Agenda's Januari, en de promoteksten voor december

Beste Mensen,

Bij deze de agenda's voor januari. Breng het woord aan de man! Bovendien, de promoteksten mogen uiteraard voor persberichten en websites gebruikt worden. De promoteksten voor de artiesten in januari volgen nog, die hebben we nog niet binnen, maar komen uiteraard voor het eerste optreden in januari bij jullie terecht.
Bedankt voor jullie tijd!

Groetjes,

Jaap & Kat
Den Haag Songwritersguild
(en nogmaals: http://www.denhaagsongwritersguild.blogspot.com en niet denhaagsingersongwritersguild!!!!!)

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Agenda Januari; Murphy's Law:

4 januari:
Femke
Boudewijn

11 januari
Dennis Flinterman
Julie Scott
Werner vd Vrede

18 januari
Snowcover
Orson
Barbara Breedijk

25 januari
Cecile
Jeroenorama
Thomas Denver Johnson

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Agenda Januari; Lokaal Vredebreuk:

7 januari:
The weak and the strong
Marten de Paepe
Maarten Willems

14 januari
Somesay
Alan Black
Jesse Edmond

21 januari
Ramon Burnet
Merel Mooistra
Pim

28 januari
Arthur ten Cate
Stud Muffins
Merel Hutten

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Promo's December; Lokaal Vredebreuk:

3 december:

Orfeo:
Orfeo is een zanger, songwriter en acteurvan formaat. Hij is verantwoordelijk voor het schrijven van de mega hitsingle "Sacrifice" van Anouk. Overigens staat deze track ook op het multiplatinum album "Together Alone", welke wereldwijd is uitgebracht. Zijn eigen album, "Icon" is uitgebracht in 2004. Dit album was speciaal opgenomen voor zijn semi-acoustische tour in Nederland en België. Op dit album wordt hij begeleid door vriend en vocaliste Berget Lewis. Orfeo is bovendien prijswinnaar van de publieksprijs van de GPNL.

Abigail & Chris:
Het genre van het duo Abigail & Chris (nee, die twee uit As the World Turns hebben hier toch echt nix mee te maken) kenmerkt zich door de sfeervolle combinatie van zang begeleid door slechts één gitaar. Bewerkingen van covers en eigen werk worden gespeeld met invloeden vanuit de blues, pop, jazz en wereldmuziek. Chris & Abigail hebben met regelmaat in Delft en omstreken opgetreden. Tevens hebben zij in de finale gestaan van het Open Podium van Café Vlaanderen en hebben zij met veel plezier opgetreden op het pittoreske Delftse Doelenplein. Tijdens de manifestatie Filmhuis-on-Tour hebben Chris & Abigail de muziek verzorgd voorafgaand aan de open-lucht-voorstelling van Sin City. Chris heeft zelfs 3 muziekstukken
geschreven geïnspireerd op personages uit de film Sin City. Ook in het Antwerpse centrum zijn zij graag geziene gasten op de Writers’ Bench van het etablissement Vibes.


Dannielle Liebeskind:
Muzikaal gezien mixt Danielle Liebeskind haar akoestische singer-songwriter-shit met indieblues, rock, electronica en noise. Haar teksten zijn in dichtvorm en engelstalig. Ze gaan over verwondering en observatie van de wereld, maar ook over depressiviteit, (geestes)ziekte, liefde en verdriet. Sinds 2002 schreef ze vele nummers, waarvan een aantal op demo's belandden. In bescheiden oplagen zijn in ieder geval alle schijfjes uitverkocht en/of weggegeven. Live speelde Danielle in 2002 en 2003 met Rick Boerman in de band tracey, zowel akoestisch als elektrisch
versterkt. Vanaf 2004 in solo performances, die per gelegenheid verschillen. Daan weet zowel onversterkt in een intieme café setting, als live on stage de luisteraar mee te slepen. Met slechts een (semi-)akoestische of elektrische gitaar en haar stem weet Daan haar muziek neer te zetten alsof er een hele band speelt. De verschillen in dynamiek en het mixen van uiteenlopende genres in gitaarspel en zang, zijn kenmerkend en zorgen voor een grote intensiteit. De liedjes komen daardoor soms angstaanjagend dichtbij.

