In Antwerp you’ll find one ‘real’ music club, Trix. There you’ll see all kinds of bands from different sizes. The bigger events take place in the main hall, which used to be Hof Ter Lo, and the smaller shows you’ll see in Trix club or Trix bar. And of course, there is also Petrol club.
But then that’s it. I’m not complaining about their programmation, but back when my two companions and myself founded pooping bird we were utterly frustrated about the limited amount of shows we could go to. We as ‘big’ music lovers would change this and I’m sure this is the incentive that drove our colleages aswell.
DIY promoters overall are people who are driven by their love for music in the first place. They are often youngsters who don’t have the money to regulary buy € 15 tickets, but who’d love to see more live shows as they already do. Overall, they have a very critic view on today’s music industry and it’s mainstream way of thinking.
pooping bird.
As I told you before, most of the DIY organisators felt there was something missing in Antwerp, and so did we. Back then, Noon was still studying in Ghent where a lot of DIY concerts took place. We started to get the hang of these very cheap and still very decent concerts, and wanted to take them to Antwerp. We knew a couple of places like for example Scheld’apen who did such shows, so we started to get to know the Antwerp scenery a bit better.
Screamo, post-punk and math rock were our personal favorite shows, because of the no-nonsense attitude and the energy of both the bands and the promoters. But with our organisation, we wanted line ups filled with unknown bands of all genres with just one thing in common: the high standard of their music. pooping bird was born.
Our first pooping bird. event ever was in a small squatted venue, called ‘t Logement. We still had a sloth left on the bill and so little time to promote the event, so we asked our friends of Intergalactic Lovers if they’d like to play that night for gazoline costs. They gladly said ‘yes’ and that was the birth of pooping bird.
Of course, we aren’t the first nor the last DIY promoters Antwerp will ever know, and luckily, we became good friends with some other organizers. Some had inspired us, like Jelle with his Hands Like Birds shows in the beginning of 2008. Others found us to be inspiring and founded their own organisations. Sometimes, we collaborate if we want to do a ‘bigger’ event (cultus online).
When asked why they to what they do, a lot of my fellow colleagues answered that on top of their unconditional love for music they’d miss an underground scenery, where everything was made possible. Through MySpace (ages ago), facebook and the growing number of music streaming sites, a lot of brilliant bands nowadays can easily find their way to a promoter and vice versa.
Antwerp still has too little high quality concerts in specific genres, but I’m glad there are a couple organisations now (like: Kelly Splinter, Hands Like Birds, Teloorgangshows, Kaspar Hauser Records, ...) who are still trying to work together as a front to lower the threshold and bring decent music to everyone interested.
dinsdag 29 mei 2012
maandag 30 april 2012
pooping bird: Often moved about within a context of reason
Well hello there!
Time to get out of our wintersleep, don't you think? You may have noticed that we don't have a lot of
shows coming up for the moment. Well don't you worry: we're still alive and kicking.
We're working on different projects at the moment. Me and Dimi are playing in a band called Cobalt. At the moment we're recording our first demo. You can already check us out here or here.
In the meantime, Noon is trying to keep herself busy building a website for pooping bird. which is a lot more difficult than we thought it would be. So, bear with us.
And apart from the above, Noon and I are preparing for the Burnout festival, which is a gigantic project for school. I'm the head of production, and with only 3 weeks before the festival, I have my hands full with placing orders, making last minute decisions and whatnot.
We also have kind of (well, actually really) exciting news! We've decided that we want to expand our thingy a bit by starting a booking and management agency. (I don't like the word "agency". I'm sorry for using it. It implies that it's all about business and money. That's not our purpose. So, let's just call it a collective. Sounds more friendly that way)
We're so lucky that the Antwerp based band Cat Claw (ex-Calicifer) have enough faith in us
that they want to work with us. So, yay!
They're rehearsing in Kavka as we speak, because they're going to record their first demo tomorrow.
As we said: Exciting times are ahead of us.
Our last event was a massive succes, and I'd like to think it's because of the collaboration with the lovely people of cultusonline. We did a stonerrock special for the unlucky ones without a ticket to the Roadburn festival that same weekend. Mars Red Sky, who played Roadburn that weekend, were more than willing to play our gig in Kavka and so were Radar Men From The Moon, Cat Claw and Cobalt. It's been a while since we had so much fun and a bill full of exiting bands. Thanks again for everyone who spent the night with us!
Our next series of concerts and events will start this summer. I'm looking forward to it, and so is the rest of our team. Keep an eye on our website, facebook and twitter if you want to stay up to date.
See you soon!
Time to get out of our wintersleep, don't you think? You may have noticed that we don't have a lot of
shows coming up for the moment. Well don't you worry: we're still alive and kicking.
We're working on different projects at the moment. Me and Dimi are playing in a band called Cobalt. At the moment we're recording our first demo. You can already check us out here or here.
