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Reiziger

Do you like to travel? Here's the deal: Kindamuzik takes you on a trip into the large musical landscape of Belgium, only to find Reiziger as one of the most active travellers themselves. Stunned by their musical capacities on one side and lack of fame on the other, we decided to pack our bags for some serious travelling.

Tekst: Bas Ickenroth

Publicatiedatum: 08 mei 2001

Well, Geert, introduce Reiziger to the big ignorant world!
"Actually, Reiziger started when Kosjer D split up, some five years ago. Kristien (the bass player) and I were in Kosjer D and, after doing nothing for six months, we were hungry for the stage again. So we formed Reiziger, for fun in the beginning, but things started to get more serious very soon. In the following months, we already had enough material to start recording (which resulted in the EP 'Don't Bind My Hands'). Because of the success of Kosjer D we already had some connections outside of Belgium, to do some gigs there. A European tour followed, which was actually quite a challenge, because what we did with Reiziger was much more quiet than Kosjer D. Kosjer D was heavily influenced by the DC hardcore scene, things like Fugazi. Those influences can also be found in Reiziger, but that slowly evolved into a more quiet and sophisticated style we play on our new record 'My Favourite Everything'. It took us five years to get our own, original sound; in the beginning they compared us a lot with bands like Karate and the Vanpelt. In the meantime, this is our sixth record, if you include the singles and EPs. Now we get a lot more attention and airplay than before, maybe because we're on a new label, Sticksister (a division of Stickman). We are very glad we made this step to another label, but we wanted to make sure we had the same security and independence as on our former label, Genet Records. In comparison with them, Sticksister has a lot more things to offer and bigger distribution, and they are also more professional, but they still have that independent, do-it-yourself attitude."

You've been touring for a couple of weeks now. How is it going so far?
"Very interesting, I would say. This is our fourth or fifth tour, and every time you can look back on the last time, and we saw that there were many more people attending our gigs in France and Germany, and that, of course, gives us a good feeling. We also went to places we hadn't gone before, like Switzerland, where it was very difficult to make a lasting impression. But we still played a good show there, and they invited us to play at a big noise festival this Summer over there. So it's a good tour, and it's good to see that Reiziger gets a bigger role in the music world."

Tonight will be the first time I see you on stage, what can I expect?
" Our strongest points are, in my opinion, to create tension and atmosphere, and to play very energetically and dynamically. We try to make the audience the fifth band member, and sometimes we succeed very well in doing so. If we found that connection with the audience, it surely gives a damn great feeling! I think that the above is our strongest point, although it could go differently this evening in Zaal Belgie: The audience is much older than usual, and the atmosphere is more arty, you know. Actually, that could be rather good when I think about it. The arty atmosphere is fascinating too, for instance, for quite some time we have this idea of making a soundtrack for some kind of movie or something. We think that can be a good follow up to the things we do now. We already often work with creating those tension-driven atmospheres, so making a soundtrack for some sort of documentary sounds very fascinating to us."

You've just released 'My Favourite Everything'. What are the reactions so far?
"We receive rather good reviews in the Belgian and German press, and of course that is very flattering. We got four out of five stars in 'De Morgen' (THE newspaper covering the music culture in Belgium.), and that is absolutely great. I expected a little more airplay on the Belgian radio. Not that it is absolutely necessary, but from the leading alternative radio station in your own country, one could expect a little more acknowledgment. But hey, the record just came out, it's still very fresh, and who knows there will be some kind of buzz around it after all. You just want for everyone to hear your music, it's that simple. But as a whole, this record has given us the greatest response in all these years, absolutely."

You've played with acts as Karate and Blonde Redhead. Are you influenced by that kind of American underground music?
"Yes, absolutely, that's undeniable. If you dig deeper in our past, you inevitably end up in the 80s: Sonic Youth, Pixies, Wire, Joy Division. But maybe those acts are not the first bands that come to mind when listening to us. Other big influences are Slint, the whole DC hardcore scene, and everything that is released on the Dischord label, like Fugazi. The attitude from Dischord we definitely share, just like the do-it-yourself and hardcore feeling. Although we don't sound hardcore at all. Furthermore every individual band member has his and her own favourites, so it's a blend of many things. There isn't one band specifically, and we're glad we've let go a bit of our favourites."

