Firmly rooted in the traditions of American youth crew and hardcore punk, the Dutch quartet URGENT KILL shared their debut single “What We Need” last month. Showcasing little difficulty at paying tribute to classic bands like Chain of Strength and Mouthpiece, the band also infuses modern elements found in React! Records bands like Mindset and CHANGE. Now all 3 songs are available digitally. “KILL YOUR HABITS” will be released on cassette tape next month!
Toni (vocals) comments: Three quarter of our band already knew eachother from previous bands (Off My Chest, Up Yours) and we just felt the urgency to start this new band. A first attempt in 2018 failed but late 2021 we got together again and new songs came up quickly. Then the search for a bassplayer started and by february 2022 we got lucky with our new kid on the Block.
To celebrate this high octane new release from URGENT KILL, we have teamed up with Matti: drums, K-ci: guitar, Hans: bass, and Toni: vocals, for a special commentary about their work, their local punk scene, and more!
The Backgrounds
We come from various backgrounds, Matti is assistant doctor in philosophy at university of Bochum, K-ci is social worker, Hans teaches social studies and Toni is an self-employed barber. The thing that bonds us is youth crew hardcore. We all grew up with the classics; Minor Threat, Gorilla Biscuits, Youth of Today, but also newer bands like The First Step, Carry On or Mindset resonates in our minds.
With that said we headed into the rehearsal room on a regular base and decided to record our favorite 3 tracks on April 30th. Living legend Menno Bakker recorded and mixed our songs; he did bands like True Colors, Hoods Up, Mainstrike, Reaching Forward. Charles Chaussinand (Test of Time, Spirits, Bystander) was so kind to do the mastering.
URGENT KILL band name
When choosing our bandname we were all charmed by the idea to put our listeners on the wrong foot. Urgent Kill is not your typical youth crew band name. The thought behind it is that a billion of things in our world need an urgent change. Urgent Kill the superlative of that. Most of us know how to drive a car but still many make a mess of our roads…. or put differently…. We all know it’s in our best interest to eat and drink healthy, to excercise and just to be nice to eachother… and look at where we are…. “Kill Your Habits” is therefore the title of our release. You can decide yourself wheter your habits are good or bad… I guess you get the point.
Lyrics
With all the trouble in the world it’s easy to get carried away in negativity… I try to address certain issues that worry me but keep a positive outlook at the same time. Life is all about balance so I find it pleasing to write uplifting lyrics to balance the heaviness of the music. Our drummer read my lyrics and said “man! You wrote a bunch of “hare krishna” songs”… which sums up pretty much everything.
“Urgent Kill”
RIGHT NOW is the time to reach out
Now is the time to make some connection
Now is the time to push forward
Now is the time to build tomorrow
Learn to trust Step ahead
Take this as your starting point
Cause your habits just need a URGENT KILL
Recalibrate, reflect and change
WE’RE TODAY’S CREW
And all our bullshit just needs a URGENT KILL
“Regaining Strength”
REGAINING STRENGTH
OOOOWWWWWW
Regaining strength and return …to our inner self
Letting… positive vibes Take the lead
Take that chance to change 2x
CHAAAAAAAANNNGGGEEE
Make a difference it’s never too late 2x
Make a di …ffer…ence
REGAINING STRENGTH
“What We Need”
WHAT WE NEED
Free us from your darkness Your obscurity and clouded views
Free us from your wars Your inhumane behaviour and powertrip bullshit
What I need | What you need | What we need
In our whole damn life we meet
Lots of pain and distortion
Now here’s a call to the powers
The powers that may be
What I need | What you need | What we need
Let’s try to reset 3x
Follow our true potential
Flow into our ability to listen
Can you listen 2x
WHAT WE NEED
Straight Edge
On the topic youth crew and straight edge… two of us are sxe… and two of us not… personally I have always felt a strong relation with the straight edge. From a young age on I did not feel comfortable with booze or drugs. I first discovered the edge in the early 00s through Good Clean Fun. For the past 16 years I’ve been running Positive and Focused Records and since 2016 Danny is my label-partner. He is straight edge too but both of us are not preaching sxe in a religious way. Most of my friends are not sxe. It’s a personal choice; it simply doesn’t appeal to me to lose control over myself. I had been drinking an occasional glass of wine but stopped completely in 2014. I think I can understand Ian McKay when he says it never was his intention to start a movement. Some people tend to use it and pretend they are better than others. The message always appealed to me and it was an eye-opener for me to discover it. I will gladly talk about it when people ask me…
European youth crew scene
The (european) youth crew scene is pretty much fragmented and you must be willing to do quite a bit of travelling to go to a show. But when I see a festival like BREAK DOWN THE WALLS in Paris I feel the spirit is still alive!
Another good indication of the liveliness of the scene is the enthusiastic reactions I get everytime a new edition of the Youth Crew compilation series is announced. Since 2008 it featured 67 different bands and vinyl copies are mostly selling out already in pre-order. This very Youth Crew compilation series is the backbone of my label. For this years’ edition we are working together with 8 bands and 4 labels which is amazing and demonstrates there is still a vital scene with great people. Youth Crew 22 will be a blast!
Bands: Enact, Urgent Kill, Vaxxx, One Step At A Time, Last Gasp, Stations, Burning Strong, Alive Inside
The Future
For now our main goal is to up our game; write more songs and work on a live-set. It’s a real honour our tracks are being released on so many formats and by so many people from all over the globe.
URGENT KILL‘s KILL YOUR HABITS tape comes out this July via Set The Fire Records (Asia), State of Mind Reordings (USA), Positive and Focused Records (Europe). The band will be also featured on the upcoming December release of Youth Crew 2022 compilation 7” from Positive and Focused Records and Patient Zero Records, Youth Authority Records, and Seven Oaks Records. Also, a special compilation JAMA and Friends LP is expected for sometime in 2023.