In the meantime, Noon is trying to keep herself busy building a website for pooping bird. which is a lot more difficult than we thought it would be. So, bear with us.
And apart from the above, Noon and I are preparing for the Burnout festival, which is a gigantic project for school. I'm the head of production, and with only 3 weeks before the festival, I have my hands full with placing orders, making last minute decisions and whatnot.
We also have kind of (well, actually really) exciting news! We've decided that we want to expand our thingy a bit by starting a booking and management agency. (I don't like the word "agency". I'm sorry for using it. It implies that it's all about business and money. That's not our purpose. So, let's just call it a collective. Sounds more friendly that way)
We're so lucky that the Antwerp based band Cat Claw (ex-Calicifer) have enough faith in us
that they want to work with us. So, yay!
They're rehearsing in Kavka as we speak, because they're going to record their first demo tomorrow.
As we said: Exciting times are ahead of us.
Our last event was a massive succes, and I'd like to think it's because of the collaboration with the lovely people of cultusonline. We did a stonerrock special for the unlucky ones without a ticket to the Roadburn festival that same weekend. Mars Red Sky, who played Roadburn that weekend, were more than willing to play our gig in Kavka and so were Radar Men From The Moon, Cat Claw and Cobalt. It's been a while since we had so much fun and a bill full of exiting bands. Thanks again for everyone who spent the night with us!
Our next series of concerts and events will start this summer. I'm looking forward to it, and so is the rest of our team. Keep an eye on our website, facebook and twitter if you want to stay up to date.
See you soon!
maandag 12 maart 2012
All is going well in Cobalt land
It's been a while since I've posted something on this blog, and I'm proud to say that it's been going great in the meantime. As you know, we've sort of pre-released our first demo a little while ago and even when it's (still) not mixed and mastered yet, it has already opened some small doors. We're not playing Glastonbury yet but hey, it's a start.
Even when we're still in the making of our final song of that first demo (read: our singer can't decide wheter he's gonna grunt or squeak), we've won some free studio time at the Pianofabriek! If we work quikly enough, we can even record a song or 3! This friday is our first recording day, so wish us luck.
Apart from that, we've got some nice gigs coming up, so feel free to come check us out:
There is even more to come, but I'm afraid I can't make that public yet.. Just sit tight for a little, and before you know: BAAAMM! Oh, well, just a teaser: there are some booking agencies interested already! I'm hoping not to jinx it by saying this, but we're having our fingers crossed. Hopefully someday soon we will be playing all of the nice venues in town, with the help of a motivated booker.
- C
Even when we're still in the making of our final song of that first demo (read: our singer can't decide wheter he's gonna grunt or squeak), we've won some free studio time at the Pianofabriek! If we work quikly enough, we can even record a song or 3! This friday is our first recording day, so wish us luck.
Apart from that, we've got some nice gigs coming up, so feel free to come check us out:
- 29th of March: Bal Masqué at Scheld'apen (Antwerp)
- 13th of April: An evening full of stonerrock at Kavka, with Mars Red Sky and Radar Men From The Moon
- 3rd of May: housebands night in Kavka with Willow as support
There is even more to come, but I'm afraid I can't make that public yet.. Just sit tight for a little, and before you know: BAAAMM! Oh, well, just a teaser: there are some booking agencies interested already! I'm hoping not to jinx it by saying this, but we're having our fingers crossed. Hopefully someday soon we will be playing all of the nice venues in town, with the help of a motivated booker.
- C
dinsdag 17 januari 2012
Cobalt, the demo!
Formed and based in the caverns of the centre of Antwerp, Cobalt brings imagery in music and sounds, telling tales with noise and voice. Influenced by stories and colors, true people and structures; Cobalt embraces the eclectic coming and going of waves. Four people with a variety of sounds and a live energy invite you to a journey that will not leave you untouched.
Listen to our demo here and/or visit us on facebook!
maandag 2 januari 2012
Cobalt - All Books Tell Tales
It's been several posts, thus quite a large amount of time since I've talked about The Band. Back then we were struggling with finding the right name for our four-piece band, so now I'm really proud to announce our new bandname: Cobalt. It's exclusive, really, so consider yourselves lucky to be the firsts to hear about The Best Band In The World.
Also, we're recording a demo. Like with everything we do, it takes ages to finish it. We've set up several deadlines so it wouldn't take months for us to realize it, and it's still not ready yet. But let's stay positive: we're almost there! We're halfway through recording the vocals. Once that's done, we can start mixing the songs.
I can't wait to share our music with you, but since not a single song is fully recorded yet I simply can't. Here's a little teaser of our song 'All Books Tell Tales', though. Which is, of course, a working title.
Also, we're recording a demo. Like with everything we do, it takes ages to finish it. We've set up several deadlines so it wouldn't take months for us to realize it, and it's still not ready yet. But let's stay positive: we're almost there! We're halfway through recording the vocals. Once that's done, we can start mixing the songs.
