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DeWolfffest Was Worth The Wait.

The wait was worth it. Since its announcement two months ago, fans of Dutch rock trio DeWolff​ will have been counting off the days until DeWolffest, a festival in Utrecht pop venue TivoliVredenburg in honor of the band's 10-year anniversary. On April 29th the day was finally there for DeWolff to celebrate in grand fashion, with DeWolff craft beer, booths with vintage clothing, records and screen prints, and even a bona fide retro hair saloon. And of course, lots of bands sympathetic to the boys from DeWolff and their raunchy brand of psychedelic southern rock.

Things heat up early with a set from voodoo-blues band The Grand East​ on the big Ronda stage. Dynamite frontman Arthur Akkermans' crowd interaction is more subdued than usual, but the strength and coordination with which the boys plow through their songs make up for it. Excitement reaches a fever pitch as set closer ‘Water’ suddenly segues into a cover of Dutch prog rock legend Focus’ ‘Hocus Pocus’, including some bona fide yodelling from Arthur. So good.

One of the other big acts that plays the Ronda, Little Barrie​, makes for a comparative downer. The UK band’s a long-time favorite of DeWolff which makes their attendence special, but their set plods compared to their sprightly studio work. Barrie Cadogan's piercing guitar tone is a particular turn-off. There’s reprieves in the form of guitarless sections that highlight Barrie’s expressive vocals, but soon the root canal resumes. A shame.

Meanwhile the tinier Pandora stage upstairs hosts a number of smaller but often no less impressive bands. Singer-songwriter Mitch Rivers plays a strong set there boosted by his authorative singing and stage pressence and some sick guitar acrobatics from lead guitarist Stefan Wolfs. Keep an eye out for these guys, they could be going places.

At around 10 o’clock DeWolff takes the Ronda stage to cap things off. The trio does not dissapoint. Pablo van der Poels roaring guitar and Robin Piso’s furiously funky organ clash, while Luka van der Poels fatback drumming keeps things chugging. The groove, the swagger, the exuberence – ít’s all there and more. The strain of having to meet expectations doesn’t show one bit. To DeWolff, playing a dynamite show like this is as natural as a morning bowel movement. Here’s to the next ten years – and the ten after that, and so forth!

Words: Marijn Meijer​

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DeWolff's Tenth Anniversary: “We’re Not Out Of Inspiration – Not By A Long Shot”

It’s a beautiful day along de picturesque Ouwegracht in Utrecht where I’m speaking to Dutch rock trio DeWolff, just outside their all-analog Electrosaurus Southern Sound Studio. This year is the band’s tenth year anniversary and they’re celebrating it big with a festival, DeWolffest in Ronda & Pandora | TivoliVredenburg on April 29th. 

“Ten years man! What wedding anniversary is that?” guitarist and singer Pablo van der Poel wonders. “Wood. Paper?” ventures drummer Luka, his brother. “Pizza!” organist Robin Piso grins. “But yeah, we wanted to make this celebration big,” Pablo continues. “We got a big venue and booked lots of sick bands we’re friends with, like The Dawn Brothers, The Grand East, Birth of Joy.” Robin: “There’ll be a mini analog studio there, you can do screen prints, get DeWolff burgers and beer … This festival will represent everything DeWolff stands for.”  So what exactly does DeWolff stand for? Pablo: “We’re part of a scene of bands that play similar music. Several have recorded at Electrosaurus. It’s hard to define, but it’s all got something authentic and honest, as well as a great groove.” “We love being able to boost these great bands, giving them the Electrosaurus seal of approval, featuring them at DeWolffest”, Luka says, echoing a remark made by Grand East frontman Arthur Akkermans during my interview with them last year. “I think it’s sort of like how Jack White works,” Pablo adds. “His touch, his personality is visible in everything he produces for himself and others.” Robin: “These bands are people you can hang with all night, drinking beer and listening to records everyone thinks are awesome. I think that’s the feeling we’re going for.”

