Bambix
Club Matuchek
Go Kart
Bambix, a Netherlands punk band, are the successors to bands like The Gits and 7 Year Bitch, and man have I been waiting for a band like that for a long-ass time! Led by the bold, deep-voiced (non-screaming) Willa van Houdt (who goes by the stage name Wick Bambix), this band I have thankfully just stumbled upon sound like all that good California and Pacific Northwest punk from my formative years (the 1990s). They’ve got Green Day song structures and power chords and the forceful attitude of the Riot Grrl period.
Club Matuchek was released in Europe in 2004, but – like a lot of things – it took the United States a couple of years to catch on and for Go Kart to finally make it available here. The baker’s-dozen collection of straightforward punk rock was well worth the wait and is sure to be a long-time resident on my constant playlist!
Like any punk band worth their weight in PBR, Bambix’s lyrics are equally distributed between politics…
“And there’s fighting in the streets- it seems that’s all you ever need/ To prove you’re in control- the lights will soon go down on you/ The end is near what can you do/ When the stage is set right here for you/ Gotta keep that bullet down, bushranger” –from “Bullet.”
… and partying …
“Well, this girl, she told me we went out… She said that we were kissing- and maybe even more… Said I spilled some beer and that she licked it off- Oh it must have been an evening full of love/ So tell me baby- Is it OK that maybe/ We can do it all over again- Just to make sure baby/ That this time, maybe- I’ll get a little less drunk” –from “Little Less Drunk.”
The Gits, 7 Year Bitch, L7, Hole – and now – Bambix.
Bambix: http://www.bambix.org
