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VVR008 : Amenra / Hitch split 7" - OUT NOW on Vlas Vegas! Exclusive tracks by both bands. Artwork by Kluzehellion. Limited to 666 copies and only available through Vlas Vegas records. Orders : contact Stevie : vlasvegas at hotmail.com (mention full name + address + item)




Hi there,

We're HITCH and though many didn't notice until recently, we've been around for about thirtheen (13!) years now. Hell yeah, back in the days, when the skateboarding era around Kortrijk (aka K-Town) had given away the last of it's surprises and impregnated us with the vibe of it's soundtrack (black flag, minor treath, dinosaur jr, sonic youth, etc.), three of us decided to form a band. Not long after we formed the band we started recording 'Triggered Backwards' ( MCD/7 on MACHINATION / GOODLIFE RECORDINGS) and went on tour with that EP. To date, all of us prefer to never hear it again :), but it just goes to show that the zest and spirit were there from the beginning, even if our fingers were still busy putting up the virgin struggle with our fret boards. Somewhere towards the end of the nineties we teamed up with Xavier Benoit and : DELBOY RECORDS. He put out our first full length " Out of the light, into the fire..." and a subsequent s/t 7 inch. By this time, we'd been all over Europe about 8 times on full tours and twice that many times on smaller tours.

We got to play very cool gigs and drank the odd beer with bands like AT THE DRIVE-IN (US), THE FUCKING CHAMPS (US), JR EWING (SWE), OXES (US), PLEASURE FOREVER (US), TEN GRAND (US), THE FIRE THEFT (US), COLISEUM(US), THE THERMALS (US), TRISTEZA (us), GRADE (us), MORNING AGAIN (us), C.C. DUSTERS (US), DON CABALLERO (US), METROSCHIFTER (US), 31 KNOTS (US), MILEMARKER (US), MILLIONAIRE (B), KARATE (US), TOKYO SEX DESTRUCTION (ESP), ENDSTAND (FIN), OXBOW (US), THE LOW FREQUENCY IN STEREO (SWE), MONO (JAP), BLUETIP (US), CAVE IN (US), ENGINE DOWN (US), MONOCHROME (GER), ASH (IRL), RYE COALITION (US), TRANS AM (US), THE PAPER CHASE (US), CALL ME LIGHTNING (US), TORNAVALANCHE (US), PART CHIMP (UK), CURSIVE (US), GIRLS AGAINST BOYS (US), MUDHONEY (US),... and a whole bunch of other sweet bands.
Some of them became great pals In 2001, Carl - our original bass player - agreed to a job in China and left the band. Paul - a guy we knew from THEE PLAGUE OF GENTLEMEN and NAHENDE VERNICHTUNG took up the vacant spot. Only two months in the band, we dragged him with us to Zaghreb , Croatia , for the recording of our second full length ' Monolith '. This album was released by DELBOY RECORDS for Europe and by our good friends in Haymarket Riot (who run the Chicago based DIVOT RECORDS) for the US . That's how we also got to tour in the States for the first time (in 2002). American label : WhatElse?Records also released a limited Hitch/Haymarket Riot split 7" while we were on the road. In Europe, we did a round trip with the blistering TIGHT BROS. FROM WAY BACK WHEN (USA, with Jarred W. on vocals who is now in Melvins!) to support the same album and later on we did Spain with TOKYO SEX DESTRUCTION and NO MORE LIES. After that tour we made our own studio; we nicknamed it the 'MOLOKO BAR' and it served its purpose well. With the help of our sound tech Hein we recorded 'Trails are Ablaze! ' there, our third full length album. Three years ago, we had to leave that place because of an egotistic neighbour. After the ' Monolith ' record, we decided to part ways with DELBOY RECORDS and got in touch with another bunch of musical fanatics called : KINKY STAR RECORDS. They first put out a cool 7 inch (on red wax) with songs we recorded in Chicago at Ghetto Love Studios with Dale Meiners (Wesley Willis, rainer Maria, etc) and were pleased enough with the result to release 'Trails are Ablaze!' as well. Two singles were taken off the albuml and did very well on national radios, topping the ARRIBA!- chartlist on Studio Brussels for weeks. The video for High heels' was in high rotation on JIM, TMF and Dutch MTV. Ever since Trails..' been out, we've had a busy year with shows focussing mainly on Belgium (...playing Dour Festival for the fifth time (!), Pukkelpop (huh...Main Stage), Botanique, touring with our friends in PART CHIMP (UK, on Mogwai's Rock Action Records) , HAYMARKET RIOT (US) ...) In march '05 we toured the US again and played the highly acclaimed : South by Southwest 2005 Festival in Austin, Texas and The Canadian Music Week in Toronto , CANADA . In between these festivals we played about 17 clubshows (with bands/friends like The Paper Chase, Haymarket Riot and Call Me Lightning).

