“This is dedicated to all anti-nazi skinheads everywhere!”
Tracks:
(soundcheck) / City Troops / (Why Do They Always Get) The Blame / Work Together (cover of ‘The Oppressed’) / Typical Skin / Skins’n’Punks / Come On Palestinians / Skating / How Many Children Must There Be / Coward / You’re All Gonna Die / Shoot Right
These recordings were made July 3rd 1988 at the 1000 Appeltjes in Antwerp (nót July 2nd 1988 where the band played at Cruysduyne (a parish-hall) in the Belgian coastal town Bredene with other Belgian bands ‘Chronic Disease’, ‘Dirty Scums’ and probably ‘C.P.D.’; plus the French ‘Scraps’ and the Scottish ‘Oi Polloi’). In Antwerp ‘Comrade’ and other ‘local’ bands ‘Vais’ & ‘Belgian Associlaty’ supported ‘Oi Polloi’. The tracks ended up on a split-tape with ‘Oi Polloi’, released by Stephen Parsons (R.I.P.) on his B.B.P. Records And Cassettes. Thanks to Koen ‘Siesiele’ Lammens for providing (most of) them!
‘Comrade’ was an (anti-fascist/ani-racist) oi!/ redskin/ ska-core band from Antwerp, with (at the time) Joost Vantomme (guitar), Joris (drums), ‘Bib’ (bass) & Klaas Vantomme (vocals). They were around from the late 80s to half-way the 90s and did a demo (1990) & a 7″ What About the Children (on Mad Butcher recs, 1995). They were influenced by ‘The Oppressed’, early ‘Oi Polloi’ and ‘The Blaggers’.
Brob
The band originated in 1986 during a ‘Conflict’ concert in Antwerp. We could do better than what we saw on stage, we thought 😉 . We were skins who wanted to play oi!. That gave a bad after-taste in the Antwerp punk-scene. We were going to show that those kind of prejudices were bullshit. The politically correct thinking was damping freedom, also back then. People wanted to put us in a corner; for the Antwerp punk-scene skinheads were nazis and racists. ‘Comrade’ wanted to show that skinheads had nothing to do with fascism. We were never a political band but only because of our militant anti-racism (words & action), we were easily labeled as leftist. Our name did(n’t) help to that matter, for sure, haha. We played until 1992 all over Europe. Because of our self-willed choices we didn’t really fit in a certain current, group or movement. We’ve always chosen our own path. We never forgot our roots: skinhead & oi!. Nostalgia isn’t our thing but we will show the newer generation what us oldies still have to say and do what they think. In 2021 we’ll be on stage a couple of times, playing festivals in Germany. Our first mini-LP will also be released (Mad Butcher recs), together with a compilation of demos and live recordings.
Klaas Vantomme
pics (@ Bredene, 88-07-02) by Serge Harvent
Brob Tilt's tapes 