Two Two
79
1979-1982 / 2006 - present
Punkband started end 1979. Not on february 2 1979, as the
name might suggest.
Albert came up with the date of death of Sid Vicious, bassplayer in the
Sex Pistols,
as a name for the band. At first Theo (guitars) and Hondema
(bass) started the band,
which first was called Joint Venture, after some members
leaving, only Theo and Hondema
were left. Later on Ron joined. He bought a drumkit and Two
Two 79 was almost complete.
Albert (vocals) was found at a jam-session in Pentastoma,
Roden, Netherlands.
This night was opened with the final show of Inspiration Breakdown,
Albert's band before Two Two 79.
Ron was a good drummer considering he didn't have any
live-experience, but he didn't
like our music very much and wasn't as tight as punk
demands.
Lex on the other hand, surely had the right attitude and
capacities for a punk-drummer!
This great drummer joined the band after a concert we did
in Simplon (The former
punk-hideout of Groningen), as a support-act for the
Vopo's.
Ron didn't want to play Simplon. At schools and clubs it
was ok, but, the northern
punkvenue from those days, Simplon was a bit to "rough" .
The three of us went anyway and a roadie of the Vopo's was
willing to play the drums
for this show (we never played as fast as that night)
After this we decided Ron wasn't what we wanted in the
band.
Ron left the band and Lex joined.
Hij was only 15, modest, but for Two Two
79 the best thing that could happen.
(Story: Lex was asked by Herman Brood to join his
band.
Lex' answer: "not possible, I'm still at school")
After Lex replaced Ron Two Two 79 really started to
become what it was meant to be.
The tight drumming of lex was what the band had missed in
the first year.
Our weekly rehearsals took place in a former hospital which
was confiscated by protesters
against speculation with real estate. In Dutch this is
called "krakers" .
This hospital was called R.K.Z.
We also had a sort of manager, roadie and overall nutcase
called 'Speedy'.
Speedy started with Two Two 79 as a side-kick and became
more and more interested in
making music. Later on he got Dutch fame with his bands
Boegies and Jammah Tammah.
Our concerts mainly took place in Simplon, clubs and
schools.
The best shows we did were, in our opinion, the concert in
Grand Theatre (without
Albert,
because of his broken leg) and the Christmas-show 1981 in
Simplon.
In 1982 we released an independant 12" mini-album called
"Innocent
People".
This record didn' t really show the true face of the band.
Because there was doubt in
those days what music we should play (punk, new wave), we
didn't release an album with
8 tight punksongs, but a mix between punk and wave-like
songs.
The record was fully financed by the band, recorded at
'Square Wave Studio' in Groningen,
the
cover was printed in Simplon and the records pressed in
Belgium.
The record was only distributed to music stores in
Groningen, but the tracks found there way to
other countries (France, UK, Russia) through the internet
en the record is now a collectors item.
Usually a record is a promotion for the band. For us this
didn't work in two ways.
First of all, the record didn't represent what the band
really was like. Secondly, the band was already deceased when the record was released.
Two Two 79 has always been a funband with the emphasis on
playing music.
Because of school and other things the band was never more
than a hobby for us
and we didn't have any real ambition for more.
Two Two 79 existed, in the old setting, only 2 ½ years,
including a break of six months, due to
Albert's broken leg.
Our music was mainly self written songs with some
side-steps to bands like the Ramones
and the Sex Pistols.
Early 1982 it was the end of Two Two 79..
A few months later, in may 1982, we did one more show at
Pentastoma, Roden, Netherlands.
We did some video-shoots ,
available on the music page.
After that show it was really the end for Two Two 79 (or
was it???)
Everyone went his own way with work, family, kids and so
on.
The bandmembers lost contact over the years.
Theo and Hondema had a few phone calls, but that was it.
But suddenly, in january 2006, Albert by accident found
Theo on the internet
It seemed we both sometimes did a Google-search "Two Two
79" and it ended up in
Albert and Theo meeting again on a Dutch punkforum.
After this pleasant surprise, plans were quickly made to
restart the band.
Summer 2006 we bought a Boss BR-900CD portable
studio and after several sessions in
Groningen and Weyhe, Bremen (Germany) our first independant
cd This Time for
Real!!!, without
interference from anyone else but the band was released.
After this release we started writing more songs, but
because of an operation which took Albert
out of the running for a year, things started to slow down.
Theo was looking for a new temporary partner to write songs
with. The answer came when Overlast,
former bassplayer of Teenage Warning and now
playing in New Reality contacted us.
He and Theo started writing Dutch punksongs and when Albert
got back, he jumped into the project
which was called Reality 79. He wrote the
lyrics to the last 4 songs, everyone sang 2 or more songs
(theo for the first time on vocals). In december 2009, a cd
was released on the Teenage Radical
Recordings
label. All information and downloads can be found in the
side-projects section.
