Escape Somehow. Peuk

This April it is 29 years ago Kurt Cobain decided to stop living. Considering almost all our children are younger, how old do you have to be to have a vivid recollection of Nirvana when it was active? Let's put that at 8 to 10 years. That makes a person now all close to or older than 40.

The more striking is the influence the band still has on people younger than that age. See the Nirvana t-shirts and hoodies on the streets, hear the music new bands are making. Not to speak of all the misery shared through lyrics and interviews today. Cobain set a new standard there as well.

Why is all this relevant? Because I was blown off my feet by Belgium band Peuk (But, as in cigarette) and its album Escape Somehow. The album is a successful mix of Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins and Veruca Salt, but definitely starts with the first. Nirvana's approach is all over Escape Somehow. The dark, the light and the darker, darkest. moving towards the dark riffs of Smashing Pumpkins. Nele Janssen's voice and way of singing brings in Veruca Salt. (The band itself calls upon Hole, Pixies and The Breeders as influences. Fine, of course.)

All comparisons are nice but not if you do not deliver yourself. And that is what Peuk does, deliver. The music on the album is of the kind that attracts attention immediately and grabs you right up to the end. The grungy music is melodic enough to be nice, tough enough to be grunge and varied enough to create the necessary light segments in the darkness to remain interesting. Speaking of the best of all worlds.

Peuk started with a chance meeting in a record store in Hasselt and from there grew into the powertrio it now is, consisting of Nele Janssen on voice and guitar, Dave Schroyen on drums and Jacky Willems on bass. This is their second release after 'Peuk' in 2019.

Promo photo: Eva Vlonck

What strikes me is the balance the band is able to strike in the way guitar, bass and drums interact in a lighter song like 'Break Table'. Sure, the dark side is let loose as well, granted. I like how it plays out together before each member goes off into her/his own tower of noise. Peuk is good as this, as the album shows.

Everything comes together in the final song, 'Erase Me'. Most likely it is an until now hidden track from the couple Love - Cobain. It sounds more like a cover than an original, but is not. Where does inspiration for a song like this come from? It seems like I do not really want to know. When I heard it the first time, I was almost shocked and heard something else, he raped me, in the pained screams at the end than is actually sung, erase me. The song starts and ends so small and then! Impressive? Yes. Frightening? Almost. Good? Certainly. Nele Janssen is in direct competition here with Wednesday's singer Karly Hartzman. (See 18 April)

Peuk came into my life with a bang and seems here to stay. All lovers of alternative rock with a grungy edge are advised to check Escape Somehow out. It will be worth your while.

Wout de Natris

You can listen to and order everything but the new album here:

https://peuk.bandcamp.com/track/bokkenpaleis