5 minutes with Hanne from For I Am & Bearded Punk Records
Belgian pop-punks For I Am are set to release their sophomore album Late Bloomers on 16 November 2019. Lockjaw Records is proud to be helping with the UK leg of this huge international vinyl release, spearheaded by Belgium’s finest label, Bearded Punk Records.
Ahead of the release, we had a chat with Hanne Terweduwe: For I Am’s vocalist and Queen of Bearded Punk Records.
Hello! Who are you and what do you do?
Hi! We’re For I Am and we play powerful pop-punk / punk rock with fast guitars, crazy drum parts, and melodic but vigorous vocals. I’m proud of myself for having come up with that description just now!
How did you first get involved with the punk rock community?
We basically grew up with it. My punk rock story began because of my uncle, Hein, who owned a webzine called Punkupdates back in the nineties. He constantly sent me the latest punk releases. So, while my contemporaries were listening to The Backstreet Boys and The Spice Girls, I was singing along to Bad Religion and The Vandals.
From middle school onwards, I sang and played the guitar in my first ever band, called Oblivion. Hence the name of one of the songs on the new record! And that’s how my love for punk music really took off.
[ux_video url="https://youtu.be/XRY9HEz7fII"]What’s your favourite album of all time (and what do you love most about it)?
Difficult one! There’s actually quite a few albums that would classify. One of my all time favourites still is Hard Rock Bottom by No Use For A Name. Tony Sly for me was one of the best lyricists punk’s ever seen. I’m bummed as hell I’ll never get to see him perform live again.
Other albums that are very dear to me are Sticks and Stones by New Found Glory, Ocean Avenue by Yellowcard, Sing The Sorrow by Bad Religion, Borders & Boundaries by Less Than Jake… Well, it’s obvious this list goes on a while.
Who’s your favourite new band right now?
It might be funny, but to me that’s definitely St. Plaster. Tim Van Doorn and Adrian Delange started the band last year and immediately announced its demise as well. While that is a very strong move, I’m really sad not to see them perform the album live anymore. Crazy how talented these guys are!
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received about music?
Stick to being who you are. There will always be people who don’t like your music and who will even be rude about it, or even think they know what kind of person you are without ever even talking to you in person.
When we first started out as a band, I would be offended and would try to find ways in which I could make it right again, but I found out that that’s not necessary at all. I’m happy with who I am, with who we are as a band and with the music we make. If people don’t even bother to come and talk to us before forming an opinion, then that’s on them. If you are true to yourself, you’ll stay in the game.
Musically, what’s been your proudest moment?
This definitely is one of them: the release of Late Bloomers. It’s an album we really poured our hearts and souls into. We intensively worked on it together with Tim for two years, and we’re super happy with the results!
Of course, being able to play Groezrock, Punk Rock Holiday and tour Japan were amazing moments as well. We honestly never thought we’d ever make it this far.
Who do you most admire in the scene at the moment?
I admire every DIY band, label, webzine, reviewer… for keeping the scene alive. It’s not always easy and it’s a small family if you look at it globally. But it’s due to those kinds of people that that family is still here today. So, thank you all for that!
What have you got coming up that you’d like people to hear about?
No specific details just yet, but what we can tell you is that we’re definitely planning on playing some cool festivals, maybe do another international tour and promote the new album as much as we can. Because, well… We think that’s what it deserves, haha!
Late Bloomers is released on 16 November 2019. It’s a mega co-release including Lockjaw Records in the UK, plus Punk & Disorderly Records (CAN), Sound Speed Records (US), La Agonía De Vivir (ES), Milestone Sounds (JAP), Fond Of Life Records (DE), Trilob Records (NL) & No Reason Records (IT).
Lockjaw Records have our very own orange vinyl version for the UK only.
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