tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19286023.post-81177163361586912182007-12-06T16:47:00.000+01:002008-01-30T23:05:51.882+01:00<a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_Gn_oSeziSPM/R1gZ-grUJpI/AAAAAAAAAEM/m1EG-8Y4Xrk/s1600-h/alle55kortinlay.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5140887536357615250" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_Gn_oSeziSPM/R1gZ-grUJpI/AAAAAAAAAEM/m1EG-8Y4Xrk/s400/alle55kortinlay.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I was talking to <a href="http://433rpm.blogspot.com/">433rpm</a> about tapes I put out back in the Stone Age, when it turned out he owns a copy of the most "famous" of them all, the <em>Alle 55 Kort</em> sampler. Given the incredible quantity of music he manages to post I won't be surprised to see the entire tape up there soon; in the meantime I'll give you some hand picked tracks...</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Around 1984 I'd make Hardcore mix tapes for friends that would sometimes contain 80-100 tracks (learnt to write really small back then!), and I figured it would be fun to put out a tape comp with as many Dutch/Belgian bands on it as humanly possible. As it turned out - because of some bands contributing 2- or even 3-minute (god forbid!) tracks - 55 bands filled up a C90 tape, still no mean feat. While hunting down bands I got a pretty good overview of the Dutch "scene", prompting me to write a Dutch scene report for MRR which you can find <a href="http://www.operationphoenixrecords.com/mrrissue21_15SpainPolandandHollandSceneReports.pdf">here</a> and, in hindsight, is about as captivating as a page out of a phone directory.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">I sold about 350 copies of <em>Alle 55 Kort</em>; I never dared say this in public, but I actually made a small profit from it. Shock! Horror! I'd found a small electronics store at the Sarphatistraat that sold C90 tapes of just-about-passable quality at 2,50 Guilders ($1,25) each. The tapes (including booklets) sold at 7,50 Guilders, retail; a nice addition to my scant pocket money! Of course, if I'd told this to anyone back then I would have been keelhauled or something; it wasn't merely unthinkable to make any profit, it was actually suspect if you were <em>breaking even</em>. People would specify in detail how many Guilders they'd lost on their latest zine/ record/ whatever, to show how punk they were. Of course, at the same time they were on the dole, ha ha; well, let's call it state money well spent...</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Most of the tracks on <em>Alle 55 Kort</em> were pretty lo-fi; due to no quality control from my part, there were quite a few one-off/ spoof tracks, sometimes played by one person in their bedroom, which gives it a Bullshit Detector sort of vibe. Lots of "famous" bands like BGK, Pandemonium and Funeral Oration submitted tracks, but I'll give you some tracks by lesser-known bands.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Oigasm - <a href="http://84.105.26.41/public/Blog/oigasm-brutalbugger.mp3">Brutal Bugger</a>: first track on the tape; I had a soft spot for this half-skin/ half-punk band that were living in a small village in the middle of the Bible Belt; heard they were getting shot at in the street, stuff like that... </span></div><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Dasbreetels - <a href="http://84.105.26.41/public/Blog/dasbreetels-cowboyhenk.mp3">Cowboy Henk</a>: just a fun song by a little-known band from near Rotterdam. </span></div><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Larm - <a href="http://212.127.186.65/public/Blog/larm-dontwanttopaytheirdebts.mp3">Don't Want To Pay Their Debts</a>: great lo-fi practice recording.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Black Vampire - <a href="http://84.105.26.41/public/Blog/blackvampire-punkerparentsplan.mp3">Punker Parents Plan</a>: from Limburg, like Pandemonium, but not as well-known. Drummer Han was later in Swampsurfers. I think this band is still around in some mutated form or another...</span></div><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Chlorix - <a href="http://84.105.26.41/public/Blog/chlorix-suicide.mp3">Suicide</a>: these guys were from Hengelo in the east, played some rough but still melodic punk; I think one of the members was later in indie rock band Cords (or that's some other bloke called Marcel Morsink).</span></div><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Kotsbrokken - <a href="http://84.105.26.41/public/Blog/kotsbrokken-growingolder.mp3">Growing Older</a>: band from the same area, same kind of sound, know nothing about them.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Sesamzaad - <a href="http://84.105.26.41/public/Blog/sesamzaad-avevis.mp3">Ave Vis</a>: these guys, also from the East, had some nice melodic HC songs on Holland HC 2, but I liked this slower track even more (even if it took up the space of 3 or 4 "regular" HC tracks!).</span></div><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">M.O.G. - <a href="http://84.105.26.41/public/Blog/mog-doboandal.mp3">Do, Bo and Al</a>: didn't really realize it at the time because of the muddy sound, but these guys were already progressing away from their early HC sound towards the brilliant stuff on their classic <em>Radio Rock</em> EP.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Keine Fax - <a href="http://84.105.26.41/public/Blog/keinefax-maskedfascism.mp3">Masked Fascism</a>: closes the tape. These guys handed me their tape in person at some gig, they were about 10 years old! Shit-Fi-aficionados, prick up your ears...!</span></div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">A nice moment of glory came a few years ago when, while sleeping at this guy Clint's place in London (he runs Short Fuse records and is crazy about old HC), we were talking about obscure records; he'd show us one insanely rare record after another, then he opened some drawer in order to show us the <em>piece de resistance</em>, the Family Jewel...and out came a copy of <em>Alle 55 Kort</em>!</span> <div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></div>Nielshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08579889924374160663noreply@blogger.com