Rotterdam – Grey skies ignited with a blaze of sunset red gave way to a reasonably temperate evening – well, for November – as music fans headed downtown to one of the Dutch sea port’s lively venues, Rotown. Tagged in Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2016 as a top 10 city destination, Rotterdam is immediately a welcoming place and one where we English are soon embarrassed by the number of natives fluent in our tongue. Outwardly Rotown might look little different to many of the small to medium sized venues back in London but there are some key distinctions. The service dispensed from the bar that runs around half the length of the long room is pretty much instant and prices hardly break the bank. The guest list is short, punters happily pay the door fee and most of the crowd are in well before the support act comes on. What’s more you sense the expectancy of a Dutch crowd that displays the passion and knowledge of real music aficionados.
Tonight the Brits are also here as Rotown hosts an EP launch for London septet, Revere, and gives the band’s keyboard player, Nicholas Hirst aka Bearpark an opportunity to air songs from his recently acclaimed solo debut, Wilderness End. From a relatively layered album, it was fascinating to hear Hirst stripping everything down to a solo acoustic set. Opening with “What Are We Going To Do?”, a tale of a work-soured relationship, and moving on with “Boxers” – a knockout in more than one sense – he quickly emphasised the strength of his songwriting. His impassioned vocal soared over strident guitar as Hirst reworked half of the album’s fourteen tracks in an impressive set. From the jaunty “Sleeper Train” to “Distant Fields”, the concluding plea for an exit from London’s claustrophobia, Hirst held sway over a crowd that could hardly have been familiar with his material.
At one point Hirst offered the crowd either another of his songs or a cover. Thankfully the choice was “Turn Around, Take A Bow” from Wilderness End. The singer confessed he’d never played the song this way before, yet stripped of its orchestral accompaniment, it worked absolutely fine. “Most of these songs started out acoustic, just me and a guitar in noisy London bars. For the record I built them up a lot more, with electronica, with more guitars … I had thought I was going to do it all myself but ended up using a 4-piece brass section, half of Revere, and even roped my wife in. When we launched it in the UK we had four people on stage and a load of samples and loops going. So it was quite nice going back to how the songs started” Hirst explained after the show.
It was a busy night for the Bearpark man. After a short break he was back on stage playing keyboards with London collective, Revere, here to launch a new 6-track EP, Man Of Atom. The EP is the first product from Final 500 Records, a brand new Dutch record label and subscription-based music club offering limited edition vinyl (500 copies only). Hirst is co-writer of two of the EP’s songs with main man, Stephen Ellis, who also contributes the remaining four. Following the 2010 debut self-released album, Hey! Selim, Revere has taken breaks for side projects, to record new material and juggle line-up changes while remaining on the radar as a band with a reputation for epic live shows. With cellist Kathleen McKie absent, Revere took the stage as a six-piece to an enthusiastic reception with the brooding instrumental “Code” acting as its overture. Mixing the six newly released songs with a selection mostly from the band’s second full-length, My Mirror/Your Target, Revere hit the ground running with an infectious blend of balls and bombast fired by quite breathtaking musicianship.
This is no easy band to categorise and those who label it a British Arcade Fire are only grasping half-truths. The interplay of guitar and bass at the end of the stirring “I Won’t Blame You” conjured a vision of classic Yes while the bass and keyboard stabs on “All Fires The Fire” from Man Of Atom revealed a new, dare I say it, funky direction before waves of chiming guitar chords and a Doves-like rhythm fest concluded it. Front man, Stephen Ellis, who displays a formidable baritone while thrashing an electric guitar and waving the odd spotlight, gives his all and early in the set even fell off stage; thankfully the suspected broken ankle was a false alarm! Maybe time to “Take Cover” now.
Revere took all in its stride from the odd technical glitch to broken bass string, maintaining an intensity and performance level that had the packed crowd eating from hands. Standouts came thick and fast from the bright theme of “Last Bridge Standing” to the magnificent balladry of “A Road From A Flood” while a barnstorming “We Won’t Be Here Tomorrow” was an apt choice for ‘a world that’s a pretty fucked-up place’ according to Ellis. The set concluded with “Maybe We Should Step Outside”; a song to set hairs standing on end and a true rival to Revere’s flagship song, “The Escape Artist”. The latter, though volubly requested by the lady visitor from New Orleans on my left, was not on the list tonight but Revere provided ample compensation with a double encore. “Sonder” from Man Of Atom was memorable for the contrast between a pin-drop piano passage and full-on cacophony while the military drums in “I Can’t (Forgive Myself)” had feet stomping and hands clapping in collective unison.
Returning to the opening theme of this report that highlighted differences in UK and continental venues and audiences, a feature of the evening was quite how many crowded round the merchandise stall at the end. Continental audiences seem more supportive of indie bands and are willing to pay good money to see upcoming artistes. Bands from the UK carry a certain cachet too. The Dutch all learn English and show up us Brits by their willingness to engage: “You speak English?” you ask. “Oh, a little…” comes the reply before proffering ridiculously detailed directions.
In summary this Dutch foray confirmed much of what I’d heard anecdotally from bands over the years about playing live on the continent. After the show, Nicholas Hirst offered his spin on it: “I do think playing in Europe feels different. London is teeming with bands so creatively it’s amazing but it means an oversupplied market. It’s tough to draw crowds consistently, you don’t get paid much, and if you get a few free beers you’re lucky. In Europe, we’ve been fed well, paid well, and we’ve always had crowds. We’ve had a lot of support there too – from fans, from bloggers, from labels and booking agents. In London it’s entirely DIY.” Stephen Ellis from Revere offered a similar perspective, underlining the supportive stance of Final 500 label heads, Bas Bosboom and Harm De Kleine. “We feel that Bas has always had the band’s best interests in mind and is forward thinking in his approach to the music industry. Musically we feel it’s allowed us to take another step forward as we work toward the songs and sound which will define our third album” Ellis commented.
The final word went to Matthijs van Burg, a local promoter with PopUp010 who coincidentally made Revere his first booking two years ago. “As PopUp 010 we have a special position in the Rotterdam/Dutch (Indie) music scene since we have no venue ourselves – we just pop-up every two months with our concert concept. Also, we are not professionals – we’re in it for the music. We started PopUp 010 as a reaction to some venues in Rotterdam closing. This is a pretty DIY approach, typical of the Rotterdam spirit of not words but action!” van Burg elaborated. The PopUp010 concept is indicative of the innovative approach taken to music promotion over here. It is essentially music lovers taking charge and making things happen, seeking out unexpected venues like galleries, warehouses or even a garage rooftop, and putting on bands with the aid of volunteers, to put up fly posters or act as unpaid roadies.
Photography by Marcel Van Leeuwen
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Set List – Bearpark:
What Are We Going To Do?
Boxers
Sleeper Train
Home & Away
Tell Me How You Feel
Turn Around, Take A Bow
Distant Fields
Set List – Revere:
Code
I Won’t Blame You
All Fires The Fire
Landing Lights
Keep This Channel Open
Take Cover
Last Bridge Standing
A Road From A Flood
Don’t Look Up, Hannah!
Fold Up Your Flag
Man Of Atom
We Won’t Be Here Tomorrow
These Halcyon Days
Maybe We Should Step Outside
Encore:
Sonder
I Can’t (Forgive Myself)
Tony Hardy
Tony’s great passion in life is music and nothing gives him more pleasure than unearthing good, original new music and championing independent musicians. His association with Best New Bands brings great opportunities for this. He also writes for Consequence of Sound and is a judge for Glastonbury Festival’s Emerging Talent Competition.
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