2012 according to SWNK
We might have slowed down a bit at the end of the year (hey, we deserve some vacation too!), but in the new year we’ll be back, full force. No worries. But first we got to thank you all for the support. Whether it’s spreading the word about the site, submitting news / shows etc, paying for the server costs by purchasing a banner, or simply reading the stuff we put online: Thanks! It’s really appreciated. For the new year I can tell you we’re working on V4 of the website, which will mainly be focused on re-doing the looks of the site and making it properly responsive (which means it will be optimized for mobile / tablet / desktop etc.). We hope you’re sticking with us. Oh and if you like to be a bit more active: We’re always looking for people to help us out, so if you’re interested, get in touch!
First we gotta end this year though. You know what time it is. Yearlist time. Here we go. These are the yearlists of the people that did manage to turn in their lists on time 😉
xroldx
I don’t know what I would do without Arold. While he might have been busy near the end of the year, he’s a content creating machine.
Releases top 10 (in no particular order)
1. Mindset – Leave No Doubt
2. Title Fight – Floral Green
3. Bob Mould – Silver Age
4. Midnight Souls – Going Through The Motions
5. Hot Water Music – Exister
6. Neurosis – Honor Found In Decay
7. The Gaslight Anthem – Handwritten
8. Japandroids – Celebration Rock
9. Rise And Fall – Faith
10. Converge – All We Love We Leave Behind
Best shows
Midnight Souls release show, Japandroids at Incubate, Title Fight in Antwerp, Rise And Fall release show, Refused at 013, Frank Turner in Hasselt, Good Riddance at Groezrock and in Amsterdam, Face Tomorrow in Den Bosch.
Best demotape
The Pact
Best song
All We Love We Leave Behind – Converge
Best zines/books
# Hardcore as far as zines go. And books? Damn I’ve read an awful lot of great stuff as every other year.
The good…
+ SWNK keeping up
+ My kids growing up to become great people
+ Roadtrips with Reflections
+ A lot of great music came out in 2012
The bad…
– Good and promising new bands like Accept The Change breaking up.
– Chain Of Strength cashing in.
– No American Nightmare show in Europe yet.
– 2013 for me probably becoming the most heavy and difficult year so far.
Nab
I’m pretty amazed that between moving around the world all the time, working on Just Say Yo! and actually having a life Nab now and then finds the time to send in stuff for SWNK.
LP
Bob Mould – Silver Age LP
Boston Strangler – Primitive
Cat Power – Sun
Cheap Girls – Giant Orange
Merchandise – Children Of Desire 12”
Mermonte – Self-Titled 12″
Sport – Colors
Title Fight- Floral Green
Unveil – A Flame With Nothing to Feed On
EP
Big Eyes – Back From The Moon 7″
California X – Sucker b/w Mummy 7″
Growing Stronger – Toxic Fumes
No Guts No Glory – Self-Titled 10″
Self Defense Family- Iceland 7″
Twitching Tongues – Preacher Man 7″
Youth Avoiders – Time Flies 7″
Demo
Chestnut Road – Demo Tape
Sweet Jesus – Demo Tape
Test of Time – Inclusion Demo
World War 4 – Demo Tape
shows
Des Ark @ Toulouse (FR)
Sparkmarker @ Vancouver (CAN)
Daïtro + Sed Non Satiata + Aghast @ Toulouse (FR)
Self Defense Family @ Fluff Fest (CZ)
Truth Inside + Currahee @ Toulouse (FR)
No Trigger @ Toulouse
Best song
Just Killing Time
We were getting quite a bit of requests for metalcore (and related stuff) and since most of us weren’t that into it (and we wanted to protect some of them from Doghead tearing them to pieces), we asked Rik to help us out. Best choice ever. Dude loves that stuff and knows how to write.
