Goin Nowhere

Aus den Niederlanden, genauer gesagt aus Nijmegen an der Waal kommen ein paar angepisste Strolche, die sich auch gleich den Richtigen Rudelnamen gegeben haben, nämlich BRAT PACK. Das sieht wie folgt aus, stellt euch euren Kindergeburtstag vor. Mama hat alles geplant, nach dem Stopessen geht's nach draußen um die Teakholztische zu schonen, denkste! Die frechen Rüpel von und zu Brat Pack haben aus dem selbigen schon ein Basislager errichtet um euch von dort aus das ganze Haus systematisch abzureißen. Ich hab mich riesig gefreut die Platte ins Gerät zu schieben, das klingt so unglaublich frisch nach alten Lieblingen. Eine Jungbrunnenbowle für RKL, AGENT ORANGE und eine ganze Reihe von Bands aus den frühen Achtzigern die so in Kalifornien oder DC geklungen haben. Das besonders Erfreuliche ist, das es nie wie ein Plagiat oder wieder aufgewärmt klingt, sondern wie der ureigenste Stil der Fünf. Die Texte der dreizehn Songs sind frei von Klischees und Phrasen, allein schon der selbstkritische, erste Titel Sick Burn macht mich glücklich und nachdenklich gleichzeitig. Glücklich das jemand das anspricht und nachdenklich, weil wohl jeder schon in der Situation war das er liebgewonnene Dogmen und Ansichten verwerfen und einsehen musste das, was man dachte, nicht der Weisheit letzter Schluss war.
Das Debüt Album, betitelt nach dem Ohrwurm „Hate The Neighbours", ist auf Dirty Faces, Crucial Attack und Ha-Ko Bastards erschienen und bis dato das Beste was mir ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />2008 in die Finger gekommen ist. Ich hatte das Glück die Chose auch live auf der RKL Tribute Party im Exzess und auf dem Queensday in Venlo zu sehen, das macht solchen Spaß und sollte unbedingt wiederholt werden!
Ergo, meine Platte des Jahres!

dennisdegenerate

http://www.goin-nowhere.de

Aardschok

Er loopt nog genoeg talent rond in de Nederlandse hardcore/punkscene, zo bewijst Brat Pack met 'Hate the Neighbours'. De mannen staan stevig met één been in het verleden, waarbij vooral namen als Poison Idea, Circle Jerks en DRI me te binnen schieten, maar de band heeft samen met producer Menno Bakker toch een eigentijds geluid aan deze plaat mee weten te geven. Check vooral ignorance , 'radio', 'see if we care' en 'elections' eens als je me niet gelooft.

80/100

Onno Cro-Mag

Voice of Culture

Ob mit dem Plattentitel die alte deutsch-holländische Feindschaft gemeint ist wag ich mal zu bezweifeln. Oder zumindest hoffe ich das. Denn der melodiöse und doch heftige Hardcore, der mir hier geboten wird gefällt doch zu sehr. In 13 Tracks wird gegen alle und jeden gewettert. Aber nicht stumpf, sondern ordentlich durchdacht. Vergleiche fallen mir ein bisschen schwer, weil mir da nichts Wirkliches einfällt. Vielleicht ein bisschen NoFX, ein bisschen HEIDEROOSJES oder VADER oder VISION. Keine Ahnung. Dazu ist viel zu viel Eigenständiges im Spiel. Und das ist es, worauf es ankommt. Außerdem ist die Aufmachung noch lobens- und erwähnenswert. Die übliche CD kommt eingebettet im Pappschuber daher und das Booklet lässt auch keine Wünsche offen. Fett, mit allen Texten und einem kleinen Poster. So lob ich mir das. Schön gemacht, Jeschke…

www.voiceofculture.de

Dreun.com

Het Nederlandse Brat Pack, met (ex)-leden van Beans, Antillectual, My Reply en Citizens Patrol, levert met dit debuut een parel van een hardcore/punkplaat af. De sterke songs zijn stuk voor stuk energiek met de nodige agressie maar komen tegelijkertijd toch melodieus en soms zelfs catchy over. Het is een perfect evenwicht tussen raggen en melodie, tussen oldschool hardcore/punk en meer hedendaagse punkrock. De band toont raakpunten met zowel groepen als Rich Kids On LSD, Gewapend Beton en het vroegere NOFX als met, uiteraard, hun huidige of eerdere bands. Naast het feit dat dit een geweldige punkplaat is, worden we ook nog eens verwend met uistekend en boeiend gitaarspel. Leuke en gevarieerde riedels, dito riffs en lekker beukwerk wisselen mekaar af en zorgen zo samen met de rauwe zang en de rest van de band voor een dijk van een plaat. Wie dit jaar met betere punk wil komen zal van goeden huize moeten zijn!

Ghoulie

www.dreun.com

No Front Teeth

Excellent hardcore punk from the Netherlands that mixes the classic early '80's US sound with a modern style too. At times this reminds me a lot of REAGAN YOUTH which is fine with me!!! There's elements of RANCID here too as well as RKL, BATTALION OF SAINTS and early NOFX. The vocal delivery is fantastic and the whole thing sounds so powerful with great production that doesn't take the raw edge away. This is the first time I'd heard BRAT ATTACK and I wasn't expecting to be this blown away. The songs are fast and short with most of them staying well below the two minute mark and that's just the way I like it. This is a killer record and it's their debut full-length…very impressive. Definitely keep and eye on BRAT PACK because I'm certain they will explode…I'd love to catch these guys live.

