“Few bands are as focused on potential challenges, on what is yet to come, as The Ex. Which is pretty remarkable for a band celebrating 45 years of existence, a turbulent journey filled with an impressive series of highlights. However, nostalgia has never been this band’s forte, as they like no other succeed in reinventing themselves, finding new alliances and fascinating challenges along the way. Stay out of that comfort zone for long enough and it just might disappear. The pandemic was a standstill for many, including The Ex. Or perhaps it was more a kind of recharging, as the band is back on national and international stages with new music, ready to return to the studio. So, in 45 years they did more than 2000 concerts in 45 countries. It was time for a new 45rpm 7” single. From the brand-new set they are playing full-on this year, they picked two blinking tracks”. (The Ex Records)

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Tourdaten:

19.09. – Eindhoven, Effenaar
20.09. – Utrecht, dBs
21.09. – Landgraaf, Oefenbunker
25.09. – Amsterdam, Paradiso
26.09. – Groningen, VERA
27.09. – Tilburg, Murf/Murw festival
23.11. – Amsterdam, Bimhuis/EX-45 Festival
24.11. – Nona, Mechelen/EX-45 Festival

Kollege Ken Vandermark so, der während der Show aber eines besseren belehrt wurde: “…I was getting so pissed off at what Terrie was doing… I couldn’t make any relationship to what Han was doing… Random stuff, you know… Hearing Han, I was getting more and more irritated, like… will you just let Han play, because you’re not listening… And there was a coffee cup on the stage and Han was playing on the ground and he threw it at Terrie… and Terrie was playing and…. he caught it. And I thought: I’m not hearing anything. He was so tuned in to what Han was doing, he didn’t even have to look. So I just shut my brain off and watched and listened. And that was one of the most important concerts I ever saw, because it totally changed my idea about improvised music”. Wie sehr die Haltung des Publikums, dessen Begeisterung in den Aufnahmen imemr mal zu hören ist, ausschlaggebend für ein Verständnis und letztich auch den Genus der Musik ist, betont auch Guy Peters in seinen Liner Notes: “Han and Terrie share a giddy playfulness and the feeling of performing a crazy little dance next to a ravine. That old school drum kit and irreparable guitar are not just instruments, but tools to kick-start your imagination and they rattle, scrape, howl, screech, squeak and rumble incessantly.

It is like a game of musical hopscotch: sometimes there is a swift win, sometimes it is unclear until the very end who will come out on top, and occasionally the game will be disbanded halfway through. They are messing with expectations and conventions, always with some mischief and a grin, challenging you to do something about it”. Das Album erscheint als LP und digital bei Terp Records.

Foto: Geert Vandepoele

@ Terp Records