Troost en Drost (Can_of_be):
Dit duo, afkomstig uit Can_of_Be, zal vanavond in een unieke setting een paar oorstrelende, instrumentale hoogstandjes afleveren als aanvulling op de andere artiesten voor de avond. Gewoon gezellig, zoals het hoort.

10 december:

Ramon:
En Mono (Ramon) is het soloproject van deze twintig jaar jonge ambitieuze muzikant. Het is een intiatief dat zijn bestaan dankt aan de impulsen van inspirationele explosies. De songwriting is een mix van verschillende muziekstijlen zoals singer-songwriter, (bossa) jazz , flamenco, surf, latin en nog veel meer.

Gaya:
Gaya zingt, speelt piano, schrijft, en doet aan moderne dans en theater. Gaya’s muziek is sfeervol en persoonlijk. Het onstaat uit haar wil zich te uiten. Om te begrijpen en begrepen te worden.
Haar optredens zijn intiem en intens, en kunnen zoals ze zelf zegt ‘op zijn minst gewaardeerd worden om de oprechtheid’.
Gaya heeft onder andere gezongen op het Kwakoefestival, in de Meervaart en de Pepsi Stage in Amsterdam voor The Talent Night, en nog veel meer.
Tegenwoordig is Gaya, naast haar andere optredens, regelmatig te zien tijdens de wekelijkse open podium avonden in Sappho, georganiseerd door het Amsterdams Singer/songwriter Guild (ASG). Ze organiseert daar ook zelf een female singer/songwriter avond, genaamd Girls 'n Strings. Deze succesvolle avond heeft alweer vier keer plaatsgevonden.

Eva Louise Williams:
Eva-Louise Williams is een Nieuw-Zeelandse folkzangeres die al sinds jonge leeftijd liedjes, gedichten en verhalen schrijft. Alhoewel ze vaart op vele invloeden als Leonard Cohen, Faulkner, Bob Dylan en anderen, zijn haar teksten toch heel erg van haarzelf, wat eigenlijk de essentie van singer-songwriters is. Haar spel omvat eenvoud, typische folk fingerpicking stijl, of dat nu in driekwart of vierkwart maat is. De eenvoud van de muziek legt ze neer in de boodschap van de nummers, de teksten en de performance.

17 december:

Cristopher Bernhard & The Bowmans:
Tijdens de europese tour van deze indie-songwriters uit New York doen ze ook Den Haag aan. Veel weten we niet van ze, maar een ding staat vast, ze zijn hier niet voor niets.

Leave:
De naam LEAVE is voortgekomen uit het verlangen te reizen en ervaringen op te doen… "je leert niet alleen mensen uit andere culturen kennen maar op een ander niveau kom je ook jezelf tegen". De mens is doorgaans bang voor hetgeen onbekend is. Bij de muziek van Leave gaat het ook om ervaren en te delen in ervaringen die soms mooi, soms pijnlijk zijn. De liedjes houden
het midden van Counting Crows, Dave Matthews en Michael Hedges. Joni Mitchell en Jeff Buckley mogen ook zeker genoemd worden als belangrijk inspiratiebron.

Renze Sleeking:
Renze speelt al sinds zijn 13e op zijn gitaar, en begon zijn nummers te schrijven toen hij een jaar of 15 was. De eerste nummers die hij schreef waren voor zijn eigen repertoire, maar later begon hij ook voor de band waar hij in speelde te schrijven. Hij heeft eigenlijk altijd al solo willen spelen, maar het kwam er maar niet van. Toen een paar jaar geleden zijn band uit elkaar viel, lukte het hem wel om zijn nummers voor zichzelf te presenteren aan het grote publiek, zoals de nummers bedoeld zijn, zoals hij ze geschreven heeft. Hij is duidelijk beinvloed door Bob Dylan. Naar eigen zeggen houdt hij van de eenvoud in zijn nummers, terwijl dezelfde nummers zoveel te vertellen hebben.

