Both my parents never cared about music at all and my dad in particular hates going to concerts. Nonetheless they were very supportive when I wanted to learn to play the trumpet back in grade school and, even though they didn’t like the switch to becoming a (punk rock) bass player, they have always got my back. By the way: I stumbled onto some of my all time favorite punk records because of both my grandmothers ironically. Read all about it!
1. The Ramones
Didn’t see that coming did you? I got the Ramones Anthology at age 14 from my grandmother (different granny!) at a toy store called ‘Happy Land’ in Herenthout, the hometown of this other huge Ramones fan I met soon after this, who turned out to become the Priceduifkes drummer and one of my best friends. I listened to these two CDs all the time and still consider them the bible. I was also obsessed with the booklet - great job done on this best of!
2. The Nobodys
When I first borrowed a copy of ‘Short Songs for Short Attention Spans’ as a teenager I thought it was pretty good. It soon grew on me though and I became obsessed with the Nobodys. I looked up and bought their entire discography on e-bay bit by bit and I’m still proud of my little collection. ‘Generation XXX’ was the soundtrack to every drunk night and road trip for years. It was just 5 to 10 shirtless guys standing in a circle, singing along to every single word of that record. No homo. Best of times.
3. The Cocktomail Novtales
I just had to put these local heroes in my top 3 because without them I don’t think I’d been the person I am right now. I started going to the Chiro (a youth organization comparable to boy scouting) when I was 12 and the older guys there were in a band called The Cocktomail Novtales. They dressed up like women, jesters etc. at every show and played catchy, loud, organ fueled punk rock songs. I loved them and looked up to them and still consider one of their shows in particular as the best show I’ve ever been at. It was those guys handing me Dwarves, Groovie Ghoulies, Nobodys, Rancid CDs and got me way into it. They dragged my 15 year old ass to a Queers/Supersuckers show in the Lintfabriek (Belgium’s CBGBs if you want). I hung out at their band practices and that’s what made me wanna start my own band.
4. Minor Threat
I’d been into punk rock for a couple years when most of my friends somehow got into old school hardcore. I was learning to play bass and already playing as the Priceduifkes with Mambo, so my friend Berre burned me a CD with some songs that had cool bass parts in them. There were 5 Minor Threat songs on this CD-R along with some NOFX and Satanic Surfers. But I only cared about Minor Threat from then on. While I still listened to my punk rock records, I became a hardcore kid. We started a new band called Over Time and went to hardcore shows every weekend (Belgium had an awesome hardcore scene back then with bands like Justice, Dead Stop, In Arm’s Reach, Dead Reckoning, Reproach, Sunpower…). This taught me a lot about DIY, doing shit with your band and building a scene. I put on my first show when I was 16 and there were some class bands. I still think that’s quite something.
5. The Cramps
My uncle had a copy of ‘… Off The Bone’ and had left it at my grandmother's place when he moved out. I found it when I was looking for comics and got hooked to this new, weird kind of music. I remember playing ‘Love Me’ in class when I was 13 for some school assignment. The other kids didn’t dig it. Some other records I found at my granny’s place: Dead Kennedys – In God We Trust Inc. LP, Slayer – Seasons In The Abyss, Deicide – s/t.
6. Sunpower
This Belgian hardcore punk band has been going for about 15 years now and they’re the best. The main reason I put them in my top 10 is because they asked us to tour with them when we were 19 years old. On this tour (a 4 day UK trip) we met James from Squinty Joe records who put out our first 7" shortly after that, and it got us hooked on touring and taking the band to a next level. If it wasn’t for this trip we might have never gotten into the idea of touring and we wouldn’t have been a band anymore for years, so this weekend changed our lives for sure.
7. The Apers
I picked up a second hand copy of the Apers S/T CD at Fatkat record store in Antwerp. I loved it just because of the cover – 4 guys in denim and leather jackets, jeans and chuckies. It was pretty much exactly how I looked myself back then, being a huge Ramones fan and all. The record is great and later on we became really good friends with the band ourselves and did some touring with them. Kevin has been one of my main influences as a songwriter and it was a huge honor when they asked us if they could do a cover of our song ‘Break Stuff’ on their last album.
8. Chixdiggit / The Mr T Experience
Dr. Frank and KJ have the best lyrics and I always wanted my lyrics to be as clever as theirs. I think I did an OK job and I have them to thank for it.
9. The Dopamines
They’re from Cincinatti, OH, and they made some of the best punk rock albums of the past 10 years. They have a new one coming out and I’ve seldom been more excited about a record coming out.
10. The Dwarves
One of the more violent bands. The Jesuses of Cool. I love this band so much and lose my shit every time I see them live. They are especially an influence because they’re not afraid to experiment production-wise. They can put a hip hop song on a punk record and it will be the best hip hop song you’ve ever heard – and blend in perfectly. Still not boring after 30+ years.
Stream and download The Priceduifkes new album Goathorse here: https://thepriceduifkes.bandcamp.com/
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