The Ex – VER Records – 1980

The Sky Is Blue Again / Map / Outlook Army / Sucking Pig / A Sense Of Tumour

Meanwhile / Rules / Squat Song / Warning Shot / New Wars

The debut 12″ by The Ex, 45 rpm, 10 songs clocking in at 22 minutes. Indebted to Chris Low for the lend of this release. One I missed out on. I started collecting The Ex material after the ‘History Is What’s Happening’ LP was released in 1982. As a night out The Ex can barely be bettered. Since the first time I witnessed the band supporting The Poison Girls down The Hammersmith Clarendon in 1985, leading a year or two later onto a very special performance I witnessed in some squatted school in Amsterdam, in which the band were seriously energetic…Jumping over the potted plants and amplifiers set up in a class room whilst strumming guitars and barking into mics without even dropping a note. All great stuff.

Instead of writing (or ripping off text from another site) the history of this band onto this post, I would like to cut and paste my old friend and house mate, Iain Aitch’s Guardian newspaper article on The Ex that was published today.

Thanks to Iain in advance for letting me use his work.

Try to describe the Ex and you have a problem. The Dutch band may have celebrated their 30th birthday recently, but you would try to sum up their sound in two or three words at your peril. This is a ­quandary shared by the band members themselves. I meet them in Dublin, where they are playing a one-off date. The cab driver ­taking them to the venue asked them what they sound like. “We had real difficulty,” says Andy Moor, the band’s London-born guitarist, who boasts 15 years’ service. “It is really hard!” “We feel a bit stupid as it can sound very ­pretentious, ‘We are very unique, we are not like ­anyone else,” says Terrie Hessels, the only remaining member of the band’s original 1979 lineup.

Yet unique is what the Ex are. Take any major musical development of the last 50 years and you can almost guarantee that they have either incorporated it into their sound or played with it and discarded it. Their recent retrospective CD 30 contains a dazzling array of sounds that range from industrial to orchestral. Though the band’s real move forward, and one which brought them to the attention of the jazz world, was their 1991 collaboration with (now sadly deceased) US cellist Tom Cora. This lead to further unions, with the likes of zany Dutch jazz drummer Han Bennink as well as English saxophonist John Butcher.

Even now, the kind of phrases used on gig posters and in the music press range from “anarcho-punk” to “improvised jazz” to “afro-punk” and “folk”. The punk part may be fair – the band certainly formed with that ethos and a staccato approximation of the sound of the Fall or Gang of Four, but they have always been far more experimental than their three-chord forebears.

They chose their name for the ease with which it could be sprayed on walls, and drew straws to decide who would play what. There was always an exploratory and political edge to the band, as evidenced by the 1983 concept set of four 7″ singles about a closed factory in the Amsterdam suburb of Wormer where the band formed. Since then, the Ex have taken in folk influences from all over Europe. They have dabbled in jazz, improvisation, guitar ­destruction, drilling venue walls, dance music, ­military-band precision, ska, toy instruments, horns, African beats and sampling. I could go on. Yet, surprisingly, none of this comes across as radical departure in style. They still sound like the Ex on every recording and at every gig. The guitars retain a caustic, rhythmic precision and the drumming is tight and complex.

“One reason we are hard to describe is that we never had an education at music school, and in that sense we are not ­influenced by any traditional playing,” says Katherina Bornefeld, neatly sidestepping any attempt to form a soundbite encapsulating the Ex’s sound, despite her 25 years on the drum stool.

In order to understand the band you need to see them perform; they work in the opposite manner to most groups. The Ex write songs to perform live, tweaking them as tours progress and then recording the honed versions as documents of their time. Most Ex tours start with an entire batch of new material – there is no roster of crowd-pleasers to get the audience going. The dedicated fan is as challenged as someone hearing the band for the very first time.

