PUNK ROCK SCHOOL

For some reason all the punk bands from my hometown came from the school I attended. It was a pretty strict school called Werenfridus (named after Saint Wilfrid, who helped spread Christianity around these regions in the 8th century); they did stuff like censor the school paper (I drew comics for the school paper and once they blanked out everything so there was nothing but empty panels!). Some of my school buddies had a pretty strict upbringing as well; they'd leave their house wearing "regular" clothes, then change into their punk clothes in the bike shed. I guess it was this strictness that got their juices flowing; both Indirekt and Gepopel were eager to go places, put out records, tour, etcetera. But the first punk band from our school weren't that ambitious, they were just doing it for fun. Ironically Antidote were the first ones to make it to vinyl, having 5 songs on the local "Rock Collective" sampler Dijkdoorbraak in 1982. Now there's a typical Dutch 80's phenomenon: the Rock Collective comp LP! The first one might have been national comp Uitholling Overdwars, the one I mentioned in my Ivy Green post, and that one set the standard: one great punk band, the rest forgettable noodle-rock and synth-wave. A whole bunch of comps followed: U-Tracks, Groeten Uit Amsterdam, A Rits Of Potential Hits, etc. etc. As far as I know these comps aren't very sought after; the thing is, even with the sole punk band worth checking out (Lullabies on U-Tracks, Workmates on Groeten...), their stuff (recorded in a "real" studio for once) sounds stilted compared to their own lo-fi releases. Not so with Antidote; they recorded their stuff in their practice room on a Teac 4-track. Bassist Joost often told me how they had to go mixing at some other place, and were cycling as fast as they could because the 4-track guy charged no less than 10 Guilders/ hour (about $5)! I still like these songs a lot; just the right mix of anger and fun, especially if you happen to understand Dutch!
P.S.: This LP preceded the New York Antidote Thou Shalt Not Kill EP by a year, making "our" Antidote the first one (on record, at least) of the 4 or 5 Antidotes around!
P.S.: If you happen to visit Hoorn, check out the great secondhand record store Dropstyle; chances are you'll find ex-Antidote screamer Benno behind the counter.

Antidote - Het Begin/ BVD/ Stop Van Agt/ Openbaar Vervoer/ Jongerencentra (5 songs, 1 file: I'm lazy, it's the weather...)