Interview With Bart Scheffers of Bent Out Of Shape
Bent Out Of Shape are a street/punk/ Oi! band hailing from The Netherlands. They feature members of Spirit 84, Icepick and more, and if you dig stuff like Cock Sparrer, The Business and sinking about a million beers, ya'll need to check them out here.
How did Bent Out Of Shape come to be?
Bass player Jeroen kept bugging me about doing an Oi band. I liked the idea but wasn't sure if I had the time. I finally caved and said okay, let's see if we can get the usual suspects to join in. So we asked Henk and Norbert and they were down right away. Henk created a group app before even answering me and dropped 2 riffs in there literally the same day, that became our first 2 songs. So we took off running. That was in october 2019. Dropped a 7 song demo a couple of months later and went from there.
Collectively, your music pedigree and background is vast. Who are your influences as a band?
Well we started with the idea of forming an Oi band, so the obvious influences are a lot of the classic bands, like Cock Sparrer, Blitz and Stars and Stripes. We're not stuck in the past though and a lot of new bands like Bishops Green, The Reapers, The Drowns etc. can also influence us. None of those bands mentioned sound anything alike, but we also try to have a lot of variety in our sound. Henk brings in the most music and you can tell he listens to a lot of Beltones, punkrock and stuff like Leatherface. So there's a lot of melody in those songs, but then Norbert balances it out by bringing in some more straight forward stomping material. Variety is key. We all played in hardcore bands and I think that shines through here and there aswell.
Your debut EP "Who Laughs Last" came out in 2020 during the covid pandemic. Are there plans for a follow up in the near future?
Hell yeah. As a matter of fact; our next release is already in the can and will come out in June on Demons Run Amok. It's a split 7" with our friends The Boldness from Indonesia; awesome band! We recorded 2 new songs for that and can't fucking wait for people to hear them. The artwork is amazing and was done by our friend and tattoo artist Wilco Ronda, so it really feels like a team effort and it's gonna be a great little record. Next up will be a 12" record with 8 to 10 songs. We're currently writing/finishing those songs and wanna hit the studio around the summer and have it out late this year, or early 2022. No rest for the wicked!
Like a lot of people, COVID has brought life to a screeching halt. Has it affected your mentality, either negatively or positively?
This band was a fucking life saver when it comes to COVID; so glad we started right before that shit kicked in! Even though most fun stuff got cancelled, this thing kept us busy and focussed on something positive. We're very fortunate to be able to rehearse at a friends house, so we just kept going and also recorded the demo there. For the other two releases we've been to studio Mono in Amsterdam, spent the night there and drank beer and had fun. Those weekends were the highlights of the last year. Besides this it's different for everybody. For me it's like a rollercoaster. In all honestly the downtime has it's upsides; guess I could use the break from busy life. At the same time I'm fucking fed up and just want things to go back to normal. And I have it easy, it's fucking hell for people who have their own businesses and see their life's work go to shit. Let's hope it's just a few more months..
If there was one song you wish you wrote but didn't, what song is it?
The first song that came to mind is 'Fuck you anyway' by the Beltones. Goosebumps every time. And not just that song; that guy is such an amazing song writer, music ánd lyrics.
Anything you'd like to add?
Thanks so much for taking an interest! Shout out to everybody out there holding it together. Anybody reading this; go find us on Spotify, bandcamp, youtube and all the socials etc. Cheers!