Pandemonium started around mid-1981 with Danny and Peter in the original line-up. Danny’s brother Rowdy joined shortly after as they couldn’t find a drummer. They started from scratch, none of them ever played - besides Danny a little - guitar or drums before. All band members were already friends since kindergarten. At the age of 15 they went to see a U.K. SUBS gig which was the final push to really start something. The first rehearsals were in the attic of Peter’s parents house. Later the cellar of Pand 24 and the local youth center O.O.C. became their practice space and hangout. Mat joined the band around 1982 as he ran the Limbabwe label and wanted to record some songs for a compilation tape and later the first Playing the building site of new cultural center De Maaspoort in Venlo, 1982
demo. He started to book all the gigs and did the recordings. After a while he became just another band member. After playing some local gigs, the De Pandemonium Affaire demo got recorded and was released. The music was raw and biting.
Playing the Netherlands and Germany for quite a bit, and appearing on the now legendary compilation LP Als Je Haar Maar Goed Zit 2 on Vögelspin Records, Pandemonium recorded their first 7” Who The Fuck Are You? The record was sent to many countries which was an exciting thing in itself, since there was no or very little infrastructure for distributing records. The band’s name got well known after releasing their Wir Fahren Gegen Dreck LP in 1984. The record was filled with angst driven hardcore, that was almost a milestone at the time. With a better production and playing the songs with more speed, it gave Pandemonium the opportunity to
Presenting the first 7" in Hotel Wilhelmina. Venlo, November 1983
play many squats, youth centers and open fields all over Europe: the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Yugoslavia and Spain; playing with countless other international bands.The band also got more and more involved in the squat scene in their hometown. As Peter stated: “After Pandemonium had started we hooked up with a lot of people in our hometown
who were just on the same level and wanted action. People started bands, went to concerts or tried to find exciting and unknown music. Remember that about that time everybody was unemployed. Nobody had work or didn’t want to. Everything that happened was new and self-fulfilling. If there’s a spirit in the air it has to come out some way; in this case a very creative and rebellious one. Being with a lot of people at one point we needed a platform and place to go to and do our thing, so we squatted for the first time an old police station.” And: “Squatting is a tool, not a goal in itself. It was an individual choice by the band members back then and not a choice made by the band. It just fitted in. Some did a lot, others
The squatted V.H.C. in Venlo 1984
less.” In 1986 the band broke up. It was mainly Peter’s decision and Danny and Rowdy agreed. The band had done everything the members had wanted to, but they also had started to get fed up with going the same way over and over. It was time to take different routes. Peter went on to play bass temporarily with noise band OH' DEV and went into the
political underground for a couple of years after quitting music in all. Danny switched to drums and already had started the band GORE with two former members of DISGUST, and remained with them before joining CASPAR BRÖTZMANN and later on DEE DEE RAMONE with his ICLC project. Rowdy continued as a drummer with several other projects before joining NEGAZIONE and abandoning music afterwards as well. Mat already had started a recording studio and did a lot of managing and touring in between. Pandemonium did a reunion gig in 1989 with Dutch saxophone player HANS DULFER as a benefit for the local youth center O.O.C.. They made a huge impact with the hyperfast hardcore, but also with the lyrics. The issues they sung about and ranted against seem to be as relevant as twenty years ago.
Andoain in Basque country, Spain 1985
Text copied and edited from website Kill from the Heart
Discography:
VLAAIKOTS - sampler tape / Limbabwe 1982
DE PANDEMONIUM AFFAIRE - tape / Limbabwe 1982
ALS JE HAAR MAAR GOED ZIT 2 - sampler LP / Vögelspin 1983
WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU? - 7” / Limbabwe 1983
LIVE IN ZAAL 3 - live tape / Limbabwe 1983
HOLLAND HARDCORE 2 - sampler tape / Er is Hoop 1984
WIR FAHREN GEGEN DRECK - LP / Limbabwe 1984
P.E.A.C.E. - sampler 2LP / R Radical 1984
MONEY MAKES JUSTICE - live sampler 7" / Limbabwe 1985
WIR FAHREN INS GRÜNE - 7” / Limbabwe 1985
WIE LANGE NOCH? - sampler LP / Double A 1985
BABYLON BLEIBT FAHREN - live sampler LP / Babylon Bleibt Fahren 1985
EMMA - live sampler 2LP / 1986
EMPTY SKULLS 2 - sampler LP / Fartblossom 1986
ARE YOU THE ONE THAT’S GETTING FUCKED,
OR ARE YOU THE ONE THAT'S DOING THE FUCKING? - live tape / Limbabwe 1986
ARE YOU THE ONE THAT’S GETTING FUCKED,
OR ARE YOU THE ONE THAT’S DOING THE FUCKING? - live LP / Limbabwe 1987
Re-issues:
SEX, DRUGS, STOCKS,
AND AN OLD MAN TALKING TO HIMSELF - 2CD discography / Coalition Records 2002
WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU? - 7” / Noise and Distortion 2007
WIR FAHREN INS GRÜNE - 7” / Noise and Distortion 2008
