Citizens Patrol

First I’ve heard about this band it was thanks to my longtime friend Erik, the bassist from Dutch band Cockroach. When we met last summer he gave me two Citizens Patrol Eps and said something like ‘… this is for you, it’s my new band, I play drums’. I always knew Erik is a musical and sound multi-talent so I was pretty sure it is going to be good (yeah, also because of the great covers), but honestly, I didn’t expect it to be THAT great. Citizens Patrol is seriously one of the best new hardcore bands around. To say they sound like ‘ Boston / NY oldschool hc’ could  dehonest them to some kind of retro / tribute band, which they are definitely not. So I’ll say they are fast and aggressive, very natural, simple and own. And ooh, no metal! Yes, they are what once was called hardcore! I talked to the vocalist Kenny.

Hi guys, can you please introduce yourself a bit first? I'd like to know who is who in the band, how old are you, if you play or played in any other bands and what was the last record you played before this interview.
I’m Kenny, 27 years old (fucking hell!) and I do the vocals. I used to play in My Reply (with Erik and Ronny) and I still play in another band called Brat Pack (Hardcore/Punkrock). I did and still do the vocals in those bands. Record I played before this interview? BGK – Nothing can go Wrong! Erik on drums and random repairing (the guy can fix anything!) Ronny on bass (the man with the cewl gear!) and Tommy on guitar and quotes! Im pretty shure they are all listening to the Kids right now. Well Erik used to play in Cockroach, I think you maybe know that band, Tommy used to play in a band called Stickleback (some kind of fish…. What a name). Ehm yeah, we are still learning to play our instruments along the way!

When and how did the Citizens Patrol start? And I bet the name of the band is kind of tribute to some old US band or record or ...?
Citizens Patrol started just a few months after we quit My Reply. That’s about 2 years ago I think. We asked Tommy to play guitar and well that’s the CP story ever since. In fact its not a cool 'tribute' kind of a name based on an old US band, its actually based on a crappy Police Academy movie.

Except for two Eps I've got from Erik (thanks again!) you have a demo out that I haven't heard ... tell me something about it, was it your first release? Different songs than those from records? Also, is there anything else already out by C.P.?
For CP it was, we recorded it ourselves. We did a show with Violent Minds and Vitamin X in our hometown, played 5 songs (I remember Erik being late for the show cause he had to walk the dog haha), that's all we had at the time and short after that we recorded 10 songs for the demo. 5 of those songs also made it on the Sick Routine 7inch. The demo is accually gonna get pressed on vinyl by Jan from Tsjech republic (Samuel Records). Pretty cewl huh!? Hmmz, by the time this interview is printed maybe the No Bullshit compilation 7inch (No Way Records) will be out, we just recorded a song for that record.

Do you have any idea when the record on Samuel recs will be out? Also, based on what you have just said, will it include the same songs, same recording as it is  on Sick Routine again?
I don't know when the record on Samuel Records will be out. Jan told me he was looking for another label to co-release it with. It would be really cool to have it ready before the tour in April. Fingers crossed! It took us a while to get the master done though, it needed to get re-mastered. In fact I don’t know if it was even mastered for the demo in the first place. We recorded it ourselves, Erik our drummer has a studio.
There are some songs on the demo that are also on the Sick Routine 7inch. I think in total 5 made it to the 7inch, a couple didn’t. We sometimes still play a few of these demo songs that never got on the 7inch. Its cool the demo will be released on 7inch. Those were good times going to the postal-office sending tapes to everyone. Trip back to memory lane hehe, shit its only 2 years ago!

What do you think about the ‘vinyl only’ releases? Wouldn’t you be interested in some CD release of your records & demo? There’s for sure more punks that own CD player than turntable, at least here!
Hmmz, I don't know. I like vinyl. Im not a big collector or anything, but I always like the artwork, putting the record under the needle etc etc. It also makes me listen to a record cause I actually have to sit down and listen to it. (and of course most punk 7inches are 3 minutes on each side, so you have to be alert at all times hehe) I have nothing against cd's! In Holland people are more into vinyl I think. Cd 's are losing against all the download violence, but vinyl people still buy their records.