Upstart

Brat Pack - Hate The Neighbours (Crucial Attack / Dirty Faces, May 2008)
If I didn't know better I would have thought this was a band from Cali in the early to mid eighties, right in the prime of American hardcore and punk rock. But no! No my friends! Brat Pack are from the Netherlands! Yeah, you heard me right. From the second I put this album on, the first track blew me away, I was pleasantly surprised with Sick Burn, and the rest of the songs continued to keep my attention. The lead vocals have a familiar sound that I can't put my finger on exactly, maybe familiar but not worn down. Back-up vocals have a good punk rock anthem effect. Everything seems to fall in place with this album, I really fuckin' dig this.
Favourite Tracks: Sick Burn, Self Pity & Ignorance.

http://upstartreview.blogspot.com

Scarred for Life

Brat Pack nennt sich der neueste, fünf Mann starke, Punkrock-Export aus den Niederlanden. 2006 gegründet geben sie jetzt also ihr Debüt auf Dirty Faces - und was man da so zu hören bekommt ist frischer Hardcore-Punk vom Feinsten. Eine willkommene Abwechslung zum ewigen Street/ Horror/ Punk..n..Roll-Gedöns der letzten Jahre. Brat Pack erfinden den Punk zwar nicht neu, sind aber im Stande die Aggressivität und das Feeling der 80er ins neue Jahrtausend zu transportieren.

Und genau 1.21 Gigawatt erreicht auch gleich der Opener „Sick Burn", hart, schnell und macht keine Gefangenen. Etwas melodischer, aber noch lange nicht ruhiger, geht es beim Titellied „Hate The Neighbours" zu. Weitere Anspieltipps von meiner Seite sind „Observation", „Better Off Dead" und „Shadows". Aber eigentlich ist es ziemlich egal, welches Stück man sich aussucht, „Hate The Neighbours" hat keine Schwachstellen. Keiner der 13 Songs muss sich verstecken. Brat Pack erinnern an ältere NOFX, alte No Use For A Name, aber auch an Minor Threat, Black Flag, Sonic Youth und so weiter. Einfach ausgedrückt, Brat Pack klingen wie die Bands aus der Zeit, als Hardcore und Punk noch nicht so strikt getrennte Wege gegangen sind wie heutzutage. Endlich einmal wieder eine richtig harte, krachige und aggressive europäische Punkkapelle. Und wenn man bedenkt, dass die Formation erst seit zwei Jahren existiert und ihr Sound trotzdem schon dermaßen ausgereift ist, dann ist klar, dass man von Brat Pack noch einiges hören wird. Hoffentlich! Tom (Dirty Faces Records)

http://www.smalltowncriminals.de

World's Appreciated Kitch

Brat Pack is a fucking new band from the eastern part of The Netherlands playing wild punk rock / hardcore like if they were living in the western, sunny side of California!
The band started in 2006 featuring members of bands like Citizen's Patrol, Antillectual, My Reply and other local heroes from the Dutch scene.
This is their first full length album, co-released by 3 great labels; Crucial Attack from The Netherlands, Dirty Faces from Germany and HA-KO Bastards from Slovenia.
It is packaged in a great CD case and it features a fucking cool comic drawing. I know that you can't judge an album by its cover but to be honest I loved this album by just taking it in my hands...
Musicwise these guys are the Adolescents of 2008, for sure! Taking influences from these Californian heroes, old NOFX (especially the guitar riffs), Rich Kids on LSD and other cool bands from the Cali scene of the 80s/90s, adding their modern taste of punk rock, tons of melody, some really cool party songs and thought provoking, socially and politically concerned lyrics, they deliver to us 13 gems of fucking punk fucking rock music.
Wanna get something more? I don't think so.
"Hate The Neighbours" is the soundtrack of this summer and the self titled song will stick in your head for years, believe me...

http://www.wakhc.blogspot.com/

Asice.net

Brat Pack from Nijmegen made a great first impression in 2006 with a demo that was later re-issued as a seven inch. The band now returns with a full length album that's easily one of the best Dutch hardcore/punk rock releases of the last few years.

"Hate the Neighbours" is made up of thirteen impressive bursts of energy that, since not too many bands are currently playing hardcore punk like it was made in California in the mid to late 80's, sound nicely refreshing. There are "S&M Airlines" and "Ribbed" era NOFX influences all over the melodic guitar parts on this album, but the explosive rhythm section, pissed off vocals and intense performance give this album much more of a hardcore edge than NOFX ever had. With their fusion of melodic punk rock and fast hardcore, Brat Pack is not just bridging a gap, they make it sound like there never was a gap to begin with.

The really powerful, thick production by Menno Bakker and great cover art by Ronald Huiskes round off a, for as far as I'm concerned, flawless release.

Rating: 5/5 

This Dutch band sounds like a mixture of the Accused (musically, but especially the vocals) and NoFX, high on RKL. These 13 songs sounds pretty good and are performed with a certain bite; it's definitely more oldschool than cali-punk. Songs like 'Soft Money' and 'Observations' can be described as hardcore-grenades, but there are also rocking parts and songs with a rocking edge like 'Xenophobe' and 'No Questions'. The production is crunchy, agressive and fits pretty well with the songs. Both guitars of this 5-man-band got an added value, combine powerful riffs with melodic stuff and make me think of the intro of NoFX's 'Malachi Crunch'. The band started out in 2006 and you can find them on the OX-cd added to this issue. Make sure to check it out! ....

Rating: 8/10 

Europunk.net

Yes, ye olde days of punke had a musical resurrection awhile back which took us back to the future of late 80's punk/hardcore. And me? I couldn't be happier! I won't go into my passion for 80's punk and core nor the whole revival thing I've been seeing in Holland, but I'll tell yall I've seen some pretty awesome bands come and go. Anywho… now its Brat Pack's turn to prove their worth.

I don't know how well-known Brat Pack is for all the Europunkers so first things first. The band consists of members of Citizens Patrol, My Reply, Beans, The Bips and Code Blue. Apart from maybe the first two those bands sound kinda different. If you'd ask me (and I'm the guy writing so I guess in a way you just have to roll with this) Brat Pack is all about five young dudes who've spent a great deal of their time worshipping at the altar of hardcorepunk, and who wanted to pay their homage to this amazing musical era. And lemme say this: Lyrical, musical and even in the artwork department they do one hell of a job! I'd like to go even further and state that Hate The Neighbours proves that this band is worthy of shelf space directly alongside your Minor Threat, NOFX and RKL-records. Now how's that for a compliment? Oh, and I just wanted to add a double thumbs up to Menno Bakker, Ronald Huiskes and my buddy Nico van Montfort for their effort put into this album as for artwork, production and mastering.

