Several months ago Volksweerbaarheid presented themselves to the Dutch gothic audience. It seemed to be not much more than an internetpage with humorous references to the neofolk scene. It was said though, that the guys and girl were also busy making music. Recently the band played together with Of The Wand And The Moon and Ostara in Lisse in the Netherlands and their show was by far the best of the evening. However there hadn’t been much practise (rumours say), there had been an earlier show. Recordings of both shows can be found on this debut cdemo of Volksweerbaarheid.
The members of the band seem to be rather young and probably haven’t been ‘involved’ in ‘the scene’ too long. The obvious touching upon the ‘sensitive’ subjects from the scene seems to indicate a going with the popularity of neofolk music. Who cares about that when the sound is fresh and original, well, in a way at least. The untranslatable bandname refers to ‘resistance of the people’ against the German invaders in both world wars. In the lyrics the band also refer to non-resistance symbols and ideas, so just say that they walk a middle path or either ideology is made fun off. Music-wise I can tell you that Volksweerbaarheid makes very drum-oriented music with folky songs and only here and there a little bit of keyboard. The lyrics are shouted in Dutch and are rather political, but also refers to older Dutch poetry.
The recordings of the shows are really good and the tracks are very enjoyable. The length unfortunately is only 23 minutes, while the show was (I believe) longer. The sounds of the audience are left out, which I prefer. Hopefully the band will enter a studio some time soon and record more music. Definately another Dutch band to keep your eyes on!