European Straight Edge already grown up

The Past and the Present of a Drugfree Culture

Interview with JP from Birds of a Feather

It's the 30th anniversary of straight edge this year.
Happy Birthday! Whether you're straight or not, whether you like it or not, this culture has left it's mark on youth culture in many different countries. Beside many books on this topic there is one book that deals with the european straight edge movement called "The Past The Present, a history of 25 years of European straight edge, 1982-2007". Björn had a talk with JP, one of the editors of the book and member of the dutch SXE band Birds of Feather. The members used to play in bands such as Mainstrike, Betray and ManliftingBanner and many more and have been involved in doing the Value Of Strength fanzine. Go checkt it:
jv



UtopiaNowZine: Hey JP, first and foremost, how are you and how are the other BOAF-dudes?


Birds of a Feather: Hello Björn! I'm doing great. Just got back home from a 10 days snowboard trip to Austria. Didn't break any bones or got injured and am now the first day back in the office working on your interview while getting paid for it. Life is good!

The other BOAF dudes are also doing fine. I just hung up the phone on Marc who was stalking me again about Echoes band practise later on today. Obviously he has some days off from work as he kept on talking to me with no end in sight. But on the other hand that is how he rolls :) Yesterday I talked to Bigma who is very busy working in a health food store over here in Amsterdam. Other than that, he seems to enjoy his life ever since he went with hardcore pension just to spent more time with his family and daughter who will turn 1 in a couple of weeks. Our drummer Paul is working way too much lately. He's starting up his own reiki and tai-chi business. Things seem to work out really well for him, which is always good of course. Jeff, our other guitar player spents too much time in the Feyenoord Rotterdam soccer stadium. His club isn't do any good this season so maybe he should spend more time on writing new songs for Echoes instead of wasting time on soccer. Now on a serious note, Jeff, has two kids, just like Marc by the way, who take up most of his time other than that Jeff is a huge collector of Revelation Records vinyl and building up a REV empire to make sure his kids will have a secure future once the system falls down and the apocalypse sets in...


UtopiaNowZine: A frequently asked question, but still interesting, is about the band’s name: BIRDS OF A FEATHER. Why have you chosen this name? Was there anything special you wanted to express with it?


Birds of a Feather: We named the band after a great song called Birds Of A Feather by one of my favorite eighties new wave bands called Killing Joke. Just kidding, we didn't name the band after the Killing Joke song, although it's a great band. We took the name from a Side By Side song. And if I'm not wrong, Bigma came up with the name during one of the many Mainstrike trips when he was joking around with Johnny (who played bass for Mainstrike) that whenever they were about to start up a new band after Mainstrike it would be called Birds Of A Feather. We're the living proof of that…


UtopiaNowZine: Your 7” OUR AIM was published by crucial response records. Commitment Records  published your 7” CHAPTER 5. Which memories do you have of these great releases? Could you tell us something about the songs on them, the artworks and the cooperation with both record labels?


Birds of a Feather: At the time that the Our Aim 7" was recorded for the Voice Of A Generation fanzine, we weren't a real band. The idea of the Our Aim 7" for Crucial Response was born during the US tour of Mainstrike. During the time of recordings BOAF was just Pepijn, Jonas and Bigma of Mainstrike. They headed into the studio to lay down the 7" tracks. At that time Bigma knew about my ideas to start up a band which consists of 30+ edge kids and basically 2 ideas got weld together. At the time the Our Aim 7" saw light of day we were a band and started playing out. Later on we headed into the studio to record a couple more songs that ended up on the Our Aim MCD that came out on Crucial Response as well and represented us a real band. The artwork on the Our Aim 7" is work from Burt that he made in the late 80's. Any of the artwork that we used for the Our Aim record was turned down by both Profound and Colt Turkey for their lay outs. Bigma remembered about these drawings representing the Dutch Wolfpack and thought it was a good idea to use it for BOAF. I think it was a brilliant idea!

The Chapter 5 7" came out on Commitment records and was recorded during the same studio session as the The Past The Present cd/lp one. We recorded the 7" songs with Menno at Bunt Studios, basically as an appetizer for the upcoming full length. During that time we were the 5 piece band with the most solid line up during our existence and that we played most shows with. Recording Chapter 5 (and The Past The Present) was a long ride, but we had the best of times. Bigma came up with the idea of the 7" lay out. When he was on holidays in Spain or France he made a picture on the beach were waves stroke against rocks. The 7" name Chapter 5 stands for the fifth chapter/ generation that we witness since our involvement within the hardcore scene. We've seen many people come and go during these years and since we're still around it fits the cover picture on the 7" really well. We're solid as a rock and unbeatable. well, at least that's what we were thinking at that time.
(...)