So, yeah, you've heard all this before, it's true. In fact, you might've literally heard some of it before, since some tracks were either on the demo or on the mighty Glory Days EP (out on Angry Youth) But chances are, you've not heard this done much better since the first wave of hardcorepunks two decades back.

So I'll admit that I'm impressed with the effort, as you can tell, but I still need to add that a full length is very difficult task for bands in this specific genre. I guess I'm not that fond of the somewhat slower songs or perhaps it just takes alittle more time on these old ears? Either way, I just wanna say that overall this turned out to be a great fuckin' record.

Lets all relish in the joy of pure hard hittin' punkrock. All hail the Brat Pack! Both this Dutch band as all the movies Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy ever made!!

Besonders gefällt mir der Schwung, diese Energie, welche mich genauso wie die Musik stark an die begnadeten RKL erinnert. Im Vergleich zur Single haben BRAT PACK etwas das Tempo rausgenommen, sind nicht mehr ganz so überschwänglich und explosiv. Das ist eigentlich die normale Entwicklung. Weg von unbändiger Wut, hin zu mehr strukturierten, weiterentwickelten Songs. Daher klingen sie gelegentlich etwas nach ADOLESCENTS, z.B. beim Titeltrack. Sehr zu gefallen weiss einmal mehr auch das Coverartwork im Comicstil. Pogo, Zerstörung, Chaos. Das gibt..s dann auch noch mal als Poster. BRAT PACK spielen aggressiven, absolut knallenden Hardcorepunk mit starker 80s-Kante. Tipp !!! Dirty Faces Rec.

Roar Ezine

Een tijdje geleden was hier de review van Antillectuals Testimony te vinden, waarin ik hun Nederlands beste punk band noemde. Deze titel moeten ze, helaas voor hen, gaan delen met stadsgenoten Brat Pack.

Hoewel de punkrock van Bratpack van een heel andere pakkie an is als dat van Antillectual is het wel pure punkrock dat hier de klok slaat! Bratpak grijpt met Hate The Neighbours terug naar de sound van de jaren 80, toen punkrock nog niet commercial geëxploiteerd was en bands als Dead Boys, Adolescents, Rich kids on LSD maar ook de oude NoFX vaandeldragers waren!

13 nummers lang vliegen de gitaar riffs, solootjes en licks je om de oren, samen met een knallende basgitaar en snelle drums wordt er een speelse mix neergezet die je terug in de tijd neemt. De zang van zanger Kenny (Citizens Patrol) gecombineerd met de lyrics en het artwork, verworden precies de naam van de band, en het geheel klinkt als een op hol geslagen stelletje pubers.

Het blijft een raadsel wat de buren de mannen van Bratpack precies aan hebben gedaan, maar een bosje bloemen is wel op zijn plaats. Dankzij hen, hebben we hier een plak in ons handen die vol staat met puike punkrock tunes

Up Magazine

De ster van deze Nederlandse band is rijzende, en terecht. Zelden werd pure hardcore en snelle punk op zo'n manier gecombineerd. Of die band moet RKL heten. Maar RKL bestaat niet meer en Bratpack doet eigenlijk ook denken aan de beginjaren van NOFX en zelfs Minor Threat. Puntje van kritiek is dat niet alle nummers even sterk zijn, maar 'Sick Burn', het titelnummer en 'Shadows' maken dat al goed. Echt een album om je skateboard voor uit de schuur te halen en lekker over straat te knallen. Schijt aan alles.
Rating: 80/100

Oor Magazine

Wie kent ze nog, jaren tachtig films als The Breakfast Club en St. Elmo's Fire waarin steeds nagenoeg dezelfde cast speelde? Heus jeugdsentiment voor twintigers en dertigers van nu. Het acterende groepje tienersterren, onder leiding van Molly Ringwald, Rob Lowe en Emilio Estevez kreeg destijds geuzennaam Brat Pack toebedeeld. Dat fenomeen inspireerde in 2006 vijf Nijmeegse punkrockers om een band te beginnen. Vreemd genoeg halen ze hun inspiratie elders. Bij NOFX bijvoorbeeld, zoals te horen is aan het S&M Airlines-achtige gitaargeluid in opener Sick Burn. Of bij Satanic Surfers. De partijen van Rody doen namelijk wel erg denken aan de metalen bassound van de Zweden. Die laatste band horen we trouwens ook terug in de vette gitaarlick aan het begin van Radio, terwijl het intro van No Questions Asked opnieuw herinnert aan oud NOFX-materiaal. De invloeden liggen er dik bovenop. Dat we dit niet als negatief ervaren, heeft de groep te danken aan de onderscheidende hardcoresound, het strakke spel, de sterke songs en een gepaste fuck you-attitude, Die laatste houding komt vooral op het conto van zanger Kenny. Hij maakt het grote verschil. Als een boze Kevin Aper spuugt hij zijn teksten uit en voegt gepaste nonchalance toe aan het geheel. Genoeg om Hate The Neighbours naar een internationaal punkrockniveau te tillen. Complimenten. Ook voor het prachtige artwork, inclusief uitklapposter, kartonnen omhoes en uitgeslapen RKL-link. WOUTER DIELESEN

Punx.nl

Brat Pack is back, en iedereen moet het weten, de buren incluis! Gezien de boze brief die de buurman af kwam leveren laatst is hij al bekend geraakt met de demo van deze band en ik denk dat sowieso in Nederland het gros van de liefhebbers van RKL, NOFX en andere West Coast hardcorepunk ook wel bekend zijn met deze mannen. Mocht dit niet het geval zijn kan ik alvast verklappen dat je dit album zeker moet gaan schaffen. Hetzeflde geldt uiteraard voor diegene die al wel bekend zijn met de band.