Albums
1. Wasted Bullet – Arrogance. Ignorance.
2. Teenage Bottlerocket – Freak Out!
3. Wisdom In Chains – The Missing Links
4. Murderburgers – How To Ruin Your Life
6. Apologies, I Have None – London
7. Make Do And Mend – Everything You Ever Loved
6. Lies! – Nineties
8. Obey The Brave – Young Blood
9. All For Nothing – To Live And Die For
10. The Charm The Fury – The Social Meltdown
Best shows
Off With Their Heads @ Groezrock
Jonah Matranga @ Groezrock
Incendiary @ De Heksenketel, Roosendaal
More Than A Thousand @ Club de B, Torhout
Wasted Bullet @ Breda Barst
Best demo
Tempers Fray – Demo 2012
Best song
Make Do And Mend – St. Anne
(with honorable mention for Little Talks by Of Monsters And Men. I was singing that song to myself for months.)
The Good
– Finally started writing again (after years of planning to do so), for SWNK of course.
– My awesome daughter turning 5 and getting more awesome every day (did I mention she’s AWESOME?)
– Solidifying a cool friendship
– Put up some cool shows in Roosendaal in Breda
– Bought my first car
The Bad
– Love stinks…
– Two cases of cancer in my immediate family (both recovering well, fortunately)
– Car didn’t pass the road safety test, so I probably already have to get rid of it (old banger, fixing it will cost triple what it’s worth)
– Turning 35
Prospects for 2013
Some of my favorite bands (Adept, More Than A Thousand, Off With Their Heads, Murderburgers, A Day To Remember, Incendiary) have new records coming up, so 2013 can either be awesome or a disastrous, hahaha.
maurice
Like Arold, Maurice is a content machine as well. Usually the stranger the band name, the more Maurice will love it hehe.
Album top 15
1. A Place to Bury Strangers – Worship
2. Sigur Ros – Valtari
3. The Contortionist – Intrinsic
4. Ihsahn – Eremita
5. Jk Flesh – Posthuman
6. Lento – Anxiety Despair Languish
7. Royal Thunder – CVA
8. Horseback – Half Blood
9. Maserati – Maserati VII
10. Radar Men From the Moon – Echo Forever
11. Les Discrets – Ariettes Oubliees…
12. Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Allelujah
13. Old Man Gloom – No
14. Nachtmystium – Silencing Machine
15. Om – Advaitic Songs
Best shows
1. Bongripper @ Roadburn, 013, Tilburg 2x
2. Royal Thunder/Valient Thorr @ Rhythm Room, Phoenix, USA
3. Agalloch @ Rhythm Room, Phoenix, USA
4. Yob @ The Rogue Bar, Scottsdale, USA
5. Huntress @ Rocky Point Canteen, Tempe, USA
6. Boris @ Beatpol, Dresden, GER
7. Katatonia/Alcest/Junius @ Werk2, Leipzig, GER
8. Opeth/Anathema @ Werk2, Leipzig, Ger
9. Scott Kelly @ Connewitz, Leipzig, Ger
10. Roberte Henke/aTelecine/Lustmord – Biosphere @Unsound Festival, Poland, Krakow
Best 7 inch/EP
Kowloon Walled City / Thou – Split
Best demotape
Nihill – Woestenij
Best song
Horseback – Hallucigenia I: Hermetic Gifts / Hallucigenia II: Spiritual Junk / Hallucigenia III: The Emerald Tablet
Best movie/DVD
Watain – Opus Diaboli
Best zines/books
Decibel Magazine for sure
The good…
+ The trips I made to Lithuania, Latvia, France, Germany, USA
+ Working abroad in Arizona and Dresden
+ Meeting new people around the globe
+ New band, Throw me in the Crater
+ Love
The bad…
– Gained some weight because of living abroad, a good moment to go to the gym next year to lose those kilos
– Records I didn’t hear yet or not that much because I worked abroad, so no Amen Ra, Neurosis, Converge in the list
– Not everyone around you that can enjoy life as they deserve it
Union With The Absolute
Henry’s the latest addition to the team. You might know him for his promotion for Take It Back Records or European hardcore in general. Always loved his enthusiasm and I’m glad to have em aboard.
