TRESPASSERS W
PRETTY LIPS ARE RED (LP)
Line-up:
Cor Gout: vocals
Lukas Simonis: guitar, one bass
Frank van der Bos: keyboards
Ronnie Krepel: bass, one guitar
Bart Vos: drums
Henk van Schaik: saxophone
Attila The Stockbroker: violin
This LP is deleted. A remixed CD version of it is now available on the French label Mécanique Poplulaire (see in the TW Discography list) : Recorded and Produced by Wim Oudijk, mixed by Wim and Guus van Leeuwen at Disco Fair.
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Reviews in English: 2 Concert reviews: 2
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MELODY MAKER, UK, May 9, 1986
by DAVID STUBBS:
TRESPASSERS W – PRETTY LIPS ARE RED (Dead Man’s Curve Records)
TWO OFFerings from the Netherlands, washed up and washed clean. Trespassers W are two albums, a « cultural unit », organising various media events, and the like with Attila The Stockbroker, doubtless on account of the political content of their lyrics. But neither the word « agit », nor Attila’s gruff vest are quite the images suggested by the Trespassers W’s sound. « Pretty Lips Are Red » is 1979 again, post-punk style silver, a rock that’s fresh, naïve, spacious.
But is it an indictment of myself or the Trespassers that I can’t stomach the political messages issuing from songs suck « Contras » or « Echoes of Rhodesia » ? Moved by the sick drift of « Melancholy Man », carried away by the cavalry of chords on « Neanderthal Woman Replica », drowning in the Ubu placenta of « Spit and Sawdust » or Cor Gout’s foreign delight in puns, I chafe at having to think, at pertinent pinpointing, am tempted, as with The Fall, to be bludgeoned into a gay oblivion. Am I decadent or are they overbearing?
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THE BOB, USA, 1987
by FRED MILLS:
TRESPASSERS W
Pretty Lips Are Red LP
The Ghost of the Jivaro Warrior (K7)
U.K. release via Dave Henderson’s label, Trespassers W are a group of fascinating musical contradictions and not a little politics. They have 3 previous Dutch-only release on their own Trespassers W label (the name also encompasses an art/cultural magazine/group), including a bizarre, atmospheric waltz cover of the Ramones « Blitzkrieg Bop ».
Describe the LP, you say? I feel like the proverbial blind man at the elephant! Vocalist Cor Gout, accented delivery may recall Bob Hitchcock or possibly Bid; he prefers to intone rather than warble, focusing your attention more than most singers, and even though a head-scratch is frequently the result of his twists, puns and diatribes, you’re never left without fodder for thought. Musically, the five-piece band runs the gamut between processed textures bordering on techno-pop (but never giving in to mechanical sterility), catchy, up-tempo bursts of clipped guitars and squiggly keyboards, seamless blankets of sound quilted by guitar and violin (courtesy of guest Attila The Stockbroker, an old chum of the band) that definitely imply Velvets without slavish devotion to same, and even just plain danceable mutant jazz. 14 songs of wild variety that nevertheless work contextually – the only complaint being that the production is a bit thin and this particular writer’s picks to click are the violin damage of « Living in The Hague » and the unsettling guitar, piano and sax of « Faraway Fathers »…
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OUTLOOK, Bradford, UK, 1986
by GERRY CROOKES:
* WELCOME to Outlook, I’m GERRY CROOKES and I am to give you full details of what’s going on In and around Bradford. Please send your information to me by first post on Tuesdays.
The pop blends of politics
Band… Trespassers W (NL)
o A five-piece Dutch band fronted by a political poet/journalist Cor Gout visits Bradford on Sunday as part of their first UK tour.
Trespassers W, appearing at Stereo Graffiti’s alternative cabaret night at the Spotted House, Keighley Road, Bradford, combine music and poetry usingh English lyrics to provide an effect described as a « politically aware Syd Barrett. » The former Pink Floyd star.
The rest of the show from 7:30 pm to 10:30 pm features a Liverpudlian poetry duo Levi Tafari and Eugene Lange, who also front the multi-cultural lusion band Ministry of Love. They mix Levi’s reggae/rasta rap with Eugene’s more urban jazz mode to offer an act which is political as well as entertaining.
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NEW MUSICAL EXPRESS, 31st May, 1986:
DODGY OLD LINES MEN
THE RANTERS’ CUP FINAL REPLAY – London Bay 63
There was also some music, the most impressive of which came from Dutch band Trespassers W. Their sparse, fiery and flowing agit-rock made the main musical attractions. The Neurotics, seem dated and inarticulate by comparison. Much of the audience left after The Neurotics appearance and before the last few verbalists had said their pieces, which led me wonder why more of these supposedly populist poets didn’t become lyricists, thereby gaining access to a far larger and more open-minded audience.
RANTER’S CUP FINAL 1986, North Kensington Bay 63
OH TO be in England now that the Norther Line is completely buggered. Alas, poor Swells, Ben Zephaniah et al, (didn »t quite make it in time for the early shift. « F*** off, Twinkletoes, » is the first line I’m privy to, Big J (la female) caught in full flight, and she’s not bad at all, and gadzooks, the rest of the evening is of surprisingly high standars – I’m surprised!
So much humour, and much of it funny Little Brothers picks on trainspotters and Lesley Crowther and why not? Trespassers W cross the Channel, deliver some immaculately conceived songs as ‘Pregnant’ and ‘Neverland’, pop with a sharp lyricism and scruffy Dutch jumpers.