Brakrock 2026, day one, part Two.
The Dickies at Brakrock in Duffel, Belgium 8/7/2026. All photos by Paul Holstein.
When I was planning the trip from the U.S.A. over to Europe for Brakrock, I reached out to the festival staff to help with both the photo pass and recommendations for booking a hotel in Belgium. They were extremely helpful, and Kim Vervoort, who runs the entire operation, responded several times personally. When I was there, I took the time to search out Kim just to shake his hand and thank him. It turned out that Europe highly values its press, as they had an area set up INSIDE the castle for press (which was, in fact, the only way to get inside the castle itself if you weren't running the festival). While in the press area, I was treated to complimentary beer and snacks and was able to thank Kim and take a quick photo. It was worthwhile, but the bands weren't waiting, and I was quickly back to my sprint between stages to try to catch every set possible.
A Wilhelm Scream was next on my can't-miss list. They did the Brakrock pre-show the night before, which I was not able to attend, but I had seen them previously in my hometown of Detroit, Michigan, when they toured in 2023 with Anti-Flag and The Venomous Pinks. They were great the first time that I saw them, and even better this time. My biggest takeaway from this set, however, was the viciousness of the hedges in front of the Woods Stage. The hedges looked great at first, but after being jammed into them several times by the mosh pit behind me, I realized that I needed to be very careful (I saw several stage divers go right into them and could feel their pain).
Terror at Brakrock in Duffel, Belgium 8/7/2026. All photos by Paul Holstein.
In stark contrast to the earlier pop and melodic hardcore punk bands, next up was Terror. Terror is serious beatdown hardcore, fronted by Scott Vogel, who always pushes the limits of the crowd. He started right out voicing his displeasure with the barrier and asking the crowd to move up repeatedly. The barrier held, although the pit was insane and crowdsurfing was constant. Songs from their new album "Still Suffer" were the highlight, and it seemed like everyone knew the words and was screaming along. As much as I wanted to stay for the entire set, I would have completely missed Bad Cop/Bad Cop if I stayed and then went directly to The Suicide Machines already in progress. I opted to duck out early, catch most of Bad Cop/Bad Cop, and then get to The Suicide Machines right when they took the stage.
Bad Cop/ Bad Cop at Brakrock in Duffel, Belgium 8/7/2026. All photos by Paul Holstein.
Bad Cop/Bad Cop are always great; I've seen them many times locally and at other festivals. This was probably the best set I've seen, as the Lake Stage was so up close and personal (it was almost like they were posing for my photos). I stayed as long as I could without risking missing any of The Suicide Machines, which have a special significance for me.
The Suicide Machines at Brakrock in Duffel, Belgium 8/7/2026. All photos by Paul Holstein.
The Suicide Machines are from my hometown of Detroit, MI, and even though I had already seen them several times this year at local bars, it was a real treat to catch them out on tour in another country. I saw them point at me and my friends a couple of times, so I have to believe that they recognised that they had some Detroit fans in the crowd. Jay Navarro noticed the hedge, which had seen a lot of action by this point and was exposing quite a few of the sharper branches, and noted that this set would be "hedgecore". At one point, someone ripped a large piece of the hedge off and threw it up on stage, where Jay proceeded to "smoke" it and then put it on the drum kit. In a great example of how small the world is, a crowdsurfing/stagediving fan dressed as a banana turned out to be Jeyy Shreddy (The Real Banana J) from Denver, Colorado, a friend that I had met at Punk Rock Bowling and talked to at several previous shows. I'm going to have to interview Jeyy someday to find out how he can possibly be at nearly every punk rock festival in the world, every year.
I've been a fan of The Dickies for as long as I can remember, and I've heard that they are even more widely known in Europe. I was surprised to see them playing on the Lake Stage, but it worked out perfectly for me. Leonard Graves' voice still sounded great at 74 years old, and he brought out the usual props that included a puppet, snorkel, and blow-up sex doll. They played all of their hits, including my favorite "Paranoid" (Black Sabbath), and it ended up being the perfect time to call it a day. I would have loved to see Less Than Jake, Gogol Bordello, and H20, but the jet lag was catching up, and it would be a long day tomorrow (with the rest of my group that had splintered off to Alcatraz Festival back together, and The Exploited and The Casualties taking the stage). I could not have asked for a better day.
