As far as I can gather, This Haarlem based Dutch Melodic Hardcore Punk band was founded in July of 2010, and following several increasingly popular shows released their debut single Gunshow some year and a half ago. The single, thanks to its cartoon-esque violence and black humor, combined with the fact of being cover-mounted to the Geenstijl magazine, went “viral” in no-time...but after that things went somewhat quiet around the band, consisting of singer/guitarist Tom Eysink Smeets, guitarist Louis van Ooy, bassist Chris Dekker, and drummer Puck van Donselaar.
Sure, the band had played the occasional gig now and then, but no new material had been released or even announced. Until recently, when it was revealed that the band had signed (wearing only their underpants – proof of which a picture found at the band's page on (www.) suburban.nl) for the release of their debut album, somewhere last year! Having recorded their 12-track album with renowned Dutch producer Igor Wouters, the band increased its presence in Holland's venues steadily, drawing attention with the release of the album's first single and video for the song “Indie Pop Song”, which was/ were launched through Noisey on February 10. For the making of that video, the band used website Fiverr, who paid 5 euros to people worldwide for an interesting featurette in the video's collage!
Stylistically, the band plays a Progressively flavoured Hardcore Punk, which has probably found influence from such early '80s bands as Minor Threat, D.I., and sort-likes (with some calmer tracks thrown in for good measure), but lyrically the guys take on quite a different stance. First of all, Smeets sings in his native language, and furthermore the lyrical content is far removed from the somewhat socio-politically critical texts of the aforementioned. In fact, the info sheet at the label's site explains things best: “the Dutch texts are inspired on love, frustrations and everything what might entertain someone with a Peter Pan syndrome”...with an emphasis on sexuality, of course! But all of that is certainly not meant to be taken seriously! Not indeed, for if there's something this band stands for, it's for nót taking oneself seriously, and for getting pleasantly drunk and having fun! Things the band definitely include in their energetic and slightly homo-erotic theatrical live shows, which have already led to leading Dutch media 3voor12 exclaiming, “This is a crazy band you must see, independent of what music you like!”.
High praise, but goin' on the material at hand, I tend to agree! In fact, I'm nominating Kwarktassen into my 2014 year-lists, and I have no doubt that at the end of the year, the album will still have a prominent charting therein!