2009

January 2009 started with the return of Joost. As you might know he was off to Taiwan for the last half 0f 2008. Wiser (we hope that is) and a great experience richer he returned to our small town. Quite a bit different from the hectic surroundings he was used to in Taiwan to say the least. He quickly took back his seat behind the drum kit and it was like he never left. To get fully back into gear we decided we would do all the remaining shows in January with Henri. Aside from that it gave us some time to organise a kick-ass goodbye show for Henri. Those shows in January were cool, especially the one in Hamburg at Rota Flora. An amazing venue (and old theater I think?) and Joost was enjoying the show from the crowd (something we don’t see that often haha). So in February Henri played his final show with us in his hometown Boxmeer. Just a small bar filled with friends. It was a blast to say the least. Just check the video below to see the end of the set (some covers and “Into The Distance”):

Between February and June we worked on new songs and played some cool shows like the Shield Showcase @ the Stage in Arnhem, the AZ (another amazing venue!) in Germany with No Turning Back, again @ the Stage with Bitter End and in a town nearby on our friends from Make Them Suffer their releaseshow etc.

In July we were invited by mister Alex (Remember Hoods Up?) to come play 2 dates of the 3 day weekendtour of Cold World in Germany he was organising. It brought us back to the Rota Flora in Hamburg and made us play Essen too. Two totally different places, but both were really cool. Needless to say we had a blast and so did the people visiting these shows (including the one in Rosswein) I think. It was, amongst other things, cool to talk to some people again we haven’t seen for quite some time, to see Cold World 2 nights in a row, to see Dirty Money tearing up the place and No Turning Back showing why they’re so big right now. Good times.

In August it was time for our trip through Europe. Since Joep couldn’t make it to the trip we welcomed back Henri, this time as our bassplayer (dude’s like a local Dave Grohl!). Together with Goran (from Make Them Suffer) who acted as merch-man-roadie-’the-guy-who-you-can-call-names-all-day-and-nightlong’ dude, we set out for a trip that brought us to 5 countries in 6 days. Highlights include playing 3 shows with Trash Talk (Those dudes are c-r-a-z-y. Destroying everything in their way.), playing France again (Always good to see our friends from France. Check out Wank For Peace people!), getting a great welcome in Poland (Kuba, Kasia and co, thanks once again!), visiting Vienna (most beautiful city ever? Good schnitzel too haha) etc. But that whole trip was pretty much one big highlight. You can read all about it in our trip report.

In September Korneel, a Dutch comedian (or something like that) wore one of our shirts on a Dutch improvisation program called “Badgasten“. Cool to see our shirt on national TV.

In the last months of 2009 we played the Some Hardcore Fest in Belgium, featuring an exclusive show by Guns Up! amongst others. A cool location with less people than expected but it was a good day anyway. Our friends from France (Simon and co) made it out to Belgium as well, so it was cool to talk to them again. We also made a little trip to Weisswasser in Eastern Germany together with Strike First. Something we should do more often, always cool to hook up with Emiel and co. I don’t think those Germans knew what the fuck was happening when two groups of Dutch men were screaming at the top of their lungs outside of the venue. No worries, just a small “megabombe” fight as patented by those dudes from Strike First.

To close the year off and to celebrate Joost and me making music for 10 years already we released a 7″ at the end of the year. The tape we self-released at the end of 2008, was pressed on a limited amount of 200 pieces of vinyl by German based “My Fist, Your Face” Records (Thomas is one of the friendliest Germans ever) as the “Feel It EP“. We released it during a short weekend trip in Germany, getting to play Rosswein (and seeing Greyli again who we did meet as the Trash Talk driver during the Euro trip in August, top dude) and the AZ in Aachen again. We need venues like this in the Netherlands people. Damn. We have the Innocent and that’s cool, but Germany is way ahead of us. On this trip we had Rick on bass instead of Joep (who couldn’t make it due to work commitments). He learned our songs in just a week. Dude’s a hero and you’ll be hearing more from him soon without a doubt.

Maybe less interesting, but being the little nerd I am I have to mention it; 2009 was also the year of changes on the web for S&D. In October we started to use this new website (based upon WordPress) and during the year we witnessed the growth of Twitter and Facebook (Myspace is more like a sinking ship at the moment or so it seems). We opened accounts on both and it gave us another cool way to interact with people and give them updates on what we’re up to. Check us out on those social networks if that’s your thing. Follow/join us!

