The 24-year-old Jesper Habraken and Thijs Rooijakkers, better known as Hardstyle Duo Daual Damage, ended Paaspop in their own Schijndel on Sunday evening. The boys come to the festival from small things, but this year for the first time on the other side to turn in a packed festival tent. “It feels old and familiar.”
“It is not the first time we are on Paaspop, but to turn around,” says Jesper from Schijndel. “When we were twelve years old, we were also here in the tent. Now we are on the other side.”
“It feels old and familiar,” says Thijs from Olland. “We have been almost every year from then. It has always been nice, now hope it is just as beautiful as we are turning ourselves.”
The boys know each other from high school, lost sight of each other for a few years, but found each other five years ago in producing hardstyle music. The fact that they have been on Paaspop together after so many years is unreal for them.
“Paaspop is a home game.”
“A childhood dream that comes out, although it has also become more normal since we run at many festivals,” says Jesper. Since the first own event that Jesper and Thijs organized two years ago, the boys are doing fast. “We are on the mainstage at Defqon and Intens Festival this year. And we are going to tour in America and Australia,” he says soberly.
No matter how sober the boys seem, the stream of bookings at home and abroad makes an impression. “It’s not normal,” laughs Thijs. Nevertheless, action remains in its own village. “Paaspop is a home game. My group of friends, our dad and mom and many Schijndel people are in the audience,” says Jesper.
The boys of the boys are beaming backstage of pride. “When I see how the audience responds to the boys, it will do me something,” says Jolande, Jesper’s mother. The father of Jesper, Marcel, thinks that he should shed a tear away during the performance. “The drive of the boys and the stage presentation is contagious. I am very proud,” he says.
The boy’s loud music style took some getting used to for the parents. “You get used to it, but now we can really appreciate it,” says Jolande. “We are just going to stamp,” Marcel promises.
“As a little Menneke already drums on buckets.”
The parents of Thijs, Walter and Angelique, even hear the boys’ music daily. “With us in the basement in Olland, the boys have a studio, but we are used to. As a little Menneke, he already turned buckets upside down to drum,” says Angelique. “There was a big noise and that noise remained,” laughs Walter.
The boys are not afraid to walk next to their shoes. “We have Sitosticks (frying snacks ed.) On our wish list in the dressing room, but we never get them,” laughs Thijs.
If they do set bizarre requirements, such as a black Mercedes, they always have their parents who keep them on the floor with both feet. “If they put something like that on the list, they get a twist,” laughs Angelique.