Sometimes you are labelled as a, emocore band. What do you think of that?
"I understand that journalists have to have some kind of a reference to give to the people. But we always get the same reaction: We're being labelled as emocore, but the same journalists also say "but you aren't really emocore." We may have some similarities with emocore, but it isn't more than that."

What I'm trying to say is, nowadays there is some sort of hype happening with emocore, with At The Drive-In and the rediscovery of Fugazi and such. Do you get the feeling this could help you along too?
"Not necessarily, not if we can help it. Often they ask us to label ourselves, and most of the time we say we make some sort of postcore. We originated from the hardcore, and now we evolved into a post-hardcore band. The music still often gets emotional and tense, and those things are very important to us - maybe even our strongest points - but I don't feel comfortable with the emocore label. With that I think of something completely different."

How the hell did you get on the Sticksister label? Quite a famous label, with names like Motorpsycho and Fireside.
"Actually, we didn't give it that much thought when we received the email with the message "We want to sign you!" They asked us before to come on their label. Last year we were looking for another label, and when we saw Motorpsycho at the Pukkelpop festival giving a frightingly good performance, we thought of Stickman and their independent way of working, so we decided to send them our new demo. And it was right in the bullseye!"

Did your music have to be approved by Motorpsycho themselves as well?
"They indeed have what they call the Motorpsycho-police: Everything they sign first has to get the 'approval' stamp by Motorpsycho themselves. They gave us the choice of signing to Stickman or Sticksister, and we wanted to try Stickman. So, the music was sent to Trondheim in Norway, and every member has to give his individual fiat for making it an actual Stickman release. Their reactions were mostly positive, but according to their drummer our sound didn't really fit in the more psychedelic direction Stickman is heading. So, the thing they do after this: Bands that are good but don't fit on Stickman are signed for Sticksister. We like this approach, we don't mind at all being on a so-called sublabel. The distribution and promotional back-up is the very same as for Stickman, and we think it's a great honour to be on this label."

Is your way working in the studio much different from your live performances?
"Of course! Yes, actually, there is a big difference. The studio approach tends to get rather technical, and the stage of course is a more physical way of working. But, in comparison with other bands, Reiziger still works very naturally: We record as much as possible without overdubs, without much tech-stuff, and we record our songs playing live in the studio. Well, actually, there isn't that much difference between the two things (laughs)! But we are a real live band, we rather play live than in the studio. And the things we put on record, we want to recreate them on the stage as much as possible."

Are you booked for the bigger Summer festivals yet?
"Yes, a couple, but I'm not allowed to say any names. There's the big noise festival in Switzerland, which was the result of that show we did for an audience of 20 people. In the past we played the Pukkelpop festival twice. I can't say if we'll play there a third time, but I'll keep you informed (laughs)."

Looking forward to it! Last question: How the hell did you get that band name?
"You don't know that, as a Dutchie?"

Well, no...
"We're named after Michael Reiziger, your soccer player! So, Reiziger is not used in the way of travelling ("reizen" means to travel in Dutch - Ed.), but after that soccer player. Not that we are that soccer-minded, but he is something else alright, in between the Patrick Kluiverts and Edgar Davids of your team. We don't know how he is as a person in daily life, but he looks much more timid and modest, some sort of grey mouse inside your orange team (laughs)! Those others like Kluivert seem to be much more arrogant than Michael Reiziger with his "why me?" expression on his face. According to us, he is the complete opposite pole of the things that are happening before him in the team. And I think that Reiziger the band also is like that in the musical landscape from Belgium. We are also quite modest in between dEUS and the music scene in Antwerp. But still, we work hard, and just like Michael Reiziger we've already played in Barcelona (laughs)!"

http://www.kindamuzik.net/interview/reiziger/reiziger/401/
Meer Reiziger op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/reiziger