Monday, 28 May 2012
Thursday, 24 May 2012
Wednesday, 16 May 2012
APRIL at Le Mini Who?
On May 26 we play at Le Mini Who?, Le Guess Who's little sister! It's located at the Voorstraat, Utrecht and we start 15:30 in The Village Coffee and Music!
Free accessible mini-festival Le Mini Who? takes place in the afternoon (12 am - 6 pm) of Le Guess Who? May Day on Saturday May 26th at Voorstraat, Utrecht.
First artists confirmed: Kim Janssen, The Secret Love Parade, Luik, April, Bird on the Wire, Mineral Beings, Port of Call, Glass Eyes, Lost Bear, Bart van der Lee and Long Conversations. More names will be announced soon.
Le Mini Who? is part of the international Le Guess Who? festival and takes place during daytime (12 am - 6 pm) on Saturday May 26th at Voorstraat, Utrecht. It lights up the thriving part of Utrecht where many stores and elegant eating and drinking places operate as venues for exciting instore-concerts. The line up has been created partially by a collaboration with three Dutch underground record labels: Snowstar, Subroutine and Zoology Records. And it's free accessible!
Locations: Plato, The Village Coffee & Music, Klijs & Boon, Puha, pop-up store Bedford, VinVin, Sussies, Café 't Hart, Hostel Strowis, Café de Stadgenoot and Café de Voortuin.
Le Mini Who? / Saturday May 26th / 12am - 6pm / @ Voorstraat, Utrecht
www.facebook.com/leminiwho
First artists confirmed: Kim Janssen, The Secret Love Parade, Luik, April, Bird on the Wire, Mineral Beings, Port of Call, Glass Eyes, Lost Bear, Bart van der Lee and Long Conversations. More names will be announced soon.
Le Mini Who? is part of the international Le Guess Who? festival and takes place during daytime (12 am - 6 pm) on Saturday May 26th at Voorstraat, Utrecht. It lights up the thriving part of Utrecht where many stores and elegant eating and drinking places operate as venues for exciting instore-concerts. The line up has been created partially by a collaboration with three Dutch underground record labels: Snowstar, Subroutine and Zoology Records. And it's free accessible!
Locations: Plato, The Village Coffee & Music, Klijs & Boon, Puha, pop-up store Bedford, VinVin, Sussies, Café 't Hart, Hostel Strowis, Café de Stadgenoot and Café de Voortuin.
Le Mini Who? / Saturday May 26th / 12am - 6pm / @ Voorstraat, Utrecht
www.facebook.com/leminiwho
Saturday, 12 May 2012
Finally: the New YX & APRIL tour 2012 in pictures!
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| Paardcafé: Julia sitting at the bar, Koen observating and Arnoud having a good one |
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| Rats on Rafts spinning the tables |
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| Paardcafé |
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| New YX Liu showing her pitbull face |
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| Jorn getting ready for Roodkapje |
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Leaving for Vondelbunker at Utrecht with Koen |
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| It's for the best this picture has not come out well |
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| Richard doing one of his healing sessions. 10 Seconds after this he was lying on the floor talking to Liu |
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| Jaap had fun in the darkroom |
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| Waking up at AC Berkheimer Dagmar's house after Roodkapje |
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| Wigs and beer |
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| <--Tarek --> Julia |
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| LOL beer |
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| Eins, Zwei, Drei Orchestra (Julia, Tarek, Jillis New YX at Roodkapje) |
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| Wigs and coke |
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| New YX playing at De Wasserette, Breda |
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| Waking up and getting ready for Breda chez New YX with Dj JUJU and soundguy Randy |
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| The wonderful room of Jillis |
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| Waking up at the royal suite |
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| Gypsy family getting ready to walk to Vondelbunker with the barrow |
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| Jorn likes pictures |
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| Jaap doing his Duracell act |
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| This should have been Tarek and Julia with wigs |
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| Eating at De Wasserette, Breda |
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| Jaap teaching Arnoud about mushrooms |
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| We don´t remember what this is, but we know it was open |
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| Have you heard?.. What? What? Huh? Fuck! |
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| The home of the Republican New YX: We'll miss you! |
Wednesday, 9 May 2012
Short story about the Germany gig!
