Knåx (Ratdraaierszzz #4)

Sander Kuipers sang in the bands ‘Zmiv’ and ‘Knåx’, Harmen Boerwinkel was the guitarist of ‘Knåx’. These two mates from Diever/Meppel (Drenthe province, The Netherlands) did 8 issues of Ratdraaierszzz (1980-82) under the name Subversive productions. Michael K. made them available on his website. The name of the zine is a play on words: the meaning of the Dutch ‘raddraaier’ (with a -d-) is rabble(-rouser), riffraff…

The zine was written in their Dutch mothertongue: presentations of/ reports on Dutch bands active in that timeperiod (e.g. ‘Vopo’s’, ‘Rondos’, ‘Eton Crop’, ‘Coïtus Int.’); brief chats with foreign bands (such as ‘Exploited’, ‘Discharge’, ‘The Buttocks’), info on ‘The Mob’, scenereports (Sweden, Finland), reviews, news/ articles, cartoons, etc.

From an interview with Sander: >>My visit to Diana Ozon’s Gallery Anus in Amsterdam was a game-changer. Diana was an artist, writer, poet, spokeswoman, D.I.Y. role-model, hairdresser and publisher of Koekrant [later Nieuwe Koekrand] – the biggest independent punk magazine of the Netherlands. On top of that, the squatted gallery was heavily decorated by ‘stencil-king’ Hugo Kaagman – who turned out to be a tutor and big inspiration for Banksy. Needless to say, we were totally blown away. […] Ratdraaierszzz was a completely D.I.Y. black/white xeroxed zine which I made with a close friend. It was released between 1980 and 1983 and was available in all the independent bookshops in the Netherlands. Each issue was different: music-reviews, comic-strips, band-interviews, artivism [sic], poetry, collage-works. Anyone could contribute. Low budget. The magazine was sold for fl. 1,- [0,50 Euro]. […] We used a typewriter, rub-down lettering, graffiti-stencils to create the originals. Source-materials consisted of newspaper-headlines, pictures, ads,… We collected and used the most provocative or humorous parts. Adding handwritten or typewriter-texts. […] Mixed media ‘avant-la-lettre’. The stencil-machine at a local youth centre was the way to duplicate it because photocopying was too expensive in these days.<<

Nowadays he’s a graphic artist; check out his work @ http://www.artepovera.nl

Brob

My collage-work for Ratdraaierszzz got me to artschool, which I didn’t finish. After my initial artistic adventures, I stayed in the underground music scene in The Netherlands for nearly 40 years. Got a job as a teacher at a school for children with learning-disabilities and special needs. On top of that I was co-founder and graphic designer of several skate-, surf- & snowboard-brands before Lyme Disease put a hold on things. After quite some years in decline, Artepovera – an independent multimedia platform – was born: an aftermath and transformation of a lifelong span cutting and pasting, mixing media and designing dystopian or surreal dreamscapes.

My latest band (‘Le Roi Mort [Et Les Lentilles Rouges]‘) got this punkrock “laissez faire” attitude [polka/folk-punk power-chansons], with the feel and speed of HC/punk but with a totally other vibe. But after years of being an angry young man I found it very comforting nót to be this cool angry punkrock veteran anymore!

With the rise of neo-liberalism, far-right populism, the ‘yellow vests‘ and angry farmers, I felt the uncrontrolable urge to take a stand and participated in several animal-rights / climate / antifa groups. Somehow my cover got exposed and I was visited at home by intimidating extremists of the Farmers Defence Force. It made me realise to be more cautious. This is not the eighties anymore. Shit got worse. Nowadays I’m an artist living on the countryside, trying hard to let go of the anger which feeded me for so many years. Time to support a new generation to take the stand…

Sander

covers of #6 & 8

At the time of this interview (1981) ‘Knåx‘ were Sander Kuipers (vocals), Harmen Boerwinkel (guitar), Milo van Noortwijk (guitar), Patrick van Os (bass) & Johnny van Schilt (drums). 1983-ish, they contributed a bunch of songs to the Holland Hardcore tape that ‘Lärm’s Jos Houtveen did (Er Is Hoop tapes).

[Translation below]

‘Knåx’ (pronounced: “knox”) is the second and recently founded punk band in Meppel. There are still some difficulties with the equipment and learning to play the different instruments, but they’ll get used to it. Dressed in their enormous red-laced boots, they make Meppel unsafe.

Coincidentally, the name ‘Knåx’ has something to do with Fort Knox, in America where the US gold-reserves are stored so… [K’Nex were also a brand of toy building-blocks]

Line-up: Milo (14) – guitar, Harmen (15) – guitar, Patrick (15) – bass; Jonnie (15) – drums; Sander (15) – vocal chords.

How was ‘Knåx’ founded?

