#BALTHASAR GERARDS KOMMANDO

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

JUST ABOUT READY TO EXPLODE WITH THE FINEST IN AMSTERDAM HARDCORE.

PIC INFO: Spotlight on Dutch hardcore punk band B.G.K. (BALTHASAR GERARDS KOMMANDO), performing live in former Ljubljana, Yugoslavia during their tour with UPSET NOISE from Italy, c. December 1984. 📸: Don Verbanac.

Steven Walraven, a.k.a., "Wilhelm Ruis," (guitar, 1980-84).

Bassist Tony Leeuwenburgh, a.k.a., "Tony Slug," can be seen in the back, another legend lost.

Source: www.picuki.com/media/3383014030156443085.

[la-mancha-screwjob]

This is the mood I'm in today. Here, have 20 good songs in thirty minutes. Punk rock is perfect communication.

[televisionsect]

B.G.K. (Balthasar Gerards Kommando)

[fuegocontrahielo]

B.G.K.

[lnthefade]

BGK - Get Killed

Long, long distance request from Todd. Apparently this is his "I just rocked another meeting and I feel invincible" song. 

I hope you are all up for some Dutch hardcore punk.

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

HARDCORE PUNK BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN -- WELCOME TO 1984.

PIC INFO: Spotlight on an Eastern Bloc gig poster with headliner B.G.K. (from Amsterdam). Supporting bands the were U.B.R., DISTRESS, SOLUNSKI FRONT, DVA MINUTA MRŽNJE, DIKTATURA SISTEMA, & YDY DANCE BAND, Yugoslavia, on December 14, 1984.

I know the venue is listed somewhere on this poster, but I cannot find it on account of my ignorance of Yugoslav. Anyway, let's just say it happened somewhere in the former Yugoslavia. Deep Eastern Bloc indeed.

Source: www.picuki.com/media/2645987696116203405.

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

DUTCH HARDCORE GRAB-ASSING SOME AMERICAN PUBLICITY -- CLASS OF '83.

PIC INFO: Spotlight on a Vögelspin Records advert from the pages of MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL #6 (May/June 1983) for B.G.K.'s debut album "Jonestown Aloha!" and the 8-band Dutch hardcore compilation LP, "Als Je Haar Maar Goed Zit... Nr. 2."

Bands on the "Als Je Haar Maar Goed Zit... Nr. 2" comp included: B.G.K., AMSTERDAMNED, OUTLAWZ, LAST FEW, PANDEMONIUM, HAEMHORRHOIDS, ZMIV, and NULL-A.

Sources: www.picuki.com/media/1431199289879539255 (Picuki 3x).

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

BECAUSE "HOLIDAY IN LEBANON" HAS LOST ABSOLUTELY ZERO RELEVANCE OVER 40 YEARS LATER.

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on live shots of Amsterdam-based hardcore punk band B.G.K. (BALTHASAR GERARDS KOMMANDO), during the band's "Jonestown Aloha!" years, performing live at Korn, Hannover, Germany, on December 28, 1983. 📸: Thorsten Töhte.

Source: www.picuki.com/media/3430158647376943241.

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

"COMPUTERIZED, DEHUMANIZED, ALL THAT VINYL, WHAT A WASTE!"

PIC INFO: Spotlight on vocalist René van de Meer of Dutch hardcore punk band B.G.K. (BALTHASAR GERARDS KOMMANDO), playing a gig somewhere in 1984. Location and photo credit unknown.

"Synthesizers, Rhythm-box Electro pop, we know it sucks Computerized, Dehumanized All that vinyl, what a waste! I can't stand Modern Music!

Record labels make the trends A lot of profit for little investment But despite their promotion and big campaigns, We all know: IT'S TOTALLY LAME! I can't stand Modern Music!

(middle bit)

Switch on the radio... Oh No! Brainless lyrics, disco beat, That's gotta be the Human League.

I can't stand Modern Music!"

-- "Follow the Trend" (1984) by B.G.K.

Source: www.picuki.com/media/3243253945253316458

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

IF FAST, FURIOUS, AND INTENSE DUTCH HARDCORE IS WHAT YOU CRAVE -- THE ONLY B.G.K. ALBUM ON CD YOU'LL EVER NEED.

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on "A Dutch Feast... The Complete Works of Balthasar Gerards Kommando," a discography/compilation album by 'Amsterdam-based '80s hardcore punk band B.G.K., compiled and released by Alternative Tentacles in 1999. The album contains forty-six tracks and is considered the definitive collection of B.G.K.'s entire recorded output.

"The Alternative Tentacles website blurts:

"Dutch punk; the glory years! Their entire discography collected, the double LP is finally back in print! These Dutch punks offered one of the most furious and intense displays of hardcore the world has ever seen!"

Damn straight. I wrote all those furious and intense songs because I'm a furious and intense guy. See, that's me pictured on the cover. OK, I was still a handsome young lad in 1984, sporting stylish European headwear. Even though I did not posses all my Super Slug Powers yet, I still got more pussy than Joan Jett backstage, while you and your friends were getting clowned by the doorman.

I'm not too wild about the title the folks at Alternative Tentacles conjured up for this project, but nobody asked me, so what can ya do. What the hell is a "Dutch Feast" anyways?

Released in the year 2000 as double album and in CD format, it is, as the title suggests, a retrospective, and contains the third official re-release of "Jonestown Aloha" (1982), "Nothing Can go Wrong" (1986), the multi-bootlegged "White Male Dumbinance" EP from 1984, all in one handy package, with a few tracks taken from compilations like the (also multi-released) "Welcome to 1984", and "P.E.A.C.E" record thrown in."