'Protection from what? Zee Germans?' Turkish – Snatch (2000)
Friday 4th of May, memorial day in the Netherlands and APRIL takes the 'A-train' to Moenchengladbach, our first foreign experience. We met at the station round three-ish to embark on a three hour sit-in.
There was silence, talking, weird people, annoying teenage girls who talked about, well... nothing, drug dogs with their lovely owners, and undercover agents in search for drugs (skipping us with two suitcases and two guitars but whatever) checking a bum who didn't look like he got any money to buy something). An interesting journey, not as interesting as Jack Karouac's journey but that's merely because we had a destination.
When we arrived in Moenchengladbach HBF it really felt German-like; grey, dirty but with a charming side that only German cities have. We walked to the main entrance and we saw a big group of emo kids so we turned around, also because De Sultan was waiting on the other side of the station (he grew up in Moenchengladbach).
He greeted us with a big smile and we got in the car started talking about the city and it's people. Tarek said he thought the people in Moenchengladbach were mostly rude, not polite and even disgusting at some point. We said that we two got that sort of people in the Netherlands too, but he said Germans were worse...
We parked the car next to the place were the festival was, a regular youth centre like you find them in all Dutch villages and neighbourhoods. Lots of teenagers, too old to sit around their parents house and too young for the big city, bored to death, a bit overweight and a lot of white T's (where you find mostly black in Dutch youth centre's). There already was a band on the stage soundchecking, they made loud Emo-core with English lyrics with a German accent. We really thought he sang in German, but they were alright. It was a small place but with a monstrous light/smoke and sound installation, a small backstage with some sticky retro couches, we got 5 drink coupons each and some lovely pasta with red soup/sauce and pepper, Lidl style.
It was ten o'clock when we were on, we were kinda excited because all day there were only rock or emo punk bands, so this was going to be different. The sound on stage was near O.K. and we were sweating like dogs on a pilgrimages journey through the desert, we really enjoyed ourselves! Even though there were only fifteen people watching us, we hoped for more obviously, but we got some cool responses. After the gig we changed our coupons for drinks, packed our stuff and were off to Tarek's girlfriends parents house were we would sleep.
We walked in and got greeted by a moist, warm alcoholic air that came from a German boy, who looked at us and said “Who are you, I don't know you, this is my house, what is everybody doing here, nobody listens to me!” He was off his face. His voice reminded us of a Muppet, the ''Mee mee mee” one, he was fun. We walked in and greeted Tarek's drunken girlfriend and fetched ourselves a drink, ½ liter beers in bottles, alright! The hostess of the party was sleeping on the couch, cause she was already hammered when her birthday party started and within the first hour she fell asleep on the couch we got told. After we looked around we found out everyone was due to leave to a club called “Project 42” and if we wanted to go? So Tarek said he could drive and we believed him and we drove to Project 42.
Project 42 is an old 80's squat which got legalized and nowadays gives you a slight impression of what Germany must have been like in the 80's, broken down walls with couches in it, concrete floors with holes in it, paint everywhere, a lot of strange folk but very diverse, cheap drinks and good German DJ's. There were two bars with different music, first one they played some good indie and there was a Nintendo where we played some oldskool Super Mario on. There was no sound, so we sang the SuperMario theme songs to guide ourselves through the levels. No better start of a great evening! After a while we passed the joysticks to some boys who wanted to play too.
We went to the second bar where they spinned some proper German techno, no witty new techno, but proper 90's techno. So we enjoyed ourselves, danced until we looked like the 'pilgrimage dogs' again and then the DJ started playing some tech house, after that it was BANANAS (in the wise words of Richard). The dogs turned into cats and the cats hunted the rats, I don't think I ever sweated as much as that evening so we must have looked like freaking fools, but at least fools who truly lost their mind on the music. We know the DJ must have loved it.
When we saw that Sultan stopped dancing and took off Julia's sunglasses and started looking to the floor for a comfortable place to lie down with his girl Laura a bit wasted hanging around him, we went off with a taxi to find our beds.
We slept our sweat off, woke up, found out my back was broken, stumbled up stairs to find a delicious German breakfast, we ate, thanked the family and went back to Holland!
