A Danish Postpunk Band Called Before!‏ By Tom Kipp

Just when I figured I’d heard all the really good Postpunk bands in the world (after 32 years of incessant digging!), and whilst searching for some discographical info re: a rare Italian/Austrian Velvet Underground-related cd ep I own called “b.v. Before Velvet”, I came across this impressive, heretofore never-heard-of-by-me band from Denmark, with the happily Ein Heit-resonant name Before!

They seem to have made one album and two 7-inch singles from 1980-83, then dispersed.

Their collected output, plus three live tracks was reissued on cd in 2003 on a Danish label called Karma Music (which later issued a 1982 Before live set), but I can’t find a copy for sale at ANY price on the internet thus far:

http://www.discogs.com/Before-A-Wish-Of-Life-Singles-And-Live-Recordings/release/1910222

I was of course immediately struck by the description at Discogs.com:

“Danish punk/rock band 1980-1983. At its time considered one of the most important punk bands in Denmark. Fronted by vocalist Fritz Bonfils, the band featured a dark and intense music recollecting The Velvet Underground, The Doors and Joy Division, and their only album considered a landmark in Danish punk.



In the earliest incarnation of this short-lived band, the line-up included Danish electronica pioneer Martin Hall and future lead-singer of Sort Sol, Steen Jørgensen.

Michael Rasmussen would later be with The Sandmen.”

As usual, it’s YouTube to the rescue re: documentation of their rather powerful music, which is not unlike The Sound, contemporaneous Clock DVA, or the early Sisters of Mercy:

The title track of their LP hits with some of the force of prime Killing Joke:

Here’s the b-side of their 1983 farewell single, done live in 1982, thoroughly flanged and foreboding:

And just to prove I’m not entirely crazy to think this a band of at least moderate significance, here’s a song from the set they played while opening for New Order’s first-ever show in Denmark, one day prior to the 1st anniversary of Ian Curtis’ death, 17 May 1981:

I’m just sorry music like this is UNFINDABLE, at the same time that nearly every U2 and Cure album has long-since received the deluxe 2cd-slipcased treatment! LOL

Because there’s obviously far more to The Story of Postpunk than just “I Will Follow”, “In Between Days”, and “Love Will Tear Us Apart”….

– Tom Kipp