Om meteen de azijnzeikers, die alleen hard gaan op de demo, de mond te snoeren zeg ik dat het nog steeds de snelle hardcorepunkliedjes met gevatte maatschappijkritische teksten zijn die de boventoon voeren. Maar (er is altijd een maar!) behalve hoge snelheden is er ook plaats voor het ietswat getemperde melodieuze werk. Er zullen zondermeer mensen zijn die misschien gehoopt hadden op alleen maar peilsnelle hardcorepunk, maar dat is eigenlijk ook niet het enige doel waar Brat Pack op schiet. Juist de combinatie en afwisseling zorgen dat deze band boven het maaiveld uitkomt.

Pileons, skatepunk, circlepit, hardcore, meezingrefreintjes, fingerpoints, punkrock, riedeltjes... Noem maar op! Het heeft allemaal een plek op deze langspeler. Het geheel is uiteindelijk fris en toont aan hoe gemakkelijk de mannen uit het oosten des lands pakkende liedjes uit de mouw kunnen schudden.

Met deze goed in elkaar gedrukte, afwisselende hardcorepunkrock minihitjes en uitstekende productie twijfel ik er niet aan dat Brat Pack ook internationaal een potje gaat breken. Ik ben in ieder geval erg te spreken over Hate The Neighbours. Nu mijn buurman nog.

Rating: 82/100

Mazzel Gijs Zine

Bij de tijd dat ik deze review heb geschreven is de plaat al zo'n 8 keer voorbij gekomen. Na het horen van de demo in 2007 wilde ik koste wat kost die band zo snel mogelijk zien. Dat ik daarvoor 2 en half uur mocht afreizen vond ik toen al geen probleem. Live maakten ze het alleen maar meer waar. de sound van westcoast punk zoals oude bad religion, Nofx met de rauwheid van de oxnard bands zoals stalag 13, RKL, aggression en ook 7 seconds is hoorbaar en maakte me direct fan. Het basgeluid doet me denken aan operation ivy door de verscheidene loopjes die af en toe voorbijkomen. Nu is dan de lp dan uit en al menig rondje is er hier rondgerend en proberen mee te zingen lukt al aardig met de nwe songs. Ook enkele nummers die op de demo stonden zijn terug te horen in een nwe sound.
Spending money begint met een gitaarintro die op het beste werk van Nofx niet had misstaan, maar daarna gaat het gastpedaal even wat meer in wat Nofx nooit zo gehaald heeft, nummer is over voordat je het doorhebt, supercatchy weer zoals je van de Bratpack gewend bent, maar er zijn ook wat veranderingen te ontdekken. De nummers hebben meer breaks en er wordt gestoeid met solo's en aparte tempowisselingen. Het nummer hate the neighbours zal live een instant meezinger gaan worden, want wie heeft geen problemen met zijn buren en wil daar graag over meezingen, nu heb ik zelf een megacoole buurman, but that's a different story. Mijn persoonlijke favoriet op de plaat is het nummer self pity and ignorance, de riffs met de gitaarverhogingen van de 2e gitaar geven me kippevel, melodielijnen supermooi en toch blijft het ruig klinken, toch hoort deze band opelk strandfeest thuis, cocktails erbij en circlepits all the time. Nu schijnt de zon volop in mijn woonkamer en geniet ik opnieuw van de plaat, kijk al uit naar de zomer, de soundtrack is klaar, zwembroek kan al bijna uit de kast. Soms koop je maar 1 plaat in het jaar, zorg ervoor dat het dan deze plaat is, je jaar kan niet meer stuk. Kijk ook alweer uit naar de volgende show van deze band want ze missen is elke keer weer jammer.

Some interviews I found on my computer. Check it out if you're bored!

Twisted Wrongs and Crooked Rights

Please introduce your band and what makes every bandmember unique?

Well, I don't know what makes everyone so unique, but I can give you a discription.
I guess the most funny character in our band is our drummer Roel. He's kind of a funny pervert.. For example: when someone asks him in a helpful way if he needs a hand, he'll suggest this friendly guy to give him a handjob. He's pretty cool to hang around with talking about girls and stuff like that. He's always got good stories about stealing motorcycles, jerking off and stuff like that. He got nice hair as well.
Kenny, our singer, is the most sympathetic guy I know. On stage he's acting like a maniac, but he's quite calm in real life. Very friendly, easy going and he's always laughing about my stupid jokes. Good drinking buddy as well!
Rody plays bass. He's the guy that drinks the most. If we've started drinking at 6 o'clock in the evening, he was already in business at 2 'o clock in the afternoon and still going strong. He used to be the king of the snackbar, but he went vegetarian. I guess I've known him for like 12 years. We used to visite the same classes in highschool giving the teacher a very hard time.
Jeroen, our new guy on guitar, pretty much likes to talk about music. He's making a lots of jokes as well, but his jokes are less sexually oriented than de soa constrictor's jokes.
I'm Bas. I'll steal your cigarettes and I'm the Pizza-King! I drink too much as well. I play guitar.

Please explain your bands name and the relationship to the music?

