Reviewed on Mar 24, 2007 by Roel

I must admit that after Jasper announced to leave Undeclinable, I thought they were over with. My opinion was altered a slight bit when the band announced they would go on under the name The Undeclinables and recruited singer Erik from fellow Den Bosch punk/rock outfit One In A Million. Tonight was a try out (punk bands have try outs?) for some bigger shows the band has coming up. For me it was time to reach to a verdict whether or not the Undeclinables have the right to exist after Jasper quitting the band.

Opening act of the night was the rather new band New Pokerface hailing from Breda. I’ve heard some songs on their website and was interested to see how they would sound live. It was rather hard for me to make out anything of the first half of their set, as the guitar was hardly to be heard. Although that was fixed after a few songs, the sound was still rather crappy. What was left was a rather uneven batch of songs. Their faster songs sounded alright though, where the somewhat slower songs only excelled in having terribly out of tune vocals and sounding like a song messily thrown together with bits from songs out of various genres. Still, I heard some good songs so they might have some potential.

July Knives where up next. They play punk rock resembling Hot Water Music in their most emotional form. Very much like singer Ivo’s and drummer Kees’ former band Against Time. They played a nice set with a couple of emotional punk rock songs and a somewhat more uplifting Against Time cover. Although there’s not that much to be heard that sets them aside from their peers, I enjoyed their set. Vocalist Ivo could do without most of his bantering though as it really takes the flow out of the set.

Finally; it was time for the band everybody in the venue seemingly had been waiting for. Although I expected more people to be there, no more then 100 people were inside, the atmosphere was tense. Fortunately we got what we wanted. The band kicked of with “Since ‘92” from their second album without Erik on stage and I couldn’t hear the difference with the original song. Erik appeared to be an excellent alternative to Jasper; his voice resembling Jasper’s quite a bit. The band divided their set rather equally over their three albums, looking very passionate and concentrated on stage. A batch of new songs passed by, making me very anxious to get my hands on that album that has been in the making for way too long. After their regular set, they returned for a speedy compilation of classic hardcore punk songs and their very own festive classic “African Song” (there’s an Island over the sea, where people drink liberty… you know).

The Undeclinables proved tonight that there is life for the band without Jasper on vocals. Their tight set with many excellent old songs and surprisingly many very good new songs won me over to their side again. Look out for your local venue: you are not to miss this!

Support Acts:

July Knives
New Pokerface

Related Links:

• www.dynamo-eindhoven.nl
• www.undeclinables.nl

Band Profile

Band Of The Month January 2007

Gig Reviews

Mar 17, 2007 Dynamo, Eindhoven

Interviews

Jan 31, 2007