2010

All in all 2009 was good to us once again, let’s hope 2010 will be good too. A short glimp into the future already shows some nice things:

This weekend we start the first day of recording the “Weight Of The World” 7″ for Carry The Weight Records from the UK. We’ll be recording with Nico van Montfort once again. We’re aiming for a release at the end of February / early March. Just in time for our Euro trip in March. This time we’re hitting Belgium, France, Spain and probably Portugal. Keep an eye on our showlist to see if we’re coming close. We can’t wait. In May we’ll do a weekendtrip to the UK and that’s just what already is in the pipelines.

Let’s get this year started. Are you doing a show? Hook us up!

We had such a good time with him on drums. From the first time he came along (as a friend / roadie) during our Eurotrip last year and all the shows we played with him until last friday… It has been golden. We couldn’t have wished for a better replacement. So needless to say we’re really thankful he was welling to step in when Joost went away to study in Taiwan.

For now we’ll just wish him all the luck with his own band “Maaswater Veenlijk” (Check it out people, it’s great stuff!). We hope we didn’t see the last of him.

If I’ll have time I might upload a video from the last part of the set, where we played some covers and ended the show with Into The Distance.

While it’s strange to see Henri go we’re of course siked to have Joost back on drums. Full speed ahead.

Anyway, we’re going to use the rest of January and February to get things running smoothly with him. So we’re not taking any more new shows for the rest of these two months. Show that are already booked will be played with Henri of course. Get in touch with us for shows for March and onwards.

Anyway. The 13th of February we’re going to say goodbye to Henri. We had an amazing time with him, so while we’re glad Joost is back we’re going to miss him for sure. His last show is going to take place in his hometown Boxmeer. Think it will be the first hardcore show at the venue, so we’ll see how this will play out. Joining us are Strike First, State Of Mind and Make Them Suffer. Should be a blast. Come join us.

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

Last week he had a visit from his family. Totally different setting than usual, pretty cool.

Joost also found us a perfect new touring van:

And how about this one? It immediately made me think of Whacky Wheels. Only for real this time. Who doesn’t want to ride around in a big inflatable shark?

And even over there, there’s a little piece of home:

PS > In case you didn’t read the previous posts, Joost our drummer is currently “studying” in Taiwan, Henri (from Maaswater Veenlijk fame) is replacing him. Now and then we get these updates

While we’re talking thank you’s. Another big thank you goes out to all of you who checked out the new song and gave us some feedback. Glad to see you like the stuff. Tapes are going fast and as it looks now we’ll have to re-do the tapes for the UK trip, because we’ll be sold out in no time. We’ll see.

To anyone that ordered the tape, aside from the thank you we’ve got a “we’ll get back to you ASAP!” too. Busy times. You know how it is.

So now we have the first show behind us, get us some other shows. We want to play everywhere, any day, any place. Hook us up! Just get in touch and we’ll work something out. Deeeeew it!

In other news, Joost landed safely in Taiwan and reported he saw some monkees walking by his place. How about that? I’ll try to get some more from him (pictures?).

First of all, half of us went to see Only Living Witness in Eindhoven. Although they felt a bit misplaced at the festival and the sound wasn’t that great it was amazing to finally get the chance to see them play. They were amazing and really great guys as well. Be on the look out for the 2-LP vinyl reissue on Reflections that’s coming out this month. Well worth your money.

On a more band related note, last week we locked ourselves away in Panningen. We recorded 3 new songs with Nico van Montfort. It was great working with him, kinda like we expected. Look out for some amazing stuff he recently recorded (including new Tenement Kids, Strike First, Smash The Statues and New Morality releases). We have no idea what we’re going to do with those 3 songs yet, we’ll see.

Aside from that we have one final rehearsal coming up and then it’s showtime for our new drummer, Henri. His first show will be a benefit for both Reflections and Cursed, this sunday @ DB’s in Utrecht. Show starts at 15:30 and we’re going up first. Get your ass over there and contribute. If it’s not for the good cause, be there to check out some awesome bands. Aside from us Strike First, State Of Mind, The Hunger & Human Demise are playing.

PS > We’ve updated the tour report of our last trip through Europe with some new pictures. If you’re bored you know what to do…

PS2 > Listen to Feed. They’ll have a demo tape out on Mind Over Matter soon.

Joost didn’t know anything (well, he started to suspect something the day before), so it was a pretty cool surprise for him. We couldn’t advertise the show, since it was a surprise, but the news spread fast by word of mouth.

It was the first we played live with Henri (3 songs, with Joost in the audience for a change, watching us play) and he killed it. After that Joost took over. It’s going to be strange to be playing without Joost for half a year, but we’re sure glad Henri stepped in. No slowing down. He’s doing great.

We would like to thank all of you for showing up. We had a blast.

In other news, we had a great rehearsal last night. New songs are coming along nicely and Henri is doing awesome learning our songs. Good times.