Soul Survivors Survive!

Hi to all my regular readers, it's been a while and i have to admit I've let you down, but now your up for a lil' treat. The next post is completely dedicated to hardcore and especially Rhythm To The Madness (RIP). A few weeks back at October, 17th to be precise legendary New Jersey straight edge outfit Floorpunch played at Trix, Antwerp. I've had been looking forward to that show for quite a while and I have to admit I feel kinda sorry I didn't catch more shows of the european tour they did with True Colors, cause I can assure y'all it was a night to remember. To set a mood, think Lintfabriek '04-'05 stylee. I felt great that night, the energy, the familiar faces, the friendships, everything! But this post ain't about Floorpunch, it's about a band palying their final show that night, Rhythm To The Madness. RTTM is a band that in my perspective never reached their full potential condidering all the music/urban metal they put out is truly exciting. So if you never heard of them get your hands on their demo, the Souldoubt 7" or the Weltschmertz LP. But next to putting out great music, RTTM also played an important role for me personally so it felt nostalgic and monumental to say goodbye to RTTM that night. A short recap about RTTM on a personal level. Things started out with a 2-song demo and regular guest appearances during Justice sets here and about. Later on when they started playing their own shows an important phase to me was the Cold World/RTTM UK weekend tour at the end of 2007. Not only for music but more importantly for friendship. Let me explain: I managed to go overseas to the UK with some of my closest friends (Arne, Kevin and Wouter) to catch two out of three shows, another great friend Filip aka Backtrack was roaddogging for RTTM and I kinda got to know Bjorn (Rise And Fall) who has become one of my certified homeboys. So friendship being the keyword in all this the next step in the story is the writing of their sophomore LP. Klaas the singer in RTTM was kind enough to include a couple of my lyrics in one of their songs and name their record after my at the time MSN nickname. The final step in the story is when RTTM decided to take this paraplegic prick with them on a three-week tour with Blacklisted during summer '09. Great times and again a lot of my current friends were involved. To honor the memory and the value of friendship, life and experiences like these I will end with a Youth Of Today quote and a shout out to RTTM. Thanks y'all.


"And I pray and I'll try to keep this spirit inside me as I start to grow old. This is an era of creativity: good music and good friends."