Volksweerbaarheid

Yesterday Volksweerbaarheid played in Rotterdam together with Of The Wand And The Moon. So many new songs and only a new 7″… This little piece of vinyl is the result of a small festival together with Dead Man’s Hill and Allerseelen which was organised by Carpe Noctem Records from Belgium. It took a while before this 7″ saw the light of day, so that is why. On stage there were two new (?) female faces, a lady on the drums and one with a violin. Nothing of that on this 7″ yet, but undoubtely they will feature on future releases.
But to come to “Of Bullets, Drinks and Wreckage”. Volksweerbaarheid continue their unique musical course with musical jokes (this time some flamengo), Dutch 50’ies-like lyrics, odd artwork, etc. Fortunately we have a band here not giving a damn about what is hip and trendy (even when the violin resulted with one a little too much neofolk song on stage). So how to describe their music should any of you never heard (of) the band? Ehm, drums, acoustic guitars, sometimes a bass-guitar, here and there a sample and most earcatching are the lyrics/vocals. I suppose you just have to visit the website and listen to the mp3-snippets to get a better idea. To those who do know the band I can say that this 7″ is in the line starting with the cdemo (fairly ‘agressive’ drum-based music with neofolk) to the 10″ (more tranquil and experimental with here and there the drums) going towards a more experimental and tranquil sound with not too many drums. I like the 2nd and 3rd track a lot, time will tell if I only had to get used to the 1st one. In any case I am glad that there are still bands just doing their own thing and the fact that they are from my own country makes that even better. Now we can only hope that some good label wants to release a cd that is available for a larger audience too.

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!