January 2010 was all about recording the Weight Of The World EP. It wasn’t smooth sailing this time around though. Recording dates got pushed forward because of a change in schedule at the studio. In result we were less prepared. Then my voice died on me after the first song, leaving me to finish recording the songs in our rehearsalroom the week to follow. Nico mixed and mastered those songs on the road… Just to have it all done in time for our trip through Europe in March. But more bad luck was on our way. Although we made sure everything got at the pressing plant in time, the vinyl didn’t come in but after we did our trip. Shit happens, no matter how you plan it. We’re still glad with how that record came out though.

In February we broke the news that Joep, after 8 years (counting the pre-Said And Done days), was leaving the band. It was quite strange to break-up this line-up we were playing with for years now. But people change, priorities change and we all have to make choices. That’s the way the cookie crumbles. So we went searching for a new bassplayer right away.

We found one in the person of Toby pretty much right away, but first we had to play a final show with Joep. It took place at a local bar, ‘t Hert in Sint Anthonis, our hometown. It doesn’t get more local than that, does it? The show itself was ridicilous. Think dressing up, photo slideshow with photos of all the years, lots of confetti, fake-audience-tape, a discoball, bass-smashing etc. Needless to say we had a blast haha.

In March we went on an European trip again. The first shows with Toby on bass. You can read all about in the tourreport we did. In short that trip brought us both to new places and old friends. Meeting up with Carles (who booked our first trip abroad) and the guys in the Rezé / Nantes area is always a pleasure. This was no exception. It’s always exciting to see what awaits you in the next place. Sometimes you don’t expect much of it and the show is great (Valladolid for intance!). We went to some great cities this time, Madrid, Paris, Bordeaux… It was a good time all around.

In May we went to the UK. To finally release our 7″ and to hang out with the lads of Never Again. It was cool to meet up with the guys and play some kick-ass shows. Newport was off the hook (first time we played that Leeway cover) and chilling with Alex and Caroline in Nottingham was great too. London gave us the chance to see Pettybone (check them out people!) and made us feel at home with a lot of rain.

In August and September we played two cool shows at the Innocent. First up was the 25 years of Innocent show with Bitter End amongst others, we did a special cover set for that one, doing all the covers we did throughout the years. We also added Nirvana’s Aneurysm to the mix. Since Stef was about to become a daddy Goran filled in on guitar for him. In September we played with Blacklisted. Innocent has always been great to us, so it sucks to see it struggling at the moment. Let’s hope they pull through. It would be a shame to see another great venue go down the drain.

October marked the month we split ways with yet another bandmember. Remco decided he wanted to focus on other things in his life at this point. So it goes. We’ve been playing for years in the same line-up and all of a sudden we’re down two members. Such a strange year. Luckily we got a good replacement pretty quick again. Goran, mentioned above for filling on guitar, stepped in.

In November we went back to the UK again. The first shows with Goran on guitar. Making a stop first in Belgium, we went on to Leeds to bang our heads to Ark of The Covenant and play the Carry The Weight fest the day after. Seeing Wardogs open the show and witnessing the end of Never Again. Such a shame that band had to quit. It was great to see all these Carry The Weight related bands play live though. Tomas and Pat build something great in such a short amount of time. That trip also featured the release of my zine, Some Will Never Know #2. Glad to finally have that out.

That brings us to December in which we gave you all a christmas present right? We uploaded all our releases to BandCamp. Giving you the opportunity to stream all our songs for free and download them for whatever you think they’re worth. It’s the digital age baby.

And that brings us to the end. Looking back it’s good to see we didn’t slow down much, even with replacing two bandmembers. So what’s next?

2011

We started Said And Done in 2006, so we’ll be around for 5 years in 2011. Time flies while having fun. In January we’ll be playing 3 shows with Supertouch in Germany. Did everyone hear the previews of that new 7″? Shit is insane. Really looking forward to that. Hope to see you all in Nürnberg, Lichtenstein and/or Essen! Then in March we’ll be leaving for a trip to the colder parts of Europe. Hitting Denmark, Sweden and Finland (and Germany again) together with Upright from Finland. That’s all we know so far. Aside from that we’re mainly focusing on writing new songs. We’re working hard on a full-length that we want to record and release somewhere in 2011. Not much to report on that, aside from the fact I guess we’re about half way and the new stuff rocks. ROCK.

So yeah, 2010 might have been bad on a political level, for us it was great, bring on 2011!

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!

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?).

Andrew from Aversionline.com posted a review of our full length “Everyday”, alongside a review of Heartfelt’s latest effort “Take It Or Leave It”, on his site.

Aversionline.com is a great site. I discovered some great bands through that site, Social Decay for instance. Check that band out if you didn’t already. You will not be dissapointed.

Check out the review here.

Some quotes:

…Everyday delivers in full…I’m way into it…this is definitely one of the best European hardcore records I’ve encountered as of late. Great work.

Aside from “Use Your Head” he also put up “Reflections” for download. It’s not available online elsewhere, so if you don’t have the CD this is your chance to check it out. It’s the most mellow song of the record I guess.

Check it out while you still can. Don’t know how long those MP3′s will be up…