Hierophant Nox | Interview

Hub and Heuy

While some of us must wait months for a decent line-up to roll on past our town gates, certain boroughs have all the luck. Roermond, a picturesque town in the southern Netherlands, is one such location, having served as host to a great many of the concerts organized by the semi-legendary Dutch promoters Hub and Heuy. March 13^thand 14^thsaw a return of their ‘Metalfest’ event, which definitely fulfilled its promise to be the most successful yet, with a stellar line-up including Taake, The Battalion, Urgehal, Vreid and a host of other treats.
Having converted to the Hub and Heuy way of life back in 2007, waving goodbye to sanity with more Jupilers than I can count when I attended Metalfest IV, I’ve been railing at my peers ever since to give up their yearly pilgrimage to some overpriced mega-field, and try out a few independent events instead, whether they be ‘home games’ such as the London Deathfest, or a jaunt further afield. With Europe being ridiculously easy to zip across with some bravado and a little internet research (would you believe the Dutch railway service can tell you what PLATFORM your train will leave from, weeks in advance? Read it and weep, Britain!) events like Hub and Heuy are far more accessible than some might think. The trick lies in knowing which are worth visiting, and as far as H&H is concerned, I have absolutely no qualms in recommending it, no matter how far you might be travelling.
Furthermore, the more we support honest and genuine promoters such as Hub and Heuy, who, despite their extensive links throughout the European extreme metal scene, still retain a strong ‘by the fans, for the fans’ attitude, the more we lift them above the money-grabbing and the untrustworthy. Again, my British compatriots can attest to the brilliant events that can result from loyalty to the little guys, with festivals such as Bloodstock and Damnation, once modest, now enormous, growing ever stronger but still retaining their specialness because of grass-roots support.
Soapbox rant over, I’d like to introduce a very special interview, which serves as preview and background for our in-depth report on the Metalfest, which we’ll bring you in Issue VII. The interviewees are none other than ‘Hub de Gallier’ and ‘Heuy’ themselves, whilst the interviewer is a dashing Dutch gentleman by the name of Neithan, whose stellar work at Lords of Metal, and previously Vampire Magazine, should need no preface. The text is enthusiastically shared with us by Hub and Neithan, with very gracious permission from the latter’s editor Horst. The interview first appeared on www.lordsofmetal.nl – if you haven’t ever read this webzine, which boggles my mind by appearing in both English and Dutch, I’m not sure how you ended up at Hierophant Nox, and you must amend your error immediately after you finish this piece!
^{Between them, these guys can explain far better than I can the qualities that make this intimate festival absolutely unique…}

Neithan: First of all: who are Hub & Heuy? Please introduce yourself in a few words to our readers…
Hub: Hails Neithan! First of all thanks for the support!!! My name is Marcel though most people know me as Hub de Galliër (Hub the Gaul). I have my own distro/label called HDG-Distribution (www.hdgdistribution.com) through which I mostly sell Norwegian underground stuff. Besides that the last couple of years I've also been merchandiser/roadie for Enslaved, Vreid and Kampfar to mention a few. And of course together with Heuy I run the H&H Agency.
Heuy: HEUY!!!! Allright! Thanks Neithan for the interview! I am Xander, and because of my screaming at concert venues everybody started to call me Heuy. I have had to live with that for over ten years now. In my "normal" life I work at the Centre For Arts at Roermond and I work at the Azijnfabriek (Vinegar Factory) venue. Of course I manage to experience several tours and I make movies of a lot of bands, like Enslaved, The Batallion, Vreid, Urgehal and Dismember to name but a few.
Neithan: To give our reader an idea: any idea when you two started organizing concerts together, and how many concerts have you guys arranged so far?
Hub: I can’t tell you exactly when we started since there has been a certain number of beers between the time we were ‘founded’ and now. I suspect it was around 2000 when I myself, as vocalist for LOMP (which means rude in Dutch) havocked venues around. In that time, I already organized some small festivals with the name Monolith Of Knowledge Festival, where among others bands like Ancient Rites, Primordial, After Forever, Hades Almighty and Pentacle have performed. In those days I ran into Heuy in a local pub. We both had the same passion for music and alcohol and when I found out he too organized his own concerts and festivals the idea rose swiftly to continue together, as two can do more than one. Since then we have organized numerous of gigs, of which the majority was held at the Azijnfabriek. And in the meanwhile we have come to the sixth edition of Hub & Heuy Metalfest.
