Another year has passed, time to look back, to reflect once again.
2008
The first two months of 2008 we didn’t do any shows. The only thing on our minds was finishing the new songs and recording them properly. And so we did. The weekend of the 16th and 17th of February we entered De Studio in Asse with Dirk Miers. 2 days we walked out of there with a unmastered copy of “Endless Roads”.
For the first time ever we decided to split up the recording and mastering. Nico (XPZ Sound, who also worked with Strike First, Tenement Kids, New Morality, Smash The Statues (his own band) etc) was contacted to work his magic on the mastering. And so he did.
“Endless Roads” was released on the 7th of June @ Innocent in Hengelo. Our favorite venue. We made it a Pressure Release showcase asking Tenement Kids, Mans Ruin and Maaswater Veenlijk to play as well. Straight A’s (Niels & co played their last show in 2008, check out The Hunger!) and Cheating Death completed the bill. Although it wasn’t the most crowded show ever, we had joy, we had fun.
In between the release show and the recording we didn’t sit still though. We played Remain’s and The Struggle’s releaseshow. Two other bands that decided to quit in 2008. We went to Germany, to play the last edition of Break The Chains fest. Did a show in Mill (hometown of our guitarplayer) with all local friended bands. A band we played a lot of shows with in the past, One PS, played their last show that night.
The first reviews of “Endless Roads” also started to come in. The first one being by lifersmontreal.com from Canada. Really cool, especially since they featured all kinds of bands on their blog we all loved. Not long after that Asice and Aversionline.com followed with amazingly positive reviews.
A month after the releaseshow we went on a European trip. Of course we had trouble with last minute cancellations but hey, that’s always the case. In the end we played/visited The Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France and Spain. We got to play with Trash Talk (HEAVY SHIT), the Mongoloids and Losing Streak in the Netherlands. Losing Streak, a band we got to know in 2007 and played some cool shows with, also called it quits in 2008, not long after that show. Maybe 2008 is the year of bands quitting, I don’t know. That European trip also featured maybe our coolest show ever in Rennes in France with bands like Golden District and Money Time. The show in San Sebastian is also one we won’t forget. Aside from that walking around like tourists in Paris, checking out Ghent. Good times. I shall not go into any more detail, go read all about it in the tourreport.
That tour was supposed to be the last shows Joost played with us for 2008, since he was going to cross borders in 2008. Studying in Taiwan. We did play a last-minute show at Moshvalley Fest in Belgium though. A really cool DIY festival. No Turning Back and Bane also played.
We ended S&D in 2008 for Joost in the town we always rehearse. After a legendary show in 2007 at “t Hert” we did a surprise show for Joost this time. Since we couldn’t advertise the show (only by word of mouth, to make sure Joost didn’t know about it) it was really cool to see the place packed once again. We started the set with Henri (from Maaswater Veenlijk fame, Joost’s replacement for the next months) on drums, being his first show with us. It was cool to see Joost witness a show from the crowd for once. After a couple of songs he took over the sticks and played out the show.
Knowing that Joost would be gone for half a year, we wanted to record a couple of songs before he left. So we contacted Nico (who did the mastering of “Endless Roads”) and recorded 3 songs in a day with him. The result is the “3 song tape” you see pictured above. We originally made 50 tapes for our upcoming trip to the UK. But we got rid of them so quick we decided to press another 50 (with different artwork).
So after those recordings it was time for Henri to take over drum duties. Luckily he fitted in right away and we’re having a blast with him on drums. So after playing a couple of shows (Reflections & Cursed benefit show, 25 years De Bijstand, a show with No Turning Back in De Pul and a show in his hometown Boxmeer) it was time to cross the pond once again. We’ve been there in 2007 and we were siked to get back. Like any trip to the UK it was cancellation chaos once again. I think we managed to fix dates only the day before we went accross. But in the end everything was cool.
Show wise we closed off 2008 with our last show in the UK @ Le Pub in Newport, a place we really enjoyed playing the previous time. Good times. We managed to meet Mr Boyce once again. This time without Guitar Hero though. We went to new places in the UK. Played amazing venues. Rose Of England was really cool, above a pub. The Nags Head had a tag from Blondie and supposedly the Sex Pistols played there as well. It doesn’t get any cooler than that haha.
The rest of 2008 we spent working on new songs.We have quite a list of songs and jams we’re working on at the moment.
Oh and in the meantime I managed to put out a zine called Some Will Never Know. Reactions have been amazing and I want to thank you all again for that.
2009
So yeah 2008 was good to us. 2 releases, 2 cool trips, 2 drummers. How about 2009?
We’ll be doing some sort of Germany invasion in January, playing 3 shows in Germany and one in Kerkrade in Limburg, but that’s almost Germany as well.
February will mark the departure of Henri and the comeback of Joost on drums (returning in January from his trip to Taiwan). It’s good to have Joost back, but we’re going to miss Henri for sure. You should all check out his own band “Maaswater Veenlijk”. Amazing band. Amazing guy. Be sure to stick around dude!
I think the lengthy interview I did with Mass Movement Magazine will be published in February as well. So be on the look out for issue #23.
But that’s only the near future. I’m excited to see what countries 2009 will take us (Get in touch if you want us to play your country) and how the new songs will develop.
We’ll also be featured on a compilation of a label that’s doing great things at the moment. Release will probably be somewhere around summer. But you’ll hear more about that later, when there’s more to tell.
And be on the lookout for issue 2 of Some Will Never Know. Somewhere in 2009. First interviews are already in progress.
Let’s all keep thinking in 2009.
– Pim / Said And Done