It was truly a brilliant first foreign experience!
Now TOMORROW 10th of MAY we play Db'S UTRECHT with THEE SPIVS and THE ROYAL BATHS we play at 21.00, fee: 8,-
WE PLAY FIRST so make sure to be in time :-D
lots of love
APRIL
PS- Kruidvat is developing our, to be exact 72 photo's from the past gigs, they say it takes 4 days but unfortunately in reality it takes them 1,5 to 2 weeks... But then! We expect a great story in pictures to share on the blog! It's now day 5...
Sunday, 6 May 2012
Incendiary magazine review of SUB071 and Paardcafé
A Tale of Two Cities – April New YX, Wolvon in Den Haag and Leiden
by Richard James Foster
At one stage singer Ike was writhing on SUB’s filthy floor, eyes rolling and gob agape, howling through some form of bozo incantation, waiting to be beamed up to some guitar playing alien world where beer was permanently cold and Ash Ra Tempel played all day on the coin-op.
Café – Paard van Troije, Den Haag 19/4/12
The Paard café has seen some memorable gigs; not least the marvellous Nieuwe Vrolijkheid evening back in 2006, which ended up with instruments being hurled off the stage and singer Vincent sitting and calmly puffing a pipe amidst the chaos and recriminations. The main creative force behind that long lost, almost legendary band, Natasha van Waardenburg was present on this gloomy night in 2012 – along Hallo Venray’s Henk Koorn & RedThePlaneet! And Rats on Rafts’ David and Arnoud – to check out April and New YX’s mini tour of the byways, laybys and underpasses. Off the radar these gigs may have been, but they have seen some hip followers show support.
Onto the gig. A slightly breathless April arrived and almost immediately had to set up and play. Still this didn’t really put them out of their stride: their rise in terms of becoming a good live act is getting more and more evident. On this particular evening, despite the quieter, thinner sound, (if only Julia’s guitar could have been louder but maybe that’s the café’s sound restrictions), their passionate songs had a committed romantic quality that couldn’t be ignored. Slowly the set started to seep into the audience’s conscience. In fact I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a normally chatty bar so silent and concentrated on a band. Jorn’s onstage movement was sleeker, more menacing and less thought through; whacking his bass against the drum cymbals seemed just a natural thing to do... As to their music, we’ve said before that there’s something of Nick Cave about April’s songs, or The Associates: big slightly gothic, mannerist compositions. And (as I’ve also said before) that their tracks remind me of the stuff Aztec Camera used to produce back in the mid-80s. Something of the show tune too: even (God forbid) Elaine Page. Still mixing the ridiculous with the sublime is what Rock and Roll is all about and their songs have presence and tangible and clearly delineated emotion that a listener can tap into. If only the guitar could have been that little bit more acerbic and free, but still they are beginning to sound a really promising band.
If April were on this occasion a diverting and stimulating presence then New YX provided the empathy and warm rush needed to get a crowd moving. When I saw them at OT301 they looked a wee bit out of place, but seen in an intimate setting they are dynamite. There’s something of the bedroom about them, the thrill they provide is similar to illicitly smuggling your parents’ brandy up to your room; greedy, sticky fingered, cheeky. Though they do act like the ultimate gang, when seen up close their different personalities are far more evident and as such much more instructive when considering the music they make as a whole. This time round the star was singer Lili whose quiet determined charm and tongue in cheek pirouettes and poses sat very well indeed against the fluid, metallic pop the band are adept at making. There’s something “very 1920s about her”, wan and determined in equal measure - like one of those silent film stars who pulls the same set of fluttering eye tricks to win herself a new set of admirers. Their cartoony element was well to the fore at the Paard, their easy human charm had most people jumping around with (for the Paard’s ultra-critical café at least) a surprising amount of abandon.
After this Rats span some tunes and the night descended into a chaos only reserved for those times when you swear to yourself that you’ll only have one drink and be home by 11… oh well.
SUB071 – Leiden, (with Wolvon) 28/04/12
Fast forward a week; Incendiary is in good company and in good form; members of Electric Soft Parade and The Hazey Janes, old university colleagues and current editors all combine to descend on the legendary SUB in a state that can be described as euphoric. April and New YX, great gig – that’s a given but WOLVON too? Truly ambrosia rained from on high, provided by charitable and generous Gods.
