The Brabant pioneer in the field of experimental electronic music, Truus de Groot, currently lives in America. She will be back in Groningen on Saturday to perform with Plus Instruments during Hybrid Festival.
In 1978, Truus de Groot gave the first performance of Foels Bent Doe Maar – indeed, the predecessor of – in Vera, Groningen. A little later she made a name for herself with Nasmak until she suddenly moved to America at the age of 21, where she still lives.
Well Truus, we can say that you have been tirelessly musically active for more than four decades. How do you do that?
“It’s a matter of just doing it. I really enjoy it and there is still development in what I make. That’s why I feel I owe it to myself to continue with it. It is not commercial, but I make the art out of an urge, as an escape from an ugly and crazy world. It is playful and with humor.”
With the debut album Nasmak Plus Instruments/Instruments Plus Nasmak According to the legendary English radio DJ John Peel, you made the best album in years on the European continent in 1980. Why did you leave the group after that?
“I have always been impulsive. And that’s how it went in those days. As a band we always wanted to continue, to experiment. I was already working on my own Plus Instruments and once I landed in New York, I recorded an entire album within three weeks: February – April ’81. That was with David Linton and Lee Ranaldo, the guitarist who went on to play in Sonic Youth.”
Who ever inspired you to start making music?
“Yoko Ono. And while I’m not that crazy about her at all. But what mattered to me was that she was just doing her thing. I find that inspiring. As a musician I am also often disruptive, the blank. I learn a lot from collaborations with other musicians and the creative process is always surprising.”
Published at the end of last year It’s Long Since You Did Me from Nasmak PM. Are there any performances coming up?
“We’ll have to see about that. Not all band members want to perform.”
What can we expect in Vera?
“I’ll bring some of the synthesizers I designed and have plenty of repertoire to choose from. I also leave room to improvise and see what the audience is in the mood for that evening: dancing or spacey shit.”
Hybrid Festival
“An icon.” That’s what Vera programmer Peter Dijkstra calls Truus de Groot. He came into contact with her work when Jaap van der Velde (The Homesick) wrote the song Vom Ertrunkenen Mädchen from Plus Instruments was playing.
The second edition of the festival for experimental music initiated by Dijkstra and Kos van Erp (OOST) will take place on Saturday from 8 p.m. until dawn in Vera, OOST, Akerk and Forum. The idea behind it is to connect different scenes and break the boundaries of genres. The program can be found at: www.hybridfestival.nl .