The five key moments of De Kast singer Syb van der Ploeg: ‘When in doubt, I always say do it’

He’s a little late. Little children, you see. “They can sometimes mess up your schedule.” But before Syb van der Ploeg has to go on stage, he takes all the time to talk about his life and career. His common thread? “Try everything. Don’t stay on the mapped out route, but look further. I like to pull a stunt every now and then. Of course, that has sometimes gotten me in the face, but it usually took me further.”

Key moment 1

The day: June 6, 1997

The location: the Abe Lenstra Stadium in Heerenveen

The breakthrough of his band De Kast

“I was a good carpenter, I was a good skater and I loved music. I was driven, but I didn’t have enough talent to reach the top in sports. In music I did get my head above the parapet. I come from Northeast Friesland, a region with a hard mentality. Don’t talk, work. Calluses on your soul. I’m a sensitive boy. That’s why I chose music. I could express my emotions in that.”

“At first I also worked in construction, but when I was 20, I devoted all my time to the band. Because if you really want something, you have to go for it completely. With the boys from De Kast we started with our own music with Frisian lyrics. Because of that Frisian, record companies wondered whether there was an audience for it. That only encouraged us to work even harder. It was a kind of assertiveness, a Frisian stubbornness with the motto: we can do quite a bit here. As a stunt we booked the Abe Lenstra Stadium. To get the tickets sold, we performed at all music stores in the Northern Netherlands. In the end there were 12,000 people in the stadium singing along to our songs. Then the record executives started to have confidence in it. It was the year of the Elfstedentocht, so the sentiment was also positive about Friesland.”

With hits like In Nije Dei , Heart of my Feeling and Words Without Words De Kast grows into one of the most popular pop bands in the Netherlands. Their concert on the beach of Lemmer attracts 20,000 visitors. Performances in the Gelredome and Ahoy are all sold out.

Key moment 2

The day: a summer day in 2001

The place: at home in Jorwert

He quits De Kast

“After four years of success with De Kast, I started to find it one-sided. I had the feeling that I was being lived. The pressure of a new single, promotion and a new concert series every time was wearing me down. I didn’t feel like it anymore and wanted something different. That’s why I suggested not doing anything for a year, but the others wanted to continue. Then I stopped playing De Kast completely for a while.”

“I then played in a performance about Wim Sonneveld and in a musical about Rembrandt. That’s why I moved to Amsterdam, but that wasn’t for me. I can’t live without the peace and space of Friesland. I want to run, bird watch and fish.”

“Back in Friesland, De Kast-kriebels also returned. Afterwards we played together often again and also celebrated our anniversaries with special concerts. Now it’s a hobby band. If we have the time and inclination, we play.”

Key moment 3

The day: a summer day in 2004

The place: a motel in Los Angeles

He comes up with an idea for theater concerts

“I was in California for a month with the plan to release songs from De Kast in English. There I met many people from the American music world. When you travel there, you realize that that region is the basis for music that has reached the whole world. Just think of big names like The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, The Byrds, Joni Mitchell and Steely Dan. Together they were the founders of the Westcoast Sound. In a motel in Los Angeles I came up with the idea of ​​performing the most beautiful songs from that movement at a theater concert. I brought in musician friends and singers with voices that matched my voice. I thought: maybe there is an audience for it if we travel to Dutch theaters with it. Well, there was. It sold out everywhere. Since then, we have released a new version every season. And everywhere it is full.”

Key moment 4

The day: August 10, 2009

The place: the handball court in Franeker

He meets his future wife Adriana

“To be honest, I had seen Adriana years before. She was barely 18 at the time, I was 36. So that couldn’t happen, I thought. Still, her appearance intrigued me enormously. At that time I was not feeling well. My relationship was over and it seemed like everyone was pulling on me at the same time. The turmoil of rock ‘n’ roll turned my life upside down. That’s why I put her out of my mind.”

“She is an actress. I was impressed when I saw her working on stage. Her emotions and her voice would not leave me, but we had no contact. A few years later I met her again at the PC in Franeker, the largest handball event in Friesland. A huge crowd, but everything that happened around us escaped us. We only had eyes for each other. I kept thinking: How can such a sweet girl exist? We talked all night, but I didn’t think it would be wise to get into a relationship. I wasn’t ready for it yet.”

“Later we sent each other messages. One day she wrote: if you don’t want to go on, that’s the end, but I still want to see you. That same evening I sat with her on the couch. Two connected souls. We now have a 9-year-old daughter and a 7-year-old son.

Key moment 5

The day: December 20, 2018

The location: the heart of the Kubaard village

He buys a school where he will live and work

“I was always on the road. That’s why I looked for a house with enough space to rehearse and write new work. There were too few children in Kubaard to keep the school alive. I was lucky enough to buy it. The renovation was a major disappointment, because it takes quite a bit to turn three classrooms into a home. Enough toilets, but the kitchen and bathroom required a lot of time and money. Fortunately, I was able to teach at a music school during the corona period, so that there was some income. The old gymnasium is now a small theater, where we rehearse. When our tours had to stop during the pandemic, we also gave concerts there. In retrospect, the pandemic was a blessing, because it forced me to think of new things. This is how the Simon and Garfunkel project that I am doing with Maarten Peters came about.”

“We also came up with the idea for theater concerts in the gym with songs by the Rolling Stones and The Beatles. Master guitarist Harry Sacksioni also plays along. It’s a kind of competition where we put fans of the bands apart in the room to supposedly play out the feud. But it is mainly an excuse to perform those beautiful songs. At those concerts I lend my voice to the songs that Mick Jagger sang. Also a man who never hesitates for long, but above all does it.”