Well, it's not based on Frank Sinatra or the group of actors in the eighties. After making a couple of songs that were to appear on the demo, we were thinking about a name. We had some options, but weren't really happy with it. I guess at the time I heard a song or read a book with Rat Pack in it. I thought it was a cool name, but immediately the name Brat Pack came to mind. And that's good, because some time later I found out about this Nardcore band called Rat Pack. There were even some plans to do a split with the reformed Rat Pack, but that's not the answer to your question haha. In the American Hardcore book by Steven Blush I was reading at the time, he writes about 'this brat pack', so it might be primed by that as well. Brats are cool. Brats are annoying to parents, neighbours, peers and teachers. Brats are a pain in the ass, don't behave and don't wanna grow up. We totally live up to that! ..:namespace prefix = v ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" />


I'm asking you guys these questions because you appeared on the Glory Days 7", an awesome punkrock compilation put out by Angry Youth Records. How did this come to exist?
I think Bootsman and Gijs from the Tenement Kids were pretty psyched about a couple of new bands from the Netherlands that delivered pretty good demos and records. Cool thing is that nobody rips each other off. When it comes to the music, the 4 bands are definitely doing their own thing (within in a certain range). The bands got some things in common. The bands started out around the same time, and are attracting somewhat the same crowd. The bands played shows together, and the bands made things happen again. So it was a pretty cool idea to document the 'punkrock anno 2007'-vibe. We were pretty honoured Bootsman and Gijs asked us to be a part of the Glory Days thing.

In The Netherlands, hardcore and punkrock used to be two different scenes, but lately there has been a lot of crossing borders. Hardcore kids seem to be into punkrock a lot more right now then some time ago, how would you explain this?
Well, for us... it never was so different from each other. We played in punkrockbands, we played in in hardcorebands. We went to mohawkshows, we went to skateshows, we went to youthcrew shows.
So for us there's not so much different except the thing that you see more hardcore kids on punkshows and more punkkids on hardcoreshows. And that's a good thing. Right now it seems a lot of 'hardcorekids' are into punkrock. I guess most kids got into hardcore by starting out listening to bands like NoFX, Pennywise, Bad Religion etc. When they turned older they got into hardcore, but right now when punkrock is doing well, they still enjoy it and pay attention to it. I guess bands like Restless Youth and Tenement Kids paid their dues as well. About Tenement Kids: Gijs used to play in this sXe band called A Step Apart and when they quit he started Tenement Kids. I guess a part of the A Step Apart crowd diverged to the Tenement Kids thing. It's cool to have a mixed crowd. Nihilistic mohawks and posi-cleancuts together. I like it better than all these small cliques of scene-experts.
Another thing is that bands are combining elements from punkrock and hardcore. We do, Gewapend Beton does, Rush 'n Attack does, Room 13 does.. etc. But don't forget, there will always be a punkrockscene. It's not dependent on 150 hardcorekids that are listening to punkrock for the moment.

You appeared on the 7" with a song called Elections. Just like most of the songs of your demo, this song pretty socially critical. Was there a direct cause for writing about elections, something that got you pissed? Or do you just think a punk band needs to have political lyrics?
It would be pretty stupid to write political lyrics just for the sake of writing political lyrics, don't you think? But i do prefer those kind of lyrics instead of songs about unity and commitment... So a lot of BP lyrics are socially critical, but they are not always that direct. Elections turned out to be though. I wrote it during the last election campaign. It's turning more and more into a charade. People promise a lot, but nothing really happens. It's not about ideals anymore, its about votes: who gets the most? Pick me, so i can have another 4 years to sit on my ass and do nothing! (wow, that came out kinda punky!)
(Ken)

What does define hc punk for you?
Pfff.... hard question! I can easily sum up what it doesnt define to me. But what does? hmmz... it's fast. it's agressive (but without the nike air max, the Ali B look and the ''mosh'') and it's dirty! There you go!
(If you dont like the answer, just copy paste the usual high-fives and stagedive stuff, i dont care!)

Hardcore started out as a reaction on punk, but was able to stay a part of it. In your opinion, where is the border between the two?
There isn't really. Both arise from the same sentiments. Hardcore just took it to the extreme. I think to us the border is more at the macho metal/hiphop type of stuff labeled as hardcore nowadays.

Looking back at 2007, what has made your relationship with hc punk closer, and what has alienated you?
Playing shows, partying a lot, going to stripbars, meeting new people, de Baarmoeder, Glory Days compilation, listening to great records. Our relationship with hardcore was pretty good in 2007. The thing that allienated all of us was the thing that happened in Rotterdam. I guess most people know about it, but a kid got killed at a show in Rotterdam. Disgusting.

There is a new record coming up as well and the songs I've heard live were pretty cool. I have the idea that you're leaving the whole rkl/nardcore stuff a little behind and are more developing your own way. Do you agree?
Yeah, a lot of people compare us to RKL, and that's not strange cause we've always mentioned RKL. I think our first ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />7" doesn't sound totally RKL, but got the same 'vibe' as RKL used to have. Snotty voice, fast songs, too much solos, you know the deal. The new record's got too much solos as well and snotty vocals too! But indeed, we changed a little bit trying to get the best out of 70ties Hardrock, 80ties Hardcore and 90ties Punk. The new record is more diverse, we've got a few slower tracks on the record inspired by bands like the Adolescents, TSOL and Agent Orange. But most of the songs are fast. 13 songs in 28 minutes, it's gonna be called 'Hate the Neighbours'.

In March the 'Hate The Neighbours' tour is starting. Are you visiting Rusland as well as you planned to do? What are you looking forward to the most?
The Russian tour got cancelled by the booker twice, so no, we're not going anymore. We've obviously lost our trust in him. We are still doing the central European 'Hate The Neighbours' tour though, and also we're booking a Scandinavian tour in May with our friends of Antidote. It's hard to say which we're looking forward to the most. We going to see lots of new places, meet a lot of new people and have tons of fun on both tours, so it's a tie!

Interview Running Through fanzine

Yo. Introduce the Brat pack. What does everybody do, other than the band?

Yo, this is Brat Pack from Nijmegen, the Netherlands. I'm Bas, I play guitar! I've been studying for ages to become a psychologist, besides that I'm working a little bit cleaning up old peoples' houses. I love Sabbath and pizza! Rody is on bassguitar. He's been studying for ages as well to become a computer programmer. He loves Maiden. Kenny is the singer, he used to be a poor bum, but since Monday he got a pretty decent job, he got a leasecar, big bucks and got to shave himself everyday. He sings in Citizens Patrol as well. He loves Maiden (fuck him too). Roel, our drummer is a cook and is working at the postal service. If you need a hand', he'll help you out ghehe. Willem is/was our other guitar player. He prefers Maiden over Bad Religion (fuck him the most). His fulltime 'job' is his other band Antillectual. For that reason he'll quit in a couple of weeks. So we got Jeroen from Amsterdam on guitar. He works at an auctionhouse and plays in a kickass band called Frightening Fiction. We all got in common that we like classic rock, booze and lame jokes. Question for you.. which side are you on? Sabbath or Maiden?


