Bobwire (Hol) demo (1986)

(tracks): Listen To The Pope… / God ??!? / MBHWM (Modern Bored Hard Working Man) / Zelfmoord (“suicide”) / Necrophilia / USA Against Afrika / Looking For The Beast / Bully Boys (In The Night)

My correspondent Ewout Brouwer (‘Mr Piggy’) send me this tape asking for help to find some gigs. He was the bassist of the band (from Lisse, between Amtserdam & The Hague); the others were ‘Muscle’ Erick Slobbe (vocals), ‘Devil’ Erik Wassenaar (guitar) & ‘Monkey’ Pat(rick) (drums; later replaced by Peter Negeborn). The tracks were also on their debut self-titled LP (1988). After that the German label Old World recs release the LP Shouldn’t Exist (1989) and they finished with Negative Punks in 1991.

The review of their second album (in my zine Tilt! #6) goes as follows: >>Their first D.I.Y. album was already quite good. Stylistically they haven’t changed much (do they have to?): fast HCpunk that storm through your head…sometimes a bit generic (apart from some tempo-changes/breaks). But this band doesn’t have to prove their raison d’être. The lyrics are mostly clear and long explanations of their views on society and politics. Good stuff.<<

Ahimsa (Pol) Słońce Świeci Dla Wszystkich; tape (1991)

Side A – Side B

If I remember well this tape – Słońce Świeci Dla Wszystkich (The Sun Shines For All) – was a donation of my comrade Rafał Kasprzak (guitarist of ‘Alians’). The members of ‘Ahimsa’ during the recordings of this, were bassist Miro(sław) Grewiński, drummer ‘Tomik’ Tomasz Grewiński, guitarist ‘Pazur’ Wojciech Pazurkiewicz and singer Inga. The band was from Poland’s capital Warsaw and they self-released their early material through their label Harmony recs. The female vocalist only appeared on this; after that they had a few different singers (Dariusz ‘Expert’ Ekiert of ‘Inkwizycja‘, Pawel Krawczyk, Andrzej Mazurowski).

My review from Tilt! #6: >>Excellent stuff from Eastern-Europe. Lots of melody served under a variety of sauces (funky, metal, …). Inventive breaks and interludia. Sensitive and moving female vocals. Lyrics (translated) – in the positive vein – prove they’re a bunch of aware people but sometimes it’s a bit too much, which makes it almost unrealistic. Nevertheless, a tape you should get.<<

False Prophets (USA) live (Amsterdam, Nl, 89-04-27)

interview part 1 & part 2 + live set @ Van Hall squat

In 1988 some of us Smurfpunx spent a week at Van Hall squat in Amsterdam, an invitation of Syd Migx (‘Cheetah Chrome Mortherfuckers’ vocalist) who was living there with his partner Lorelei Rahnefeld. They had started a booking-agency named Big White Flash At 6 O’Clock and set up a European tour for ‘False Prophets’. These live recordings of the band (plus an initial interview) were made by fellow-Smurfpunk Geert ‘Mokka’ Mokwinski a few months before they were to play their first Smurfpunx-concert (89-06-10). They also did a second show a year later (90-10-06).

Before signing with Alternative Tentacles they had done 2 singles. Their self-titled debut LP got out in 1986. After numerous drummer-changes, the band released the follow-up, Implosion in 1987. The band broke up on tour shortly thereafter. Stephan Ielpi and guitarist Debra Adele DeSalvo re-formed the band. The 12″ Invisible People released on the Dutch label Konkurrel (Konkurrent) in 1990 was recorded with Stephen Ielpi (vocals), Debra Adele DeSalvo (guitar), Steven Taylor (guitar), Ben Orick (drums), Marc Sloan (bass) & Heather Hardy (violin/keyboards) – those people did the European tours (on the 89 tour Anthony Sepulveda played bass). In his book on the 1989 tour (False Prophet: Field Notes from the Punk Underground), Steven Taylor mentions a woman named Celia as the violin-player. Heather is referred to at the start of the interview ‘Mokka’ did…

There’s also a split-tape with ‘Soulside’ that contains live recordings (89-06-02) of ‘False Prophets’ in Kiel (Germany) done by Andreas Weichelt…