Who: A blusterous in-your-face turbo led by screamager and
emotive songwriter Nele. A scorching three-headed engine
combining all the mad rage, blazing anger and reality anxiety
of Hole, Nirvana and Sonic Youth. All in one! Album: Smashing self-titled debut LP Released: 19 January 2019
Turn Up The Volume looks back at his favourite concerts of 2019…
PEUK – Charlatan, Ghent, Belgium – 25 January 2019
Here’s the original review…
After a series of rip-roaring gigs last year and an explosive EP, it was crystal clear why rowdy Belgian newcomers PEUK, a blusterous in your face trio led by youthful primal screamer and emotive songwriter Nele became the talk of the town. Remember Sonic Youth? Remember Nirvana? Remember early Hole? Well, Peuk is a scorching three-headed dragon combining all the mad rage, blazing anger and reality anxiety those
three aforementioned bands were adored for by troubled hearts & souls worldwide.
Yesterday the band released their self-titled, blistering debut LP and played a glorious
big bang gig in Turn Up The Volume‘s hometown to celebrate the newborn. As well live
as on record this noisy threesome’s intensity equals a fire-spewing volcano with psychic problems. Mental conditions such as exorcism, catharsis and soul-purification come to mind when you see Nele giving it all in her zone of her own on the stage. Totally arresting! Fully bewitching! Smells like blood-curdling teen spirit. Here’s an idea of Peuk Live…
And what about their debut album, I hear you ask.
Here are the keywords: Melodic trash / Barbed wire punk / Riotous grunge / Fierce body-piercing howls / Kim Gordon’s coolness / Courtney’s sneering and spitting / Mind-crashing drums / Furious bass / Fast slow / Quit, loud / Clamorous tumult / Emotional outbursts.
With all that information, you’re
sonically armed to meet the beast.
Kick out the jams right here…
Clips that will have an impact on your eyes and your ears…
26 August 2019
Three things you need to know about awesome Belgian noise trio PEUK. One: they made one of the best albums I heard all year. Two: they are one of the best live bands I’ve seen all year. Three: they have a new clip out for ENDLESS SPARK, one of the highlights of their LP. A Sonic Youth-esque quit/Loud/quit eruption that will make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Here we go…
PEUK is one of Belgian‘s up and coming noise rock forces with an international potential, led by the young, clamorous and heftily howling frontwoman Nele. This crushing three-headed steamroller released their astonishing self-titled debut album earlier this year.
A barbed wire punk & grunge body of work. Enough reasons to find out more about the band via a short chat with Nele. Let’s start the encounter with one of their best cuts on
the new longplayer…
Hello and welcome, Nele…
1. What sparked the start of the band in the first place?
“I was looking for musicians after my previous band split up. Jacky and Dave were fans of my music and I knew them from previous gigs so I asked them if they would join me. And they did.”
2. The range of your voice is just phenomenal. When did you discover you could blow people away vocally and how does it feel to go up there on stage and scream your heart & soul out without being arrested?
“I never really discovered it. Can’t answer that right now, ask me again later.”
3. Are the debut LP’s influences (Nirvana, Hole, Sonic Youth) something you wanted to make sure people would really hear and experience or did the sound just came together naturally regardless of the outcome?
“We grew up with that kind of music so naturally, it influences how we make music a little bit, but it isn’t intentional, we just do our own thing. Any similarity to 90’s bands is kind of
a coincidence.”
4. The artwork of the album looks both scary and attractive like ‘The Beauty and The Beast’. Who designed it and what was is that the band wanted to express/visualize with the image?
“The artwork got designed by Viktor Froyen, it was a work he was doing on the side while
he was working on the actual cover for the album. When I saw it laying in a corner and thought it would fit the album. The monster on the cover gets seen as an external by people but does it need to be like that? Can it be a representation of an internal fear? Make up your own mind. The image doesn’t need to be taken literally, it’s open for interpretation.”
5. ‘Magpie’ is one of my favorite tracks. What’s the song
about and how did it come together in the studio?
“The song is about being no-one’s possession, it’s about people’s desires and how manipulative they can be just to fulfill those desires. Magpies are birds that get triggered by shiny objects, so yeah, metaphor. The song already existed before I met the guys, but the guys just made it a bit better, adding a bit more power and dynamics to it.”
.
6. The band’s live power is HUGE like a volcano in action.
What feelings trigger those eruptions?
“A combination between the power of the music and the mind, eh.”
7. Favorite band/artist that PEUK wants to go on a world tour with?
“I would have to feel comfortable with the artists that I go on tour with so even if I have some favorite bands I don’t know if I would feel comfortable with those people, so I dunno. Maybe Chan Marshall, she seems nice, maybe PJ Harvey or Patti Smith, I’d like to hear her stories.”
8. How easy or difficult is it to play in a small country as Belgium and
does the band has international ambitions?
