Trespassers W – Not doing the Don’t
Mykel Boyd (Somnimage), Bradley, IL, August 2023
I first heard TW in 1993. I discovered their music as I did much of my music at the time, via Daniiel Plunkett’s ND magazine. I was publishing my own zine at the time so I sent a simple postcard to Javastraat 27 A in The Hague hoping for a copy to review.. I was overwhelmed by the package that came back.
Copies of every record I had missed from previous years. Soon I was listening to Roots and Locations, the Buzz K-Sept for fans cassette and Straight Madness on repeat.
I had been running Bright Green Records for just a few years and knew that ND was about to release the Boekelaar, Back 7”. So, I asked Cor to work on a release with me. We released the Heck’s 7” shortly after 5, 4, 3, 2, 1,…..0 was released.
It was an amazing thing for a young man from the prairie to be faxing art concepts back and forth to The Netherlands.
Cor continued to release records though the 90’s and I started a new label. We decided to work together again in 2002 on Sex and the End of It, the first part of a trilogy. We followed with The Drugs We All Need in 2005 and The Noble Folly of Rock-n Roll in 2006. My children grew up with the music of TW in the house and in the car. It was always a treat to hear them humming one of the melodies that had crept into their heads. Particular favorites were “Do the Don’t” and “Make Me Sad”. Dancing and stomping to “Do The Don’t” and repeating “I’m not doing the don’t”.
I guess everyone thought that TW was over and it was several years before some re-issues and a new 7” emerged. As is typical TW style, everyone was surprised when we announced Koala and other Metamorphoses in 2021.
With the release of l’Intégrale II fans will get the chance to read all of the lyrics to these amazing songs in English and also translated into Dutch and French.
This book has been curated in amazing detail by Ladzi Galai (who also wrote the introduction to the book). It is published by his Rytrut Editions company based in France.
We are all very lucky to have publishers willing to present works as vast as this.
The book includes many archival photos and artwork for the albums.
I have always had trouble describing TW to people and I think this is what makes them so incredible. An explosion of modern music with the heart of a well informed poet.