Heuy: Indeed, it was somewhere in 2000 that we go together. The first H&H Metalfest was with LOMP, Maggots, Defcon-One and Extreme Sickening Punishment. It just wasn’t called H&H Metalfest, so actually the coming edition is not the sixth but the fifth time. Before I met Hub, I put together some small gigs and a small metal fest called Thunderstruck Metalfest. The idea behind that festival was a great atmosphere, cheap beer and good bands. This is today still the objective of our festival. Besides putting up this Metalfest we have also organized several tours, including a mini tour with Dismember, Taake and Vreid to name but a few. Apart from that we book separate concerts at the Azijnfabriek in Roermond, among which there was the first show of the Russian band Arkona in the Netherlands. Another thing we frequently put together is Pitch Black in Germany.
Neithan: What was the trigger for you to start cooperating as concert promotors?
Hub: The scene is a tough little world with a lot of envy and competition; many times, people grudge the others the light of their eyes, and soon there is talk of jealousy and envy. That is why we wanted to continue as a duo, also because with two in stead of one you can stand a firmer ground. Apart from that, you can learn from the other as well and delegate some tasks which brings the pressure down. Added to that, we have the advantage that we live five hundred meters away from each other which makes it even easier.
Heuy: That is the business side of it indeed. Furthermore I would say our love for the music, beer and partying are the engines to our cooperation. Tell me in all honesty, a meeting in a bar with a decent pint of beer sure beats sitting down all alone in a dull office with a cup of coffee?
Neithan: Hub and Heuy are your nicknames which you have started to use for your promoter activities. Haven’t you ever considered changing that name because it sounds a bit too carnival-like perhaps?
Hub: As a matter of fact, some do not take us serious because of our nicknames and the use of it. But on the other side, it would be a sign of weakness to give in to general opinions and with that to give up our own nicknames. You don’t like it? Well, pity... We believe in ourselves and think/ hope that people, in the long run, will put their prejudices towards our names aside and just come over and party along at what we organize, because in the end that is all that matters: the festival itself with mostly exclusive bands, and not the name of it all!
Heuy: Indeed, we do live in the province of Limburg, among other things known for the carnival fest, yet that has nothing to do with our names. We could have used a trve cvlt evil name, but do you believe we will win a war just by using that? We are who we are, and no one can change us from being ourselves. At the time we had come up with some awful names and wrote them down on a beer-mat. Alas, the day after it could not be found anymore. Since we liked the sound of Hub & Heuy we continued with that. In the end it all comes down to the bands coming over and to change our name all of a sudden after all those years doesn’t add anything at all to our goals. The steady visitors of the festivals and the other shows we arrange know that this name stands for, and that is an intimate atmosphere, sociability and good bands.
Neithan: What is the most rumoured idea about you as promotors, apart from the fact that you can do a hell of an alternative version of the national Dutch anthem?
Heuy: You do confront me with the facts on this one. I don’t think it regards rumours, just the plain and hurting truth. It seems that people think that we like our alcoholic beverage: I can not confirm this, I think this is something you will have to judge for yourself when coming to one of our gigs. And to correct your question: our version of the ‘Wilhelmus’ (the national Dutch anthem – Neithan) is only the B-side of the version. Our own national anthem is still of course "First we gonna drink some beer today".
Hub: Hahahaha... Well, it doesn’t concern rumors so much, but is generally known that the both of us can empty a considerable amount of beers which often results in hilarious situations. As some of those stories are rather extreme these go around pretty fast and before you know it, everybody has heard the stories already, hahaha.

Hub en Heuy UTBS 2007.jpg (42020 bytes)

Neithan: I think you guys have –at least for the low countries – a unique concept, as you create your own packages in stead of buying ready-made packages. On the one hand it means that your shows are rather unique yet on the other hand: you, and as a result the visitors, can not take profit from the economies of scale of such a package. How do you see that?
Heuy: It most certainly ain’t the easiest way, but who told you that life is easy? On the one hand we want to help bands to play over here, to learn about our city and to liven things up a bit. On the other hand we want to show the spectators bands that do not play say at least four times a year in the Netherlands. Apart from that, it is awesome to be able to pick your own bands, the bands you really want.