HITCH is the instigator of the now already legendary FARMFEST(s), that have been going on for about nine years now. Later on Vlas Vegas joined them as co-organisers.

In january 06 we recorded our fourth full length album called 'WE ARE ELECTRIC!" (LP/CD) in Zagreb, Croatia with Bojan K (LUNAR) at the KOZMO STUDIOS. Mastering was done by our friend Vince Tetaert (Amen Ra, Rise & Fall) @ Electric City in Brussels. Labels involved are VLAS VEGAS RECORDS (a label that Mich helps running) and Slovenian label MOONLEE Records (Lunar, Analena, Senata Fox, etc..).

Mich also played in GALATASARAY, a 12 piece eclectic (post)rock/noise-band, that released two full length albums (on Delboy and Vlas Vegas) and played with bands like Black Dice, Battles and Mono, but that is now ON HOLD.
Summer '06 the band went to SOUTH-AFRICA for a mini-tour, playing Oppikoppifestival and joining Ghent based band DAS POP. They also played the Dour festival Main Stage (6th time!) and Pukkelpop festival for the second time.

In november '06 we did a two week European tour hitting Eastern Europe, Austria, France, Luxemburg and Germany, teaming up with bands like Monochrome (GER), Telescopes (UK) and MONO (JAP). At the same time Vlas Vegas Records released a limited edition tour 7" (VVR004), featuring two previously unreleased tracks. Four different handmade lay outs were made by the core delegation of Semtex Magazine and artist/painter Christophe Denys. DIY ? Hell yeah!
In december '07 we released the long anticipated split 7" with our good friends from AMENRA on Vlas Vegas (Thick vinyl, limited to 666 copies and amazing artwork by Bram Kluze. In february '08 we left for the USA for a third US TOUR with good friends Haymarket Riot (US) and Balloons (JAP) and teaming up with bands like Call Me Lightning (US, French Kiss Records) and Tornavalanche (US, Level Plane).

ATTENTION !!
We are currently finishing off the recordings of a NEW FULL LENGTH album and we have STOPPED booking shows for now. We've recorded the album ourselves with our man Clark C in june 2008. Mixing will be handled by John Congleton (The Paper Chase, Nine inch Nails, Explosions in the Sky, Modest Mouse, etc)...) in september and mastering by Alan Douches (Converge, Liars, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, ...) at West West Side Music in octpber. We are stoked !! Releasedate is set for january 26th 2009.

BOOKINGS : Contact Joachim : booking@ivyagency.net for IVY AGENCY - tel : 00 32 (0) 486 32 06 14 ***

HITCH (Mich) is also strongly involved in VLAS VEGAS Records & Entertainment, a non-profit 100 % DIY organisation we run with a bunch of friends and that includes organising shows/events, running a recordlabel and a recordstore (GTO Distro). We're booking shows for friendly bands and we organise our own fest every year called FARMFEST, inviting cool bands that we want to 'share' with a music loving audience and offering an alternative for the shitty mass events where quantity is more important than quality. Farmfest is intense and intimate and we believe it's how every festival should be. Over the years we've invited friends/bands like Quetzal (rip), In Kata, WCCC, Vandal X, The Sedan Vault, Guernica, Wixel, Ignatz, Bronze, Cavemen Speak, DJ Ayco Duyster, Tomàn, Officer Jones AHPCP (rip), Droon, Lawrence wasser, Milgram (F), Ansatz der Maschine, The Bugs (US), Lunar (CRO), Don't mess with Texas (CRO), Lewis & Clarke (USA), Soon, Wio, Amenra, de portables, Trumans Water (US), Tokyo Sex Destruction (ESP), Ultra Dolphins (USA), Part Chimp (UK), Nomad (B), Sole (USA), Cutting Pink With Knives (UK), Sightings (USA), Cheveu (F), Kingdom (B), and many (and we do mean many) more....