Releases top 15 (in no particular order)
Animal Instinct – Unfinished Business LP
Become demo tape
Shipwrecked – The Last Pagans LP
Nantes Resilience – s/t 7″
Withers – s/t 7″
Upright – Losing Touch 7″
City Dweller – I Will Become Unique EP
Down And Outs – Forgotten Streets LP
Empowerment – Gegen.Kult LP
Inherit – The Crushing Wheels of Samsara 7″
Gypsy – Giant’s Despair LP
Title Fight – Floral Green LP
Bad Brains – Into The Future LP
Sweet Jesus demo tape
Invierno – El Tiempo Lo Probará LP
Best shows
Can’t remember I went to any show this year because I live far far away. But I saw a Foreseen show on YouTube and I thought “sick band, I would like to see them.” 🙂
Best 7 inch/EP
Nantes Resilience – s/t (I love their sound because I love early 90ies hardcore like Gut Instinct, Kickback etc)
City Dweller – I Will Become Unique (This EP is from another planet)
Best demo tape
Become
Best song
Become – Melatonin (This song has everything!!!)
Best movie
I really liked Cold Blood, The Grey and Moonrise Kingdom. And The Hobbit is cool too. I like to see movies in the cinema with my girlfriend on Wednesday.
Best game
I don’t play video games. Maybe L.O.V.E.
Best zines/books
All of those printed hardcore fanzines because I love to read them and to look at the images!
The good…
+ Take It Back Records because Christian is the best!!!
+ working with Christian and Take It Back Records
+ Argentina/Buenos Aires
+ Mirko Foreseen and his love for hardcore/thrash/punk/Oi
+ Become and Joe
+ this new band called Reality Returns
+ Life And Death Records
+ running
+ Hardcore
+ Work, I love to work!
+ 2013 is coming & the new Foreseen LP (second half of the next year), new Cold World LP, Vigilante 12″, new Said And Done LP, Reality Returns EP, new Become stuff, new Goldust LP, the Withers 12″, Avalanche stuff and new El Camino Car Crash stuff
The bad…
I always forget the bad things…but I know there are a lot of bad things.
XemonerdX
Edwin joined us this year. If it sounds anything close to 90’s hardcore, it will be right up his alley.
Records
Strife – Witness A Rebirth LP
Converge – All We Love We Leave Behind LP
Atlas – …And It Never Ends 7″
Enabler – All Hail The Void LP
Atlas Shrugged – Smile Songs 7″
Abolition – Language Of Violence 7″
Rise & Fall – Faith LP
Inherit – The Crushing Wheels Of Samsara 7″
Natural Order – s/t 7″
Unveil – A Flame With Nothing To Feed On LP
Shows
Iron Age @ Rise & Fall ‘Faith’ release show, Kortrijk, Belgium
Songs
Strife – Show No Mercy
Inherit – Potential Within
Enabler – Speechless
Converge – All We Love We Leave Behind
Jean-Paul
I absolutely LOVED JP’s daily contribution of the Rev 25 showcases this year. That was great stuff. And it made me mighty jealous.
Top 10 releases
Bad Brains – Into The Future 12″
I Hate Our Freedom – This year’s best disaster 12″
Gaslight Anthem – Handwritten 12″
Torche – Harmonicraft 12″
Manliftingbanner – The revolution continues 12″
No Tolerance – No tolerance, no remorse + demo 12″
Iron To Gold – The power of one 7″
Beware – Won’t get the best of me 7″
Inherit – Crushing wheel of samsara 7″
Fields Of The Nephilim – Ceromonies CD
Best shows
- The Revelation records 25 years anniversary show case in NYC
– Fields Of The Nephilim at the Incubate festival
– Outspoken, No Tolerance, Give & Get It Done show at the Innocent
Best song
Ever since The Gaslight Anthem album “Handwritten” saw light of day, I have caught myself listening to this album, or often just to the title track, a couple of times a week. So I guess I’m very much into that song.
Best movie/DVD
Easy one. Went to the official and exclusive Bones Brigade screening during the “Vans Show down down town” in Amsterdam.
