DeWolff's Tenth Anniversary: “We’re Not Out Of Inspiration – Not By A Long Shot”
It’s a beautiful day along de picturesque Ouwegracht in Utrecht where I’m speaking to Dutch rock trio DeWolff, just outside their all-analog Electrosaurus Southern Sound Studio. This year is the band’s tenth year anniversary and they’re celebrating it big with a festival, DeWolffest in Ronda & Pandora | TivoliVredenburg on April 29th.
“Ten years man! What wedding anniversary is that?” guitarist and singer Pablo van der Poel wonders. “Wood. Paper?” ventures drummer Luka, his brother. “Pizza!” organist Robin Piso grins. “But yeah, we wanted to make this celebration big,” Pablo continues. “We got a big venue and booked lots of sick bands we’re friends with, like The Dawn Brothers, The Grand East, Birth of Joy.” Robin: “There’ll be a mini analog studio there, you can do screen prints, get DeWolff burgers and beer … This festival will represent everything DeWolff stands for.” So what exactly does DeWolff stand for? Pablo: “We’re part of a scene of bands that play similar music. Several have recorded at Electrosaurus. It’s hard to define, but it’s all got something authentic and honest, as well as a great groove.” “We love being able to boost these great bands, giving them the Electrosaurus seal of approval, featuring them at DeWolffest”, Luka says, echoing a remark made by Grand East frontman Arthur Akkermans during my interview with them last year. “I think it’s sort of like how Jack White works,” Pablo adds. “His touch, his personality is visible in everything he produces for himself and others.” Robin: “These bands are people you can hang with all night, drinking beer and listening to records everyone thinks are awesome. I think that’s the feeling we’re going for.”
Pablo: “We also booked some of our heroes, like Wolf People and Little Barrie. Man, we were listening to Little Barrie even before DeWolff!” Both bands are from the UK. “We love that they’re coming to the Netherlands for us. We also wanted some American bands but that wasn’t financially doable”. Luka chimes in: “Trump wants them to stay there so they can make America great again. We have to pay 300.000% import tax on American music.”
I take the Trump mention as an opportunity to enquire about ‘Deceit and Woo’, a protest song about him DeWolff recently released. Pablo: “We were working on this real pissed off song when he got elected, we didn’t have any lyrics yet, and it just fit. Back when we were into the whole psychedelic thing I used to sing about UFO’s and shit, but now we write more about what concerns us personally.” Such protest songs are rare in Dutch popular music these days. Robin: “I think a lot of musicians figure, to hell with politics, I want to entertain people, give them a good time.” Pablo: “That’s fine of course, it’s an artistic choice. We don’t want to consciously shy away from it though. We can express what concerns our generation. If people listen to your music twenty, thirty years later and you’re singing the same sorta stuff Jim Morrison sang in the sixties, what’ve you really left behind?”
“Ten years though …”, Pablo muses. “When you say it it sounds like a lot, but I don’t have mega strong feelings about it. We get along so well it’s been super easy. It’s like you tell a buddy you’ve been friends with for ten years and he’s like: ‘Right, sick, I saw it on Facebook this morning …’” Still, ten years is a long time, especially considering the three were literally kids when the band started. Robin: “I think I was 17, Luka was 13 and Pablo was 16 … our parents had to sign our first recording contract!”
DeWolff has come far since then. Pablo: “We have our own studio now, we have a new manager, our popularity around Europe is picking up … Musically we’ve really grown too. When we did our first shows we had like five songs we just jammed on for two hours. We’ve tried tons of stuff since, but with the last couple’a records we’ve really developed a sound of our own.” Robin adds: “A few years ago, it felt like things weren’t really going forward. All three of us went and did side projects. But now it’s back to DeWolff first, the rest second.” They laugh.
“Anyway, yeah, ten years …”, Robin continues. “It’s great, but it’s just a number. I mean, the Stones aren’t awesome because they’ve been around for sixty years – they’ve been around for sixty years because they’re awesome.” DeWolff wouldn’t mind sticking around that long as well. “I don’t see myself retiring,” Pablo says. “I don’t have a pension plan anyway! But it’s not like one day I’ll say: ‘Eh, music, it’s been fun, but I think I’ll go do something else ... maybe breed horses or play ultimate frisbee.’”
For now though, it’s on to DeWolffest, and then to the new album, tentatively planned for early 2018. “We’ve already finished eleven songs these past two months, including two more with a political side to ‘em, so it’s either gonna be an album with a lot of songs, or … well, not a lot”, Pablo grins. “Really, we just want to keep doing what we’re doing. We want to get as big as possible on our own terms.” Robin: “We want as much people as possible to hear our music. I’m sure there’s tons of people out there that haven’t heard us and would totally love us.” Luka adds: “We’re not out of inspiration yet. Not by a long shot.”
Words bij Marijn Meijer/ Photos by Perry van der Steen photography