Milo: Well, I was walking around with the idea (Does this record?) of starting a band/playing in a band and then I mentioned it to Sander, and he wanted to shout and Patrick could play bass. Sander said that he might know someone who wanted to play drums and that was Jonnie, and finally Harmen wanted to play guitar.

What brand of toothpaste do you use?

Jonnie: Macleans (or similar) because Everclean leaves such a nasty residue on your teeth.

Patrick: Prodent or something.

Milo: Macleans and Elmex.

Harmen: I think adhesive paste or something.

Sander: Usually Prodent (ultra-active) but sometimes what my mother buys, so the cheapest.

Name a few songs and what are they about?

Sander: Let me grab my piece of paper because I don’t know them by heart (rummage, rustle, search). Okay: The American Dream is about how that famous dream is actually very scary because things are now very critical, with that asshole Reagan: higher defense-spending for a strong army and all that. Smash The NATO is about the fact that the “liberation” on May 5^th [Annual celebration of the liberation of the German occupation in The Netherlands in 1945.] is actually bullshit, and that the American/NATO troops have occupied The Netherlands out of fear that “those terrible Russians” would attack, so that the US would lose a large part of its power and that the current power-structure would change. Kortjakje [Dutch traditional children’s song] is about a girl who’s always ill in the middle of the week, but not on Sundays because then she hás to go to church. An apparently innocent school-song but actually indoctrination, about going to church and so. Who’ll Die Next? is about the fact that it seems as if a pop-musician has to die first to become truly famous and revered, e.g. John Lennon, ‘Sid Vicious’, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis Presley, etc. And that the commercial industry is simply waiting for it to happen: another person dying so they can produce T-shirts, badges, books, records. Yeah, the lyrics have a rather anarchist and communist slant.

What do you think of the current scene?

Harmen: Sometimes quite questionable.

Milo: You can play punk in so many different ways…

Sander: But punk is much more than just music/clothes. It’s just political thought that is expressed in, for example, a magazine, band, graffiti, posters, riots, etc. But unfortunately those ideas are missing from most punx. Most of them just want to smoke weed (just like hippies), spend the whole evening in the pub, dye their hair and listen to a ‘UK Subs’ record and pogo.

Patrick: Quite a lot of weekend-punks, who find it interesting to look ‘punk’.

Harmen: Just like my little brother, long hair…

Jonnie: But it’s about the thought, not the appearance.

Harmen: Aha! When I still had long hair, I wasn’t accepted by the punx at all. I was outright discriminated against.

Patrick: Yes, when I visit the ‘Vopos’ or something like that, they all look at me and see that I’m just wearing jeans, and “that boy isn’t wearing tank-boots or anything, no leather jacket”…

Sander: You just have to wear clothes that you like and don’t worry about anyone, not even other punx. And if you buy disco-pants because you like them, you should just do it.

Jonnie: Indeed. But nowadays everything get stolen by the disco-industry.

Which bands do you like?

Jonnie: Well, I don’t actually have any idols but there are bands that I think are cool. Like the ‘UK Subs’, but I’m not going to buy every record from them; and that idolization of ‘Crass’ needs to stop too.

Patrick: For me it’s about the songs, not about the band; they have to be a bit fast.

Milo: ‘The Ex’, ‘UK Subs’, ‘Rejects’ (sometimes – because I find their lyrics quite stupid and bullshit).

Harmen: All Dutch punk-bands; ‘The Ex’ & ‘Rondos’. ‘Nitwitz’ and what you encounter here and there. Utreg punx, of course… Eh, ‘Crass’, although I don’t really agree with the lyrics.

Sander: I like all punk-bands with good lyrics and very fast/rough music… Swedish punk such as ‘Incest Brothers’, ‘KSMB’ [Kurt-Sunes Med Berit] and ‘Dead Kennedys’, ‘Discharge’, ‘UK Subs’, although I think their fuckin’ solos are quite sounding like hard rock. ‘Damned’, ‘Nitwitz’, ‘Zmiv’, ‘Vopos’ and ‘The Ex’ (sometimes).

Are you discriminated against because you are a punk band?

Jonnie: Oh yes, parkas, farmers, conductors, etc.

Patrick: Yes, sometimes, but I don’t look that punk either.

Milo: By those Uffelters [inhabitants of the village Uffelte], teachers, etc.

Harmen: Actually all of these but also by dirty disco-freaks and some fascist fifty-year-olds, qurrelsome people.

Sander: All those primitive guys here in Diever. Shop-assistants, 27mc-ers [Citizens’ Band radio-users], hardrockers, etc. Because they don’t accept anything that is different here, you know, you have to walk in line and if you don’t, they will get you. Oh yes: also by the führer of the student-accommodations: we weren’t allowed to play a tape of ours there, because “that get us in trouble”.

Milo: Where’s the toilet?

Down the stairs, the first door on the right, oh well, you’ll smell it…