Introducing... Gerhardt

As time goes by and I delve deeper into my own distorted reflections, sometimes little introductions will be useful. I will keep referring to them as I talk of certain people, places and projects.

It's only right I start with someone who has made quite an impact on my personal life and career of late: Gerhardt, also affectionally known as 'G' or 'Chefke' (chief)

Gerhardt I've known for about two years now. He's a musician from Alkmaar, a city not far from Amsterdam. He spent most of his twenties playing in all kinds of unruly indiebands, such as Skinnerbox and The Realdolls. He's also known as the bloke who plays piano and cowbell with the soul-pop band Beans & Fatback. A few years ago he left his garage-roots and chose the path of the singer-songwriter.

Gerhardt at 'our' release party in Paradiso

I met him through facebook, as he has been an avid explorer of the social web in the time that I've known him. He responded to a call out I made as I was looking for songwriters to play at a spur-of-the-moment party at my friend Hester's old dorm. In the spontaneous, ad-hoc manner I've come to know so well, Gerhardt agreed to come down and play to a small crowd of international students. In the following year and a half, we met on quite a few occassions: he became a fan of the event Pageturner that I host every month, I became a fan of his witty songs and the suprising twists he gave to them every so often. We became quite good friends considering we didn't see eachother very often.

This past januari, Gerhardt released his first single A Brand New Heart, of his first mini-album All Is There. He recorded it in Belgium with Triggerfinger as his studio band, per chance the best rockband in Belgium. Alas their touring schedule made it impossible to play Gerhardt's liveshows. So he was looking for musicians to play his new 'band songs' live. I just came back from a hiatus as a musician, and somehow managed to talk myself into the band without Gerhardt even hearing me play. In a matter of weeks a band was formed, material was rehearsed and a string of dates were played, including many radio and television appearances and a soldout release-show at Paradiso in Amsterdam.

The band: Marjolein, Akim, Gerhardt, Otto, yours truly

In just 7 months I went from an inactive bassplayer to a pretty professional one. We have some huge festival dates coming up, the record has been received very well by the press and I've learned a lot about professional musicianship and 'the bizz'. It's been quite a trip, but it's one I feel has been worth my time and effort so far. It's great to be out playing music to crowds again.

A few weeks ago, we recorded a special for RTV Noord-Holland. Check it out below:



I will regularly be posting updates about the band as they come up. Also, expect some distorted reflections on this whole touring life. It gets pretty crazy sometimes, so it might make for a very interesting read...!