Arie Spaans:
Een alleskunner met passie voor muziek in alle hoeken en gaten. Arie kennen we natuurlijk van Naked, maar ook de Suburbs, Subway en vele andere bands komen in zijn biografie voor. Daarnaast is deze, door inder meer Bowie, Pink Floydd, Joy Division en anderen beïnvloedde artiest in het Koorenhuis actief bezig om de nieuwkomers in de scene een hand te helpen door ze de juiste richting in te coachen.

24 december:

D.Idaho:
De as van Grecko's Doll ligt uitgespreid over de zee en de legende leeft voort in zijn volgende stadium. Haagse muzikanten in hun volgende fase. Dit is het eerste officiële optreden van de nieuwe formatie "D.Idaho", niemand weet wat het precies inhoud, maar als je erachter wil komen, ben je bij ons aan het juiste adres.

Kat Leese:
Kat is ondertussen druk bezig met haar tweede album, maar de koningin van het gilde is de afgelopen tijd niet ver van de planken geweest. Solo speelt ze meer dan ooit, en haar lyrics staan vaster op aarde dan ooit. Misschien dit keer niet alleen, misschien wel, met Kat weet je nooit wat er gebeuren gaat.

From the V.I.P Seats - Lokaal with Slau and Lucky Fonz III

On this stormy night, almost reminiscent of the kind of weather we SHOULD be experiencing round this time of the year, Lokaal was a little quieter than it had been on past weeks. But the line-up still managed to attract a decent crowd of interested listeners. Slau, a three-piece formation headed by Jeroen van der Wiel, presented a repertoire of original Dutch songs and also some interesting hertaling (interpretations) rather than vertaling (translations). Jeroen has re-written the lyrics of these songs himself, and he has done an impressive job of it. Songs such as Ring of Fire, One (an up-beat version that leant more towards Johnny Cash than U2), Careless Whisper, all cleverly done. The set opened up with a trio of local interest songs, Scheveningen, Den Haag and then a song about the Dunen (sand dunes) that link the two "cities". Then they launched into the parodies mentioned above. They finished off with a Dutch classic, or so I gathered from the amount of singing that was going on from the audience. The band sounded good together, the balance between the instruments was good. The keyboard player was impressive, as he picked out chords, sang backing harmonies and played percussion with his free hand, simultaneously. There was a definite sense that the band were enjoying themselves.

The interaction between the two acts this evening was really great - both singers threw sarcastic comments at each other from the stage, Lucky Fonz snag heartily along with the last song from Slau, and Jeroen made jokes about being Lucky Fonz's opening act.

Lucky Fonz played two sets of round 25 minutes each. His finger picking style and folkly sound immediately reminded me of the performance I saw from Jane on the Roof a few weeks ago. In fact this seems to be a sound particular to the Amsterdam singer songwriter scene, as Den Haag tends to have more Americana-based artists, Amsterdam keeps sending us these very fragile, folk finger picking artists, evoking more of a medieval feel. It's a hazy world of dreamy idealism. I don't want to start making any broad generalizations, but it is something I have noticed. Lucky Fonz bravely took the stage with confidence, following a band, which demands the highest level of poise from a soloist to be able to pull this off. He asked the audience to move closer, and they did. He was particularly insistent that I keep a constant eye (or ear) on the PA, to make sure the vocals were clear and intelligible at all times, and that the guitar wasn't too loud. A musical perfectionist, you could say. But an enthusiastic musical creature, with a bright clear voice and an innately innocent yet sincere presentation. He sold a couple of his CDs and I left him enjoying a drink at the bar afterward with his sister, apparently satisfied with the evening. It was his first ever gig in Den Haag and will certainly not be his last.

--Kat--

PS. All the images of tonight, and some shots of our super-cute kittens can be viewed here, if you want a full resolution picture of one of them, e-mail us!