The 7" is out for sometime now. How did people react?
Yeah, quite good! We got very good reviews in different magazines, fanzines and e-zines. We were a little bit suprised, since we got zero expectations and the only intention was to do a couple of shows. Seems people like the stuff we're doing. MRR wrote of positive review, but they compared us to bands like the Gazastrippers and other obscure garagerocknroll bands, so I guess they got the wrong 7" under the needle haha. Another bad thing was that a review dude compared the intro of Spending Money to Iron Maiden, it totally pissed me off!

Why did you decide to take all the same songs from the demo and just add two new songs?
Well, there's only one extra song on the 7". State of War. When we recorded the demo, we want to save up one song for v/a samplers and stuff like that. It appeared on the New Breed compilation and a compilation from Russia. When Marcel, Rogier and Melle offered us to release the demo on 7" they would like to have the unreleased song as an extra.

When will the full length be out? What do people need to expect? Is it along the lines of the 7"?
We recorded 14 songs, and 13 of them wil appear on the album called 'Hate the Neighbours'. Our buddy Menno Bakker did the recordings this time. It was fun to hang out at the studio, on the other side it was terrible to be mirrored to my lack of technical skills. But drill-officer Menno pushed us so far, that it turned out to be a pretty tight record.
Right now we're finished and we're on the lookout for different labels across Europe/US. For the fast songs, it's in the same line as the demo. There are a few middle-tempo punksongs on the full-length, influenced by bands like Adolescents, Agent Orange, D.I. and stuff like that. Agressive middle tempo punkrock. Big difference with the 7", is that we play quit tight on the new record, and the songs are more diverse. We put a lot of time in writing the songs and practicing them. We threw a lot of songs and structures in the garbagecan.

Where will you go on tour, as soon as the LP will be released?
Yeah, I hope the the record will be out when we're going on tour. We should do a Russian Tour in February but the guy cancelled it again, so I gues we won't go to Russia anymore. In March we'll do a European tour. 8 countries in 10 days, we'll do shows in France, Switserland, Italy, Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Poland and Germany. In May we'll do a 10 day Scandinavian tour with our friends from Antidote. I guess after the summer we'll do a Balcan tour with Citizens Patrol, and we want to go on the road with Gewapend Beton.

Your biggest influence seems to be Rich kids on LSD..
Yeah, it seems like haha. Well, when we started writing songs it was the intention to make a mixture of RKL, old NoFX and Adolescents. We ripped of the RKL sound and we used the beanie-guy for the artwork. Especially the kind of artwork makes people compare us to RKL. But like I said, RKL is one of the influences. We're also ripping of the Adolescents, Reagan Youth, NoFX and are influenced as well by Bad Religion, Offenders, seventies rock and so much more. Using the Dutch Kids on LSD term was a way to get some attention on Brat Pack since RKL is legendary, and we got some resemblance with them. But RKL is just an influence, not the main-influence.

You have already been on tour in Europe, but there were mainly shows in Germany, weren't there? What are the best memories of that tour?

Yeah, most shows turned out to be in Germany. We were supposed to play in Krakow, but the promotor was beat up by hooligans a few days before the show, so that one got cancelled. We played one show in Vienna with the Red Dons. Red Dons were great and we got 'em drunk till pretty early in the morning. Pretty interesting guys surviving the Black Flag way. It was our first tour, and got pretty deep in debt by it. Problem was that we were supposed to tour Russia, in that period, and it was cancelled pretty late, so I booked the tour in only 2 months. Thanx to the people at Muttis we played last minute an extra show in Berlin with Leftover Crack which was pretty cool. We spent our offday in Prague on our way to Vienna. About best memories, botomline is that when you're on the road with 5 of your best friends, going to different cities, meeting different people, weird stuff will happen. I guess certain people won't be pleased by making that public haha. Making records is cool, but touring is the best.


Talk about the coolest show you played , till now.

For me it's the Gewapend Beton/Antidote releaseshow. It was in the Baarmoeder, a squat in Amsterdam where the Gewapend Beton guys live. They're doing a lot of shows, and this time it was their releaseshow. It was crowded as hell with a lot of friends showing up, and everybody went nuts. Glory Days release show with Union Town, Tenement Kids and the Real Danger was pretty cool as well. Rody our bassplayer put up the show. There showed up a lot of people, and the crowd reacted very good to each band.

You did a lot of shows in The Netherlands and some in Belgium too. Do you think there's a difference between the Dutch and the Belgian crowd?
Well I don't think there's so much difference. The only thing is that Belgium are in a way more supportive to their bands. For example, the whole Deadstop thing never could have been started in the Netherlands. People in the Netherlands are supportive as well, but I guess in Belgium it is at another level.

What's your opinion on the Belgium/Netherlands hardcore punk of today?
Well, I guess there are a couple of very very good bands around. For the Netherlands, Tenement Kids, Gewapend Beton, Union Town, the Real Danger, Room 13, Rush 'n Attack, Frightening Fiction and Citizens Patrol are relatively new bands. What I like about the Dutch punkscene is that it's pretty diverse. For example Union Town might be influenced by the old DC sound, while Room 13 should have listened a lot to the Germs. It's cool that bands are not ripping of each other, and are doing their own thing. In Belgium bands like Vogue, and Sunpower are among my favorites. They're doing their own thing as well.
One thing I'd like to see is that more kids get involved into the hardcore/punkstuff.

Kenny also sings in Citizens patrol. Is there a big difference performing in these two bands?

