Power & Equality

For the Foundation/Expire show I did this short interview with with Geert Hollanders aka Geert to the X from Control Records. I sent him the questions on really short notice and he managed to get them back to me on time.

2010 marked the start of Control Records straight outta Belgium. With a great hardcore look complementing the great releases this label transports something I can totally relate to. A label run for the love of hardcore!

You’ve been going to shows for ages and you’ve quite certainly come ofage in terms of hardcore. What do you think were some of your keymoments if you reflect on the past decades?

I got into hardcore/punk stuff trough skateboarding in like around 1989/90 after being a little into thrash/metal stuff..  but I was still listening to the more ‘bigger’ bands like Minor Threat / Bad Religion etc.. But i remember getting also the YOT ‘can’t close my eyes’ LP at a local record store because I saw this really good skater wearing a YOT shirt and i wanted to check it out.. Haha.Around early 1991we went with a bunch of skaters to see Fugazi and got to know this older guy trough a mutual friend and gave me some hardcore records to listen like Bold LP, Judge LP and Chain Of Strength EP.. I remember listening to the revelation Chain EP in my room and looking at the artwork and being so fascinated by all this.. It sounded and looked so awesome! I guess this is when it all really started! After this i went with this guy to my first ‘real’ hardcore shows like Supertouch, Nations On Fire, 4 Walls Falling, etc. Everything was an exciting experience because most of the stuff was new for me and awesome. Like meeting people that are into the same music and ideals.. Checking out thankslists of records you got to find out about new bands or bands you didn’t know and trying to find those records at distros or recordstores.. Getting tapes from friends with bands to check out… Pre-internet style! All of this was so cool and exciting that i got more and more involved in the hardcore scene doing a few shows with friends etc.I guess all of this was my biggest key moment because of all of this, it became something I gave my 100% for and still do…

Lots of people stop being in touch with what’s up, yet still quite a bunch of people stay involved beyond their thirties. What makes hardcore great for you?

As cheesy as it may sound but i live for this.. Going to shows since 1991 and i still love it.. But what makes it so great for me is the friendships it gave me.. Getting to know people from all over the world who are into the same stuff and ideals.  The roadtrips to shows together with your best friends. The feeling you get when seeing a crowd go nuts for a certain band.. And also the music, message and vibe. Nothing can compare to all of this.

You’ve started Control Records in 2010. What’s the mission statement?What do you want to transport with it?

I don’t really have a mission behind it but just putting out Hardcore bands I like. Plain and simple.. back to basics.. Classic and simple layouts. Not pretending to be the biggest label ever with weekly updates and shit. Also putting straight edge back on the map.. Seems like a lot of kids don’t care about this anymore nowadays.

What’s great in the life of Geert Hollanders?

On my way to the UK as we speak to check out 2 Inherit shows and hanging out with my main man Adam Malik representing the London Straight Edge. Getting some great vegetarian food and doing some sneaker/record shopping! Scored some nice records lately from people who where selling their records to add to my recordcollection, saw a great Foundation set when they played Belgium recently and a few very good hang outs with my buddies so life is great man!

So what current bands do you really enjoy and why?

Been listening a lot to the new No Tolerance EP for the last few days.. so hard! Boston Straight Edge still on top.. Also liked the Beware demo and  the Foundation full length, The Rival Mob EP are on my current playlist. All different styles but have one thing in common.. Hardcore. No Bullshit.

Psyched about hardcore in 2011? Or bummed out?

Yes man. Always pretty much siked about current hardcore. I still do check out many new bands but not everything I hear I’m into.. Some stuff isn’t just for me you know. But I’m looking forward to hear some recorded songs from Fraud and giving the new Rise And Fall a full listening session and check out this new straight edge band from the UK called Inherit! Control Records wise I’m stoked to get out the new Stick Together EP!

Best band to come out of Belgium?
Belgium always spawned a lot of bands that got pretty popular.. When it was during the 90′s with bands like Congress, Liar and Kindred or like a few years ago with bands like Dead Stop, Justice, True Colors, .. and now prob the biggest band coming out of Belgium.. Rise And Fall. Its hard to choose because I saw so many good shows of those bands but my fav band would be True Colors. Especially their later releases.. I love that sound/style. But i wish Dead Stop would have been a straight edge band…

Best Judge song?
Where It Went… The Storm..  Listen more to Judge!

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Here’s the pdf version in case you rather print it out:

POWER & EQUALITY X CONTROL RECORDS

Hallo Deutschland das großartige Back On The Bins gibts jetzt auch bei distro.mindxmatter.org. Wer das Zine in seinem Distro haben will soll sich melden, ich kann Kopien auch im Wholesale verkaufen. Meldet Euch einfach. Achja lasst Euch nicht von vegan und Straight Edge abschrecken. Das Zine ist für jeden was und wird Euer Leben bereichern.
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Yo, finally after going to the Copyshop yesterday Back On The Bins is also favailable at distro.mindxmatter.org. Send me an email if you need wholesale prices. Check out this amazing zine and believe me, it’s gonna give you a major boost of inspiration.

Make sure you also get a copy of The Wonder Years #2.

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Crank up the song while reading this!!! If a clueless coworker comes up to me one day, I’ll do it this way.

What a fuck up. In my mind, that’s not how I explain it. I imagine standing in the middle of the office and the intro to Impact starting up in the background. I talk over the feedback, giving the condensed history of hardcore and straight edge. I talk about the D.C.  scene, X’s on hands, the years 1981, 1982, 1984, 1988, 1997 and right on time (27 seconds into the song) the drums come in.

Now I speed up a bit. I am talking about labels, bands, touring, moshing, fades, mix-tapes, stagedives, long drives and high-fives. Tension is building. At 59 seconds into the song I pull out a microphone. One second later, exactly 60 seconds since the music, I put the microphone to my lips and I start singing  the song as if the spirit of Curtis Canales had taken possession of my body. (Curt’s not dead). 100 hardcore kids fresh from an ’80s Sunday Matinee appear. They’re singing along and moshing. My co-workers seem to know the words and they’re joining in too. Four seconds shy of two minutes I end it with a dive from my department’s partition onto the girls working in Customer Service. Or maybe I headwalk across their monitors I can’t decide.

Next Monday Ted has a pos-top and Big Kam has found an original X-Swatch. By Wednesday the company dress code is amended to include Champion hoodies and construction gloves. Dips in productivity are overlooked – the Abbey National values the time its employees spend learning the lyrics to Rev 1 to 22.

A committee is set up to discuss the various ways we can order all the colour vinyl that is arriving on Monday. At the show that weekend everyone from Quality Review is down the front in cut-off camos and 574s Xed up and moshing. The week after we strip away the in-house branch to open an all-ages venue, the canteen goes vegetarian and there’s talk about a new band forming down on the second floor. Nobody has seen anyone from Human Resources all week, but that’s OK because they’re busy working on their zine. And finally, the cherry on the top, Rick Ta Life writes me a letter commending my actions (unity, yo!) and asks me if I want to trade for some Back Ta Basics stuff.

Whenever I think about the collision between hardcore and the rest of society I’m mindful that people like Ted aren’t going to be interested in a ten minute lecture on the history of hardcore, my views on its current state or any of the bands. It’s just office prattle. I know also that explaining hardcore can’t be condensed into the ten seconds needed for an office conversation. But I think that if you can’t explain it, you can show it. Once they’ve seen it they’ll get it, right? Right.

Bring your co-workers to shows.

- You’re My Boy, Blue.