Vanderbuyst plus special guests Bliksem

Vanderbuyst plus special guests Bliksem

Im September werden VANDERBUYST leider ihre allerletzten Konzerte spielen, da sich die Band auflösen wird. Wir freuen uns, dass eine dieser letzten Shows am 05.09. bei stattfinden wird.

Dies ist auch der Nachholtermin für die im Januar ausgefallene Show.

Hier kommt das offizielle Statement der Band zu diesem Thema:

Dear friends,

All good things come to an end. Barry, Jochem and I will call it a day soon. We won’t pull the plug immediately, but 2015 will be the last year for Vanderbuyst.

Some of you will heave a sigh of relief and think: finally! Others will curse this announcement and might want to smash our records, tear the Vanderbuyst posters from the wall or scrape the VDB tattoos of their arms. But there is no need to be dramatic. After playing 400 shows in 21 countries, recording 4 full lengths, an EP and a 7-inch, we feel the game is over, as simple as that.

To be honest, this decision didn’t come out of the blue. About a year ago we realized that there was no future for Vanderbuyst. We learned that trying to make a career in hard rock is like Don Quixote fighting windmills – brave but foolish. Notwithstanding, when we came home from our European tour in February 2014 we decided to record our last album. The ones who have been listening carefully probably already saw the writing on the wall, when we sung ’sweet goodbye‘.

Our passion for music is the motor of the Vanderbuyst machine, our friendship the oil. And the fuel we needed we found in our unified will to work. When colleagues in the scene (often) asked us how we got to this point, we always told them the same thing: work harder, rehearse till your fingers bleed. Promote yourselves because nobody will „discover you“. Improve everything you do all the time. Invest all you have, when broke borrow or steal to support your self-deluding fantasy. In this manner, we have realized more than we dreamed of. And every time we checked off something on the list, we raised the bar again. We always gave 100% and sacrificed shamelessly. Like monomaniacs we headed for what we wanted.

Obviously, you can work your ass off all you want, you will need the luck to meet the right people at the right time and place. We have been blessed with that. An inspiring bunch they have been! The guys behind our band gave us full support and total freedom. We never had to compromise. Of course, we were always hungry for a higher level. The moment we arrived at the point that we would have to violate the integrity and the core of our band to get to a higher level, we knew we had reached our limits. The music business in general is a path of thorns, no need to dwell on this. But it involves a lot more than the romance of rock and roll.

That said, we will never complain! The fans we have were an immense motivation. We knew that without them we would be nowhere. We have always stuck to the philosophy that we are the same people as our audience. No barrier; we party together, united we create the energy our shows are known for. Some of our fans traveled for thousands of miles to attend the gigs. They have spoiled us with presents and birthday-cakes. However, the biggest gratitude we could get is when they sung our songs. Goosebumps all over when I think about it.

Needless to say, in all this touring and making records, we have neglected our families and friends. Nevertheless, they too gave us full support. When we told them we would hit the road again for a month, they would wish us Godspeed. They were always in the back of our mind. We knew one day we would make it up. That day has come.

Indeed, the day has come we take a look at ourselves in the mirror. With a heavy heart, we must admit that a healthy career in music with this band is not going to happen. The days where you could support your family with your rocky tunes are over. Undeniably, the opulent oasis in the days of yore is sucked dry and leaves us staring at a Fata Morgana. But luckily there is more than this band. Standing at the crossroads we realize that we have other ambitions besides playing in a hard rock band. Starting a family, trading the part time job for a more serious affair. Engaging in new musical liaisons. Traveling the world and finish studies, to name a few.

You might say: sure no problem. You can do all these things while keeping the band going! But the ones who know us a little better will understand that we cannot do things halfhearted. Our credo: all or nothing, still remains. What got us this far is exactly the thing that forces us to end this adventure. Vanderbuyst has been more than just a hobby on the side and we want to preserve that thought.

What will 2015 bring? We will rock as hard as we always did at the upcoming shows in the Spring and the festivals in the Summer. In September 2015 we will play our last Vanderbuyst gigs and make it something special. It would be nice to see you all on the last part of the road one more time.

Hopefully you will respect our choice. On our latest album At The Crack Of Dawn we sung about sweet goodbye. Let it be a sweet goodbye. All there is left to say is a big thank you! We hope you enjoyed the ride as much as we did.

Wish you all the luck!
Willem, also on behalf of Barry and Jochem

Special Guest:

BLIKSEM

Lightning is one of the most spectacular displays in nature. Bolt temperatures hotter
than the sun.

Shockwaves radiating out in all directions. In Dutch, this deadly natural phenomenon  is called “bliksem.”  A fitting name for an electrifying five-piece  thrash band from Antwerp, Belgium.

The storm began brewing when Jeroen De Vriese (guitar), Toon Huet (guitar), Rob  Martin (drums and backing vocals) and Jan Rammeloo (bass) began crafting their  high energy thrash 2.0. In their quest to find a singer on par with Chuck Billy  or Dave Mustaine takes an unexpected and brilliant turn with the arrival of Peggy  Meeussen. Her commanding razor-edged vocals slicing through the existing legions  of goth or guttural female-fronted bands. Line-up complete:

Bliksem starts to send shockwaves across the Belgian underground.

In 2010, the band enters Antwerp’s Little Big Studio to lay down five tracks. The result is a stunning EP of powerful  thrash metal garnished with heavy prog elements. The EP gets rave reviews in numerous magazines/e-zines such as RockHard Germany, Aardschok NL, Lords of Metal, RockHard France and RockTribune Belgium as well as alternative-oriented
press. Critics, both metal as alternative media, praise the quality thrash and some go as far to declare Bliksem the best thing to happen to the genre in years. Bliksem quickly establishes a strong live reputation playing dozens of youth centers and local metal and rock festivals around Belgium and soon moves up to bigger stages.

In 2011 Bliksem expands their horizon, playing many gigs in the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland, along  with a fiercely convincing performance at Slovenia’s Metalcamp festival.

Highlights are Holland’s Paaspop w/ Hell, Enslaved and Accept as well as Dutch chart toppers, and the renowned Eindhoven Metal Meeting (with Exodus, Heathen, Immortal and other metal greats). The momentum continues, and Bliksem is asked to support Channel Zero, Angel Witch, Vanderbuyst and Prong and requested for after shows for Mastodon and Megadeth.

In 2012, Trix Music Centre in Antwerp chooses Bliksem as the first-ever metal band to be its new “Artist in Residence,” an honor previously bestowed on highly successful Belgian bands such as Triggerfinger. Festival appearances include Waterpop in the Netherlands, a perennially popular and varied event that draws some 20,000 visitors, and Torhout’s heavy-duty Masters@Rock Festival alongside Soulfly, Clawfinger and Channel Zero. Hereafter the band enters the studio to record “Face the Evil,” the long-awaited debut album. Combining blistering tandem guitars, thrashing drums, pounding bass and furious vocals, the resulting eight songs not only explore themes including revenge, oppression and madness but
also celebrate the timeless glory of metal. The debut album has been released February 25th 2013 through the Spanish Alone Records. It got rave reviews in many important magazines.