First up tonight in SUB’s famous Tardis like surroundings were New YX who were on blistering form; the smallness of this space suited them and their brash, warm waves of sound even better, their songs began to show a distinctive pattern in the smoky gloaming, a clear plan of attack. You always get the feeling that their innate sultriness, their seemingly endless energy and good vibe needs to be channelled, their talents and strong musicianship given a push through the door. This started to happen here and turned into pulsating stuff by the end, Líu and Jilis bouncing about like pups, setting the audience up for April, who went one further and simply blasted through their set. Facing each other, Jorn and Julia were (literally given the atmosphere) dripping with a sense of conviction, and not a little tension. Tarek hammered the drums in that big, simple, doom mongering way he has. The reserve and cut-glass atmosphere of the Paard was nowhere to be seen, their noise sounding like an underwater John Maus, or a poppy, guitar-laden take on 1a Düsseldorf (note “1a”, NOT “La”, hipsters). Once again Incendiary was struck by the increasing fluidity and confidence of their show, the manner in which they are hammering what were quite gauche songs into some shape.
By this time the beer was literally flowing. The moral being here, never take people to expensive pubs and then cheap nightclubs – why? Because people find they can’t control themselves that’s why – why have one beer bottle (price 1 euro) in your hand when you can have four? Makes sense, non? In any event, by the time those mighty Lotharios known as Wolvon hit the stage; most of Team Incendiary were seeing things. But like Mallory glimpsing the top of Everest we struggled gallantly on, and like Mallory we are pretty sure we glimpsed a Nirvana of sorts, albeit a bearded one. On this showing Wolvon were rabid and bestial, veritable Gabriel Ernests of Rock: battering their equipment and shredding the atmosphere like a bear in a supermarket. At one stage singer Ike was writhing on SUB’s filthy floor, eyes rolling and gob agape, howling through some form of bozo incantation, waiting to be beamed up to some guitar playing alien world where beer was permanently cold and Ash Ra Tempel played all day on the coin-op. Some of the audience were howling at this point too, things got ridiculously loose and things were going decidedly fuzzy at the edges, like a barn dance where someone’s put acid in the lemonade. Not only that but theplace was in near darkness, as someone had knocked the lights off in the SUB. In true werewolf fashion, Wolvon played on, howling and crashing with only the light of two underpowered disco lights and a phone flash. Epic. Bananas.
How Incendiary got home is still an operation shrouded in mystery, but we won’t be forgetting that night in a hurry.
Café – Paard van Troije, Den Haag 19/4/12
The Paard café has seen some memorable gigs; not least the marvellous Nieuwe Vrolijkheid evening back in 2006, which ended up with instruments being hurled off the stage and singer Vincent sitting and calmly puffing a pipe amidst the chaos and recriminations. The main creative force behind that long lost, almost legendary band, Natasha van Waardenburg was present on this gloomy night in 2012 – along Hallo Venray’s Henk Koorn & RedThePlaneet! And Rats on Rafts’ David and Arnoud – to check out April and New YX’s mini tour of the byways, laybys and underpasses. Off the radar these gigs may have been, but they have seen some hip followers show support.
Onto the gig. A slightly breathless April arrived and almost immediately had to set up and play. Still this didn’t really put them out of their stride: their rise in terms of becoming a good live act is getting more and more evident. On this particular evening, despite the quieter, thinner sound, (if only Julia’s guitar could have been louder but maybe that’s the café’s sound restrictions), their passionate songs had a committed romantic quality that couldn’t be ignored. Slowly the set started to seep into the audience’s conscience. In fact I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a normally chatty bar so silent and concentrated on a band. Jorn’s onstage movement was sleeker, more menacing and less thought through; whacking his bass against the drum cymbals seemed just a natural thing to do... As to their music, we’ve said before that there’s something of Nick Cave about April’s songs, or The Associates: big slightly gothic, mannerist compositions. And (as I’ve also said before) that their tracks remind me of the stuff Aztec Camera used to produce back in the mid-80s. Something of the show tune too: even (God forbid) Elaine Page. Still mixing the ridiculous with the sublime is what Rock and Roll is all about and their songs have presence and tangible and clearly delineated emotion that a listener can tap into. If only the guitar could have been that little bit more acerbic and free, but still they are beginning to sound a really promising band.