Pablo: “We also booked some of our heroes, like Wolf People and Little Barrie. Man, we were listening to Little Barrie even before DeWolff!” Both bands are from the UK. “We love that they’re coming to the Netherlands for us. We also wanted some American bands but that wasn’t financially doable”. Luka chimes in: “Trump wants them to stay there so they can make America great again. We have to pay 300.000% import tax on American music.”

I take the Trump mention as an opportunity to enquire about ‘Deceit and Woo’, a protest song about him DeWolff recently released. Pablo: “We were working on this real pissed off song when he got elected, we didn’t have any lyrics yet, and it just fit. Back when we were into the whole psychedelic thing I used to sing about UFO’s and shit, but now we write more about what concerns us personally.” Such protest songs are rare in Dutch popular music these days. Robin: “I think a lot of musicians figure, to hell with politics, I want to entertain people, give them a good time.” Pablo: “That’s fine of course, it’s an artistic choice. We don’t want to consciously shy away from it though. We can express what concerns our generation. If people listen to your music twenty, thirty years later and you’re singing the same sorta stuff Jim Morrison sang in the sixties, what’ve you really left behind?”  

“Ten years though …”, Pablo muses. “When you say it it sounds like a lot, but I don’t have mega strong feelings about it. We get along so well it’s been super easy. It’s like you tell a buddy you’ve been friends with for ten years and he’s like: ‘Right, sick, I saw it on Facebook this morning …’” Still, ten years is a long time, especially considering the three were literally kids when the band started. Robin: “I think I was 17, Luka was 13 and Pablo was 16 … our parents had to sign our first recording contract!”

DeWolff has come far since then. Pablo: “We have our own studio now, we have a new manager, our popularity around Europe is picking up … Musically we’ve really grown too. When we did our first shows we had like five songs we just jammed on for two hours. We’ve tried tons of stuff since, but with the last couple’a records we’ve really developed a sound of our own.” Robin adds: “A few years ago, it felt like things weren’t really going forward. All three of us went and did side projects. But now it’s back to DeWolff first, the rest second.” They laugh.

“Anyway, yeah, ten years …”, Robin continues. “It’s great, but it’s just a number. I mean, the Stones aren’t awesome because they’ve been around for sixty years – they’ve been around for sixty years because they’re awesome.” DeWolff wouldn’t mind sticking around that long as well. “I don’t see myself retiring,” Pablo says. “I don’t have a pension plan anyway! But it’s not like one day I’ll say: ‘Eh, music, it’s been fun, but I think I’ll go do something else ... maybe breed horses or play ultimate frisbee.’”

For now though, it’s on to DeWolffest, and then to the new album, tentatively planned for early 2018. “We’ve already finished eleven songs these past two months, including two more with a political side to ‘em, so it’s either gonna be an album with a lot of songs, or … well, not a lot”, Pablo grins. “Really, we just want to keep doing what we’re doing. We want to get as big as possible on our own terms.” Robin: “We want as much people as possible to hear our music. I’m sure there’s tons of people out there that haven’t heard us and would totally love us.” Luka adds: “We’re not out of inspiration yet. Not by a long shot.”

Words bij Marijn Meijer/ Photos by Perry van der Steen photography

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Film Review: Beauty And The Beast

