Hitch
I remember back in the day when I used to book shows at this shitty club, I put on Hitch a few times. I personally hated them back then and they equally hated me. That was some quality hating ! I used to let them open for bands and at the end of the night, give them their 1000 belgian francs (now 25 euros, $ 20) and send them on their way to their hometown of Aalbeke, Belgium. Good riddance ? Not really. I loved their music. The fact that I was an asshole back then, didn't make me realize that these people were actually the coolest guys in existence. Anyway. They were on this (at the time) big 'hardcore' label, Goodlife recordings, and hated it. They toured with their first album, got screwed over so bad by all those righteous punkrockers and decided they had enough. From then on, everything is a bit of a blur. I don't remember when or where I met them to talk about the future of their band or anything else for that matter. We must have been at some bar, drinking like mindless idiots. Must have gone that way. Anyway, they recorded another album, their first full length. And I released it. Delboy records ! Ha ! I didn't have a clue what I was doing. I founded a label and I didn't even realize it. I remember this one. I was on tour with this stupid punkrock band I was playing drums for. We were in France, a day off on our way to the beach in very sunny Bordeaux. Everyone happy, except me. Nervewrecked. Why ? "Out of the light, into the fire" was being released that very same day. I didn't even know what it looked like. Something must have gone wrong. It always goes that way with new releases. There were vegetables and fruit on the cover. Bright blue and yellow colours. The works. "It's some kind of a concept. Don't really know what, but... yeah...oh yeah ! " ! I think I went insane. Just for 5 minutes. The album got tons of super good press and sold out ! Hitch toured ever since. We made tons of friends along the way. Played about every hole in Europe. Ate some great food, drank some superb alcohol. And I was there alongside them, all the way. They are my best friends, so that gives me the right to go out on tour with them and eat and drink as much as possible without anyone ever complaining. Their new album Monolith is gonna be out soon in the US as well, on Divot records out of Chicago (thanks Fred and Mike) and Hitch is going over there to tour and possibly record a new album. We're gonna suffer ! But hey... rock'n'roll ! There's a few split releases coming out soon as wel. Plans for another European tour besides the States one this year as well. But there was this thing I was thinking about before I started to write this dribble. We actually never ate asparagus on tour, ever. Isn't that strange ?! I'm dead serious. We never even had the slightest sign of asparagus on tour ever ! Coffee that tasted like mud in Slovenia. Yep, had that. The bartender was this very beautiful girl. But her coffee... man... When I asked for something else, I got a coke and it tasted the same. Everything tasted like mud over there. Except that very dangerous plumb liquor. Must be the water. Must be. Muddy Waters wasn't from Slovenia, was he ?! xav, delboy records. 2002. Who did we play with ?! Go on tour with ?! Too many ? Listen, buster, there's never enough good bands !!! Give it up for our friends ! Oxbow, American Heritage, Haymarket Riot, Tight Bro's From Way Back When, Bluetip, Metroschifter, Unwound (rip), Sweep the Leg Johnny (rip), Karate, Tristeza, Millionnaire, Lunar, At the Drive-In (rip), Him, Aina, No More Lies, Endstand, Sunshine, Don Caballero, Quetzal, Pleasure Forever, The Fucking Champs, Oxes... bla bla bla...