Hub: It is correct that we don’t go for the easiest way by picking an instant package, and maybe add a local band or something to give it a bit extra. We do want to distinguish ourselves by putting as many as possible bands on the stage that hardly ever play here, so that we have something unique which should appeal to fans of the genre. This way of organizing has its ‘pro’s’ and its ‘con’s’. Pro are the unique shows and exclusivity. The downside is that the total costs of organizing a concert are a bit higher than with the instant packages, and that it takes a lot of time extra regarding the logistics concerning a concert. But oh well, despite the difficulties coming from our way of working I wouldn’t want to have it any other way.
Neithan: And this brings us to Hub & Heuy Metalfest; how and when did the idea rise?
Hub: Like said in the beginning of our interview I used to organize the Monolith Of Knowledge Festival and Heuy did the Thunderstruck festival. After we decided to continue in the future as a duo a change of name was necessary. And since we could not come up with a suitable name after seriously emptying the bar contents, we decided to use our own names. Everybody around here knows our names and in a condition of being slightly under the influence we thought it was a well suited solution.
Heuy: Under the joy of Irish Red, Prawn chips and a bottle of Talisker (whisky) we, like mentioned earlier on, wrote down some names on a beer-mat. However, these names were so awful that we opted for using our own names. The idea was, and is, to offer a combination of both established and newcoming bands, so that these new acts can get stage experience with a bigger act. Furthermore, the bands we book are good friends of ours, which contributes to the intimate atmosphere of the festival.
Neithan: And where do you think do Hub & Heuy stand apart from all those other festivals?
Heuy: The bands often come for just one show to the region, the atmosphere which is really intimate and relaxed, bands who often are personal friends and who do not just play and sit backstage, but also often mingle with the audience to enjoy the party and continue to party after the shows are over based on the well developed musical taste of our regular H&H DJ’s, DJ Antihit & DJ Skinfather.
Hub: Personally I think that we book bands that are not common. Many times, you see bands on festivals that are a lot ‘in the picture’ at that time, for instance bands that have just released an album which needs to be promoted. Also there are a lot of festivals that put the same bands year after year, afraid to step aside from the path they know and so as standard these come up with the same old names. To us, it is essential to have bands we know in person, and out of all bands we had and have this year at least 90% can be regarded as personal good friends. Not only does this make a cooperation easier, but it also contributes to that intimate atmosphere which you encounter not so much at those regular festivals. Apart from that, bands often stay over at our homes in stead of staging them in a hotel where they are left to their own, something that emphasizes that personal bond. That is also a thing about which all bands so far were very pleased with and something we really want to maintain for the future.
Neithan: This weekend we have Hub & Heuy Metalfest VI: can you give a short summary of Hub & Heuy Metalfest I to V, and what were the special bands for you on those occasions?
Heuy: We started out at the "Het Muziekhoes" café in Roermond. That is the location where we held our first two issues, with amongst others Danse Macabre. Unfortunately we did not see that show ourselves, since we were kicked out that same night by the owner of Het Muziekhoes. He did suspect us of stealing money, which is of course ridiculous, because who is foolish enough to steal his own money? Well, the result was that the audience in Roermond got so pissed that Roermond was covered by a cloud of smoke. It did yield Danse Macabre some extra audience nevertheless, the local fire department to be specific, gheghe… In other words, after a cosy herd fire we were forced to look for another place. The third edition was in "JC De Metro" at Panningen. Among the performing acts here were Detonation and Callenish Circle. The fourth edition was back in Roermond with Heidevolk and an exclusive show from Dimension F3H. From the fifth edition on we went for a bigger approach. We went to Weert and had Dismember as headliner. To me it was dream come true, as it started all for me with that band: together with Dennis (Severe Torture) I sang ‘Indecent & Obscene’ in class, and for that reason we could not afford to miss Severe Torture on that day either. Furthermore, Urgehal and Gjenferdsel played over there who both came to the Netherlands especially for this one show.
Hub: As you can derive from Heuy’s answer our entire history has been one continuous leaning process. A learning process that started slowly and very amateur-like and through ups and downs. We did not have any examples how to put something like this together and so we had to learn it the hard way. Slowly I am starting to see results of the massive amount of work from the past years and with every edition we learn more, so I am very confident about the future.

