Old factory

The venue in Cologne was actually really nice. It was an old factory building. You see, the downside of all these huge venues is sometimes the atmosphere gets lost. It happens that the show is just a rockconcert. Nothing more, nothing less. People hand in their ticket at the door, buy a drink and something to eat, enjoy the set of their favorite band and go home satisfied.

All fine. But that’s not what dragged me into Punkrock. Sure, I went to bigger shows as well. That was my introduction. But… I was really blown away by these small DIY shows where you would be one of the crowd of eighty people. And that would be a packed show. The bands were in the crowd before the show, same goes for after the show. If there was any stage, it was much higher than thirty centimeters. There was literally no distance between the band and the crowd. In the back there were info-stands. The feeling I could add something to these shows. Being a participant, not a number in the crowd.

Same old stories…

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not dwelling on the past. And I’m not saying it was all better back in the days. Definitely not. What I am saying is that the atmosphere is completely different. I hope the crowd of tonight will be touched by a band like Rise Against and start to check their local scene with local bands. I hope that part of tonight’s crowd will be touched by the DIY magic, which means to me: you can create the movement how you wish to see it.

Oh, by the way. The show was decent indeed. The crowd wasn’t going nuts like other shows. We did have  a good time with our new found friends of Sea Shepherd.

I haven’t slept well in a while. Two days ago we did a benefit show for this tour in De Onderbroek in Nijmegen and all the tour-stuff that had to be arranged gave me enough late-night-headaches. But despite all of this wining, I’m really excited to be on this tour. I’ll be in a van meeting up with old friends, sitting next to a longtime partner in crime/ friend with a great band.

That’s all nice. Sure. However, the main reason is to distribute radical literature. Typewriter Distro started ‘cause we wanted to add something to the punk/hardcore movement. There are so many bands singing about inspiring subjects and interesting issues. This was for me the starting point to the ideals I now hold so dear. I know I’m not alone in this. I know there are so many people who have been influenced by music in their ideals. So info-stands are nothing more than logical at shows of political bands. At least for me. We’re glad that Rise Against shares that opinion, they’re more than happy to have us on this tour. We have no idea if the audience shares that opinion as well… only one way to find out, right?

We set up the table in Tilburg: three meters of books about anarchism, animal rights, direct action and more. We are right in time before the venue opens. The doors open, kids run inside. Screaming. Yelling. They pay absolutely no attention to our stand. “In front of the stage ASAP!” is only on their minds. After fifteen minutes one kid wonders along the table. “Books!? That’s for old people!” His friend laughs.

Hmmm…  maybe we’ve made a huge mistake. Maybe this is not such a good plan after all. Those first thirty minutes I was shitting my pants. Luckily Gert and Fieke show up. Luckily familiair faces! And slowly people starting to take interest. A guy asks if we can put some flyers of The Vrije Bond on the stand. But of course!

After the show of Rise Against all hell breaks loose. In a good way that is. So many kids are interested in the books. We had a lot of talks about the importance of these stands. Many people asked why we were selling books on a concert. The reactions were more than positive. We sold quite some books that evening. A good first show I have to say.

Typewriter Distro werkt nauw samen met Just Like Your Mom-toursupport en Fort van Sjakoo. Hieronder de tourdata:

TOURDATA (MAART)

13 tilburg NL

15 antwerpen BEL

16 London UK

19 Stockholm SE

20 Copenhagen DK

22 Mainz GER

23 Cologne GER

25 Berlin GER

26 Munich GER

27 Leipzig GER

Verder is vorige week een doos boeken mee op tour gegaan met From The Depths, een anarcho-hardcore band met ex-leden van onder andere Catharsis. Ik kreeg maanden geleden de mail om hen te helpen. Ik legde hen het idee voor om boeken mee te nemen op hun tour en zij waren direct enthousiast.

Dit idee moet nu meer vorm gaan krijgen. Bands die graag links radicale literatuur mee willen nemen op tour, kunnen met ons contact op nemen. Wij zorgen er voor dat de boeken klaar staan. Het belangrijkste voor ons is dat we een bijdrage blijven leveren aan DIY punkbeweging. Deze beweging heeft ons in leven gehouden en gevormd tot de mensen die we nu zijn. De boeken en informatie bij shows gaven ons jaren geleden nieuwe inzichten en inspiratie om te werken aan een andere wereld. De bereikbaarheid willen nu zelf zo toegankelijk mogelijk maken. Dit is een begin…