Genre: Fantasy, Musical Director: Bill Condon Cast: Emma Watson, Ian McKellen, Emma Thompson, Ewan McGregor ToTen Rating: XXXX A live-action remake of the 1991 animated Disney Classic. Years ago I came in contact with a director who was interested in making a short film about the background of the witch from Hansel & Gretel. He told me that no one was interested, and one person even laughed at him. Who would ever be interested in a fairytale character’s background? Well, my guess was that actually many people would be interested. Not long after, the tv show “Once Upon A Time” started and was a hit. So Disney decided to give it a go in film theaters with “Maleficent”, and success again. After that, they stopped telling familiar stories from another angle, and just did live-action versions of their cartoons. I find that a loss, but it’s not hurting their box office. Beauty And The Beast even goes all the way by including the songs from the original animated feature. They’re great musical compositions, so no harm there. It’s not a 100% copy, of course; there are some updated jokes in there, a few changes to some details, and a character who’s now gay – well, it’s suggested that he’s gay, which was enough for one Alabama cinema to refuse to show the film. Because, God forbid, the children should be exposed to such inuendos in a movie about bestiality. But the best part, in my opinion, was the production design. The Beast’s castle is a gorgeous dark, gothic piece of art. I’m not sure how much of it was physically there and how much was added later in post production, but it looked seamlessly to me. It’s very believable that one could be held prisoner there and not mind it that much. All in all, a very good adaptation. Now, since I have your attention, I would like to say something about the source material. This is a story about how true beauty is on the inside. And it’s told through a tale in which an attractive witch disguises herself as an old woman (which is unattractive per definition, then?) to mess with an attractive prince because he’s become an a-hole person after having been forced to grow up with an a-hole father. For some reason the sexy incognito witch is surprised to see the a-hole be an a-hole about giving her shelter in his castle. So she reveals herself for the hottie that she truly is, and then curses him to look like a beast. And his innocent staff members are dragged into it by being turned into furniture. In other words, the witch herself was being kind of a bitch, which, with the fact that she’s good looking, so far means that attractive people are douchebags. Cut to a short skip in the future, and everyone’s forgotten about the castle and the prince. Enter Belle. In this tale of “looks are not important” the main character is a pretty girl whose name even means “pretty”. But hey, she reads books and sometimes invents stuff, so almost everyone in town thinks she’s a nutter. Except the hunk, but he’s not just an a-hole, he’s an evil and dumb a-hole. The pretty girl-who-reads-books ends up being held prisoner by the beast. He quickly falls in love with her because she reads books and isn’t afraid of him (not that he’s very scary to begin with), and she likes him in return because before dragging her back after an attempt to escape he fought off wolves that were about to eat her. In other words: the guy who got turned into a beast because he was superficial is into the chick who is slightly more intellectual than others, and the hostage falls for her (supposedly) disgusting captor because for a moment he was being, like, totally heroic. And then in the end, as we all know and if not at least knew was coming, the beast is turned into his handsome princey self again. They get married and live happily ever after. The tale about inner beauty is all about how two sexy peeps fall for each other quite easily. It would have made more sense if they had cast Kristen Schaal as Belle, and if the Prince was an old man by the time he was returned to his former self and she was still into him. But I guess this tale about inner beauty reaches a bigger audience if it’s told with two lookers in the lead. Aaaaanyway. It’s a good film. It’s very pretty to watch. Beauty And The Beast is in Dutch theaters from March 2017. Rating: XXXXX – ToTen Top Triumph XXXX – Fantastic Feature XXX – Good enough to spend your money on XX – Close, but no cigar X – Make like a kangaroo and Skip It

Words: Terence Shea

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The Sun Ra Arkestra Descends On Lantarenvenster For A Cosmic Concert

Did Sun Ra really die, or did he just go home? Throughout his life, the jazz musician born as Herman Poole Blount insisted having come from the planet Saturn to bring peace to earth through the unique brand of cosmic jazz played by his ever-changing band: the Arkestra. Sun Ra’s mission ended in 1993 when he left this world for realms unknown, but the Arkestra lives on. On March 22nd, the orchestra descended on Lantarenvenster in Rotterdam for a concert.

These days the Arkestra is led by 92 year old saxophonist Marshall Allen, a Ra veteran since 1957. You wouldn’t look twice at wizened old Allen if you passed him in the street, but on stage he has a commanding presence. This is both due to his muscular playing and his ruby-red cape and cap, which give him the appearance of a saintly ancient priest. The rest of the Arkestra is equally adorned in glittering Egyptian-inspired robes, which catch the multi-colored stage lights in unpredictable, hypnotic ways. They truly are a sight to behold.

