De Heideroosjes - Smile...You're D

  by Alex Halls

published: 13 / 1 / 2002

Label: Select Label
Format: N/A

intro

Formed in 1989, Dutch Punk band ‘De Heideroosjes’ (HR) provide a challenge to both political and social ideals. Quite frankly they’re not wrong in doing so. ‘Smile... You’re Dying!’ is a compilation o

Formed in 1989, Dutch Punk band ‘De Heideroosjes’ (HR) provide a challenge to both political and social ideals. Quite frankly they’re not wrong in doing so. ‘Smile... You’re Dying!’ is a compilation of their previous four albums, 'Noisy Fairytales', 'Choice For A Lost Generation', 'Fifi and Kung Fu', and was released as HR’s introduction to the famous punk label Epitaph. Marco Roelofs fronts the band, backed by the talented Fred Houben on bass, Igor Hobus on drums and Frank Kleuskens on lead guitar. Having sat here and researched a little on the band, I am in awe, as I find the album the most powerful creation of music ever, formidable in every sense. To me they truly are the greatest band in the world; it’s time that I admit this....enjoy! ‘Break the Public Peace’ shows off HR’s hardcore punk side with its strong guitaring and powerful vocals. This track fights the common perception that we must conform to society, “We won’t cut our hair to get a job, we won’t act macho to become a cop. We won’t suck your dick to be in your scene, we won’t wear a suit if that’s what you call clean.” It’s not as if they encourage people to act against society, but plainly and simply show that what is right for the majority may not be for the minority. ‘I Can't Change The World’ follows the same pattern both musically and stance wise as the song before it. HR seem to address all sorts of issues, many politically motivated but others that challenge the world we live in. It is this song that has had the greatest effect on me; proving that even though we can’t change the world with what we say, we might as well try to provide a message to the global community. The most hard-hitting of all the songs on the album is ‘Fistfuckparty at 701’. The song deals with paedophilia, an issue that has in the last few years become of particular prominence in both Belgium and The Netherlands. The track provides an important message to everyone-to be continuously wary, “Don’t trust the one you thought you could trust, just be aware!’ The track starts off with a gentle but telling guitar sound, a possible warning within itself. ‘Western Civilization’ has a dig at Western culture, calling for a change. “You call it civilization, I call it rapacity, don’t you call us decent, ‘cause that’s not what I see.’ The vocals follow the first two tracks on the album, forceful and moderately hardcore in their sound, and this is where HR succeed best ‘Würst + Käse’ is the first non-English song on the album (it is in German) and is a good taste of the talent that lead singer Marco holds. The song is reasonably lightweight by the band’s standards. I would attempt to analyze the lyrics with my knowledge of German but all I can say is that the song compares the Dutch and Germans and I believe comes to the same conclusion-that the two are very similar. ‘I’m Not Deaf, I'm Just Ignoring You’ perhaps sums up a punk’s attitude to life. The track returns to the hardcore sound enjoyed at the beginning of the record and grows on me the more I listen to it. It wasn’t a favourite of mine to begin with, but now I have realised why it mpacts so much, and so I have bought the T-shirt! ‘Winterwonderland’, along with ‘Hippie Sing Along’ is not really much good. They are both amusing songs in their own right but really don’t deserve to be on this incredible album - once heard, once enjoyed, they should then be disposed of. Last song ‘United Scum’ is about some people's dislike of punks . “People say we’re scumbags but we don't care”. Exactly, we don't care!! De Heideroosjes have challenged convention and have, in my view, succeeded in doing so . Their apparent arrogance towards the so-called enemy (society) is plain to see, making for a series of superb sounding and meaningful songs. The CD also has a video of ‘Break The Public Peace’ on it,. What more can you ask for? After all this, HR can only continue to be a success, and have indeed already been so with the releases of 'Schizo' (1999), 'Fast Forward' (2001) and more noticeably the single 'Ik Wil Niks' (2001) which entered both the Belgian and Dutch charts.

Track Listing:-

Picture Gallery:-