Lucky Fonz III and Slau

At his concerts, some boys go very quiet, while some girls cry. But everyone comes out of it ok in the end... Lucky Fonz released his seft-titled debut early 2006, and went on to waltz through several respected competitions sucessively and in December he will appear in the Melkweg for the final of the Grote Prijs van Nederland. This Sunday this talented writer of sobre folksongs will have his chance to show Den Haag what all the fuss is about. I dont know about you but Im pretty curious... Slau will be performing too, check out their myspace, there are some nice recordings of their songs. This band fronted by Jeroen van de Wiel, who wrotes all the material, which is Dutch language. They describe their sound as being between Cash and Brel

This Sunday, 9pm in Lokaal Vredebreuk, Den Haag www.lokaalvredebreuk.nl

Cafe Bax

Cafe Bax, 11 november

What you wouldn't expect from the Den Haag Songwritersguild, is that, besides The Hague, we also play in other cities around the country. A few weeks ago, Kat, Barbara and Natalie played in Café Briljant in Haarlem. Last saturday it was Amsterdam where we gigged. A while ago, we got in touch with a member and organiser of the Amsterdam Songwritersguild, Mirco. We invited him over to The Hague to play on one of the nights we organise in Lokaal Vredebreuk, so he thought it would be nice to invite some guild members over to Amsterdam for a night of gigging. When we got asked, i immediatelly thought of Renee Stevense, just because i thought it would be a nice mix, Kat and Renee together in Amsterdam. Second reason was that I knew that Renee already played in that venue before, so she would know a bit how things would normally be organised there. Besides all that, it turned out to be really practical. Renee offered us to give us a ride to Amsterdam, as long as we could make it to Leiden, where she lives (hey was that me who complained on the 3 voor 12 forum that Leiden and The Hague should be seen as something seperate? Yeah, that goes for the Ontzettend Leiden CD, and mainly for Absent BLEEEERGH... but not for singer songwriters!) So Kat and I jumped on the train on Holland Spoor around 6 o clock.

It was like the night was made for success. When we walked to the tramstop from Kat's house, the tram was waiting for us. When we arrived at Holland Spoor, I immediatelly got a free ticketmachine for myself, when we walked up the escalator, the train to Leiden just arrived, and finally, when we were in Leiden, we had to wait 3 minutes before we could jump on the stoptrain to the station where Renee was supposed to pick us up. Wow. I never had such luck with public transport! The car Renee is driving is a two-seater, but with a bit of double-bass shifting, a bit of a flexible body and a bit of imagination, i perfectly fitted in the back of the car.

When we arrived in Amsterdam, we walked into probalby the most sociable bar I have seen so far in Amsterdam. The bar personnel recognised us as musicians (dûh with a double bass and a guitar case it shouldn't be so hard, but you will be surprised how many times they just don't see you until you come and ask for the money) We created a seat at the bar, and soon started with our dinner. Another place i would reccomend to everybody, Café BAX: great food, especially when it is "free". Not too long after, the third artist of the night arrived. His name is Kruit, which is an abbreviation of Kruithof, his last name. A few moments later, when we were happily chatting with Kruit, Mirco arrived and the artists were getting ready to hit the stage.

To keep it logical, Kruit started off with a nice melange of singer-songwritermusic and poppy covers. A bit of Bowie and a bit of dutch history made me enjoy his performance. Because it was still pretty quiet in Café Bax, most people were paying attention to him. And he deserved it. A good singer-songwriter, though i think he could have played more of his own material rather than playing covers.

After a tight set, it was Renee's turn. What more can i tell about the small woman with a massive vocabulary and an even bigger instrument. Funny lyrics mixed with some serious messages. Her songs are the ones that you will remember. Even though her lyrics get quite complicated, what she thanks herself to her limited english, so it is expressed the way she wants to tell it, what means you need more words to say the same. All this together is Renee, typical... really typical, but i love it.