Continue to Part II of the Interview

	Hub and Heuy
	While some of us must wait months for a decent line-up to roll on past our town gates, certain boroughs have all the luck. Roermond, a picturesque town in the southern Netherlands, is one such location, having served as host to a great many of the concerts organized by the semi-legendary Dutch promoters Hub and Heuy. March 13^thand 14^thsaw a return of their ‘Metalfest’ event, which definitely fulfilled its promise to be the most successful yet, with a stellar line-up including Taake, The Battalion, Urgehal, Vreid and a host of other treats. Having converted to the Hub and Heuy way of life back in 2007, waving goodbye to sanity with more Jupilers than I can count when I attended Metalfest IV, I’ve been railing at my peers ever since to give up their yearly pilgrimage to some overpriced mega-field, and try out a few independent events instead, whether they be ‘home games’ such as the London Deathfest, or a jaunt further afield. With Europe being ridiculously easy to zip across with some bravado and a little internet research (would you believe the Dutch railway service can tell you what PLATFORM your train will leave from, weeks in advance? Read it and weep, Britain!) events like Hub and Heuy are far more accessible than some might think. The trick lies in knowing which are worth visiting, and as far as H&H is concerned, I have absolutely no qualms in recommending it, no matter how far you might be travelling. Furthermore, the more we support honest and genuine promoters such as Hub and Heuy, who, despite their extensive links throughout the European extreme metal scene, still retain a strong ‘by the fans, for the fans’ attitude, the more we lift them above the money-grabbing and the untrustworthy. Again, my British compatriots can attest to the brilliant events that can result from loyalty to the little guys, with festivals such as Bloodstock and Damnation, once modest, now enormous, growing ever stronger but still retaining their specialness because of grass-roots support. Soapbox rant over, I’d like to introduce a very special interview, which serves as preview and background for our in-depth report on the Metalfest, which we’ll bring you in Issue VII. The interviewees are none other than ‘Hub de Gallier’ and ‘Heuy’ themselves, whilst the interviewer is a dashing Dutch gentleman by the name of Neithan, whose stellar work at Lords of Metal, and previously Vampire Magazine, should need no preface. The text is enthusiastically shared with us by Hub and Neithan, with very gracious permission from the latter’s editor Horst. The interview first appeared on www.lordsofmetal.nl – if you haven’t ever read this webzine, which boggles my mind by appearing in both English and Dutch, I’m not sure how you ended up at Hierophant Nox, and you must amend your error immediately after you finish this piece! ^{Between them, these guys can explain far better than I can the qualities that make this intimate festival absolutely unique…}
	Neithan: First of all: who are Hub & Heuy? Please introduce yourself in a few words to our readers… Hub: Hails Neithan! First of all thanks for the support!!! My name is Marcel though most people know me as Hub de Galliër (Hub the Gaul). I have my own distro/label called HDG-Distribution (www.hdgdistribution.com) through which I mostly sell Norwegian underground stuff. Besides that the last couple of years I've also been merchandiser/roadie for Enslaved, Vreid and Kampfar to mention a few. And of course together with Heuy I run the H&H Agency. Heuy: HEUY!!!! Allright! Thanks Neithan for the interview! I am Xander, and because of my screaming at concert venues everybody started to call me Heuy. I have had to live with that for over ten years now. In my "normal" life I work at the Centre For Arts at Roermond and I work at the Azijnfabriek (Vinegar Factory) venue. Of course I manage to experience several tours and I make movies of a lot of bands, like Enslaved, The Batallion, Vreid, Urgehal and Dismember to name but a few. Neithan: To give our reader an idea: any idea when you two started organizing concerts together, and how many concerts have you guys arranged so far? Hub: I can’t tell you exactly when we started since there has been a certain number of beers between the time we were ‘founded’ and now. I suspect it was around 2000 when I myself, as vocalist for LOMP (which means rude in Dutch) havocked venues around. In that time, I already organized some small festivals with the name Monolith Of Knowledge Festival, where among others bands like Ancient Rites, Primordial, After Forever, Hades Almighty and Pentacle have performed. In those days I ran into Heuy in a local pub. We