If April were on this occasion a diverting and stimulating presence then New YX provided the empathy and warm rush needed to get a crowd moving. When I saw them at OT301 they looked a wee bit out of place, but seen in an intimate setting they are dynamite. There’s something of the bedroom about them, the thrill they provide is similar to illicitly smuggling your parents’ brandy up to your room; greedy, sticky fingered, cheeky. Though they do act like the ultimate gang, when seen up close their different personalities are far more evident and as such much more instructive when considering the music they make as a whole. This time round the star was singer Lili whose quiet determined charm and tongue in cheek pirouettes and poses sat very well indeed against the fluid, metallic pop the band are adept at making. There’s something “very 1920s about her”, wan and determined in equal measure - like one of those silent film stars who pulls the same set of fluttering eye tricks to win herself a new set of admirers. Their cartoony element was well to the fore at the Paard, their easy human charm had most people jumping around with (for the Paard’s ultra-critical café at least) a surprising amount of abandon.
After this Rats span some tunes and the night descended into a chaos only reserved for those times when you swear to yourself that you’ll only have one drink and be home by 11… oh well.
SUB071 – Leiden, (with Wolvon) 28/04/12
Fast forward a week; Incendiary is in good company and in good form; members of Electric Soft Parade and The Hazey Janes, old university colleagues and current editors all combine to descend on the legendary SUB in a state that can be described as euphoric. April and New YX, great gig – that’s a given but WOLVON too? Truly ambrosia rained from on high, provided by charitable and generous Gods.
First up tonight in SUB’s famous Tardis like surroundings were New YX who were on blistering form; the smallness of this space suited them and their brash, warm waves of sound even better, their songs began to show a distinctive pattern in the smoky gloaming, a clear plan of attack. You always get the feeling that their innate sultriness, their seemingly endless energy and good vibe needs to be channelled, their talents and strong musicianship given a push through the door. This started to happen here and turned into pulsating stuff by the end, Líu and Jilis bouncing about like pups, setting the audience up for April, who went one further and simply blasted through their set. Facing each other, Jorn and Julia were (literally given the atmosphere) dripping with a sense of conviction, and not a little tension. Tarek hammered the drums in that big, simple, doom mongering way he has. The reserve and cut-glass atmosphere of the Paard was nowhere to be seen, their noise sounding like an underwater John Maus, or a poppy, guitar-laden take on 1a Düsseldorf (note “1a”, NOT “La”, hipsters). Once again Incendiary was struck by the increasing fluidity and confidence of their show, the manner in which they are hammering what were quite gauche songs into some shape.
By this time the beer was literally flowing. The moral being here, never take people to expensive pubs and then cheap nightclubs – why? Because people find they can’t control themselves that’s why – why have one beer bottle (price 1 euro) in your hand when you can have four? Makes sense, non? In any event, by the time those mighty Lotharios known as Wolvon hit the stage; most of Team Incendiary were seeing things. But like Mallory glimpsing the top of Everest we struggled gallantly on, and like Mallory we are pretty sure we glimpsed a Nirvana of sorts, albeit a bearded one. On this showing Wolvon were rabid and bestial, veritable Gabriel Ernests of Rock: battering their equipment and shredding the atmosphere like a bear in a supermarket. At one stage singer Ike was writhing on SUB’s filthy floor, eyes rolling and gob agape, howling through some form of bozo incantation, waiting to be beamed up to some guitar playing alien world where beer was permanently cold and Ash Ra Tempel played all day on the coin-op. Some of the audience were howling at this point too, things got ridiculously loose and things were going decidedly fuzzy at the edges, like a barn dance where someone’s put acid in the lemonade. Not only that but theplace was in near darkness, as someone had knocked the lights off in the SUB. In true werewolf fashion, Wolvon played on, howling and crashing with only the light of two underpowered disco lights and a phone flash. Epic. Bananas.
How Incendiary got home is still an operation shrouded in mystery, but we won’t be forgetting that night in a hurry.
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