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Split de Bliksem

Mardi 13 décembre 2016 , 07h56

Bliksem

Bliksem

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ont décidé de splitter après un dernier concert, qui aura lieu le 17 février au Trix à Anvers.

''Dear friends, fans, sympathizers,

As we approach the end of the year, it’s time for a special announcement:

On Friday, 17th of February, 2017, the five of us will be playing our final show together.

We've had a wonderful year, playing at some of the biggest and most established festivals: a special psyched-up set at Roadburn Festival, a mainstage spot at Graspop Metal Meeting and a truly unforgettable show at Wacken Open Air. On top of that we did two different tours, supporting Metal Church in May and Sacred Reich during the Summer season. Pretty much every gig went really well, reviews were favourable and our reputation steadily grew. Above all, we’ve had some great times.
However, after finishing our Summer tour, exhaustion had set in and a decision had to be made:
Were we going to start writing another album? Writing an album was often the hardest part of being in this band, since it was such a collective effort. Did we have the energy, the motivation? And, most of all: were we still strong enough a team to pull it off?

We played our first show in March, 2008. Nine years is a long time to be engaged in a close partnership with five (!) strong-minded people. It was rarely easy, and it doesn't seem to get much easier as time goes by. This band has been a democracy from the get-go as there was no other way to deal with the conflicting personalities and egos. All decisions, whether logistically, financially or artistically, were the result of debate, compromise and the rule of majority. It's not hard to imagine that, however interesting, this is not the easiest way to work.
Add to that equation: a whole lot of time and energy spent on driving, setting up and breaking down gear; the pressure of a deadline; the temptations of touring life; a nervous breakdown here, a personal friction there; increasingly different artistic views … this list could go on for a while, but we think you get the picture.

At this point, we feel that it's time to end this collective and make way for new things.
We do not carry any ill feelings towards each other - quite on the contrary so. For as long as possible, we'll even keep sharing our rehearsal space at Antwerp Music City to house our new projects (you can expect quite a few during next year's course).

We still have five shows planned:
This Saturday (December 3rd) we'll first be playing at Ruhrpott Metal Meeting in Oberhausen, Germany. Later that night, we'll be headlining the Metal 101 festival in Balen (BE).
The next weekend we'll be playing our final two Dutch shows:
On Friday (December 9th) we're playing at Little Devil in Tilburg, supported by our good pals BARK, celebrating the birthday of our loyal and ever enthusiastic manager Bidi van Drongelen (aka Funky Danny).
On Saturday (the 10th) we're playing at Het Patronaat in Haarlem, supported by Anger Machine, Disquiet and our good friends DISTILLATOR.

And as for our very last show:
On Friday, 17th February, we're having a big farewell party at Trix in our home town Antwerpen.
We hope to see the place packed with friends and fans from everywhere around!
More details will be announced very soon.

It's been a wonderful ride and we'll end it in style - we want to make these final shows the best of our career, so don't miss out and wear your party pants!

Thanks for your support!!

Sincerely,

Peggy Meeussen, Jeroen De Vriese, Toon Huet, Rob Martin, Jan Rammeloo''