After the release Two Two 79 picked up where we left off
and another set of songs was written and recorded. Theo
re-recorded some tracks from the first release and some Two
Two 79 oldies were dusted off
and re-recorded. This resulted in a set of 20 songs. We
decided to master our mixes in the studio and the
cd Attention
Whores was released in september 2010.
Theo bought a Boss BR-1600CD which gives us
more possibilities to record new songs.
it has 8 tracks more compared to the BR-900 and 8 inputs.
This will give us the opportunity to experiment
with live drums and 'studio live' recordings.
We also got to know Maarten, a metal drummer who wants to
experiment with us.
Because we are always searching for a good live drummer, we
are now having try-outs with him.
The first results are positive, so we will see where this
will end.
Now 'Attention Whores' is released, Theo and Albert will
start working with Overlast on a new
Reality 79 CD. In the meantime Two Two 79 has plans for a
video-promo and video-shoots from
rehearsals. We even might be playing live again after 29
years in 2011.
update december 2021
NEW RELEASE!!! MAJOR SITE UPDATE!!! This last year we just had one gig due to the obvious reasons. We didn't sit still during this time and have written and recorded 6 new songs. Downloads, lyrics and more information on VIRUS [The Corona Demos]
We've also got new photo's from our gig at PUNKION,
Bremen on september 4 2021.
Thank you Calli Ferreira
update september 2021
It was great to play last week at the PUNKION Festival, Bremen, Germany. We want more!!! Already working on some other gigs. We will keep you posted!
update August 2021
Finally, after
almost two years, we will play live
again!!!
On september 4th we will play at the Punkion Festival in Bremen, Germany. That gig already should have happened last year, but due to the well-known restrictions, the festival was postponed. During the Covid lockdown, we have written a couple of songs, which will be available on the website
shortly.
Soon after, we will record a new cd in our new studio.
update January 2020
After our gig in Wageningen last year in october, we took some time off. In those couple of months, Albert and Theo decided we had to give our 40th anniversary some extra exposure. The recording of the gig in Vreemde Streken was very good and we decided to give it a live-release. We wanted to include a bonus-cd with tracks through the years. After a couple of months work this resulted in our latest release:
TWO
TWO 79 - 40th Anniversay
click the link above to go to the page with the downloads and streams. Other news: We are on Bandcamp! Overthere you can stream all our cd's and buy the tracks. You decide what to pay! Live gigs for 2020 are planned slowly. More info will follow soon.
update Otober 2019
Last week we played our second gig in Vreemde Streken, Wageningen. This time we took the stage with our friends from NO-ID. A great evening and a worthy closure of our 40 anniversary mini-tour! Everyone who was at one of our gigs. Thank you! And for everyone who missed it, Next year, new opportunities to see us live! We will take a break for a couple of months to record our new cd. See you in 2020! update July 2019 II In the last week of July we had 2 gigs. On the 22nd in Lola 050 in Groningen with D.I. and the next saturday (27) we played at the Vogelpop festival. We had great fun doing both gigs! Now it is time for a break, our next gig will be in october in Wageningen. In august we won't do anything, in september we will start planning new gigs and recording the new cd. Have a great holiday! and see you! update July 2019 And again we played a couple of gigs. In Wagenborgen, Arnhem and Zwolle. In July we still have 2 more to go. Visit us on july 22 in Lola, Groningen and July 27 on the Vogelpop Festival. More dates will be added. Just confirmed is Vreemde Streken, Wageningen on october 5th. This will be the second time we will play in this venue.
update April 2019
We had a great time at INNOCENT in Hengelo last saturday! Great people and atmosphere! Next stop Brigant, Arnhem - May 24
Update february 2019
Over 6 months since the last update on the website.
Time for some updates!
Albert has finished building his recording studio and our next songs will be recorded there. We are working on 5 new songs for release in 2020. Some of these songs will already be added to the setlist for the coming gigs. Also new dates for live gigs are already booked. For now Hengelo, Arnhem and an open air festival in Ansen (Drenthe). Probably more to follow. We have something special in mind for this year. Because it is our 40th anniversary (including an almost 25 year long break) we want to do something special. More news to follow....
Update June 2018
And another gig at Bambara, Groningen. This was the perfect venue to do one more gig before our summer break. Great atmosphere, nice audience and a wonderfulkl venue for our kind of music. Other news: Albert was getting to busy with all the work behind the scenes for the band (music production, songwriting (with Theo), cover design, website, video editing), so Theo took over the video editing. Every new video on youtube and our website will be Theo's production from now on. Now starts our summerbreak. No band activity for about two months. Theo and Albert may lay down some new ideas for songs, but that will be it. See you in august/september! Have a great summer holiday!