“It’s not that hard, you can drive from one end of Belgium to the other in about 3 hours. It’s just that you see a lot of the same gas stations after a while. Some small tours in foreign countries would be nice.”
9. What movie would you pick to visualize your music
on a big screen while playing live?
“Preferably a David Lynch movie, but I’m not sure which one yet. A compilation of all the happy, sad and destructive scenes from his entire catalog.”
All things Lynch…
10. Next big step for PEUK?
“World domination and drown in it.”
Thanks for the interview, Nele.
May the road rise with PEUK!
Great news for all those mortals among us who feel like being chased by their worst nightmares, for those who think that deranged dynamics drive them crazy, for those
who have no clue how to ventilate their hellish anger, for those who think their soul is confiscated by evil powers and for those who can’t control their fucked up minds.
Just listen to Belgium’s kamikaze trio PEUK, led by the young awesome frontwoman Nele. This crushing 3-headed steamroller can solve all your psychic problems as long as you’re ready to sell your soul to them and open the front door of your messed-up mind in order to absorb Nele‘s insane and exorcistic primal screams – the range of her voice is beyond normality – and the surrounding hell-raising grunge assaults. It’s not the first time Turn Up The Volume! witnessed PEUK going entirely bananas. It’s like experiencing Armageddon time! Ominous, doomy and tumultuous. And LOUD enough to smash all of your demons. Hell yeah! Here’s a deafening idea of their red-hot-blooded force…
Now get your copy of their rad debut album
right here and free your poor troubled mind…
Eleven knockout killer tracks from the past month…
Eleven Knockout Tracks on repeat this past month!
A boiling blend of rolling rippers and glowing grooves
Here’s Turn Up The Volume‘s Knockout February Team!
. 1. ‘Year Of The Dog’ by ROYAL TRUX (Washington D.C.)
Infamous trash duo with boiling slam from their upcoming White Stuff album
2. ‘Magpie’ by PEUK (Belgium)
Exorcistic Nirvanesque outburst from this noisy engine’s impressive self-titled debut LP
PEUK – Charlatan, Ghent, Belgium – 25 January 2019
After a series of rip-roaring gigs last year and an explosive EP, it was crystal clear why rowdy Belgian newcomers PEUK, a blusterous in your face trio led by youthful primal screamer and emotive songwriter Nele became the talk of the town. Remember Sonic Youth? Remember Nirvana? Remember early Hole? Well, Peuk is a scorching three-headed dragon combining all the mad rage, blazing anger and reality anxiety those
three aforementioned bands were adored for by troubled hearts & souls worldwide.
Yesterday the band released their self-titled, blistering debut LP and played a glorious
big bang gig in Turn Up The Volume‘s hometown to celebrate the newborn. As well live
as on record this noisy threesome’s intensity equals a fire-spewing volcano with psychic problems. Mental conditions such as exorcism, catharsis and soul-purification come to mind when you see Nele giving it all in her zone of her own on the stage. Totally arresting! Fully bewitching! Smells like blood-curdling teen spirit. Here’s an idea of Peuk Live…
And what about their debut album, I hear you ask.
Here are the keywords: Melodic trash / Barbed wire punk / Riotous grunge / Fierce body-piercing howls / Kim Gordon’s coolness / Courtney’s sneering and spitting / Mind-crashing drums / Furious bass / Fast slow / Quit, loud / Clamorous tumult / Emotional outbursts.
With all that information, you’re
sonically armed to meet the beast.
Kick out the jams right here…
Turn Up The Volume saw about 150 acts playing live this past year. Here are the 15 Knockout Performances that made his body temperature going way up, made his adrenalin stream faster and had a lasting impact on his greedy ears & impressed eyes.
1. THE FLAMING LIPS – Melkweg, Amsterdam – 11 November – Review here
2. SLOWDIVE – Cactus Brugge Festival – 15 July – Review here
3. IDLES – De Zwerver, Leffinge, Belgium – 2 November – Review here
4. JOHNNY MARR – Trix Club, Antwerp – 7 December – Review here
5. FONTAINES D.C. – Botanique, Brussels – 4 May – Review here
6. NOEL GALLAGHER – Vorst National, Brussels – 6 April
7. THE GLÜCKS – Ghent Fest – 19 July – Review here
8. RUMOURS – Cosa Nostra, Aalst – 21 April – Review here
9. JUJU – Kinky Star, Ghent – 18 February – Review here
10. PEUK – De Kleine Kunst, Ghent – 8 September – Review here
11. AUTOBAHN – Kinky Star, Ghent – 11 February – Review here
12. FALLING MAN – Ghent Fest – 14 July – Interview here
13. PERE UBU – 4 AD, Diksmuide – 1 June – Review here
14. TUBELIGHT – Charlatan, Ghent – 23 March – Review here
15. PINK ROOM – Kinky Star, Ghent – 3 March – Review here