Even if I always feel strange to compare bands to this or that, it's impossible to not hear pure american old days hardcore influence in your music. I'd say mainly those bands from Boston area, but well, fuck - I'm no expert, so I'd better leave this on you. Describe your music yourself, what are your influences and which band's comparsions from your reviews do you agree with?
I actually didn't really see a lot of reviews from our records. People compare us with Urban Waste, Antidote, Direct Control, Spermbirds and even RKL. Hmmz, I don’t really get the last comparement, but shit all those bands are fucking great! So how can I disagree hehe? I don’t want to reinvent the wheel, I just want to make the music I like: Fast and Pissed off…. Influences for me therefore are: Void, Koro, Urban Waste and others.

And it's not only your music but lyrics as well are pretty 'old school' styled - I mean all that boredom and pesimism instead of some political issues and war - in fact they go very well with your music. I'm just curious if you are really that bored and anti authority or is it more like result of inspiration in old hardcore / punk? I only have the lyrics for the first Ep, don't know if there is one with 2nd Ep? Maybe themes there are different ...
Im not anti authority just for the sake of being anti authority. I think its important that lyrics deal with stuff in stead of talking about your commitment to the scene or whatever. Its fruits like that that are gone within 2 years anyway, and its kinda hard seen as there is no big scene feeling anyway in Holland. We hang around and play a lot of shows with Gewapend Beton, Sick Mormons, Bratpack, Cracks in the Wall. Its always cool to hang out with those guys, but to write songs about it, well that’s just a bit to Madball-isch for me hehe.
In a way the lyrics are inspired by old hardcore/punk bands cause they also had stuff to say, that being political or something else. I basically write songs about whats in my head. I question a lot of stupidity: war, political decisions, people in general…and yeah, I get bored a lot!

To be honest, there is one thing I'm missing in your music - it's not dutch . Once you have such a wonderful native language (not only) for punk, why you don't use it? Songs like  Mihoen!'s 'Ruzie' e.g. wouldn't be that great if they were sung in english, I think, so why english, why not that fantasticaly sounding 'grrrracht' dutch?
Yeah Mihoen shure was great. I like dutch lyrics although I prefer English ones. The main problem is that we cant make that fantastic 'grrrracht' sound cause we are from the south hehe. But I was actually thinking of doing 1 or 2 dutch lyrics for the new record, who knows….

How did you get into cooperation with No Way records? Looks like very nice label with good bands and clear idea of what they want. Will you stay with them for your next releases?
Hmmz, I don't really know the exact story to be honest. But I do know that Ron was in contact with Brandon from No Way a long time, cause he likes his releases, they talked a lot over the internet. When we just recorded, Ronny send him two mp3's to ask him what he thought of them. He liked it so much, he said he wanted to release the 7inch. We didn’t believe him at first… But its fucking great. I hope we can do all our future releases on No Way, it's a great label, Brandon and Lauren are the best! It was so cewl to finally meet them on our tour in the States!

So, once you have ready enough songs you will ask No Way again? What if some other good label, let’s say Six weeks, offer you to release an LP in the meantime? I’m asking, because I don’t know how these contracts between diy bands and labels works … are there any agreements between you and No Way, are those labels pay studios to bands … I really don’t know!? Or are those that kind of things that are 'not to be spoken about' …?
For me personally I don't have to look for another label. No Way records is a great label, with great distribution and a good roster. You can get our 7inches basically everywhere, so that’s great! We met Brandon and Lauren in the summer when we were on tour there. They are the best! I hope we can stay with No Way, it's a great label!! There are no contracts, and that's fine by me. Its just friends helping each other out and well if it works for the both of us, then great! I don't know if this is the place to discuss how we work with Crucial Attack and No Way rec. I think punk labels in general just give you a percentage of the 7inches. Its not big business, they don't wear suits hehe.

