[Part two of a two-part look at the evolution of the punk scene in Amsterdam. Read the first part here.]
Included in the 1987 album Too Many Cowboys by pioneering punk band The Ex was a newspaper insert that gave record buyers an overview of “fundamentally independent” collectives and autonomous locations in Amsterdam—an inspiring look at the city’s spirited do-it-yourself punk scene. To re-read that same insert in the new reissue of Too Many Cowboys is to realize that the locations it celebrates are now relics of a long-gone era, far before gentrification and a game of real estate Monopoly asserted control over the streets of the Dutch capital.
Guitarist Terrie Hessels remembers those vibrant times, the squats bursting with creativity that led him to co-found The Ex in 1979. “Punk was an underground exploration to find out what you could do on your own terms,” he says. “That was inseparable from squats. Everyone could start a band—or even a music venue—by simply setting up a stage. I constructed a whole lot of toilets [for those venues] back in the day—that’s how far the DIY spirit went! When we had to move, we simply found another spot. People kept going and going.”
Even some of today’s prime Amsterdam music venues—among them, Paradiso and Melkweg—have their roots in squats. In October of 1967, the venue now occupied by Paradiso was a squat for Provos—a youth counterculture movement whose name was short for “provocative.” Under pressure from the Provos, the municipality decided to buy the property and christen it the Cosmic Relaxation Center, a free-for-all home for creative talent and hippie love-ins. A decade later, Paradiso would become home to ground-breaking punk concerts by The Stranglers, Sex Pistols, and The Ramones, among others.
Gilian “Profundo P.” views the squats from the late ‘70s and ‘80s as an essential breeding ground for creativity. “After the squatting ban was introduced by the Amsterdam municipality in 2010 there were fewer places for young bands to play their first show, rehearse, and do other creative stuff,” he says. “Renting a rehearsal space is ridiculously expensive here. You need accessibility if you want young people to be able to do something creative. And if it’s not there, then there’s nothing left to do but take matters into your own hands.”
Vinyl LP
Profundo P.’s label Wap Shoo Wap Records also plays a vital part in Amsterdam’s punk resurgence. Founded in 2016 as a booking agency and monthly party for punk, garage, and rock ‘n’ roll, they changed direction when Covid-19 hit, and founded a record label, giving a home to emerging new bands like The Covids and FuckFuckFuck. “In the years before Covid, the punk and rock scene was getting smaller, and the average age of bands and audiences had grown older,” he says. “Now, the bands are younger, the audience is more diverse, and there are way more people at shows than before. The dirty seeds are starting to blossom again with squatting, punk bands, and young creative people doing stuff for the fun of it and not for the money—and it’s about time!”
Below are seven bands that are part of a new wave of punk in Amsterdam.
The Covids
Vinyl LP
The liner notes of The Covids’s debut album Bust to Bits state that they are “trying to have fun in a day and age that can sometimes feel apocalyptic.” That energy was there from the get-go when the four musicians met each other at Pacific Parc, a bar that once was ground zero for punk and rock ‘n’ roll nights before its new owners wiped out all traces of punk and stocked the menu with fancy cocktails. Luckily, the “OG” crew of Pacific Parc is still carrying the torch with Pacific Ondergronds, a series of club nights and punk shows held at a variety of different locations.
Hang Youth
Hardcore punk band Hang Youth first appeared on the scene in 2015, dropping four (!) albums within a month’s time via Bandcamp. Their explosive short “songs” barely cross the one-minute mark. The track titles, always in all caps, read like a punk poetry book. Selected highlights, translated from Dutch: “YOU DON’T HATE MONDAY, YOU HATE CAPITALISM;” “WOMEN ALSO DESERVE A CHANCE TO BECOME CORRUPT LEADERS;” and “OUR KING LOOKS LIKE A HOMELESS BUM.”
Ploegendienst
It can be easily argued that hip-hop is the new punk rock, and rapper Ray Fuego embodies the spirit of both. He’s a founding member of renowned Amsterdam-based hip-hop collective SMIB as well as the lead singer of punk band Ploegendienst. The band, who self-describe as “100% anti-everything,” deliver a high-energy mix of hardcore punk, trash, and Oi! Ploegendienst was formed in 2018 by seasoned musicians from Dutch bands like Aux Raus, Adolf Butler, and Malle Pietje and the Bimbos. “Schiphol” is a song expressing disdain for the average Amsterdammer’s biggest frustration: tourists. As the chorus goes: “Everyone gets a one-way ticket to Schiphol [Airport].”
L.A. Sagne
L.A. Sagne serves up a healthy helping of no-mercy garage punk. During the recording of their self-titled debut for Gips Records, the band had one rule: They had just three takes to record a song together. If it didn’t work, they moved on to the next song. As a result, the EP was finished in two days. The powerful vocals of Tara Wilts are the perfect vehicle for their raw lyrics. Take “Human Nature,” a song written from the perspective of someone who didn’t grow up eating meat: “Tell me the skin of that Sunday chicken/ Doesn’t feel like the asses you’re licking!”
FuckFuckFuck
FuckFuckFuck’s blend of garage punk and rock ‘n’ roll could have been lifted from old ‘90s skate VHS tapes. The music video for “Bad Habits” offers a sneak preview at what the band do best: deliver high-energy live shows. Their catalog so far is small, consisting of just two songs, yet both of them are gigantic. They serve as a welcoming teaser for their forthcoming debut.
Burlers
Cassette
Four-piece hardcore punk band Burlers takes on topics like civil disobedience, teenage angst, and primal feelings. Their self-titled debut cassette was released in 2022 on the record label Geertruida, which hails from Amsterdam’s neighboring city of Haarlem. With their doors always open either as a record shop, a venue, or simply a place for touring musicians to crash, Geertruida mirrors the open, welcoming attitude of squats in the ‘80s.
Savage Beat
7" Vinyl
Wap Shoo Wap Records co-founder Profundo P. plays the guitar in Savage Beat, and the band’s latest single, “Tomorrow (Might Never Come),” dovetails with the ethos of the label. “Even the most fun of ‘fun-punk’ bands can’t escape the fact the world is not at its most stable right now, geopolitically speaking,” Profundo says. “Many punk bands will deal with that fact directly in their lyrics and make a statement, but that can quickly turn into doom and gloom. Punk has different sides, and having fun on your own terms is one of them. That’s what we’re all about as a label.”
Honorable Mention
The Ex
The Ex have been going strong for 40-plus years now, evolving from their anarcho-punk roots to incorporate a wide sonic palette that includes post-punk, jazz, free improvisation, and even a series of collaborations with Ethiopian saxophone legend Getatchew Mekurya. As guitarist Terrie Hessels recalls, “There wasn’t any plan. We didn’t think about whether or not something was ‘punk.’ To us, it was all logical: experimental, improvised records, and parallel to that, high-energy, heavy punk records. Take the album Dignity of Labor—that record featured jazz saxophonist Rinus Groeneveld. That wasn’t very ‘punk’ in 1983. But for us, it felt completely normal and organic.”