-- TONY SLUG, a.k.a., Tony Tony Leeuwenburgh, former bassist/guitarist for Amsterdam-based hardcore punk band B.G.K. (BALTHASAR GERARDS KOMMANDO), published May 28, 2009

Sources: www.picuki.com/media/2428934056752180114 & http://tonyslug.blogspot.com/2009/05/bgk-dutch-feast.html.

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

ALL THE WAY FROM AMSTERDAM TO INCREASE THE THRASH -- WELCOME TO 1984.

NOTE: Check out the "Everything Went Black" and ANGRY SAMOANS stickers on Tony's bass guitar. That's a lot of US punk!

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on shots of Dutch hardcore punk band B.G.K., a.k.a., BALTHASAR GERARDS KOMMANDO, playing a gig at the fabled CBGB OMFUG, New York City, c. 1984.

TONY SLUG✝ (former BGK bassist): T: "Well, THE NITWITZ started in 1978, and were like the first Dutch punk band to emphasize playing really fast. Then we turned into B.G.K. c. 1982, whose entire back catalogue has just been re-released on Alternative Tentacles, by the way. This is like full-on hardcore thrash. B.G.K. toured the States twice and all over Europe half a dozen times."

Source: http://tonyslug.blogspot.com/2009/05/interview.html (2x).

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

IF A BASSIST REPRESENTED THE NETHERLANDS AT THE UNITED NATIONS GIG OF HARDCORE PUNK.

PIC INFO: Spotlight on the late, great Tony Slug (real name: Tony Leeuwenburgh), bassist of Amsterdam-based hardcore punk band BGK (BALTHASAR GERARDS KOMMANDO), performing live on August 10, 1984 at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, CA, ('twas a Goldenvoice show).

OVERVIEW: "B.G.K represented The Netherlands at the legendary 1984 International show at the Olympics during the Los Angeles Olympics. This was such a great show. There seemed to be WAY less problems with the police this night. I think it was because they were all being used for securing the LA Olympics that year."

-- ROBBIE ROBINSON (80s hardcore-era American photographer)

Source: www.picuki.com/media/3210127576310009558.

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

THE LATE, GREAT SLUGGO OF B.G.K. LAYS DOWN ALL THE DIRT ON THEIR '86 U.S. TOUR WITH MDC -- IT'S A HOOT!!

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on a show/gig/punk flyer for MDC, BGK (BALTHASAR GERARDS KOMMANDO), & CHEETAH CHROME MOTHERFUCKERS (who reportedly cancelled/didn't play), performing live at the Metro, Chicago, IL, September 6, 1986. Plus a live shot of bassist/Dutch hardcore legend Tony Slug playing bass in BGK during their heyday.

DIRT ON MDC: "Furthermore, to our surprise, M.D.C. had seemingly abandoned their squathouse/anti-commercial/anarchy antics, and now demanded $1000 guarantees per show. Plus plane tickets, that is, maybe conveniently neglecting to mention certain members drug habits, arguing "we're far from home, we got rent to pay, we got kids, and have been doing this for a long time," etc... Which totally made sense seeing as how we were about 10 times farther away from home, also had kids and rent to pay and had been doing this as long as they had. Not to mention the B.G.K. album they released on their R Radical label that we hadn't been paid for, the European tour we set up for them, and all the Euopean shows we did together and gave all our money to them. It wouldn't be the first (or the last) time they dicked us, but I have to be diplomatic here."

-- TONY SLUG (1963-2023), former bassist with Amsterdam '80s hardcore punk band B.G.K. on MDC's shady touring antics in the mid '80s

Sources: www.picuki.com/media/1708431697735678747 & http://tonyslug.blogspot.com/2009/05/va-nyhc-spirit-of-old-school-video.htm.

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

A UK ANARCHO/DUTCH HARDCORE PUNK MASHUP FOR THE HISTORY BOOKS.

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on B.G.K.'s "Holiday in Lebanon" (1983) nomination for the Crass Records "what ifs" singles club by punk graphics artist "Steal Works," @stealworks, c. 2021.

"People under debris and beams, Mutilated corpses cries of pain, It's an air-raid! Switch off the lights!, Israel is bombing the city again.

[CHORUS] 3x Shalom! Shalom! It's a Holiday in Lebanon!

Bombing a camp, well, that's alright, Because God is always on our side, They're the bad ones, we're OK, So let's switch off their water supply."

-- "Holdiay in Lebanon" (1983) by B.G.K. (BALTHASAR GERARDS KOMMANDO)

Source: www.picuki.com/media/2463360959290105160.

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

ONLINE FINDS FOR THE CURIOUS KINDS -- THE BEGINNING OF THE END IS NIGH.

NOTE: ^So, I'm thinking of retiring these "Tumblr Cover photo" sets next year, but I really haven't made up my mind about it yet. These take up a lot of my time, and I'm thinking of just focusing on singular posts for the foreseeable future.

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on more December cover photos, and the third to the last set of the entire year -- and I'll be putting this series to rest two more posts from now.

In this set, I am featuring:

"Spider-Man -- The Todd McFarlane Era" trading card artwork, cover art to the "Ten to Twenty" (1999) single by the SNEAKER PIMPS, the Trendkill Snake from PANTERA's "The Great Southern Trendkill," the Sea-goddess/Sea-witch from "Conan the Barbarian" Vol. 1 #98, a photography piece titled "The Big Valley: Susie and Friends" by Alex Prager, a promotional image for the "Li II" resin sculpture by McFarlane Toys, a 1996 Japanese BJÖRK concert tour poster, and a live shot of Dutch hardcore punk band B.G.K. (BALTHASAR GERARDS KOMMANDO).

Sources: Beckett's Marketplace, Pinterest, Alternative Tentacles, McFarlane Toys, View Comic Online, discogs, Worship Metal, various, etc...