Kenny: There is not much difference between the bands, citizens patrol is a bit faster and the songs are shorter, so after a 15 minute set of CP I am a wreck, BP gives me more time to breeth! Beeing used to short and fast songs made it a bit strange for me (definitely in the beginning) to be on stage when the motherfucker or Willem are trying to impress chicks with their funcky Van Halen solo's, I had to strike a pose or something and it felt a bit weird. Now I am used to it and I just try and look as hot as possible! Apart from that there is no much difference, the crowd is pretty much the same…

RIP IT UP ZINE (IT)

1. First of all, tell us who are you and whats your role in the band.
My name is Bas. I play guitar and do some vocal stuff!

What about the name of the band? Do you know that Brat pack was also a group of young actors and actresses who frequently appeared together in teen-oriented coming-of-age films in the 1980s (Wikipedia). Emilio Estevez (Black Flag, Suicidal Tendencies and Circle Jerks songs-featuring Repo man main character) was also part of it, which is by the way - a good thing. Ok, coming back to us, what's the reason behind the name?
Well, we know that. One of my favorite writers, Brett Easton Ellis, was part of another Brat Pack as well and in the American Hardcore book the author's writing about this 'brat pack' from blablabla as well. First I was thinking about something like Rat Pack and when I suggested the name, we thought Brat would sound better. Besides that, there is this Nardcore band called Rat Pack, and since we've got these influences from different nardcore bands, it would be a little bit cheap to call ourselves Rat Pack. We could behave like anoying Brats and play pretty brat-ish music, so that's basically the deal.

3. What about your last tour: was everything fine? Anyone to badmouth because of last-minute cancelled gigs or for having given you no money? And, on the other side, what was the best show (if there have been one)?
The last tour was great!! It was our second tour and it was way better than the first one. We did almost 5000 kilometers in 10 days, so especially the first dates we had to drive big distances between shows, like 700 kilometers. But actually, that was the cool thing about the tour. We've been to different countries across Europe and met a lot of cool people. Compared with the first tour a lot of people showed up and we almost broke even with the money. It sounds cheesy, but every show was great in a way, so it's difficult to point out which show was the best. There were a few shows where not that many people showed up, but even those shows were cool 'cause the audience enjoyed it and we had a lot of fun on stage. But to me Vienna, Poland and Frankfurt were the coolest shows we did. Vienna because it was a Monday evening show while the club was packed, we met the Press Gang dudes for the first time and we slept at Flo's place. She's my hero. Poland because on first sight it was one of the most depressing environments I've witnessed in my life, (I ran out of cigarettes and was exhausted as well), but in the end it was one of the most crowded gigs and we played a very good show and had a fucking great night with Lucasz from We Are Idols. Frankfurt was cool 'cause it was a RKL tribute party, and the dj was only playing Brat Pack approved music like RKL, old NoFX and Ill Repute. Besides that it was the first time I was completely drunk on stage and still did a good job haha. Besides doing shows we're also pretty much into the party stuff... Bologna had very good party vibrations, but Prague was the best! After the show we went to the town center and crazy things happened, but you'd better ask our drummer!
No shit-talking about promoters. Everyone was very nice and did an excellent job. It's always very annoying when you're driving for hours to the next stop and you're playing for 3 people due to a lack of promotion, but this time everything was fine!

4. You cite, as your main influence, Adolescents, Circle Jerks, D.I., RKL and also early NOFX. About this latter band, the statement is so clear and makes me understand that you are above all up for (great) albums like "Liberal Animation" and "S&M Airlines": do you still like NOFX? Or do you think that they are kind of sell outs? To me, they aren't still musically acceptable (time to quit!), but, in some way, they still keep their own punk attitude, like when they still keep refusing to join MTV or giving (for free) MRR interview about punk business, ecc.
I still like NoFX a lot. I think they are my favorite punkrock band ever. I started out listening to Ribbed 11 years ago and I'm still totally hooked to that record. Of course,  the eighties and early nineties stuff is the best, but I like listening to the more recent records as well. Some later stuff was mediocre, but the last 2 albums are pretty good ("to my opinion"). They're one of the few bands that gets away with humor and stupid jokes while still having a serious message. They are selling lots of records and playing for huge crowds, but that's cool because they did it all on their own terms. I hate it when people are accusing bands of getting too big.

5. Your first full-length is called "Hate the Neighbours": the question is definitely fucked up (you already know): what's the matter with your neighbours? I mean: do you really hate them? or is it just a metaphor for stating something you're may gonna explain?
Well, Kenny wrote this song called "Hate the Neighbours", and we thought it was a great title for our album with great artwork opportunities. I haven't written the lyrics, but for me it's more a metaphor for kids that don't want to grow up and have problems living up to certain standards of society, parents, bosses, teachers, students and peers that pressure them. In my view 'Neighbours' is a methaphore for the outside world. Not that I'm this nihilist punkrocker hating everything around me, but this is my interpretation of the title, we're happy guys.

6. I know that in Nijmegen (the Nijmegen Chaos myspace page testifies it) there's a bunch of bands and a fistful of venues to hit: from Antillectual (which we got the chance to see a couple of times here in Bologna's Atlantide) to your band (without citing the local legendaries like The Zeroes or The Squats), it seems that there are many kids involved in punk rock over there, so tell us something about your scene (venues to play, bands to check out, kids, history, in poor words, what you feel to tell us)
Nijmegen is this typical progressive left wing student city. In the late 70s and 80s there used to be a lot of squats and there was a very active punkrock scene at that time. There are still squats and there is still a punkrock scene, but it's not huge. I guess Antillectual is the most popular band right now. Their singer used to be in our band as a guitar player, but since they're doing the band full-time, he's now 100% focused on Antillectual. Besides that we've got bands like Bambix, The Bips, Smash the Statues, Tesarac and Cervix. It is quite a small city, I guess about 160.000 people are living here, so it's good. But it's not some kind of a punkrock Mecca. We've got this cool punkrock bar called the Bijstand and there's a (legalized) squat called the Onderbroek. Some periods there are like 4 shows a week, but right now there's not that much going on. Oh, we've got our releaseparty with Dead to Me (USA, Fatwreck) and Gewapend Beton on May 6th.


