Portal do Rock has the pleasure to bring to worldwide fans of punk rock and oi! music, an exclusive interview with Belgium band - The Agitators. They are labeled as "a street punk" band, but after seeing them playing live at the last edition of English punk festival Holidays in The Sun, held in Morecombe in June 2003, I could see what power and dynamism this new but prominent band has to showcase.

They really capture the spirit of well recognised bands like The Business, Oxymoron, Dropkick Murphys and also the legend Cock Sparrer. They sing about typical youth themes like drinking, football, fighting and also politics, but always with a very good sense of humor that makes a huge difference, comparing with other bands.

In my modest opinion The Agitators are among the few bands which will carry their trade mark to many other countries, and surely will be respected by many fans worldwide as well. They play with such attitude and energy, which are rare to find nowadays at punk rock gigs. More information about this new band, you can check by reading the interview I have done with Marc van Lier, lead singer of The Agitators:

Portal: First, we would like to know how the band was formed and what you guys had in mind when you decided to form the Agitators? Marc: It all started in 2000, Bart and I had been playing for more than 10 years in a hardcore-band Double U.S. but we were a bit tired of playing hard-core and wanted to do something else. Bart (Bart van Lier) really wanted to play singalong-streetpunk. So we started looking for a drummer and a bass-player. A drummer was quickly found, Markus (Markus Verbeeck) had been playing in a successfull hardcore-band Eightball which also ended to exist those days. So we started rehearsing with only the three of us. A little while later Alain joined us to play the bass. This was the beginning of the Agitators, a year later Dave (Dave Boudry) replaced Alain and so the current line-up was formed. Our goal was to have fun with making the music we really like to play.

Portal: What are the main bands influencing the music of the band?
Marc: That would be a list too long to mention. All of us listen to a wide variety of music-styles, going from streetpunk, oi over ska to hardcore and Dave is even a fan of trashmetal. But to name a few bands Cocksparrer, Dropkick Murphys, The Business, US Bombs, Deadline, Beerzone...

Portal: And suppose each one of you guys had to mention 3 best bands of all times for you, what would be those bands? Marc: Cock Sparrer, Madness and The Business. Bart: Cock Sparrer, The Clash and Red Alert. Dave: o "antigo" Metallica, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest Portal: When you write songs, do you have a focus on some specific matters or you write of what comes to your minds? Marc: When I write lyrics, it's about what comes to my mind at the moment, that can be something that has happened to me, something I read in the paper or just something some improvisation. We don't have the ambition to send a message to the world, unless that people should have fun as much as possible.

Portal: Tell us a little bit about the punk and about the rock scene in general in Belgium. Is it a good time for Belgium rock bands?
Marc: There are a lot of great bands in Belgium and even though we are a small country there are great gigs every weekend. Lot of people show up at gigs, so yeah it's a good time for bands to play and have fun, but no, you will not get rich playing in a band.

Portal: What are the main successful Belgium bands? And what are the up coming ones? Marc: The main bands are: Funeral Dress, Unite Against Society, The Heartaches and The Kids. Upcoming good bands are: The Jesters, Sweet Poison, Smooth Lee, Headcase, The Goodfellas, The Veros and MES. Portal: Who are the main fans of your band? Punks? Skins? Rockers? Marc: I can't say, we see punks and skins at our gigs, it's not possible to put a label on the average Agitator-fan. Portal: Talking about the members of the band, can you say you are a band formed by skins, punks or some other thing like that or you are just a load of guys having fun? Marc: We are just a load of guys having fun, Bart is more a skinhead, Markus has a punk-history, Dave and I are average boys who like to play music.

