Knarsetand

“PUNK AS ALL FUCK!”

OK so this is what Martijn Holtslag wrote to us, asking us to check out his music video:

“Hello IndePulse Music Magazine editors,

I’m emailing because we just released a single and video with my band Knarsetand (Teethgrinder) that we shot right after i was beaten up in town. To retaliate, and as a midlefinger to hate in general, we thought it’d be coolest too make something awesome with the bruises. 

We think it’s a very strong song and video, and would really fit with Indiepulsemusic. The track is a pretty ruthless “self-judging “garage punk track with some drum and bass/break-beat influences.

We were hoping you would feel interested to release/feature the video. We did some interviews in dutch (where we’re from), but could translate an interview to English so you have something to go from to make the story complete?

We would love to do the international online premiere with Indiepulsemusic.

About us in short:

We’ve played hundreds of shows at the biggest venues and festivals in the Netherlands, and toured through Europe. We rebooted the band this year with a new sound and new formation. “Heavy and Raw as fuck”. Break-beat meets Garage-punk meets edgy cumbia brass.”

Now, we get emails every day, hundreds, and many we don’t get to, but something about the sincerity of his writing and somewhat “coy” nature, I thought, well, how punk could it be, he’s just too damn polite?

To again be honest, This band is, in essence…

“PUNK AS ALL FUCK!”

I investigated further into the band and this is the real deal –

Martijn Holtslag, the man behind Garagepunk/Breakbeat band Knarsetand (Teethgrinder in english), was beaten up in his hometown Deventer. The producer decided to use his damaged face in the new touching video for single ‘I’m a Fuckup’

The new track is an ode to life, or lack of it. So says the 24 year old artistic leader: “I had to move, my girl broke up with me, music wasn’t really doing well, i lived in the past a lot, i felt miserable”.

Some bands call themselves punk, some even take time to maintain a self image that would compare. Knarsetand is truly punk, these guys are on the same level as the Sex Pistols, PIL and the bands that in the 70’s voiced their disgust with a society that perfered the rich and pretty of the working class and the hands that bled to shape the world, as a revolution voice that said “be angry, you have the right”

To announce the bands ressurection, a first single and video “Bad Trip” was released 28th of March this year. After two years of big festivals, touring through Europe, playing the bigest radiostations and huge festivals, Knarsetand is back.

Knarsetand smashes the reset button and is back with a new raw sound, a new band, an energy like never before and one message: Welcome to the Mad House. The band’s seven musicians deliver a thunderous sound full of breakbeat, electronica and garagepunk, infused with balkan, and cumbia. Like in a lucid nightmare, Knarsetand drags their listeners through the halls of their insane asylum, past rooms full of intense, raw, unruly, and hypnotising impressions. With sharp lyrics, psychedelic soundscapes, tempting brass, fierce guitar riffs, aggressive synths, entrancing, beats, and heavy basslines, the Knarsetand-machine transforms every place they go into a pit of fuming energy.

Knarsetand performed over 100 times in two years with its previous formation. From the small studio of the biggest radio station in The Netherlands, to main stages on large festivals. After the sunny days of festivals, Martijn Holtslag, who’s the composer, producer, and bandleader, crawled back into the darkness of his studio, and membrane. Disillusioned from the notion of a malleable world, disappointed in demagogic politicians, sleepless nights, a broken heart, a depression, litres of escapism, and a good dose of reality checks made Holtslag give a musical outlet to the anxious, itching, and grating feeling of agitation in his stomach. Besides writing the music, Martijn felt the urge to make his lyrics more personal and perform them live as a vocalist. A type of therapy. Tempered to spread his rebellious madness and escapism, a new band got together, to revive Knarsetand and fight the delusion of daily life.

The new Knarsetand sounds like the result of a studio session of a Rage Against The Machine guitarist having a bad trip, combined with a manic producer from The Prodigy, Pendulum on painkillers, and all of that performed live by some sort of freaked out Mexican garage punk band with two multi-instrumentalist brass addicts.

Martijn Holtslag, the man behind Garagepunk/Breakbeat band Knarsetand (Teethgrinder in english), was beaten up in his hometown Deventer. The producer decided to use his damaged face in the new touching video for single ‘I’m a Fuckup’

The new track is an ode to life, or lack of it. So says the 24 year old artistic leader: “I had to move, my girl broke up with me, music wasn’t really doing well, i lived in the past a lot, i felt miserable”.

To announce the bands ressurection, a first single and video “Bad Trip” was released 28th of March this year. After two years of big festivals, touring through Europe, playing the bigest radiostations and huge festivals, Knarsetand is back.

After the sunny days of festivals, Martijn Holtslag, who’s the composer, producer, and bandleader, crawled back into the darkness of his studio, and membrane. Disillusioned from the notion of a malleable world, disappointed in demagogic politicians, sleepless nights, a broken heart, a depression, litres of escapism, and a good dose of reality checks made Holtslag give a personal, musical outlet to the anxious, itching, and grating feeling of agitation in his stomach. Knarsetand is back with a new band, new sound, and a lot of energy. Seven piece strong the band brings a sound of garagepunk, breakbeat, bass, electronics, and even a bit of cumbia/balkan. With sharp lyrics, psychedelic soundscapes, tempting brass, fierce guitar riffs, aggressive synths, entrancing, beats, and heavy basslines, Knarsetand drags their listeners through the halls of their insane asylum, past rooms full of intense, raw, unruly, and hypnotising impressions.

Momentarily the band is working on a new album. Last video’s are a sneak peak. The band is playing, catch them live:

Confirmed shows:

12 augustus: Waterpop – Wateringen
2 september: Broekrock – Broekland
7 september: Jacks Music Bar – Zwolle
20 oktober: ADE – Pacific Parc – Amsterdam
21 oktober:  – Harderwijk

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