When Renee thought it was enough, the audience didn't, so she went on and played some more. A few songs later she decided to give Kat a chance. While on her last solo gig, Kat played a lot of new material, this was more a solid set with more of the known stuff. Obviously practised better, and so tight, you could put a drumcomputer asides it. For the people who don't know her yet. Kat's signature on her music is sarcastic lyrics, mixed with pure acoustic punk. I personally think that her songs come out so much better when she plays solo than when she's with her band, Katbite. Where Katbite is going for the party, is where Kat goes for recognition. And she deserves it. double!

At her final to last song, the bar started filling up. About a touringcar of Belgium tourists arrived in Café Bax, telling me they specifically came for the Live music. I tried to push Kat into playing a little more, as far as i'm able to do that with just bodylanguage and trying to let her read my lips from a distance. I should have tried better. To satisfy the brand new audience, Kruit grabbed his guitar again and did some more of the stuff that he played before, not much new to us, though still very good, and hey, it was for the people who just arrived. Since they didn't hear it yet, but payd well in the jar full of tips, they deserved some encore. Renee on her turn did the same, some songs she didn't play yet, and some songs she already did. Because Kat was the last one to play, and the only one the newbies already saw on her first set, and because it was already past midnight, the limit for live music performance according the café's license, and because we still had to go back to The Hague, she didn't do a second set.

I was really surprised in the end, that a jar full of tips, coming from half the audience we host in Lokaal every week, was almost as much as we pay the artists every week there. Maybe it is an option that works, so we should at least try it out, what have we got to lose? I am a little bit suspicious that it had something to do with the generous visitors from Belgium?

On our way back, Renee was so friendly, she brought us all the way back to The Hague, what was indeed really, really nice of her. It was such a shitty weather, and since it was already past one o clock, we would have taken the nighttrains, which only go once an hour, and we would have had to walk from central station to the haagse markt, which is about one and a half hour walking in the soaking rain. I guess that is a musicians life, but we should get Renee something nice for helping us out of that misery. Alltogether, i am sure we can speak about a successful night, where we met loads of new, interesting people, where we had great food and had the privilege of being able to listen to so much nice music. Great thanks to Mirco, and i am curious what he will bring us next sunday in Lokaal (write it down in your agenda, November, 26th)

From the V.I.P Seats - Lokaal once agan

First I want to apologise that the photos arent that great this time - I just dont have the same skills as Jaap does with a camera. sorry - kat

Last Sunday it was up to White Sands and Phinx to fill Lokaal Vredebreuk with their tunes. Because the standard of these musicians is so high we decided to leave it at two artists, to give them both more time to play.

White Sands bought a decent amount of fans along with them, so the place was decently filled at the start. Phinx, being from out of town, had bought somewhat fewer fans along with him, but as the first few chords rang out from the keyboard he got the attention of the White Sands fans, who turned their attention to the “foreigner”. This was Phinx’s second ever gig in Den Haag, and he deserves a bigger stage. He has a great talent in writing hooks, with cheeky text to go with it. Phinx is only one of the projects that Vincent Beijer does, besides the singersongwriter stuff he also produces sample cds, has a band (Eon) and writes music for commercials. When he’s working as Phinx, he’s really in the role of a “piano man”, with stories to tell. He put on a fantastic show, which has the public transfixed from beginning until end. This is not the last we will be seeing of him, mark my words.

After a short break it was White Sands’ honour to tread the boards. The contrast between the two acts was immediately obvious – Where Phinx is a creature made of hooks; White Sands is about mellow, organic layering of sound. They build up the songs in a specific way, so that after a few minutes there’s a really warm vibe coming from the stage. Pascal has a beautiful voice. It’s not out of place at all in the Americana genre, but he also has some songs where he’s a dead ringer for Leonard Cohen. Now and then the tuning of the band wasn’t 100 percent, but it wasn’t terribly distracting. In fact maybe I was the only one who noticed, as I didn’t hear anything about it from anyone else.

Ton Jenner was once again present, with his portable recorder, to capture some of the magic. These recordings will soon be available on the guild myspace page. There are already a few there from previous weeks. You can find the recordings at www.myspace.com/denhaagsongwritersguild

A big thanks to Ton for his help with all this. It’s awesome that people are enthusiastic about the guild, and do what they can to help.

