday, march 10, 2009

Jay Reatard - Playlist

Last friday VERAXXX had Jay Reatard do another great show. Opening up were Rats On Rafts from Rotterdam, not my cup of tea, sorry guys. Anyway here's what Me=DJ played that night: Playlist - Jay Reatard + Rats On Rafts

wednesday, march 4, 2009

And suddenly !!!SMASH!!! (all pages have the new layout)

Allrightee! All pages have the new layout. A big thanks to Hedwig Plomp, her HJ and her ATweeA. Time to do something with music instead of layout again :-) Sadly enough there ain't no money at all to buy records, it's a sad time :-(

tuesday, march 3, 2009 #2

Another mighty annoying error gone!

Yowsa! Another mighty annoying error gone. The main bands-list is fully functional again. Thanks to Daniel Argüello from Spain for e-mailing me about it.

tuesday, march 3, 2009

(Still) Busy with the layout #3

OK, Firefox does have a lot of good things going on, admitted. But even though it's the standard I don't see any reason not to allow stylenames starting with a digit. Anyway to make-up, there's a link behind the (fairly large) image to the right and there you can download Firefox.

sunday, march 1, 2009

(Still) Busy with the layout #2 aka FUCK FIREFOX

Damn that layout thing was killing me. It turns out Firefox cannot handle style/class names starting with a digit instead of a alphabet-character, stupid fuckers! Anyway it is fixed now, pfew. I the meantime I enjoyed Roosbeef's CD a lot. Will go and see here (again) march 13 in Simplon, Groningen. But first we'll have Jay-R march 6 and Cheap Time march 12 in VERA Groningen. Lucky me will be DJ at both shows!

tuesday, february 10, 2009

Busy with the layout #1

Yowsa, busy with the layout. Hope I'll manage to have it up and running by feb 15, maybe feb 20 ...

While working @ the office or @ home I listen 100% of the time to Ottoboy The Oneman Trashband's debut CD. Great album! The best dutch one-man band ever!!!

wednesday, february 4, 2009

The Moronics

The Moronics are danish, no further updates today.

tuesday, february 3, 2009

New Records Listed

Damn the world and especially my life is way too busy once again. The layout of the website stayed the same for almost a week and hardly any records added. A short update today, 3 new records listed:

1. Ottoboy The Oneman Trashband' Down With The Upbeat CD, dutch one-man band doing great stuff
2. Roosbeef's Ze Willen Wel Je Hond Aaien Maar Niet Met Je Praten CD, best record of 2009 sofar
3. Sharp's demo CD-R, a demo-recording by a dutch hardrockband, say hi to Melvin

thursday, january 29, 2009

Anna Ives Fundraising

Here's a sad story. If you can help: DO SO!

In Memphis there's a 4-year old little girl fighting cancer. She needs to have surgery and her parents need real money for that. Her mom is called Amy Ives and her dad is Zac Ives, co-owner of Goner Records. Her name is Anna and you can read all about this sad story at the goner site:

Anna Ives Fundraising

There's a load of people auctioning off lots of stuff on eBay to raise money for Anna. Check those auctions, of rare records for instance, out here:

Anna Ives Auctions