This is a band very much about intuition. Moor plays intricate notes on a ­baritone guitar with his eyes closed before dashing at Hessels, both raising their ­guitars as the newest member of the band, Arnold de Boer (who last year replaced founder-member GW Sok), ducks beneath them. Meanwhile, Bornefeld seemingly hits every piece of her drumkit, before repeating the rhythm in a slightly different ­pattern. Moor aims kicks at the air – band members even try to put each other off at times. The band have a reputation for addressing serious politics, but they also have a great sense of humour. This is neatly evidenced by the 7in singles club they ran for a year, where the last single was a 12in and thus could not be squeezed into the box that came with the first record in the series.

As well as being a drumming original, Bornefeld also possesses a voice made for singing folk music in any language, which has come to the fore on the band’s tours of Ethiopia. Born out of sheer enthusiasm for the music and people of the country, the Ex’s Ethiopian tours ­took loud ­guitar music where it has never been before, as well as exchanging ideas and technical know-how with local musicians. They also played with Ethiopian saxophone legend Getatchew Mekurya, and collaborated with him on an album.

“There is no tour circuit,” says Hessels. “We even went to places that hardly any Ethiopian ­musicians had played.”

“One time we were playing in a barn on a farm and another time in the police community hall,” adds Moor. “We would just go to the chief of the town and they decided what we should pay, sometimes it was $20 and sometimes it was free.”

The band took generators and ­amplifiers with them, and left them behind for local musicians to use. They follow a ­similar DIY philosophy with all their work. The band has no manager, driver or roadies and they put out all their CDs themselves. Yet they also find time to have countless side projects, such as Bornefeld’s ­KatJonBand with the Mekons’ Jon Langford, Moor’s solo album and ­Hessels’s work with Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore.

Their free gigs in Ethiopia, which attracted crowds of 2,000 or more, have also left what could be a strange musical legacy. If ­Ethiopia starts throwing up scratchy, indefinable guitar bands, you’ll know who to blame. “Everyone still uses cassettes there,” says Moor. “We went back to pressing up cassettes, giving them out to taxi drivers all over the place. So at least they know what we sound like.”

An initial pressing of 10,000 cassettes, with more to follow and the inevitable home-taping, have made the Ex established favourites in parts of Ethiopia, but in the UK they remain something of a word-of-mouth aural delicacy. Their arrival on these shores for their first tour since 2003 should help to remedy that, especially as they have integrated yet more new sounds in the shape of Brass Unbound, a four-piece horn section of prodigious talents.

With this addition to their ranks, the Ex once again deter any attempts at description. But you get the feeling that as soon as anyone nailed their sound, the band would do their damnedest to defy it.

Iain Aitch / Guardian

13 comments
  1. Chris Low
    Chris Low
    January 23, 2010 at 2:07 am

    Pengy, just realised – I forgot to give you the 4 track EP that came with this LP entitled ‘Live Skive’. Remind me to get it to you soon as I can, or perhaps someone else can furnish you with it?

    Love this LP – “The Sky Is Blue Again” and “Sense of Tumour” are absolute classics; as is ‘New Wars’ (re-recorded as the flip to their ‘War Is Over’ 7″)

  2. Nic
    Nic
    January 23, 2010 at 10:47 am

    Great record – and still sounds fresh today: loose-but-confident guitar, minimal bass lines, propulsive drum rhythms – a definite ‘Post Punk’ feeling…’Meanwhile’ is a sluggish monster…
    (It’s available on CD from the group as well)

    Some friends are putting them on in Birmingham in early February (as part of their tour with Brass Unbound): should be great…
    29/01 BRISTOL [England] – Fleece [w/ Zun Zun Egui]
    30/01 GLASGOW [Scotland] – CCA [w/ Zun Zun Egui]
    31/01 GATESHEAD [England] – Sage [w/ Zun Zun Egui]
    01/02 BIRMINGHAM [England] – Hare + Hounds [w/ Zun Zun Egui]
    02/02 BRIGHTON [England] – Audio [w/ Zun Zun Egui]
    03/02 LONDON [England] – Tufnell Park Dome [w/ Zun Zun Egui + John Butcher]
    04/02 MANCHESTER [England] – Deaf Institute [w/ Zun Zun Egui]
    05/02 LIVERPOOL [England] – Kazimier [w/ Zun Zun Egui]
    06/02 BELFAST [Northern Ireland] – Black Box [w/ Zun Zun Egui]
    07/02 DUBLIN [Ireland] – Button Factory [w/ Zun Zun Egui]

  3. back2front
    back2front
    January 23, 2010 at 8:51 pm

    Classic stuff!

