The Sorry Asses live at Merleyn [2002]

Various

The Sorry Asses played live at Merleyn in Nijmegen, The Netherlands on June 5, 2002. I was behind the lens for this recording. Runtime 29:03.

About The Sorry Asses

In 1998 "Los Perros Perdidos" bassist Peter called his high school "Mutantjes" bandmate Sandro to come and join him and drummer Gene on guitar and vocals. Under the new name The Sorry Asses they then started writing new material and performing mostly around Nijmegen, NL. They recorded some EP’s, notably "Wave" (1998), "Payback" (1998) and "24 minutes of shame" (2002) at which time they were joined by 2nd guitarist Michiel. Their varied musical tastes results in a blend of alternative rock, pop and punk tendencies and Floyd-esque, long drawn out spacejams.

They set out to make their first selfrecorded album "Back in Business" in 2004 (after which Michiel quit the band). The trio then decided to focus on writing and recording songs. They spent considerable time constructing "Kingdom" (2010) and "Chloe" (2016) – albums that combine dark themes with strong melodies and some wry humor thrown in for good measure. Relatively little time passed between their masterpiece "Twilight" (2019) and "Inferno" (2020). Pretty much making the darkness just a little darker, the latter was intended as a soundtrack for a fictitious movie. "Inferno" takes them a little more into what they used to call a "concept album". The latest song "in your blood" shows no sign of slacking in the "most-depressing-song-ever-department", an area in which the Sorry Asses are carving out a special little place.

All of these were selfrecorded using regular homerecording equipment in various locations. The music gradually grew up with its creators and the "let’s do this as fast we can"-attitude of their first EP’s has given way to the fine art of miniature landscaping. Still in business after 22+ years they take pride and joy in creating melodies and compositions that take the listener on a journey through the often dark and cynical corners of their imagination. The losers, the psychos and suicidally depressed of this world, which the band happily caters to, need to look no further for a soundtrack to their misery.

The Sorry Asses are

Sandro – guitar, vocals, midi instruments
Peter – bass
Gene – drums

Guest musicians:

Gilles – keys on selected tracks
Sophie – violins on Kingdom (2010)

Discography

1998 – Wave EP (4 tracks)
1999 – Payback EP (4 tracks)
2002 – 24 minutes of Shame EP (4 tracks)
2004 – Back in Business CD (10 tracks)
2010 – Kingdom CD (10 tracks)
2016 – Chloe CD (8 tracks)
2019 – Twilight CD (10 tracks)
2020 – Inferno CD (9 tracks)

Listen

Also on Tidal, YouTube Music, Amazon Music and other streaming platforms.

De Mutantjes – the precursor band (1994)

Before The Sorry Asses there was De Mutantjes, the band Sandro and Peter played in during their high school years at St. Janscollege in Hoensbroek. Active in the early 90’s, the line-up was Peter "Sieg" Ziekenheiner on bass and screaming, Richard "Richie Rich" Gelissen on shred guitar, Sandro "Tola" Setola on guitar and more screaming, and Erik on drums (who would later become a prodigious death metal drummer). They played pretpunk, limborock and gothic deathpop, destroyed parties, and had frequent run-ins with the law. They were, by their own account, legendary.

In 1994 the band recorded their album Muta – Eerste Tandjes at Jeugdcentrum Nova Zembla (Muziekcollectief NOX) at Ganzeweide 211 in Heerlerheide, a legendary South-Limburg youth-centre-cum-rehearsal-space where metal, punk and hiphop bands worked it out on Friday evenings. I produced and financed the recording, then took the master tape down to Sittard on my scooter to have it pressed onto CDR – back when getting your recording onto disc meant physically driving to a shop and waiting around while the deed was done.

More on the De Mutantjes SoundCloud profile.

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