Saturday 20 November 2010

Interview - Pim (Vocalist, Said and Done)

Here is my interview with Pim, vocalist with Dutch hardcore band - Said and Done. It was really insightful to here from Pim and what he had to say about the Dutch scene.

How have you found playing in the UK? How does it compare to playing in mainland Europe?

We always love to play the UK. We've been there a couple of times now since 2007. First time we played the PLS MSH fest in Brighton, organised by the one and only Rob Boyce. He also introduced Guitar Hero and Anchorman to us. Something we're still grateful for haha. I think so far we went over there every year? Twice this year though. We played Le Pub in Newport (Wales) a couple of times, hooking up with Alex B. Alex and Caroline in Nottingham were always good to us. And then there's the boys from Carry The Weight / Never Again, who we did a weekend with in May. Great lads. They also released our "Weight Of The World" 7" and invited us to play Carry The Weight Fest two weeks ago. Which was a blast.

As for comparing the two? They're pretty much the same in a lot of ways. One difference is that in the Netherlands you more regularly get drinks and food at the shows you're playing. But it's probably because a lot of the promoters in the Netherlands don't have to pay for the venue etc while you guys in the UK have to come up with the cash yourselves. And it seems that shows getting cancelled / bands pulling out on a show happens more regularly in the UK in comparison with the Netherlands. I have no idea why that is though. That's all I can think of right now.


I've been doing a lot of research into bands from your scene recently. Where do you see the scene going in the future?

I think it will remain pretty much the same in the long run. We always had lots of cool bands from this area of the Netherlands. Pretty diverse bands too. At the moment it seems a bit less active though, less people coming to shows. But I think that's something that's happening in hardcore in general at the moment. For certain in all parts of the Netherlands. It's all going in waves. It always has, as far as I know. One of these days a (couple of) band(s) will stand up and will get more people excited again. Remember the Dead Stop / Justice / Restless Youth period? But yeah, I think it will just go on like it's now for some time. Bandwise we have a pretty strong scene and I don't think that will change anytime soon. Let's just hope more new kids will discover hardcore. More new blood would be welcome.

What was it like for Said and Done when you were starting out?

Exciting times! Said And Done was the follow-up to a band (with the same people) we were doing before, but the sound had changed, we changed and we wanted a fresh start. Enter Said And Done. I think within the first year or something with Said And Done we made our first trip through Europe, released a record on vinyl and played with some great bands we listened to a lot ourselves (Cro Mags for instance). So yeah that was a nice rollercoaster ride to say the least. Everything was new to us and it felt great. It totally showed how cool the hardcore scene can be. It's a small world and if you really want something, it can be achieved.

The scene seems to be a lot more DIY than say, the US scene, do you think that has helped to build the community spirit within the scene and across mainland Europe?

I've never been to the US and witnessed its scene so I can't really comment on that. I have no idea how it's over there exactly, you only know what you read on the internet etc. I can say that DIY is very important to me / us. It's the thing that, aside from the energy, attracted me to hardcore in the first place. With Said And Done I take care of the website, do the designs for our records (aside from the drawings that are done by proper artists, I can't draw myself), help the labels with promoting / releasing the stuff, we always have booked tours ourselves and never worked with tourmanagers or anything etc. etc. Being in control is important. You know how you want things to be, so why don't take care of it yourself too? You make a valid point though. While DIY is mostly about doing things yourself (uhuh), you need the help of others too. They have to let you play, offer you a place to sleep, they make that drawing for your record etc. You can't do this alone. So you're probably right and it did help to build a community. I never looked at it like that.

How have you seen your scene change as you guys have progressed?

Like I said, it goes in waves. When we started more people were into it I think. Or atleast it felt like that. That's one. Things were more about metalcore in the beginning, which was the first hardcore I got in touch with. But soon the whole oldschool explosion took over the scene. It seems that it's getting to be more about mosh / metalcore these days again. We'll see. There's plenty of stuff for everyone, whatever stuff you're into. Things got pretty diverse in time. For example, World Collapse combining stuff like Depeche Mode and the Cro Mags. Loved it. I guess that's good. No barriers. Just do whatever the fuck you want, if it feels right and you mean it, do it.

What are your plans for the coming year and beyond?

We're writing a new record. Should be out somewhere next year. No idea when yet, or who is going to release it. Early next year we're playing some shows with Supertouch in Germany. In March / April we're doing a tour in Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany. After that it's all open. We love to go places we haven't been before. So if anybody reading this wants us to come over, get in touch!

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