I can't wait to share our music with you, but since not a single song is fully recorded yet I simply can't. Here's a little teaser of our song 'All Books Tell Tales', though. Which is, of course, a working title.
Must have tripped off on a rainy day
When a man drenched in his coat
Took me aboard
His ship like a women scorned lay restless
When he finally spoke,
Jabberin his chin
Come and meet her then
For me he had something in store
Should have noticed then,
But i had my hands full
Remembering my name
A two coin trip, into deaths arms
temper temper, I urge you to remember
write down the names of those who came before
help others see in their dark troubled minds
deep waters and labyrinths alike
all books tell tales
but you'll have to pay if you're planning to go this way
Guess i should have noticed then, but i had my hands full
Rememering my own name
Not withstanding
A two coin trip into death's arms.
When a man drenched in his coat
Took me aboard
His ship like a women scorned lay restless
When he finally spoke,
Jabberin his chin
Come and meet her then
For me he had something in store
Should have noticed then,
But i had my hands full
Remembering my name
A two coin trip, into deaths arms
temper temper, I urge you to remember
write down the names of those who came before
help others see in their dark troubled minds
deep waters and labyrinths alike
all books tell tales
but you'll have to pay if you're planning to go this way
Guess i should have noticed then, but i had my hands full
Rememering my own name
Not withstanding
A two coin trip into death's arms.
maandag 21 november 2011
pooping bird.
It's pooping bird time! Apart from being in a band (aka the best band in the world with no name thus far) I also promote music. Pooping bird is a small organisation with a big heart for decent music. We're a three piece from Antwerp, with a diverse taste in music. I will not longer bother you with boring details on how we got together and how we nearly set a venue on fire once, so let's skip to the part where I tell you about next sunday.
pooping bird. presents a very loud but cosy sunday matinée! Starting from 5 pm and for the modest price of only 5 euro, we will pamper your hangover with tunes as sharp as a butcher's knife! The line up is not only the best one from the past 100 years, it's also the perfect line up for your daughter's wedding.
Refused Party Program is a temporary tribute to one of the best records ever made: 'The Shape Of Punk To Come' by the Swedish band Refused. After that, they'll be fucking dead.
Noise punk from Ghent. Their first album 'Starving Vultures At 7-Eleven' was released on Vlas Vegas Records. Are live way cooler than you!
Real screamo emo violence hardcore British noise core.
Silent Front is is signed to more DIY-labels than we have exes, and see the inside of their van more often than they visit their grandma's.
London 3 Piece Nitkowski blend the heavier side of math rock with hardcore and avant garde influences to produce a dark, compelling body of work. Nitkowski sound like the bastard offspring of Don Caballero and Botch with a nod to The Fall along the way.
Damage: 5 euro
Deuren: 16h30
Adres: Oudaan 14, 2000 Antwerpen.
maandag 17 oktober 2011
Alela Diane
A week ago, I found myself in a music centre called Trix. I was invited to a Alela Diane show and was really pleased to check out her music for free. Of course, I've had heard of her before, but to be honest, her music never really seemed to stick with me.
Until last monday. There she was, this beautiful lady, not knowing how to behave after no one reacted on her (what meant to be) funny opening line. Shy but brave she laughed it away and went on to the first song of her set.
Was it her voice? Or the way she tried to act all confident when you could still see her trembling from anxiety? Whatever it was, it felt like she put a spell on me. From the first song to the last, I was like a deer in the headlights, only being able to focus on every note they played.
Admitted, bringing her band ‘The Wild Divine’ was the best thing she could do to be able to keep one song apart from the other, but for a couple of songs she sent her husband (the guitarist), the bassplayer and the drummer backstage to play some intimate ones with her dad.
This was a pure concert without any qualms, it was passionate in an intimate way. She didn’t convince me to immediately buy all of her records though, but she certainly made me play her best known album ‘The Pirate’s Gospel’ over and over again.
Until last monday. There she was, this beautiful lady, not knowing how to behave after no one reacted on her (what meant to be) funny opening line. Shy but brave she laughed it away and went on to the first song of her set.
Was it her voice? Or the way she tried to act all confident when you could still see her trembling from anxiety? Whatever it was, it felt like she put a spell on me. From the first song to the last, I was like a deer in the headlights, only being able to focus on every note they played.
Admitted, bringing her band ‘The Wild Divine’ was the best thing she could do to be able to keep one song apart from the other, but for a couple of songs she sent her husband (the guitarist), the bassplayer and the drummer backstage to play some intimate ones with her dad.
This was a pure concert without any qualms, it was passionate in an intimate way. She didn’t convince me to immediately buy all of her records though, but she certainly made me play her best known album ‘The Pirate’s Gospel’ over and over again.
Abonneren op:
Posts (Atom)