Portal: Here in Brazil punks and skins dont get together and they are always fighting to each other. Maybe this is something that you guys from Europe dont see at your place. Tell us how is the relationship of punks and skins in Belgium and Europe in general. Marc: Some 15 years ago there were a lot of fights between punks and skins, nowadays punks and skins all come to gigs together without problems. It still happens that people get into a fight, but that has nothing to do with being skin or punk, it's more between political different minds or drunks fighting for an imaginary reason. Portal: - I saw one of your gigs on HITS 2003 and could see that both punks and skins like your music a lot. But once you play lots of "anthems" it seems you are attracting loads of skinheads because they really go mad about it. Is that so? Marc: Like I said in Belgium you see skins and punks singalong together when we play anthems.

Portal: You have released just one album so far, called Meeting The Lads. Is there any plans for a new album coming soon? Do you intend to have the album released in some other countries as well? Which countries are already tied up and which ones you would like to have some deal to make your album available?
Marc: Meeting The Ladz is being Released by Street Anthem Records which is a label from the States, as far as we know it is being distributed pretty good. We have found our CD in most Belgian stores, and when we search on the internet we found sellers from all over the world selling our CD. So we are really happy with the label and will release our next CD also with Street Anthem.



Portal: Talking about soccer. I know you are also fans of soccer. Now that you are giving an interview to a Brazilian website, tell us how was the feeling of losing that match for Brazil on the world cup last time? Have you ever thought Belgium could win?
Marc: There was a lot of disapointment after the game because it was a real good game from our side, we had some chances to score a goal and the Brazilian goal was scored after the ball had been deflected on a defenders' leg. But anyway Brazil was the best team on the world cup, and they are the correct world champions. A lot of Belgians still the think the goal Wilmots scored was disaproved unjustly, but in my opinion you could see that Wilmots pushed the defender just before he jumped to score his goal. What I do remember about that day was the big fun we had, the game was on early in the morning in Belgium and me and my friends went to watch on a TV in a pub in the city of Antwerp, although we lost, we still had great drunk day, wich ended with some capoeira-dancing in a Brazilian pub!!!

Portal: When Belgium plays European championships, which teams are the worst rivals to Belgium? Marc: There is always great rivalry when we play against the Netherlands, those games have great history. The Dutch supporters think they have the best team in the world and it's always funny to see their faces when we beat every now and then. But I have to be honest, Belgian soccer isn't of great value these days. Portal: Back to music matters, what are the main plans for the band this year? Like main gigs or festivals coming on. Marc: We are planning to release a new cd this year, we are writing songs for that now. We are playing Wasted in Morecambe again, some festivals and nice gigs in Belgium this summer. We'll be playing more shows in the UK October. We are looking to do a 2-week tour but we are still figuring out where and when, could be US could be Europe...

Portal: What do you know about the Brazilian punk rock or rock scene? Any band from Brazil that you know or like?
Marc: I don't know much about the Brazilian scene, I heard a CD from Lambrusco Kids which is very good. Of course I know some other Brazilian bands like Ratos de Porao, Colera and of course Sepultura. Ratos has played quite some times in Belgium and I've seen a flyer anouncing Colera one of these weeks in small venue nearby where I live.


people enjoying the Agitators warm-up gig at HITS 2003

Portal: Have you ever thought of playing in Brazil or even South America?
Marc: I have thought about playing in Brazil, but that was in a dream. We would really love to play in Brazil if there would be a way to do it in a way we wouldn't be losing too much money. If someone can help, please do (you can always mail me at marc@agitatorsstreetpunk.com).



Portal: Any final message for the Brazilians reading this interview and wanting to know more about the band?
Marc: Thanks for reading this interview, check out our CD or our website www.agitatorsstreetpunk.com. If you are into punk or oi, support your local scene, go and watch the local bands and promote them to your friends so your scene gets bigger. Oh yeah, just one more thing, try to get unity amongst skins and puks, gigs are supposed to be fun, drinking and singing. But I don't want to preach so take care and be happy; CHEERS!!!


Donwload now the mp3 for the songs "Hooligan" and "Misunderstood"

Check the video of the band´s live performance at HITS 2003

For more information visit The Agitators Official Website

Marcio Faveri

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