I saw your past shows list and it's pretty huge! The truth is you have 'only' played western Europe (yeah, and the States), but since you play that many shows I assume you enjoy it very much. Are you satisfied with the shows over there, are people in western Europe still eager for punk shows? And what about us, Eastern bloc punks? Hope you already have some plan ...
Yeah, we are coming to eastern Europe in april, hope it will be very cewl, I heard some great stories from our friends from the Shining. We are definitely coming over!!!! The States was amazing, we had the best time ever and the shows were insane, people over there are way more into it than dutch hardcore kids. Its kinda hard to speak about an Western Europe audience, cause there is a lot of difference. Belgium kids still go wild, its great to play there. When we played in England last month, we got a good crowd reaction aswell. Germany depends, you can have really cool shows over there, but you can end up at some 'HC-fashion show' and those totally suck. In Holland there are only a few good places were you can play. Amsterdam is always good, they have the best scene. Appart from that its always the question if there will be a good show. Dutch kids are a bit spoiled I guess, they only get siked for the next hype overseas and are more eager to write an review the next day on some crappy messageboard then to accually go to the show and have a good time. Lately there are just to many lame shows in Holland. Bummer….

With all the respect to your great music, how the fuck is possible to do US tour for a young band that played for ... how long, 2 years?? Please tel me how did you manage all this, whose idea it was, who organized it, who payed it ... please tell me everything how all this became the truth.
Well, I think nowadays its more easy with the internet and everything. You get in touch more easy with people from other country's etc. The fact that we are on No Way Records helps aswell, they have great distribution so a lot of people have our 7inches. Brandon and Lauren booked the entire tour for us over there, we toured with Life Trap, one of my favourite bands. Shit, we were just looking at the video we made (we finally finished it) of our tour there. Man, I miss those guys, it was great fun playing and hanging around with them, bunch of brats hehe.
We are not in this for the money, we just got door deals mostly and we got payed well so that’s was a relief hehe. We paid for the plane tickets ourselves, but the tour payed itselve with the merch we sold and the money we got for the shows. We even made enough money to pay one plane ticket back. Not bad! I think you have to be a big band to accually make real money on a tour like that. I don’t approach a tour like that, I had the best time of my life, who cares if I lost some money!

And now, when all my jeolousy is released, how the US tour was? C'mmon, tell us some fantastic or horror stories (Eric said Out Cold live sucked there, which is horror enough for me ...). Who you toured with, was the fest show different than the rest of the tour shows? You were the only one nonUS band on this NoWay fest, weren't you?
Ow man, the tour was the best ever!!! The shows were wild, they really went nuts at places. Cleveland and Rochester were the coolest shows I ever played I think. Its just cewl that you come from this shitty little town in the Netherlands, make a few crappy songs and tour the US. All of a sudden you are playing football in central park in NY… For me the crowd reaction was the best when you look at the shows. Circle pits, stage dives etc etc… It really had that early 80’s vibe to it all. The night in Cleveland probably was the best, it started way to late. Brandon was the bar man for the night, shit we were drinking everything! The show was nuts!! Garbage can's flying around, fire extinguisher went off, no air… man it was great. The list just goes on and on, its an experience, we made a video, well put it online soon, that gives you an impression of the tour, its so hard to put down in words what the great thing of the tour was. One horror story definitely was Philadelpia hehe, a drug dealer got shot just 2 hours before we arrived, in front of the house we played that night. We played some freaky places alright, Washington was a big getto, so was Cleveland and Philly… A co-worker of mine was in Pittsburgh when we played there, but when she found out were the venue was her boyfriend didn’t let her go to the show: the neighbourhood is to bad! Hehe, I didn't notice….
We toured with Life Trap. What a band, if you don’t know em, check em out. Brandon and Lauren were along with us in the van, and Chris from Vile Nation was the roady of Life Trap. Brace from Warcrime also joined for a couple of days, funniest dude ever! It was a good posse!!!
The No Way fest was pretty scary. All your favourite bands on one bill, and you're on the same bill. I was crapping my pants. People seemed to like are show though and a lot of people knew us, so we did a good show. We were the only European band, there were some Canadian bands aswell. I think Born Bad are from Canada, aren't they? The No Way fest was just amazing with all those great bands. I think Out Cold didn’t suck at all, but I can imagine people were a bit worn out, they played last on the first day, after Double Negative, Wasted Time, Life Trap and Direct Control. I think people needed some air after that hehe. The fest was great, we met some cewl people, teamed up with Life Trap for the first time, it was just 2 days party. Maybe it was a bit different then the other shows we played, like it was in a real venue and there were a lot of people.