There were a couple of guild members in the audience, but also present was Tino van Leeuwen, roving reporter for the local music website 3voor12 Den Haag. He will be putting an article on the site this week about the guild. Jaap was very late to the gig, as he had to work until 10pm on a telephone helpdesk, yes, on a Sunday, yes, it’s a wonderful job and he loves it. Jaap was able to provide Tino with a short interview, describing what we do, why we do it, how we do it, but most importantly who we do it for! While White Sands were packing up their equipment, Jaap and Tino chatted over a beer, before we headed off to our beds in joyous anticipation of Monday morning.

For those who missed it, you can check later this week on the myspace site, or if you’re that impatient of course you can check the websites of the artists themselves (see further down this page)
Next week there will also be a double gig, once again because the artists are so good – we have for you Lucky Fonz III and the Haagse band Slau

PS. Tino posted his view on the night on 3voor12 Den Haag, if you can read dutch, enjoy it here. if you can't, enjoy it even more!

Can of Be CD release

This is a band - but Julie has played for the guild, and she writes the most beautiful songs. I would recommend this gig to all who love music thats really out there

www.canofbe.com
www.myspace.com/canofbe

Local and National Heroes

Ok peoples theres a HOT gig this week. On Sunday in Lokaal are two well-respected acts. Phinx is an amazing singersongwriter, and he has been already recognized on a national level - he reached the finals of the Grote Prijs van Nederland in 2005, and won the Mooie Noten competition. His influences include Cat Stevens and Stevie Wonder. He came along to one of the open mike nights in Savanna, sang gorgeous backing vocals from the audience during his good friend Jasha's set, then wowed the small crowd with an energetic and emotional performance of his own. His voice is amazing - imagine Regina Spektor and Chris Martin combined in one, and he writes both haunting ballads and honkytonk upbeat numbers. The Den Haag Songwriters Guild is extremly honoured to have him on our agenda! Come along and be blown away like I was.

The other act of the night is the renowned White Sands, a formation headed by French singersongwriter Pascal Hallibert, that has performed in Canada, America and on the Den Haag Crossing Border festival. They also reached the finals of the Grote Prijs van Nederland in both 2001 and 2004. This is Americana at its finest!

We are providing your ears with nothing less that pure quality this week, so apologize to your boss in advance for your lateness this coming Monday morning, this night is not to be missed

Check both their websites for a sneak preview:

www.phinx.nl

www.whitesandsmusic.com

Busy busy lives

It has been a busy week for the guild. Last Friday night Mak Wolven and R.C. Henry joined Jaap and myself at Radio West. Mak and Ric spontaneously worked out a song together, as well as playing solo on Stork on Air. Before we got interviewed and stuff there was a death metal band playing, so really the contrast couldnt have been much bigger! It was a nice chance for us to let people know about whats going on and what will be coming up next year, and we got some nice recordings from the studio.

On Sunday night was Lokaal Vredebreuk as usual, with an amount of stress having occured on the Saturday due to one of the artists calling off. Luckily Aletta was kind enough to arrange for some of her friends to come and take her place, and they were fantastic, or so I heard from Jaap. This week I didnt get to see any of the gig, as I had a gig myself in Delft. So as Jaap had to work, I went first to Lokaal, set up the gear, told everyone what was going on, and just as the music began Dominic my bass player picked me up and we sped off to Delft to play a short set in Cafe Vlaanderen. Jaap finished work at 10pm then went to the venue to round off the evening. We know that this is not the last time theres going to be some sort of conflict of events, so we are on the lookout for a couple of people who will supervize the evenings every once in a while. If you are interested please send us an email. It requires being a little early to the gig, explaining to the artists whats going on, setting up the microphones and stuff, keeping an "ear" on the sound and basically making sure the evening runs smoothly. We would just like to know that we can still get away for a weekend every now and then, and not have to turn down other gigs happening at the same time. The guild is growing so fast, so if you want to get more involved here is your chance!