Best zines/books
- Rumpshaker #6
– Law & Order #4
Joost78
Joost also joined us this year, some people might know him from his contributions to Asice, or from Striving Higher & Downslide. He hasn’t contributed that much yet, but let’s see what 2013 will bring!
Albums
1. The Beach Boys – That’s Why God Made the Radio
2. The Kik – Springlevend
3. NOFX – Self-Entitled
4. Tony Sly & Joey Cape – Acoustic Volume Two
5. Green Day – Uno!
6. Yellowcard – Southern Air
7. Pennywise – All or Nothing
8. Off! – Off!
9. The Priceduifkes – Can’t Lose
10. Fourteen Twentysix – In Halflight Our Soul Glows
Songs
1. The Beach Boys – From There to Back Again
2. The Beach Boys – Pacific Coast Highway
3. The Beach Boys – Summer’s Gone
4. The Beach Boys – That’s Why God Made the Radio
5. The Kyteman Orchestra – The Mushroom Cloud
Shows
1. The Beach Boys @ Lokerse Feesten
2. Gorilla Biscuits @ Groezrock
3. Pearl Jam @ Ziggo Dome
4. Glen Hansard @ Paradiso
5. Lagwagon @ Groezrock
The good
+ My girlfriend, she made this my best year ever.
+ Did a whole lot of fun things this year: three amazing weeks of back packing through Thailand and Laos, a couple of short holidays, a few city trips, went to some really cool concerts and lots of soccer matches…
+ My niece Silke. Easily the cutest kid ever.
+ The new Beach Boys album and their 50th anniversary reunion tour. It was so much better than I thought or even hoped it would be.
The bad
– Getting laid off for financial reasons for the second time in two years.
– The financial downside of being unemployed.
– Two of my musical heroes, Adam Yauch and Tony Sly, dying way too young.
Pim
That’s me. Still trying to keep it all together and pushing this thing forward.
Releases(in no particular order)
Deftones – Koi No Yokan
Tenement Kids – s/t LP
White Lung – Sorry LP
Gypsy – Giant’s Despair LP
Screaming Trees – Uncle Anesthesia LP (Reissue, I know. Don’t care)
Blacklisted – So, You Are A Magician? 7″
Youth Avoiders – Time Flies 7″
Bad Brains – Into The Future LP
Title Fight – Floral Green LP
Make Do And Mend – Everything You Ever Loved LP
Twitching Tongues – Preacher Man EP
Best shows
Haven’t been to many shows but Make Do And Mend & Title Fight in Amsterdam was great. Both the show and the roadtrip.
Best 7 inch/EP
Youth Avoiders – Time Flies 7″
Best demotape
Don’t think I have heard any really good demos this year? Nothing that blew me away that is.
Best song
Title Fight – Head In The Ceiling Fan
Best movie/DVD
The Dark Knight Rises. Bane’s voice gives me the creeps and the whole Dark Knight trilogy has been amazing.
Best game
Dishonored. Original stuff. I’ve spend quite some time on Assassins Creed III too. Black Ops II was alright, but nothing amazing and Fifa 13 was way too buggy to deserve a mention.
Best zines/books
The shitload of Batman comics I’ve read this year. The Walking Dead comics deserve a mention too. Zine wise: # Hardcore. And I loved “Entertain Us: The Rise Of Nirvana”, great book about the early years of Nirvana.
The good… (The Caped Crusader)
+ 03 Webdesign – My own company is doing great. Rocking my own office space, having an intern. Almost like a real company.
+ Recording our own record with S&D and the current line-up.
+ Lost a lot of weight (40 kilos / 88 pound).
+ Keeping up the promise of publishing content on SWNK every single day (ok, aside from the last days of the year that is). All thanks to the great team of people contributing. Thanks guys & girl!
+ The health of the people around me.
+ My sister got married!
+ Ajax doing great. Never expected them to become champions last year, and they probably will repeat that this year, but it’s good to see what’s happening over there.
The bad… (Killer Moth)
– Taking forever to finish that record. But we’ve learned a lot by doing this.
– Losing the remaining unneeded kilos is quite hard.
– People are still idiots.
