In their sixteen years of existence, the Voodoo Glow Skulls have an impressive list of achievements. Seven albums, one million records sold, appearances in exotic locations like Brazil and Japan as well as the creation of a record store, record label, recording studio and a music venue attests to the remarkable creativity and energy of the band. Formed in 1988, Voodoo Glow Skulls meshed hardcore punk, traditional ska, tough guitar riffs and the Mexican music of their roots to create the prototype for the West Coast ska-core sound, influencing a wide range of bands from Sublime to No Doubt. Unflinchingly honest, their songs often used humor to comment on harsh political realities – from racial inequity to unrest overseas. Singing in both Spanish and English, Voodoo Glow Skulls’ bilingual musical tradition has been a hallmark of the band since they began.

Titled Adicción, Tradición, y Revolución, the new album is self produced and recorded (in their Dog Run Studios), and contains some of their most rocking, candid music ever. “Adicción refers to our feelings about music, we have hardcore fans who consider our music to be both unique and addicting,” Frank explains. “Tradición signifies the fact that we’ve been together as a musical family for this long, and have not really changed. Also, we have always tried to include our Latin roots in our music, either by writing songs in Spanish or incorporating musical ideas that we grew up with. Latinos have a very strong sense of tradition, and we are very aware of it. Finally, Revolución because we have always tried to steer clear of trends – we are somewhat of a musical revolution in that our music is unique, even hard to copy.”

The core of the band since the beginning has been the three Casillas brothers, Frank, Eddie and Jorge, joined by drummer Jerry O’Neill and Brodie Johnson on trombone. The current line-up boasts a three horn section for the first time in six years. The lyrics are a collaboration between, “Eddie, a notepad and a pen, and myself,” Frank jokes, and they run the gamut, from the hilarious send up of Jerry’s girlfriend on “D D Don’t Like Ska” to the political commentary in “We Represent”. “Touring in some of the out-of-the-way places we have been, in some cases we are the first Americans they have dealt with directly. The negative feedback on the U.S. government is pretty universal, and disturbing.” said Frank. “Smile Now, Cry Later” is their take on a rock steady song, with a killer groove. “Ghetto Blaster” indicts the corporate music industry and the force feeding of the masses. Every Voodoo Glow Skulls album contains one cover – their latest is a traditional ska version of the Guns N’ Roses classic “Used To Love Her”!

With a list of accomplishments that might make some bands ready to slow their pace, the band shows no signs of slowing down. A full West Coast tour will be followed by a trip to Brazil to headlining the Punk Rock Show festival on Halloween, and another U.S. tour immediately follows. Voodoo Glow Skulls legendary live shows are full of searing horns, grinding guitars and throaty growls – and no one plays super tight ska faster than these veterans. Adicción, Tradición, y Revolución rocks harder than ever – Voodoo Glow Skulls dubbed their sound “California street music” – a perfect description of their high octane mix of rock, punk, ska and hardcore.

Groupe belge jouant un mélange de punk cuivré et de ska, Dirty Bees allie la puissance d’une guitare, d’une basse et d’une batterie avec l’énergie et la mélancolie d’une trompette et d’un saxophone. Leurs textes incisifs, chantés en français ou en anglais avec cette rage qui les entraine d’une scène à l’autre, parlent de leur conception du monde, de leur vie au quotidien, des valeurs qui les animent et portent un regard critique sur le monde qui les entoure.

Sur la scène depuis 2006, Hadri, Nico, Kev', Arnaud, Thierry et Piet enchainent les dates pour distiller leurs mélodies et partager avec un maximum de monde une musique accessible mais engagée, entrainante mais travaillée…

2001. Some schoolfriends, hailing from Vilvoorde, Belgium, decide to start up a band. Some growing pains were conquered, and Overweight was born. What started out with several punk- and rockcovers, soon evolved into a mix of selfmade songs, spiced up with some creatively covered songs of popular children- and animationseries. A very important step for Overweight was the introduction of a horn section, comprising a logical evolution towards skapunk.

An improvised studio was the setting for a first demo, “What we call paradise”, which opened a lot of doors. A new demo was released in 2008, titled “Back to life with a hangover”, which resulted in a bunch of shows. Later that year, Thomas left the band to spend some more time on other challenges in his life. An ample replacement was found quickly: ever since, Willem Merckx has been in charge of the plucking of the bass.

In 2009 the band presented its first full-CD: “The world for sale”. Ten neatly recorded tracks, with the catchy skapunk tunes definitely being a highlight! Fun, terrific atmosphere, feel good and occasionally a sonic guitar avalanche: is probably the best way to describe Overweight in a nutshell.

The next year, 2010, was the year of the downs and heights: the band did a French and a UK Tour, which where definitely a lot of fun! But later that year, Wannes decided to quit the band. After a long search, Julien Daiche was found to hit the drums!

Through the years, this fun loving gang has built up a rather excellent live reputation. Wherever they go, their catchy party songs are a guarantee for some good old-fashioned crowd mayhem! Overweight already had the honour of sharing the stage with bands such as Mark Foggo’s Skasters, Janez Detd, P.O. Box, The Maple Room, Homer, Skafield, The Disliked, El Guapo Stuntteam, Peter Pan Speedrock, Five Days Off, The Hicky Underworld, de Heideroosjes, A Brand, Big D And The Kid’s Table…