Gods of contemporary punk!

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you...

MUTE.

These guys are amazing!
Their latest album 'Thunderblast' is good, very good. Their previous effort 'The raven' blew me away and they continue to do so with this album.
They came over to our town on Friday October 28th to play the last show on their euro-tour.
It was a memorable night. I am not going to say anymore and just let the pictures speak for themselves.

Gallery

Forus

Pictures from the show of Drunktank and Forus at the Sojo friday (01-07) can be found here.

Drunktank and Forus

Another saturday at the Sojo

Last Saturday (11th of June) was another fine entry into punk-rock history in Leuven, Belgium. 5 bands gave it their all. Unfortunately I only got pictures of 3. The first band, 15 minute powernap was a flashback to 90's punk in the vein of pulley and consorts. The second one, 5050 from the Netherlands was great fun. They played the same song over and over again but always faster and faster. Great show!.

Next up were Fair do's from the U.K. I missed them last time around when they were in Belgium and I am sorry I have after seeing them. Amazing technical skatepunk. I just love this kind of music and they are great guys on top of that.

Then it was time for Smartbomb from the U.S.A.. I've been following these guys and their music since way back when they just started out. A few of these guys also play in No Trigger which is an amazing band and Smartbomb is on an equal level to No Trigger to me. They play more or less the same style of music.
These guys have an amazing live show and loads and loads of energy.
I am glad that I have a chance to see them in my hometown and hope they will be back soon, cause I just had the best time.

 Last up was After the fall, also from the U.S.A. These guy recently released a new album and have been picking up momentum ever since. I had high hopes for these guys and they delivered. Even though they are only three guys, their music is packed full with amazing deliciousness. After the fall play hard, fast and in your face! They also have an amazing live show and the craziest bass player. Super nice guys!.
I think I spent more time rockin' out in front instead of taking pictures during After the fall, but hey, you don't always get to see great band on a Saturday.

The best thing of all is that I made it through alive to enjoy these band another time!. Way too much beer caused me to forget that my girlfriend was picking me up at the venue and made me decide to walk home (which is 10km away from the venue). Luckily, she picked me up about a third of the way. Thank you!.

The conclusion for me is: Great night, good times, good hangouts. Thanks to the bands and thank you to Adriaan for setting this up!.

All pictures are here! (or click the gallery on the right)

Punk rock attack 6

Yesterday evening was punk rock attack 6 at the SOJO club. Three bands on a thursday night and holiday on friday. The perfect evening!.

The first band were known locals, State of mine. This time with a different drummer and the regular drummer on guitar. Good show with some minor mistakes which made it even more fun!.

The second band came all the way from Gainesville, Florida (USA). Spanish Gamble is true punk rock in the style of a lot of Gainesville bands. Bands such as nothington comer into mind when listening to Spanish Gamble.
The guys played a great show and it was good to see them live for once. The audience however could have been more enthousiastic, which they finally became during the encore. Another good show! So it's two for two.

Last but not least, ALL but least! were Atlas Losing Grip presenting there new album State of unrest. Man, what a show! What a band! What an energy!. I love these guys and can't wait to see them again.

All the pictures can be found here

Octopussy's release show

So I finally got round to editing the pictures I took at The octopussy's release show. As I said in the previous post, these are not all that great because of horrible lighting (They should really pay more attention to lighting in punk).

During the ignored, who have a very energetic live performance, I was unable to get good pictures of the band because the lighting on stage was virtually non-existent. I managed to get a few crowd surfing shots.

During The octopussy's the lighting was a bit better, but as stated still not great. I managed to get a few reasonably ok shots but not my greatest work. The show however was a shot in the bullseye. Great show! Great guys! good times!

Congratulations on the new cd guys! It has been playing in the car ever since and is good driving to work get happy cd!

All photos available here

Bad lighting and beer

I just awoke from a action-packed weekend.
Saturday was the cd release of The octopussys where I attempted to take some pictures. This unfortunately didn't go all too well. The lighting just sucked and some guy managed to spill his entire beer on my camera.
The camera is ok, but there is a certain kind of smell attached to it now.
I will try to get the pictures edited sometime this week and upload them.

Sunday I had to perform myself with my own band (Another Effort), in a new posh club in Leuven. The stage was really cool and I saw someone taking pictures, so hopefully I can get my hands on them too.

Expect the Octopussys pictures later this week but do not expect to much :).

Next up Atlas Losing Grip /Spanish Gamble/State of Mine at the Sojo this thursday (19/05).

State of mine release party photos

After a mighty fine hangover on sunday and two nights of work, I got the photos edited and uploaded. All photos are available here. (note: all images have been resized for space purposes).

The night itself was great. I had to tend the bar for the first two hours, so sorry to sheiks of dubai and Canirepeed, who also played that night, for not taking any photos.
After that it was time for The Ignored. Amazing show from them, they can put down a real energetic live show. The Bouncing souls cover was extremely nice!.
Next were gino's eyeball. They played a lot of NOFX covers and as usual know how to get the party started.
After the gino's came the reason the night happened, State of mine. These guys presented their full album "Accelerate". Go and buy the cd if you haven't already done so. I do not remember much of their show because I was busy taking photos, but what I do remember is that it was off the hook. Really amazing show and once again congratz on the new cd guys.
To finish off, the always amazing Homer came to rock the place. Great show as always, but because I had to once again tend the bar, I was unable to take photos. Next time!
All in all, a pretty amazing night and I am quite happy with the photos.

State of mine cd release

Tomorrow will be the cd release party for state of mine's new album accelerate.
I'll be there taking pictures of the event.
Other bands playing are the ignored, gino's eyeball and Homer.
Pretty siked for this and I hope the pictures turn out ok.
Keep an eye on this blog for the pictures.