Fokkum

Genre: Punk-related.

Location: The Netherlands


- A brutal band, with raw, short, melo, fast punk songs.
- We are now with four members.


1996-2001
Ries founded Fokkum with together with a few fellow Barton Dean / Within Temptation members (Floris and Michiel).
Ries wanted to merge his favorite styles: Hardcore (such as: Uniform Choice ‘Straight and alert’ and Intensity ‘Bought and sold’ and 7 Seconds ‘The crew’ and Jerry’s kids ‘Is this my world?’ and Minor threat) and Crustcore: (Such as: Doom ‘War crimes’ en Extreme Noise Terror ‘Holocaust in my head’ and Final conflict ‘Ashes to ashes’ and Discharge).
We had a couple of lineup changes and did a few gigs.
A bunch of songs were written.
We recorded a few rehearalcassettetapes with uncomplete lineups.
2001-2006
Fokkum merched with the band G.O.Y. and we changed our name into Still No. The music soon tended more to fast, melodic, oldschool sXe hardcore.
We did some gigs.
We recorded 1 demo-cassette and 1 full-length D.I.Y. cdr ‘Attempt To Make Sense’ and than splitup.
2006-2007
Ries brought the old Fokkum back to life.
Ries wrote a bunch of songs and lyrics.
Ries developed a logo, a site and prepared much more stuff.
Ries tried to find new members to complete the lineup, but didn’t succeed easily.
2007-2008
Lisa and Ries build their own rehearsal-room / D.I.Y.studio (1year labour).
Ries made Fokkum more brutal and more crust (riffing / dropB).
Lisa desides to play (distortion)bassguitar in Fokkum.
We did many rehearsalsessions.
We recorded our angry and negative 'Revenge' crustcore demo cult cdr (with the help of guest guitarist Michiel).
Ries distributed 300 Revenge demos all across the world, mainly in Holland.
2008-2009
Fokkum’s soul changed from angry to love after a couple of years of conspiracy / spiritual / historical research and personal experiences.
All lyrics were rewritten by Ries.
Our quest for truth, love and fun began.
Next to Hardcore and Crustcore we included a littlebit Dbeat (such as: Skytsystem) and Skatecore (such as: Satanic surfers ‘666 Motor inn’) sound in our Fokkum style.
2009
Xander became Fokkum’s guitarist.
We made D.I.Y. split-cds with Noituus, Indulgencia, Agamenon Project (songs taken from ‘Revenge’ cd).
We appeared on the German compilation: Break Out #3 (song taken from ‘Revenge’ cd).
Ries made our own D.I.Y. merchandise such as: buttons, stickers, posters, caps etc.
2010
We recorded our lofi D.I.Y. 11song EP / minicdr named: ‘Notice Yourself’.
Ries wrote to 80 (e)zines and 20 other D.I.Y. punk / hardcore initiatives (mailorders, labels, etc.) and send them our ‘Notice Yourself’ cd.
Ries made our own split cdr (artwork, duplicating, etc.) with Resposta Simples (songs taken from ‘Notice Yourself’).
We appeared on a German prosquat Solisampler (song taken from ‘Notice Yourself’).
Venues kept asking us to do gigs, so we did a bunch of gigs in Holland and 1 in Belgium.
People liked our tunes and initiatives and we got many positive responses.
2011
We recorded a big, fat D.I.Y. studio fulllength cd named 'Paradise'. Ries made a fullcolour ‘Paradise’cd artwork.
We made hundreds of copies of all our other / former merchandise (like splits, comps, ‘Notice’ EP and promostuff), so we could give it away for free.
We had a 6month break (Ries had personal problems).
In this breakperiod we were suddenly a supriseact of Ignite in Tivoli (Utrecht, Holland).
After this break we prepared ourselfs again and made plans for our cdrelease and new gigs.
Ries designed new promoshit for buttons, logos, flyers, stickers, posters, caps, statementposters and more.
We made a new site: www.fokkum.nl
We made a Facebook, Youtube, Reverbnation and Bandcamp.
We started rehearsing again.
We wrote a couple of new songs.
We decided to do some more gigs and had great fun.
Xander suffered from a injury (for a period we didn’t rehearse very often).
2012
The ‘Paradise’ cd released in February with a party in HPC.
Ries wrote to a lot of (e)zines and other D.I.Y. punk / hardcore initiatives (mailorders, labels, etc.) and send them our ‘Paradise’ cd.
Shows in Holland and Belgium.
Ries wrote to a few people, labels, magazines and distros to ask if they would distribute our ‘Paradise’ cd.
Xander quit the band in June.
Ries and Lisa searched for a guitarplayer and went on writing songs.
Ries posted about 50 Fokkumpromopackages (cds, stickers etc.) all over the world (mainly in Holland).
Hans decided to join our band as a second bassplayer.
Thijn send us a videodemo for the audition and joined the band in October.
Ims contacted us, we had a good tryout. In November he became the fifth member.
Ries made a couple of already existing songs shorter (throw away what you don’t need).
Because of us being with more members, we decided to slightly ‘upgrade’ some already exsisting songs.
We wrote a bunch of new songs!
We rehearsed our asses off (19 old and 6 new songs) and had lots of fun.
The new Fokkum is born... Ries: vocals/drums, Lisa: distortionbassguitar, Hans: cleanebassguitar, Thijn: guitar, Ims: guitar.
We are ready for the new year ! :)

Fokkum is
A brutal, slightly melodic sounding band, with raw, short and fast songs.
We are searching for new gigs.
We are a Dutch band.
Music inspiration comes from: Uniform Choice, Intensity, 7 Seconds, Jerry’s kids, Minor threat, Doom, Extreme Noise Terror, Discharge, Final conflict, Skitsystem, Satanic surfers and more bands.

Lyric themes
Agnostics, politics, freedom, anarchy, conspiracies, spirituality, esotherics, positivism, alternative history, mindcontrol, illuminati, freemasons, machobehaviour, bloodlines, freethinking, personal experiences / feelings, small mind / big mouth, social issues, animal rights, manipulation, indoctrination, love, peace and more..

Contact
fokkum@ziggo.nl


Members:

• Richard (Ries) Willemse - drums / lead-vocals.
• Lisa Wessling - distortion-bassguitar.
• Hans Boender - bassguitar / back vocals.
• Thijn Piera - guitar.
• Ims Storm van Leeuwen - guitar.


Official Website: http://fokkum.nl/

MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/fokkum