Indeed, there is no sense of bygone glory here. The Arkestra still commands attention, both visually and musically. The group wastes no time in demonstrating the breadth of Sun Ra’s musical vision. They open with a deluge of shrieking horns and skittering African percussion typical of the experimental tendencies Ra picked up in the sixties. After a few minutes of this onslaught however, the orchestra breaks into a polite thirties-styled swing tune, beautifully sung by singer Tara Middleton (whose robes are emblazoned with the text (‘ASTRO BLACK’). Like the sun just burst through stormy clouds, indeed.

Throughout the show, the Arkestra demonstrates mastery of nearly every form of jazz. They veer from swing to bebop to avant-garde and back, at times during the same song. Plenty of the otherwise straight tunes feature bizarre shrieking horn solo’s, or Allen’s tinkering with the EVI, an electronic horn that sounds like a UFO taking off. Their genre mixing may sound like a hodgepodge, and in theory it is. But in practice, the Arkestra’s ease and conviction make it all work. To these musicians, there truly are no boundaries. Hearing the Arkestra achieve this sense of unity through such disparate parts, Ra’s belief that his music could bring peace doesn’t seem entirely outlandish. Whatever world Sun Ra is dwelling in right now, he’s sure to have been looking on approvingly.

Words: Marijn Meijer​

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Film Review: Life

Genre: Science-Fiction, Horror Director: Daniel Espinosa Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Ryan Reynolds, Rebecca Ferguson ToTen Rating: XXX Dormant life has been discovered on Mars, and a sample has been sent to a research facility that’s in orbit of Earth to be tested. The organism starts at a bacterial level, but grows at an alarming rate. When its seemingly benign nature switches to malevolent, the crew learns how much of a threat this lifeform truly is; it’s highly intelligent, strong, and will do anything to survive and climb to the top of the food chain. The crew has to try to capture and kill the creature, and most of all: prevent it from reaching Earth. Making a film is a team effort. That means if there’s a weak spot, other elements can hold it up. In the case of Life that would be the screenplay; thought written well, it is too familiar to be surprising. Whether or not it was written by someone involved in this production, somewhere on the net there is a Trivia section on Life and it says the film was “inspired by Alien”. To me, that’s not so much a trivia bit but a very obvious fact. An alien creature is on the loose, and has it out for the human crew on board. If this would be the first Alien-inspired story since Alien, that might not be such a problem. But we’ve seen this too many times. Luckily everything else makes up for it. The direction, the VFX, the cinematography; top notch stuff here. It all takes place in zero gravity space, and it’s perfectly believable to my eyes. The musical background score is oddly epic at some moments, but it worked for me. Fun creature design as well, in its final form the Martian was an evil looking bastard. Its strength lead to some gruesome horror scenes, and since there are only few of those the impact is greater. But still, Life is not surprising. Despite a different setting, it’s still “Alien”. It doesn’t mean the screenplay fails on every level, it’s not written by amateurs. It’s a fluent film, the first act is quite original and engaging. The whole film is entertaining.

Just as soon as a dangerous alien creature slips into an air duct, you expect the rest of the film to be “crew against alien”. And that is what it is. Deeper themes about life that were introduced earlier on aren’t picked up as the story progresses. Characters may not be cardboard, but at some point they just become a number in a body count.

Still, it’s been a while since there was an “Alien” type movie, so it’s nice to have such a well executed one like this. Who knows, maybe a part of the young horror-loving generation hasn’t seen anything similar before, and they will have what we had with the Xenomorph. Life is in Dutch theaters from March 23rd 2017. Rating: XXXXX – ToTen Top Triumph XXXX – Fantastic Feature XXX – Good enough to spend your money on XX – Close, but no cigar X – Make like a kangaroo and Skip It

Words: Terence Shea