Update february 2018
Things are heating up. We just did a great gig at Iduna, Drachten. We have visited this venue many times in the past to see some great old school punk bands like U.K. Subs, GBH, Vibrators and more. On february 16 we weren't just in the audience, but actually on stage opening for Varukers and U.K. Subs. We are looking for more gigs like this! Update november 2017 We are rolling again! We just released our new EP 5678 and did our first gig with Henry at Vreemde Streken, Wageningen. We are hungry for more!!!
Update april 2017
In march Sharkey decided to quit the band. He
lacked the motivation. We thank Sharkey for his
contribution in the last 3.5 years.
The same week we started looking for a new drummer and soon found Henry Rat (RAT PATROL) who was interested to give it a try. On april 15 we had our first session together and it went very good from the start. At the end of that session Henry and Two Two 79 decided to continue in this new line-up. Welcome Henry! At the moment we are finetuning the drumparts and Theo and Henry will have several sessions apart from the rest of the band. The other will join in on several occasions to rehearse with the full band. We hope to be able to play live soon again! Check our website for updates!
Update march
2017
Finally a new release! A new EP called '1234'. Download here. Big changes in the near future for Two Two 79 expected!
Check our blog for the latest news and
updates!
update june 2014
Several gigs have past in the first months
of this year. We have had a great time and
are hungry for more!
After the Bastards On Beer
Festival in march, we
took a break to finish our new CD.
It is released
today! A CD with cover-songs
from our main inspirations: Ramones &
Sex Pistols.
Five song from each band.
Now we will have a holiday break and will
start playing live again after this summer.
update december 2013
This year will end with a high for us.
After 31 years we finally played live
again! Thanks to our new drummer Sharkey,
we did about 4 rehearsal sessions and were
ready to play.
Not every song was played perfectly, but it
was a great punkparty in Viadukt Groningen
with the bands System
Bastard and Rat Patrol
Next gig will be at the Preipop Festival,
also in Groningen. Check out the menu
Catch us
live to keep up to date with
new venues.
Other news: The CD is somewhat delayed, we
will try to use the Preipop gig as our
release-party.
update august 2013
Things have been really turning the good
way for us in the last couple of months.
We''ve already introduced 'Madman Sharkey'
in a video on our frontpage.
With Sjakie we have found a dedicated
drummer who is always in for playing,
preferable live.
After a couple of rehearsals he started to
arrange gigs for us to play. The first
venue
should have been at the Gideon Roots
festival in Groningen, but this got
cancelled because of legislation
problems.
Now our first gig is set gig at Het Viaduct
in Groningen, netherlands on december 21.
A festival in february 2014 is already
confirmed and also some dates in march
(including Bremen, Germany).
So things are looking good!
In the meantime we have been working on a
new cd which should be finished in
december.
update januari 2013
Again a long time no news on the homepage.
So here's a major update to make up for it.
Lots of things has happened last year on
the personal front, which made us postpone
the release of our new CD.
But finally here it is. 11 Tight punkrock
songs. We hope you like it. More
information on the music page,
where, off course you can download the
entire CD. We have added lossless
audio-files for all the tracks,
including the other releases.
more news: After a couple
of months working with Juri, from both
sides we decided it wasn't going to work.
We expected more of his drumming and he
didn't like the trip to Groningen every
month. In the short time he
was a Two Two 79 member, he also did
backing vocals on 'Hey You!', so some
traces of Juri still remain.
At the moment Albert's son, Annejan (or AJ
for short), is learning to play the drums.
He has the talent, but
no experience. Maarten (on of our former
drummers) is teaching him the rudimentaries
in a couple of lessons. From then on he
should be able to play with us and develop
from there.
In the meantime we can use our reserve of
former and part-time drummers who always
enjoy having a session with us.
update november 07 2011
It has been a while since this page was updated. Much has happened in the last year. Maarten has played with us for about six months after which he decided he didn't have the time to put the dedication in the band it deserves. So thank you, Maarten! We have had one audition with Jan, with an improvised setup, but the music didn't appeal to him, so we had to go on looking for a new drummer. We decided to put some adds on the internet and soon Jurie answered our call. Jurie already plays in a band called The Kelvinators and he has a lot of live experience. That said, his wish was to play in an old school punk band. After one session we decided to continue with this new line-up and started rehearsing for live shows again. Finally we have found a drummer with the right feel for our music. Albert decided to stop with the collaboration Reality 79. Theo still works with Overlast now and then. A second cd will be released when finished. We are in the final stages of the release of our new CD. 12 songs are recorded and in the finetuning stage. When the songs are all finished and mixed, we will visit Locust Studio again for the final master and production. In the meantime a cover is already in the making. In October we started a youtube channel on which we will post the best videos from the website. More news to follow about the release of our new CD.
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