| CD REVIEW Brat Pack |
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Band : Brat Pack From the Eastern part of Holland comes this Nijmegen based quintet (currently consisting of ex and current members of Beans, Citizens Patrol and Frightening Fiction) with music you might've expected from sunny California some 20 to 25 years ago! With a line-up comprising lead singer Ken, guitarists Willem and Bas, bassist Rody and drummer Roel, the band recorded a 7-track demo soon after their formation in 2006, releasing the self-titled item on cassette tape through Angry Youth Records and on cd-R by themselves, before it was picked up for release on 7-inch in 2007 by Gummopunx, Pick-Up and Mispelled Yuoth Records. Already apparent back then, the band's various influences, with elements from the melodic sounds of NoFX, Bad Religion and SNFU, but with a harder edge than those bands using additional influences from Hardcore acts such as RKL, Stalag 13, 7 Seconds, and old New York and DC Hardcore bands like Minor Threat and Urban Waste. The demo saw the band contacted by several small labels inviting 'em to contribute a song to compilations of theirs (in 2007 the band had a song on Music Of The Streets, a comp. CD by Russian label Space Rebel Records; on European New Breed, a 30-track tape issued by Pressure Release Records, and on the Glory Days 7-inch released by Angry Youth Records), and play some memorable shows including their participation to the Light The Fuse and Thrashfest festivals as well as attending the shows for Punx.nl's 5-year anniversary. Not long after the re-issue of their demo on 7-inch, the band started the recording process (with well-known producer Menno Bakker) of their debut full-length album Hate The Neighbors, which was released on both LP and CD in May 2008 through Crucial Youth (Holland), Dirty Faces (Germany) and Ha-Ko Bastards Records (Serbia). Shortly after the recordings guitarist Willem (whom was preoccupied with Antillectual) was replaced by Jeroen, and in the new line-up the band undertook spreading their socio-political messages (dealing with consumerism, the war in Iraq, xenophobia and politicians' hypocrisy), and well as more personal issues with two Western European tours, a tour of the Balkan states, a UK tour and many weekend trips to Germany, Belgium, France, the Czech Republic and Denmark. 2009 again saw the band contribute songs to compilation albums, namely on the CD/ DVD 15 Jaar AFA (Dutch Anti-fascist Actionorganisation) issued by the organisation's publication Alert, and on Chinese label Kids Union Records' compilation CD Kids Union Vol. 1. Eventually time came to record a new album, and producer chosen to do this was Shield Recordings stalward Nico van Montfort, whom recorded, mixed and mastered the album at Erock Studios in Panningen, a village near Venlo...the hometown of Holland's most notorious right-wing politician Geert Wilders. That is of import to the album's lyrical content, which is influenced by the majority of Holland's population swinging to the conservative extreme-right ideas over the last couple of years. Indeed, the title of the album is in part a comparison of the current political climate to that of the late '30s. Musically, the album is said to be “...again a combination of the aggressive sounds of bands like RKL and Poison Idea with more melodic influences like The Adolescents and Agent Orange, yet generally sounds more 'mature'...”, but you can convince yourselves quite easily of the fact that this does not mean the band is now less aggressive, by listening to the songs posted at (www.) myspace.com/bratpackontheattack (4 songs off the new album and one off the debut). Those who didn't hear the band's earlier music yet are advised to check out the band's facebook page (has the whole album there). As far as I'm concerned, Brat Pack are at the top of their league, and as I was a fan of this type of music since when it was first around in the mid '80s, you shouldn't be surprised to find me catapulting Stupidity Returns to the top of my year-lists! 98/100 Tony. |