both had the same passion for music and alcohol and when I found out he too organized his own concerts and festivals the idea rose swiftly to continue together, as two can do more than one. Since then we have organized numerous of gigs, of which the majority was held at the Azijnfabriek. And in the meanwhile we have come to the sixth edition of Hub & Heuy Metalfest. Heuy: Indeed, it was somewhere in 2000 that we go together. The first H&H Metalfest was with LOMP, Maggots, Defcon-One and Extreme Sickening Punishment. It just wasn’t called H&H Metalfest, so actually the coming edition is not the sixth but the fifth time. Before I met Hub, I put together some small gigs and a small metal fest called Thunderstruck Metalfest. The idea behind that festival was a great atmosphere, cheap beer and good bands. This is today still the objective of our festival. Besides putting up this Metalfest we have also organized several tours, including a mini tour with Dismember, Taake and Vreid to name but a few. Apart from that we book separate concerts at the Azijnfabriek in Roermond, among which there was the first show of the Russian band Arkona in the Netherlands. Another thing we frequently put together is Pitch Black in Germany. Neithan: What was the trigger for you to start cooperating as concert promotors? Hub: The scene is a tough little world with a lot of envy and competition; many times, people grudge the others the light of their eyes, and soon there is talk of jealousy and envy. That is why we wanted to continue as a duo, also because with two in stead of one you can stand a firmer ground. Apart from that, you can learn from the other as well and delegate some tasks which brings the pressure down. Added to that, we have the advantage that we live five hundred meters away from each other which makes it even easier. Heuy: That is the business side of it indeed. Furthermore I would say our love for the music, beer and partying are the engines to our cooperation. Tell me in all honesty, a meeting in a bar with a decent pint of beer sure beats sitting down all alone in a dull office with a cup of coffee? Neithan: Hub and Heuy are your nicknames which you have started to use for your promoter activities. Haven’t you ever considered changing that name because it sounds a bit too carnival-like perhaps? Hub: As a matter of fact, some do not take us serious because of our nicknames and the use of it. But on the other side, it would be a sign of weakness to give in to general opinions and with that to give up our own nicknames. You don’t like it? Well, pity... We believe in ourselves and think/ hope that people, in the long run, will put their prejudices towards our names aside and just come over and party along at what we organize, because in the end that is all that matters: the festival itself with mostly exclusive bands, and not the name of it all! Heuy: Indeed, we do live in the province of Limburg, among other things known for the carnival fest, yet that has nothing to do with our names. We could have used a trve cvlt evil name, but do you believe we will win a war just by using that? We are who we are, and no one can change us from being ourselves. At the time we had come up with some awful names and wrote them down on a beer-mat. Alas, the day after it could not be found anymore. Since we liked the sound of Hub & Heuy we continued with that. In the end it all comes down to the bands coming over and to change our name all of a sudden after all those years doesn’t add anything at all to our goals. The steady visitors of the festivals and the other shows we arrange know that this name stands for, and that is an intimate atmosphere, sociability and good bands. Neithan: What is the most rumoured idea about you as promotors, apart from the fact that you can do a hell of an alternative version of the national Dutch anthem? Heuy: You do confront me with the facts on this one. I don’t think it regards rumours, just the plain and hurting truth. It seems that people think that we like our alcoholic beverage: I can not confirm this, I think this is something you will have to judge for yourself when coming to one of our gigs. And to correct your question: our version of the ‘Wilhelmus’ (the national Dutch anthem – Neithan) is only the B-side of the version. Our own national anthem is still of course "First we gonna drink some beer today". Hub: Hahahaha... Well, it doesn’t concern rumors so much, but is generally known that the both of us can empty a considerable amount of beers which often results in hilarious situations. As some of those stories are rather extreme these go around pretty fast and before you know it, everybody has heard the stories already, hahaha.

