Fieke van Berkom: Easter 2012.

At Paaspop I was quite impressed by the power of this band (check last picture of Paaspop report). After their show I had a short chat and I handed out my fake-money-business-biljet-type-a-thing. Emcee Boots Riley laughed loudly and said; "Ow jeez she got her own money!' Boots, a bit communistic minded kind of liked that. We had a click moment right there. So when I came home after the Paaspop gig these guys where still on mu mind. I looked them up on the web and found some interesting stuff about this band from Oakland, California. Check it out;

The Coup, part of the sub-genre of political hiphop is politically communist in its music and aligns itself with other radical music groups such as Dead Prez and Rage Against The Machine. The group's music is characterized by aggressive, yet danceable bass-driven backbeats overlaid by humorous, hopeful and sometimes violent lyrics criticizing capitalism, American Politics, patriarchal exploitation, and police brutality, among other things.

In 2001, The Coup released Party Music. However, in part because of distribution problems, sales of the album were low. The original album cover art depicted group members Pam the Funkstress and Riley standing in front of the twin towers of the World Trade Centre as they are destroyed by huge explosions, and Riley is pushing the button on a guitar tuner. The cover art was finished in June 2001 and the album was scheduled to be released in mid-September. However, in response to the uncanny similarity of the artwork with the 9/11 attacks, the album release was held back until alternative cover art could be prepared.

two different album covers of Party Music

Anyhow I was fascinated and started looking for their tourdates. Next day they were scheduled in SoulClub Bohannon, Berlin. So I my thought was like this; It was still Easter and my frig was empty, my house too. Let's go!

Next day I had to do a gig with Henk van Straten first. We had to make a report of the Poppenbeurs (Poppet fair) in Houten near Utrecht.

Henk with silicon baby. (Nieuwe Revu)

Headline; The area where demons dominate

Great article about a world where dolls rule.

My ride to Utrecht central station wasn't very peaceful. I pushed the Moroccan driver a bit to far in driving fast to catch my train. He didn't know anything about the marathon. It was happening right there where we needed to go. We were arguing about the way he took, the time he lost and the money plus concert and so fun I was losing because of his fault. Jeez boy... Drive!

Once in the train I knew it was right what I was doing... A Funny Face and an authentic German haircut where staring at me for 5 hours...

In Berlin, Michiel, a good old friend from art academy who lives in Berlin now picked me up from the train station. Together with Simon Kentgens he is or does pietmondriaan.com. Epic stuff!

We walked to Club Bohannon and met the band backstage. The place was packed and the show was powerful. Way better response of the audience then the day before in Schijndel at the Paaspop Festival. And well deserved. Boots was wearing a super nice cowboy outfit and gave us a lot off energy!