Have you met some of your 'childhood heroes' I mean punk legends? Have you been at some legendary venues, bars, shops … ?  Or you didn’t / don’t care about this?
Well no 'childhood heroes', I mean we didn’t bump into Iron Maiden hehe. Maybe Brace will be a punk legend in years to come haha. We just met a lot of nice people and we played with some great bands. Most of the bands where on the No Way rec. roster so I knew them. And some of them are my favourite bands, so there you go. No punk legends im afraid. Although it would be cool if Rick ta Life would show up at one of our shows hehe. (just joking, my roommate is a big fan by the way, serious!) We went to this bar in New York that was from this pretty famoes guy, but I forgot the name. Im not much into that anyway. Maybe the Cake shop in NY is a legendary venue, but I wouldn’t know. They have bands on everyday though, so I recon almost every band played there. I do know, and I totally agree on this that the '…Now that's class' bar in Cleveland is a fucking legendary bar!! That place is the best!!!

What do you think about old hardcore legends hosting on new band’s records, like e.g. World Burns To Death has solos by Chelsea, Vitamin X has vocals by John Brannon ... isn’t it a bit strange? Do you feel like you want to have some guy like this on your record?
I know the guys from Vitamin X and I know they are really happy that John Brannon did backing vocals on their new record. Well all I can say: good for them!! I mean if that's what you want, go for it! Personally I don’t really find the need to have a HC legend sing on one of our records. I would probably be bumbed out anyway cause he’s doing a better job then me on vocals hehe.

Hey, you are going to play with Murder Junkies in November, right? Marle Allin, the brother of GG ... wooooohooo. How did you get to play on this show? Any special feelings, expectations about this show? Or is it more like 'Pfff, Marle Allin, looser as every other  ... ' t's not everyday thing to meet GG's brother, isn't it?
Sorry, we were a bit slow (always the case) so we played this show already. It was a bizar show. Well they simply asked us for the show, I guess that’s how you get shows. In the beginning of the show it looked like the turn out wouldn’t be so big, but when the first band started the crowd was there and getting into it. It was this strange ska band from Essen, nice guys. The crowd was mostly 30/40 year olds, totally insane people. They even liked our set, while we didn’t really fit on the bill. It was cool hanging out downstairs. Drinking beers with the bands and talking to Ramses, the driver of the Murder Junkies. He told us some sick stories hehe (he’s gonna be a daddy pretty soon!) The show of the Murder Junkies was insane, lots of fights, in front of the stage, on the stage. The singer of the Murder Junkies hit some metalhead with the mic and he lost 3 teeth. After the show we were all hanging out and I guess they were a bit bumbed out off the show, being crazy and shit so they turned into a bunch of wanckers saying the backstage was only for the Murder Junkies etc etc.. We were ready to fight them, but they went to bed and that’s the end of that story…. One of the weirdest shows I saw in a long time, I would have liked to seen them with GG though, it didn’t have the magic it used to have! (I think…)

OK, nearest plans. Are you working on some new songs or any new release is planned? If you will not be touring Japan in 2009, you may come to play in Slovakia, haha. Thanks for this talk, feel free to add anything you want.
Hey Rado, thanks for the interview. Sorry for being lazy…. Well no Japan this year Im afraid, but we are going back to the states this year, do a couple of shows on the Balkan and we are doing a Eastern Europe tour in april…. Tell all your friends/co-workers/pets and enemies! We will definitely play in Slovakia! Hope to see you then. Ow yeah, we are working on a new record….but we are slow, very slow!!

www.myspace.com/citizenspatrol