    Was a bit reluctant when GW Sok left how Arnold deBoer would fit in – check out the new single here and see what you think:

    http://www.myspace.com/theexnl

  4. DF
    DF
    January 23, 2010 at 10:51 pm

    I don’t know how the Ex do it, I was skeptical about Sok leaving too but the new songs are great! “Maybe I was the Pilot” is as good as anything they’ve done with Sok for sure.

    The “Turn” album from 04 is a genius piece of work too! I don’t know why but I held the silly idea that older Ex would be better Ex. Not so.

    Thanks for the post, never heard this whole album. Too bad the record goes for over a hundred dollars sometimes on Ebay, yech. The Ex should re-issue their backcatologue on vinyl, they’d make a killing.

  5. Nic
    Nic
    February 2, 2010 at 1:08 pm

    The band were on top form last night: really great concert…
    If you can get to any of the dates, I’d strongly advise going to see them…

  6. DavidM
    DavidM
    February 2, 2010 at 9:04 pm

    Anyone else catch The Ex on this tour? Caught ’em in Glasgow Saturday, and while I wasn’t entirely convinced by the addition of a brass section, their performance still exceeded all expectations.

  7. Star23
    Star23
    February 3, 2010 at 8:48 am

    saw them in brighton last night, awesome, one of the few bands who seem to get better and better with age

  8. Nic
    Nic
    February 3, 2010 at 9:46 am

    A friend of mine also caught them in Gateshead: she gave them a ‘Double Thumbs Up’ as well…

    I see they are playing with John Butcher in the Smoke tonight: that should be a really good one…

  9. back2front
    back2front
    February 8, 2010 at 11:14 am

    I saw them on the current tour and I was very very impressed, in fact I’d be surprised if I go to a better gig this year. Arnold de Boer fits in perfectly and the brass section really helped produce those moments of intensity that make the Ex one of the best live draws. Fantastic!

  10. veg
    veg
    February 12, 2010 at 11:42 pm

    always different, yet always the same. thats not a criticism, but that they are always identifiable and fkn A. if i can try and catch em a couple of times a tour, and they are different each time. at least all/most of the stuff is availible from them, or you can down load off an anarcho punk site. records unfortunately differcult to get. think thats why they re released stuff on cd. glad they come back over, never thought we’d get another chance after last time. if you get the chance go see them then go. though thier leaving the UK as I post this.

  11. Thog
    Thog
    October 1, 2010 at 8:52 am

    Great new CD “Catch my Shoe”. As back2front says Arnold de Boer is a natural for the band

    On tour and UK dates are

    18/10 LEAMINGTON SPA [England] – North Hall
    19/10 LONDON [England] – The Dome
    20/10 MANCHESTER [England] – The Roadhouse
    21/10 GLASGOW [Scotland] – Stereo [w/ De Salvo]
    22/10 CARDIFF [Wales] – SWN Festival
    23/10 BRISTOL [England] – The Croft [w/ Zun Zun Egui]
    24/10 NOTTINGHAM [England] – Rescue Rooms

  12. jock
    jock
    October 5, 2010 at 9:41 am

    never seen them live but i maywell venture out for one of these gigs,how long they been going now exactly?a long time i know that.

  13. Chris L
    Chris L
    February 7, 2011 at 3:26 am

    Was listening to this LP on my iPod today. ‘Meanwhile’ is a truly fucking phenomenal track. Great to see someone has posted up a live clip of them from this time up on Youtube:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M-3dHpO2Ik

    Would love to see more.

    And Mickey, when you gonna stick that live Rondos tape of mine up? It’s not on any of the box sets or colections of their recordings. Just found a new site about them as well: http://www.rondos.nl/

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