7. One of the thing that I definitely love about The Netherlands is that many people get the bicycle to go around: I saw in Groeningen a lot of persons running their bicycles even under the snow: it's gonna be easy to run a Critical Mass group over there, isn't it? Do you also use your bicycle? Or perhaps, punx, just to get against the grain, move their asses only by car? (Sorry!)
Haha.. well, since it's kind of a flat country it's pretty normal to travel by bike. Another thing is that cities in the Netherlands aren't that big so you don't have to drive big distances to college, work or whatever. Besides that, public transportation sucks, 'cause after midnight you can't catch a bus or a train, so you've got to go by bike! But I prefer going by car, at least, when I'm sober

8. I know that you are supposed to get Scandinavia for a 8-day tour with Antidote but there's no info about the dates on your myspace page: which cities are you supposed to play?
Yeah, it got canceled. Our singer Kenny is also doing vocals for Citizens Patrol and since they're on No Way records they're gonna tour the US for 3 weeks. He's got a regular job besides doing two busy band and after some vague promises from his boss, it turned out that he won't be able to go off duty for another 2 weeks. Besides that, Arne from Antidote fell into a glass of beer at a party a few months ago and got heavily injured to his fingers, so he won't be able to play the bass for a while.

9. You are often on the road and so, any problem to relate it with your personal lives (girlfriends to leave for getting the van, university lessons that would require your presence to skip, boss that would like to have you more often in the office to make shut up)?
Yeah, I guess Kenny's got problems with work and stuff, at least he's pretty fucking busy. He's working 50 hours a week and besides that doing 2 to 4 shows a week without mentioning the touring stuff. Talking about myself. I'm 25 years old and I'm in second grade of university.. go figure. So I guess I spoiled a lot of time due to band/music related stuff. I'm not lazy, just a little bit, but I think touring, recording and having fun with your buddies is the coolest thing ever. I know the things we're doing with the band (and my previous band) are on a relative small scale, but it's pretty important for my personal development to make this stuff happen.

What about the next months: after the Scandinavian tour, is it already planned another tour? Any recording session?
Well, because we can't tour all the time, we're scheduling some weekend trips outside the Netherlands. It's sad for example that we can't go to Italy for just a weekend, but on the other side we're planning a lot of shows in Germany, Belgium, France etc. We've also got plans to do a 2 week tour through the Balkans with Citizens Patrol somewhere at the end of 2008 or beginning of 2009. Ha-Ko Bastards from Serbia will release our new record over there, so it would be cool to play there with our buddies from Citizens Patrol.

12) the same old last question: any last word?

Yeah, make us filty rich! When you're into Reagan Youth, Adolescents, Zeke, NoFX, Bad Religion, NWA, Bad Brains, NoFX, Agent Orange, Circle Jerks, Operation Ivy, Articles of Faith or whatever band, check out our new record! It will be released by Crucial Attack, Dirty Faces and HA-KO bastards on May 6th!
Thanx a lot for the interview! Cheers

OX-Fanzine

Ich bin begeistert! Dieses Quintett aus Nijmwegen in Holland liefert hier ein Demo ab, welches meinen CD-Player nicht mehr verlassen will, so sehr ziehen mich die sechs äußerst fett produzierten Lieder in ihren Bann. Im Info werden die frühen NOFX, RKL, ADOLESCENTS und D.I. als Einflüsse herangezogen - und ja, stimmt alles. Die Songs preschen völlig ungestüm nach vorne los, sind dabei aber immer absolut verspielt und quirlig. Dazu passt der Sänger, der so herrlich rotzig shouten kann. Selten eine junge Band gehört, die eine derartige Spielfreude an den Tag legt. Die Texte liegen bei und das Cover ist sicherlich nicht ohne Grund an RKL angelehnt (Caps mit Propeller), da ich schon behaupten möchte, dass sich BRATPACK hauptsächlich an diesen orientiert haben. Ein furchtbar mutmachendes Demo. Warum gibt es solche Bands nicht öfter? Bitte mehr davon. DUTCH KIDS ON L.S.D.! (09:52) (9) (Guntram Pintgen)

Southspace

Asice.net

Five guys from Nijmegen decided to form a band in the vein of early RKL and the likes. They started to rehearse, did a couple of shows and recorded six songs for a demo tape. And those six tracks are awesome! They're packed with great leads and melodies and for the most part it's full throttle. Especially the West Coast hardcore punk bands of the early eighties are a big influence in the case of Brat Pack. Aside from the obvious impact of RKL on their sound, one can hear they draw influences from bands like Battalion Of Saints and Adolescents. My favorite track is 'See If We Care', which features a really catchy lead that gets you hooked to the song. The closing track 'Cleanse The Bacteria,' named after the legendary compilation LP by Pushead, is also a great song with a nice chorus to sing along to and in which Rody really shows off his bass skills. Another plus is the production by Nico van Montfort, which is exceptionally good for a demo release. Furthermore, the tape comes with great artwork by Ronald Huiskes. The cover art also leaves very little doubt that this is total RKL worship. And that's a good thing in my opinion!
In short, I'm really impressed by this demo. I'm very curious about the next release of these guys. You too need to get your copy, be quick because there's only fifty tapes, if they aren't already gone! But hey, you can always order the cd version…
(4/5)

Razorcake

Professional-sounding demo from a band from the Netherlands. It's melodicore that is well performed and songs that are interesting and catchy. Kind of hard to pinpoint at the moment what they sound like to me. I'm guessing a mixture of Venerea, Pulley, and some elements of early Pennywise. If this is one of their first recordings, they are off to a good start. –Donofthedead (Brat Pack)