Wap Shoo Wap Records
Mess around to the Mokum sound
The punk scene in Amsterdam seems to have a bit of a revival with bands like Hang Youth, FuckFuckFuck and The Covids on the fore front. We talked to Gilian from Wap Shoo Wap Records about this revival, his label and other things.
Can you tell something about when and by who Wap Shoo Wap Records was founded?
In 2016 my buddy Francisco and I started a booking agency, and a monthly party night called Wap Shoo Wap with live punk, garage and rock ‘n roll bands from all over the world. We did this for 2 years at Pacific Parc until they closed down. After that we started doing nights at a lot of different venues throughout town. We also DJ vinyl at these nights. During Covid-19 and all the lockdowns we basically couldn’t do anything anymore, no parties, no DJ-sets, no tours and at the same time there were a few new young bands emerging who sent me some demos, so that’s when I decided to start a record label. We teamed up with Everaldo, a friend of ours who used to program some of our Wap Shoo Wap nights where he worked, and the three of us run the label now. After a lot of delays with receiving the vinyl we finally started last march with a big launch party in Markt Centraal.
What kind of label is WSWR?
We are specialized in underground rock ‘n roll music which can range from punk to glam, garage rock, rhythm ‘n blues and soul. Basically wild, hi-energy music taking influence from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s mostly. Besides releasing new local artists and giving them an international platform because of our previous connections as a booking agency, we are also crate-diggers and that’s why we reissue singles from the past that kind of have disappeared into obscurity.
I saw that your motto is ‘Mess around to the Mokum sound’ what do you mean by that?
I grew up in the 90’s in Amsterdam in a city filled with a lot of underground live music culture in squats, small clubs and bars. There was a lot of heavy rock ‘n roll related music being played. I became a musician myself because of that. Over the years the scene had grown much smaller because gentrification and the resulting monoculture. So that “Mokum sound” that influenced me so much as a teenager was disappearing, until more recently more and more young people were starting bands playing wild and loud music and with Wap Shoo Wap Records we want to try and set Amsterdam on the map again as a city that has a wild live music scene. Oh yeah, and Amsterdam citizens always have had a history of being a bit insubordinate and anti-authority so “Mess around” is definitely connected to that as well.
What kind of bands are on the label?
Most of the bands from our label are young artists from the Amsterdam area like Doctor Velvet (rock ‘n roll / rhythm ‘n blues), The Covids (punkrock) and FuckFuckFuck (garagepunk). They all sing in English. Besides that we release reissues of obscure groups from all over the world like we recently did with a glam/punk band from the 1970’s called Feather, they were a British/Belgian group.
Is there still a market for punk, rocknroll and garage on vinyl?
It’s definitely a niche market. We only do the vinyl, we leave the digital release to the bands themselves. We do pressings ranging from 200 to 300 copies per release and usually they are limited edition, which means we don’t repress them. We sell through our own web shop on wapshoowaprecords.com, Bandcamp and we approach record stores and distributors ourselves. I’ve been sending packages all over the world to customers from Canada, USA to all over Europe and Japan so it’s going quite well. You can now find our releases in record shops in Amsterdam, Paris, Barcelona and Tokyo for example.
Can you tell something about the scene in Amsterdam? Do we still have places like the Diepte years ago?
De Diepte was definitely a punk/garage/rock ’n roll hotspot where I first got in contact with that kind of music. After that Pacific Parc was the place to be to hear and see music like that. We briefly had De Steek in Amsterdam-Noord which definitely had some Diepte-vibes, but sadly they had to call it quits this past November. There’s places like Checkpoint Charlie, Maloe Melo, Cinetol, OCCII, and Markt Centraal among others where you can find our kind of music sometimes because of DJ’s or bands playing there. The scene is small, but it’s starting to grow again. When we did our launch party last March in Markt Centraal, 400 people showed up and it was sold out. That was really cool to see and makes me hopeful for a future where there will be a lot of messing around to the Mokum sound again!
I guess we can speak of a bit of a revival of the punk scene in Amsterdam. What caused this new popularity?
I think it’s not specific to Amsterdam, but in general punk music has gained some momentum again. I can’t really put my finger on it, but there’s some ‘bigger’ bands that are having a lot of international succes like The Chats and Amyl & The Sniffers for example. They show young people that you just need a guitar, 3 chords and a lot of attitude + energy to make some good rock ’n roll / punk music. It’s a DIY-mentality that I guess feels a bit more tangible or more real in a more and more digital world.
Do you see the same kind of revival in other countries?
I’ve been playing in punk bands myself for the past 20 years and toured a lot over the world. Amsterdam and The Netherlands have always had a smaller scene than compared to London, Madrid, Paris or Berlin for example. They’ve always had big scenes there so it never really went away or got revived. But they’re dealing with the same issues of gentrification there as well of course with bars and venues closing down etc. But despite these problems, it’s still much bigger than over here. Right now I’m just happy that finally we might be going in the right direction again now in Amsterdam as well.
There is also a bit of a revival in the squatting scene. Do you think the two are related?
I’m pretty sure these things go hand in hand. Besides young people in Amsterdam that need affordable housing there’s also new bands that need cheap places to practice and learn their craft or play their first show for example. You can’t have one without the other.
Do you think that the revival is also connected to the amount of crisises we are in? Housing crisis, climate crisis, financial crisis etc etc.
