‘Music is everywhere in our lives, but apparently we don’t want to see it as a serious profession’

Wies or Roxeanne Hazes?

‘Yes, Wes! I would be crazy not to choose Wies.

Wies started in 2018 as a school project at the Conservatory in Amsterdam. There I also got to know the other band members, bassist Tobias Kolk and drummer Dan Huijser. We make Dutch pop music with electronic influences. Text is very important to us, but we can also mess around a lot. People from young to old say they recognize themselves in the lyrics. That could be about something you’re going through right now, heartbreak, or something you look back on with nostalgia.

‘Before Wies I mainly did projects in English. But at one point the stretch seemed a bit off. At the conservatory I started taking courses on how to write songs and I started experimenting with Dutch lyrics. Wies originated from that. There was such a good response that we thought: maybe we can do something with it outside of school. We went like a whirlwind after that. We won music awards, we were the support act for Roxeanne Hazes. 2020 was going to be our year. But then came corona.’

Tire of strap†

‘Band. If you want to take yourself seriously, it’s important to say: we’re a band, we’re doing this professionally, it’s not a joke.

†strap is a song of ours that came out early this year. I wrote it because people often initially seemed very curious about my career in conversations. ‘How is your band doing, are you known yet?’, they would ask. But when I tried to go in depth, that interest sometimes quickly disappeared. People mainly want to hear that things are going well, then it stops. It is sometimes difficult or complicated for them that things don’t always go their way.

‘With corona, the number got an extra layer. In one of the press conferences in which Mark Rutte announced new corona measures, he told the cultural sector that you could still ‘practice with your band’. The fact that you are not taken seriously in what you do made us say: we have to do something with this song. Music is everywhere, it’s incredibly important for everyone, but apparently we don’t want to see it as a serious profession.

“During corona we had the fear of losing momentum to new, emerging bands. You can also hear that fear in the song But I do it anyway – originally a text about the fragility of relationships. But during corona it also related to our fear of being no longer relevant.

“We got through it as a band by staying strong and creative. Always thinking in solutions. If we can’t perform live, we’ll record an album. Or we send postcards to our fans to encourage them.

“It’s amazing how everything turned out all right in the end and how many great opportunities we get now. We have already been to several festivals. This summer we will also continue playing, and after that we will start a club tour throughout the Netherlands. I’m really looking forward to that. It feels like we can finally hit hard.’

Hit people in the heart or rock hard?

‘I absolutely love to rumble with a guitar, that’s part of expressing yourself too. But I prefer to touch people in their hearts. I think that’s the best thing about making music. I often have trouble finding the right words at the moment, but with music I can say it exactly the way I want.

‘When I still sang in English, my lyrics were mainly about love and its failure. I still sing about that, but not just about it. When I started singing in Dutch, it felt like a fresh start. I dived in high school: what did I experience then? But I also looked outside the school doors. With Wies I now try to sing about life in general. Wies shows a different side of myself, the tougher version.’

Amsterdam or Krommenie?

‘Amsterdam. I didn’t really have a good time in Krommenie, where I grew up. I was bullied a lot in elementary school. There is always a dark cloud hanging over Krommenie. Then I have more with the Zaan region in general, and with Zaandam specifically. There I went to the pub for the first time and made many friends.

‘I felt at home in Amsterdam from the very first moment. There I did the preparatory training for the conservatory, then the conservatory, and then I dived into the music scene. In the capital I got to know many like-minded people.

‘My parents still live in Krommenie. They are not musicians themselves, but they are very musical. My father is a repair technician and my mother a dental hygienist. They taught me music from a young age – Tom Waits, Nick Cave, Jeff Buckley. When I was 9 years old, my parents took my brother and me to Paradiso, to a Patti Smith concert. And at the age of 12 they took me to Pinkpop. That made a lasting impression. I had a bad time in primary school, but because of those experiences I knew: there is more to the world. I wanted to be part of that.’

Jeff Buckley or Spinvis?

‘Pfuh. That’s a really tricky one. Then Spiderfish. What he does, musically and lyrically, and how he always keeps renewing himself, that is very inspiring. He can tell a story like a movie, as if you were looking through the eyes of the main character.

‘At home we used to have both Jeff Buckley and Spinvis on the record. I liked Buckley so much, especially his live CD So Real: Songs From Jeff Buckley† I find it so beautiful, because of how he exposes his emotion on stage and how the audience reacts to it.

Spinvis was also in the record cabinet. in the number narrow film he sings ‘I am a woman of forty with a cigarette/ I have an alien substance in my blood.’ As a child I thought: wow, that someone can sing this!

‘I was always busy dancing and singing, getting attention on a stage. Because I was bullied so much in primary school, I saw being an artist as something to strive for with hope: then I’ll have something I’m good at, with which I get attention and get recognition. That’s no longer my motivation for a long time, but that’s where it started.’

Lowlands or Pinkpop?

‘Oof. What if I can’t choose? This one is very difficult. Lowlands is the dream of every musician, it is very high on my list. But Pinkpop for me is also linked to memories from the past, I went there with my mother, just at a time when I didn’t feel well at school.

‘I remember coming to school after that Pinkpop concert with a pink hat from the festival. Comments were made about it, eventually the hat had to be removed from the teacher, to keep it calm. But I also thought: wait, later I’ll be on stage there myself. Three weeks ago, that dream finally came true. I had kept the old Pinkpop cap all along and then took it with me. That was very emotional. So yes, because of that load I choose Pinkpop.’

Promise fulfilled or still a lot to prove?

“Still a lot to prove. The best thing we can achieve is a permanent place in Dutch pop culture, so that we can do this for the rest of our lives. We’re not there yet. We now have a debut album, It’s a Wiesand a set list of our favorite songs – we look forward to sharing that calling card with many more packed houses.

‘What does Wies actually mean? Well, that’s the best kept secret of the nederpop. We never tell where the name comes from or what it means. The time will come to tell you what it means, but not yet. That’s quite a cliffhanger, isn’t it?’