	Neithan: I think you guys have –at least for the low countries – a unique concept, as you create your own packages in stead of buying ready-made packages. On the one hand it means that your shows are rather unique yet on the other hand: you, and as a result the visitors, can not take profit from the economies of scale of such a package. How do you see that? Heuy: It most certainly ain’t the easiest way, but who told you that life is easy? On the one hand we want to help bands to play over here, to learn about our city and to liven things up a bit. On the other hand we want to show the spectators bands that do not play say at least four times a year in the Netherlands. Apart from that, it is awesome to be able to pick your own bands, the bands you really want. Hub: It is correct that we don’t go for the easiest way by picking an instant package, and maybe add a local band or something to give it a bit extra. We do want to distinguish ourselves by putting as many as possible bands on the stage that hardly ever play here, so that we have something unique which should appeal to fans of the genre. This way of organizing has its ‘pro’s’ and its ‘con’s’. Pro are the unique shows and exclusivity. The downside is that the total costs of organizing a concert are a bit higher than with the instant packages, and that it takes a lot of time extra regarding the logistics concerning a concert. But oh well, despite the difficulties coming from our way of working I wouldn’t want to have it any other way. Neithan: And this brings us to Hub & Heuy Metalfest; how and when did the idea rise? Hub: Like said in the beginning of our interview I used to organize the Monolith Of Knowledge Festival and Heuy did the Thunderstruck festival. After we decided to continue in the future as a duo a change of name was necessary. And since we could not come up with a suitable name after seriously emptying the bar contents, we decided to use our own names. Everybody around here knows our names and in a condition of being slightly under the influence we thought it was a well suited solution. Heuy: Under the joy of Irish Red, Prawn chips and a bottle of Talisker (whisky) we, like mentioned earlier on, wrote down some names on a beer-mat. However, these names were so awful that we opted for using our own names. The idea was, and is, to offer a combination of both established and newcoming bands, so that these new acts can get stage experience with a bigger act. Furthermore, the bands we book are good friends of ours, which contributes to the intimate atmosphere of the festival. Neithan: And where do you think do Hub & Heuy stand apart from all those other festivals? Heuy: The bands often come for just one show to the region, the atmosphere which is really intimate and relaxed, bands who often are personal friends and who do not just play and sit backstage, but also often mingle with the audience to enjoy the party and continue to party after the shows are over based on the well developed musical taste of our regular H&H DJ’s, DJ Antihit & DJ Skinfather. Hub: Personally I think that we book bands that are not common. Many times, you see bands on festivals that are a lot ‘in the picture’ at that time, for instance bands that have just released an album which needs to be promoted. Also there are a lot of festivals that put the same bands year after year, afraid to step aside from the path they know and so as standard these come up with the same old names. To us, it is essential to have bands we know in person, and out of all bands we had and have this year at least 90% can be regarded as personal good friends. Not only does this make a cooperation easier, but it also contributes to that intimate atmosphere which you encounter not so much at those regular festivals. Apart from that, bands often stay over at our homes in stead of staging them in a hotel where they are left to their own, something that emphasizes that personal bond. That is also a thing about which all bands so far were very pleased with and something we really want to maintain for the future. Neithan: This weekend we have Hub & Heuy Metalfest VI: can you give a short summary of Hub & Heuy Metalfest I to V, and what were the special bands for you on those occasions? Heuy: We started out at the "Het Muziekhoes" café in Roermond. That is the location where we held our first two issues, with amongst others Danse Macabre. Unfortunately we did not see that show ourselves, since we were kicked out that same night by the owner of Het Muziekhoes. He did suspect us of stealing money, which is of course ridiculous, because who is foolish enough to steal his own money? Well, the result was that the audience in Roermond got so pissed that Roermond was covered by a cloud of smoke. It did yield Danse Macabre some extra audience nevertheless, the local fire department to be specific, gheghe… In other words, after a cosy herd fire we were forced to look for another place. The third edition was in "JC De Metro" at Panningen. Among the performing acts here were Detonation and Callenish Circle. The fourth edition was back in Roermond with Heidevolk and an exclusive show from Dimension F3H. From the fifth edition on we went for a bigger approach. We went to Weert and had Dismember as headliner. To me it was dream come true, as it started all for me with that band: together with Dennis (Severe Torture) I sang ‘Indecent & Obscene’ in class, and for that reason we could not afford to miss Severe Torture on that day either. Furthermore, Urgehal and Gjenferdsel played over there who both came to the Netherlands especially for this one show. Hub: As you can derive from Heuy’s answer our entire history has been one continuous leaning process. A learning process that started slowly and very amateur-like and through ups and downs. We did not have any examples how to put something like this together and so we had to learn it the hard way. Slowly I am starting to see results of the massive amount of work from the past years and with every edition we learn more, so I am very confident about the future.
	Continue to Part II of the Interview