UtopiaNowZine: Your first and only LP THE PAST THE PRESENT was published by Refuse Records. This LP included a brilliant book about EUROPEAN STRAIGHT EDGE. How did you come up with this great idea and how did Marc and you feel about your on this book?

Birds of a Feather: The book is called “The Past The Present, a history of 25 years of European straight edge, 1982-2007”. Somehow, during one of our Birds Of A Feather van-rides to a not very well attended show in the middle of nowhere somewhere in Europe we discussed how funny or coincidental it was that we all ended up in this band together. Jeff from Crivits and X-men, Bigma from ManLiftingBanner and Mainstrike, Marc from BTD and Betray, our new kid on the block Paul and myself.

Basically we could have been in bands or projects together, but it had never happened before. So since we all go back a long time and how we came from different parts of a now long-gone scene, with a lot of local flavor I suddenly realized firstly the coincidence of it all, and how we all know each other, and secondly, whilst talking about the old days, how big the influence of the Dutch straight edge was (and maybe still is) on straight edge as a whole. Going from Lärm to ManLiftingBanner to Mainstrike, having Crivits influencing different groups of people through the different path they chose, you end up by Reaching Forward, Eye of Judgement and eventually Birds Of A Feather.

Remember the old days!

At the same time I knew that I had become “old” and that the scene that I knew from the 80-ies and early 90-ies had developed into something completely different. Not better or worse, just different. Seeing that in its context I decided that it was such a shame that the basic story of some friends doing stupid stuff, being in bands, running squats and fanzines, being goofy and so on was slowly disappearing from our shared memories, despite the fact that we are all straight edge and should be able to remember the old days! 

Besides that I was really annoyed with some books about punk and hardcore. For instance some books are glorifying the old days and retelling the same stories over and over again. And their geography, basically being the USA and the UK.

So I took the old punk-question (“Why?”) and answered it (“Do It Yourself!”).


When we slowly started this project in 2007 it was really hard for me to limit the scope of the content. I mean, first of all, it is not very interesting to tell just the facts, but instead it is interesting to tell a story. With all respect – because I like those books – Burning Britain or The Day The Country Died contain a lot of information, but I find it not a very pleasant read. And the same goes for books like Please Kill Me – very interesting but tedious after while. It is tempting to just chronologically put all the facts in a particular order and that is that. But that only makes a catalogue or encyclopedia, and that is exactly what makes a lot of books on hardcore so boring. I wanted to tell a story, combined with a development of European Straight Edge, and all the essential facts.

(...) I think it is a really nice document for anyone interested in hardcore or straight edge.

UtopiaNowZine: As you told me, you like the vegan restaurant ZEST here in Leipzig very much. What about veganism and vegetarism? Have you chosen to live one of those ethics and why?

Birds of a Feather: Let me first start talking about Zest. I got introduced to Zest a good number of years ago when I was hanging out in Leipzig with some friends out of the area. Have been back there a couple of times ever since. The food they serve there is amazing, plain simple. Whenever I'm in the area I feel the need to stop by there to enjoy the good food these kind people serve. Actually, when Birds Of A Feather was on tour with Eye Of Judgement and we were on our way to play a show in Dresden we detoured our trip just to eat there. It was worth it. As about veganism/vegetarianism; I've been a vegetarian since a very young age as I ended up in a slaughterhouse because of my uncle who was at that time into that business. Pretty much right after my visit at the slaughterhouse I wanted to go vegetarian, but my parents wouldn't let me. A couple of years later they failed to resist my arguments to go vegetarian and they let me do my thing. Shortly after that I turned vegan, which I still am today. I've lost count on how many years I'm a vegan now. It must have been at least over 20 years by now. Not that it matters, but still…


UtopiaNowZine: Thank you very much! Any last words or comments?


Birds of a feather: What can I say? Thanks for showing interests Björn. Check out my new endeavor at:

echoes

Hope to play a stage near you any time soon!

Read the full interview in the next printed issue of UtopiaNow Fanzine. Coming this September!