Every Wednesday I want to share with you a Dutch band, to get you acquainted with the rich Dutch music scene. The Netherlands might be a small country but we have a lot to offer you. Let me take you on a journey through the Netherlands and its many talented artists and bands.
We are going to kick off Going Dutch with one of the biggest alternative names in the Netherlands, they played support for Muse, they played the main stages of the biggest music festivals in the Netherlands, and internationally they are gaining ground every year. This first Going Dutch will be about De Staat!
This band will be the hardest to talk about, because I can't put in words how much the music of De Staat means to me. And then there is is the struggle to place them in the right box. In all honesty it is impossible to describe the music they make, as it cannot be divined by one genre. They draw from so many genres and they make their own thing out of that.
Let's start at the beginning, De Staat, has been out there for awhile, I cannot think of how exactly I came to know this band, but I have been around since their debut album, called Wait For Evolution, which came out in 2009. Now that I come to think of it, I might know where I have picked this up, I think I heard a live performance on the radio, and got sucked into the music immediately.
Until date this is certainly still my favorite album by them. It will be interesting to see if they keep up making albums, as they just started on a new adventure, which I will tell you about in a bit. Anyways, Wait For Evolution, is an interesting debut album. It has so many layers, but it is also straight forward. It is maybe less complex than anything that came afterwards. I think this album is timeless, it still works within their current repertoire.
Their second album, Machinery, was released at the beginning of 2011. This was the first year I got to see them play live. I remember it because I was at De Zwarte Cross, that year, I had check the line up and knew they were playing. I was with my ex and his friends, these people, have no musical bone in their body, they don't really care about music. So I told them, don't really care what you are going to do, but at that time, I will be at that stage. So when the time came, I made my way to "De Megatent", the second largest stage at this festival, alone were De Staat was playing, and it was freaking amazing! Their live performances are spot on, and they bring so much energy to the stage. I will never forget, jumping and dancing my ass off on the front row. That performance made my entire day.
The real breakthrough for De Staat came much later though, when the music video for "Witchdoctor" was released. The music video went viral, and it this gave the band an initial boost, I think mainly internationally as in the Netherlands they where already well established and having won the 3FM (radio station) Awards for 2 years in a row, in 2011 and 2012, in the category Alternative.
The video gave a new dynamic to the live performances of the band as well. If you don't know about this, Torre Florim (the lead singer) would go into the middle of the audience, where we would open the song with its famous words: "Oh little sicky, seems to be the pain?" sturring up the audience, which already know what to do, and form a circle around him. And then the circle will start moving, like it did in the music video. The awesome thing about this, is that it worked, the entire audience would join in and form one massive moving circle.
The album of which Witch Doctor came, was I_Con, honestly not my favorite album, I love Witch Doctor, Input Source, Select but it is certainly not my go to album if I listen to De Staat. There is no really reason I don't visit this album. I am always really happy when they play Input Source Select at their live performances.
Then came O in 2016, the above foto is one of my own, taken at their show, at Hedon Zwolle in 2016. I have an amazing memory, no I am just kidding, but that show, I finally understood what it felt like to be a fangirl. No I will not be screaming and fainting in the front row. I was speechless however when Torre decided to talk to me. I could not think of anything to say, I became very shy and my head must have turn bright red. It did get me a signed cd, off which I am very proud.
O has become one of my favorite albums of De Staat, it is just so much fun. I love Peptalk, Blues is Dead, and Help Yourself. With O I think they also did something different, something renewing, it put them on their current path I think. The song are all so catchy, fun beats, and a whole lot of silliness.
I love this foto I took, from Torre, at Zwarte Cross 2019. Time flies when you are having fun, I was in the front row as you can see, and this again was an amazing show. However, it can't tip their best show ever, which was their sold out AFAS LIVE show, their video graphics on that show were phenomenal, I have not seen a more impressive show as that one was. It even beats the Muse Drones tour show in the Ziggo Dome.
Along with that AFAS Live performance came off course an album release, Bubble Gum. The most danceable of albums, this might even appeal to some hardstyle lovers as for this album they did a deep dive in the dance scene I guess, songs as Pikachu, KITTY KITTY and Out of Your Mind, are a lot more electronic and hard hitting then you might have gotten used to over the years. It got heavier mostly in the bass category.
So back to the now, have I convinced you yet about this band? So Bubble Gum was the last full length album. Dating back to 2019, now you may think have they not come out with anything new? The answer is yes they have, from end of 2021 they have been dropping songs in 3 colours, Red, Yellow and Blue, they are kind of doing a non tradition experiment, of not coming up with an album, but releasing songs on the go. So far there are four songs in Yellow, three songs in Red, and another three in Blue. The songs are going with the colors, according to the band, as mentioned in an interview. So the red songs may be a bit more, aggressive, blue being calm and dreamy, and yellow. Yellow is for the more fun and upbeat songs. A whole new approach to music, it is intriguing. We will just have to wait and see what this new approach will bring.
Have I made you curious yet about the music of De Staat? You can listen to their music down below. I have hand picked 5 songs for you to explore. This playlist will grow with every week, adding 5 new songs to the Going Dutch story. Which Dutch band would you want to see next week?
Comments