Drukwerk

Discogs

Drukwerk’s debut album from 1981, featuring the song that was without a doubt their most successful. Je loog tegen mij however is a cover from another Dutch band from around the same time. In 1977 Door Mekaar produced their first record Voor Mekaar, featuring the song. They produced the song in a squatted house to the north of Amsterdam called Joke’s Koeienverhuurbedrijf.

The name of the place translates as Joke’s cow rental. Joke was the girlfriend of the main organizer. Of course no cows were actually rented (although there was demand, believe it or not), but the name served as a cover to fool the neighbours. In reality the locality served a headquarters for an anarch-punk collective of musicians and writers. They published what they called pamphlets, where they combined written texts with an added 45 inch single.

Drukwerk’s singer was working in the northern parts of Amsterdam, and knew the guys from Joke. So when he needed a fine song for a demo at EMI, he borrowed it from them (my sources don’t mention any legal arrangements, but the song writers seem to be correctly mentioned on Drukwerk’s work). Later they wrote more for Drukwerk, even though Door Mekaar itself quit in 1979.

I never expected this song to have roots in the Dutch anarch-punk culture.

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