Oh yeah, if young people have no future or prospect of things getting better, anger and frustration can be the perfect fuel for some good music of course. To make good rock ’n roll or punk music is not rocket science… but I do think it’s chemistry: you need a few basic ingredients to create an explosion, but if one of these ingredients is missing, you might get just a disappointing small puff of smoke. The fact that we are having “loud bangs” again is probably connected to what you are saying.
You need a few basic ingredients to create an explosion, but if one of these ingredients is missing, you might get just a disappointing small puff of smoke
Are the bands that you are releasing politically engaged?
None of the bands are overtly political lyrically, but they are all involved in trying to make Amsterdam less of the drab, gentrified monoculturistic place that it still is now. The band members are young and most of them haven’t experienced the squatted Amsterdam of the 90’s that I grew up in, but they are finding out themselves that they don’t have a sense of belonging anymore and that definitely shows through in their music I think.
At the moment Hang Youth is all pretty popular. They are not on your label but do you think they help your bands getting more audience?
I think they’re definitely part of the whole renewed interest in punkrock music by young people in The Netherlands. I don’t know if they necessarily bring our bands more audience since our bands have more of a rock ’n roll edge than them. But then again, the mosh pit at a live show is still the same… so I can’t see why they can’t like both.
Do you think that the current punk scene can be related to the older punk scenes? Do you recognize the vibe of the 90’s when you grew up with punk oir is it different?
The biggest difference is the sheer amount of music that kids today have at their fingertips with streaming services. The influences are much broader now. Which is a blessing and a curse I guess… it leads to new genres, but personally speaking that’s not so interesting to me. In many things evolution and progress is a good thing, but in punk and rock ’n roll that’s not always the case. It’s going back to the thing what I said about the chemistry. If it works, it works. Sometimes you don’t have to change a winning formula.
Punk is often associated with high energy, rebellion, maybe anger against the system. Is that still in the punk of your bands?
Absolutely, but I’ve also always associated my favorite punk bands from the 1970’s more with original 50’s rock ’n roll as well. After a decade of prog rock and endless guitar solo’s, they finally took it back to three chords and getting to the point. Similarly post-punk bands have kind of dominated the alternative scene in recent years. And I think that we go more back to basics than other labels, which I guess some people could consider resfreshing.
You need need to smell the sweat, taste the blood and feel the bruises from rocking out to your favorite bands. Nothing digital can ever replace that
I saw that your label is quite active on Instagram, and so is Hang Youth and other bands. Of course I understand that you want to promote your bands but it also feels a bit weird. I mean punk and insta are two opposites. I have the same doubts for Amsterdam Alternative by the way. So not accusing you of something we are doing better. I just sometimes think we should quit that shit.
It’s a necessary evil. You want to get your music out there and people to come to the shows. We want the rest of the world to see what kind of cool bands we have in Amsterdam right now and unfortunately social media is still the best way to do that. I see it more in a way like we used to have flyers or magazines back in the day. It’s just a means to an end. Everybody that knows Wap Shoo Wap can tell you that the real thing happens at our concerts and DJ-parties. You need need to smell the sweat, taste the blood and feel the bruises from rocking out to your favorite bands. Nothing digital can ever replace that. And if you ask me, It’s just a lot more fun moshing and pogo-ing with 50 people than with 5.
What is the audience of your label like? Are they mostly young people or different generations?
The average audience that comes to our shows definitely got a lot younger in recent years. Punk started to become an “old white dude” thing in the last 10 to 15 years or so in Amsterdam, and luckily that’s changed. I see a lot more girls at the shows and in the mosh pits than when I was growing up as well. But we still attract the older crowd as well, so I think you can see people from 18 to 58 at our parties and I personally really dig that.
Do you organize a lot of WSWR events?
We do, but the label activities have prevented us from doing shows on a monthly basis like we used to do, but we still regularly organise concerts with bands from our label but also from all over the world. And we also DJ here and there. We recently organized a tour for Doctor Velvet in Brazil and The Covids will be going on tour in Mexico and the USA in the spring of next year.
Are you organizing in Amsterdam only or also going other cities in The Netherlands, or even abroad?
We have done some Wap Shoo Wap parties in Den Haag and Haarlem as well. But 80% of the things we organize are in Amsterdam. Recently we’ve also been to Lisbon in Portugal to DJ and promote the label and we’re planning on doing that more in the future. It’s a good way to introduce the Amsterdam bands to an international audience and have some fun ourselves at the same time.
In the old days punk was also a visual thing. Style of clothes, colored hair, Mohawk’s etc. Are the new generation doing the same or is it different in 2022?
The biggest change is that the style of clothes that used to be worn by punks/rockers has found its way into the mainstream since a while now. Whenever you saw a pair of Doc Martens, Vans or a leather jacket on the street back in the day it was safe to assume that person was a kindred spirit. Now we live in a world where Ramones shirts are being sold at H&M to people who probably have no idea that they’re even a band. I think that fact has mare the new generation a bit more creative in what they’re wearing to express themselves. But then again, a leather jacket with a few badges will never go out of style either!
Now we live in a world where Ramones shirts are being sold at H&M to people who probably have no idea that they’re even a band
What do you have planned for 2023? New records, new events etc?
We’re gonna end the great year we had with a DJ-set in Markt Centraal on the 31st of December at a New Year’s Party that also features The Covids. Our next release will be a single by a young local 60’s beat band called The Mocks, which will come out in February 2023. And in March we will be releasing the first full length album by The Covids. All of the releases will go hand in hand with parties and shows, so definitely keep an eye here in Amsterdam Alternative to see where you can mess around together with us next!