Lorenzo Sober – organisor of the Dutch Edge Fest 2011
Ask any ‘sceneveteran’ and he will probably confirm that the edge has gone very dull in The Netherlands in the past years. There’s not much left of the youth crew wave of the nineties with bands like Mainstrike, Reaching Forward and Guiding Line and other great bands like Abusive Action, A Step Apart and Eye Of Judgement have thrown in the towel as well. Still there’s hope for Dutch Straight Edge. A new generation of kids is taking over by doing new bands and putting up shows. Lorenzo Sober is one of them and I thought it was time we gave voice to a new generation of Dutch Straight Edge.
So Lorenzo, after organising the not so well received Edge Fest in The Netherlands last year, you still decided to do another one. Why did you want to continue?
My motivation for continuing Edge Fest is that there are (almost) no straight edge shows for the new straight edge kids and the old veterans. A place that we could call our own but at the same time share it with others. I see this as a last resort for the Dutch straight edge scene and it gives me the will to continue no matter how bad the year before was. I am not doing this for the money, I’m doing this for the kids. If I have to put money on the table because not many tickets were sold, so be it. But let’s hope this year will be better! By the way I’m not only organising it alone. xLionsRoarx (Tom Ijzer) is organising it with me.
More people are getting curious about straight edge
It seems the edge has gone dull in The Netherlands, at least from my perspective or do you think there is or willl be a new generation of Dutch edge kids soon?
I agree and disagree with you, at this moment it seems pretty dull to me too, but more and more people are getting curious about straight edge and some are even claiming the straight edge. I do not know where it will end, but I definitely see it growing at the moment. I will always support that, but I always tell them straight edge is a lifelong commitment, not a trend, so think before you claim!
So how did you found out about straight edge and why did you claim edge?
I found out about straight edge 6 years ago. I never did any alcohol or drugs before. Everyone at school was smoking, drinking, doing drugs etc. Talking how cool it was that he/she passed out at the weekend. And I thought that was just nuts and crazy talk. I set them as an example on how not to live my life for the rest of my life. At that time I did not have a clue what straight edge was nor did I know that it existed. I just did some research on straight edge on the internet, because this guy in school was doing a presentation about it. When I read what straight edge meant I instantly felt connected to it. It felt like my safe haven, belonging somewhere where people think the same as I do. Thats when I decided to claim straight edge and at that time I was 13 years old.
Basically it’s everything I could wish for.
What do you think straight edge brings to your life you otherwise wouldn’t have?
Straight edge brings energy to my life, friendship (on a international level), it makes me think clearer and it brings me music with a strong message in line with my ideals. Basically it’s everything I could wish for.
Which bands are you totally siked about playing this years edge fest?
The bands I am really looking forward to are xCurraheex (UK). If you don’t know them, check them out. They are great, really cool dudes too! And ofcourse Wolf x Down from Germany and my new friends from BGDU57 and xBeastx from France, awesome guys, check them out too! Dead Mans Chest from the UK too. The thing I’m looking forward to the most though are the hang outs with all my friends from different countries.
You’re also in a band yourself can you tell a bit more about that?
Yes it’s called xACCUSEDx, it’s with my best friends. We had the plan for years, at that time Birds of a Feather were still playing, but we never found a drummer. So we just wrote some stuff and jammed together, sometimes with other bands that never took off. Our mission was to have a straight edge band someday. Because there were not any straight edge bands in the Netherlands besides Birds of a Feather that we knew off. What is hardcore without straight edge? So that’s our motivation for doing this. One day our bass player got a phonecall from a guy from Spijkenissen, asking if we still needed a drummer. We had our doubts at first because we were 18 years old and he was 30 years old. We didnt know if it would work. It went awesome though, we became the greatest friends and started practising every week. And now here we are, our demo is going to be released soon. Completely DIY and we’re ready to play.
