Photo: Matthijs Mekking
Melodic punk rock band Ink Bomb from Nijmegen (NL) will once again be selling a cover for charity this year. The foursome will release an entirely unique acoustic version of the song Cease, originally by punk rock veterans Bad Religion. It will be released on December 18. The band will donate all proceeds to Brigada de Alter, a volunteer fire brigade that tries to extinguish the forest fires in the Amazon.
Instore tour in Nijmegen
To garner more attention for their annual charity cover Ink Bomb has scheduled a number of instore tour performances in the city center of Nijmegen on December 22. “The great part is that people then cannot only donate online but also in real life,” says bassist Arina Banga. “We are big fans of books and records, so we are looking forward to perform our acoustic set in the midst of these things!” The locations of the instore tour are library De Mariënburg, record store De Waaghals and comic store Señor Hernandez. The schedule will be announced later.
Choice
Brigada de Alter is a voluntary fire brigade, partly consisting of member from an indigenous tribe living in the Amazone. Since the election of new Brazilian president Bolsonaro the rain forest is more under pressure than before. “The funds we collect with the Cease cover will be used to buy safety gear, oxygen masks and helmets, so that the volunteers can protect themselves,” according to Banga.
“We discovered this organization through Minor Operations Bookings,” adds singer Joost Hoedemaeckers. “These are people who organize punk shows in the Dutch city Haarlem, one of which we got to play last November. They also have a fund raising organization that collects for several different charities: Minor Operation Donations. In the last few months they have been collecting for Brigada de Alter. We wanted to raise money for an environmental charity so we are happy we could work with them. It is also important to us that the proceeds are used in a very concrete, direct way so we can show people who buy the single how their money is being used.”
Earlier donation covers
This is the fourth time Ink Bomb is selling a cover for charity. Last year the Nijmegen band covered Black Me Out by Against Me! for the LGBTIQ+ organization Outright Action International. In 2017 and in 2016 the proceeds went to the Surf Project and Kledingbank Nijmegen respectively.
Biography
When the members of Dutch melodic punk rock band Ink Bomb stepped in their practice space for the first time in 2015, they never met before. Fast forward a few years later and the band released two EPs, three singles for different charities and finally their debut album Fiction (August 2019). Fiction is the culmination of their hard work over these past few years and showcases the band’s trademark sound: fast, aggressive songs that might not always follow standard song structure, but always features great melodies with a healthy dose of melancholy.
The release of the EPs Invincible Summer (2016) and Swim (2017) piqued the interest of people from many corners of the earth, leading to shows in multiple countries as well as praise in a variety of magazines, websites, radio shows and podcasts. The band has been compared to scene veterans such as Bad Religion, No Fun At All, Pulley and Ten Foot Pole.
Another defining trademark of Ink Bomb is their preference to do everything themselves: recording and mixing songs, writing press releases, booking shows and releasing records. This might originate from the DIY ethos in the punk rock scene but is probably a result of their stubbornness. The effort that the band puts in creating Fiction, resulted in a record that is above all a perfect representation of everything that is Ink Bomb.
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 