Category: Interviews

Wednesday, September 5 the Peter Brötzmann // Heather Leigh Duo will be performing at Occii! Book your tickets here. Your best known record Machine Gun (1968) performed by the Brötzmann Octet* turned 50 this year! That’s some time ago 🙂 Cien Fuegos/Trost records did a rerelease plus a second album w/ Alternate Takes, is there more … Continue reading “Amsterdam plays an important role in my little history: a Q&A with Peter Brötzmann”

Cairo based El Ayadi El Khafeyya (The Invisible Hands) play dark folk music, with both English and Arabic lyrics. Four of their members are from Cairo, except for founding member Alan Bishop, best known for being part of the legendary Sun City Girls that existed until 2007.

They call themselves “an ongoing research on the aesthetical deconstruction of Brazil’s most popular musical traditions.” Satanique Samba Trio is not actually a trio but a quintet with bass, acoustic guitar, cavaco, bass clarinet and drums. Two days before they go on their first European tour, we speak with bandleader Munha Da 7.

Around the corner from OCCII 220 men found a temporary home in refugee shelter De Havenstraat. Among them, Gerrie, a professional krar player from Eritrea, and Shaghaf, a popular young band from Syria. We spoke with them about their music and their hopes for the future.

De Amsterdamse band Zea heeft in 35 landen getourd en in minstens zo veel stijlen muziek gemaakt. Deze maand bestaat Zea twintig jaar. Aan de hand van video’s en vragen neemt Zea-zanger Arnold de Boer de afgelopen twee decennia door.

Tussen de soep- en zetmeelfabrieken van de Zaanstreek staat de oefenruimte van de Nederlandse band De Kift. Al bijna twintig jaar worden hier theaterstukken, platen en levensliederen gemaakt.

He calls himself The Käpt’n and writes songs about the sea wind, bratwurst and arm wrestling. Rummelsnuff started playing music in the 1980s in undergroundbands in Germany. But it was his sailor electropunk from the 2000s that attracted both underground and mainstream European audiences. An interview about finding inspiration, writing songs and pumping iron.

With roots dating back to the early nineties riot grrrl movement, the Olympia (US) band Broken Water could definitely be described as political. Their experimental sound is both noisy and dreamy with lyrics that reveal a refreshingly radical feminist voice.

Last week the second edition of SL’OCCII In It, a special beer by Amsterdam brewery Butcher’s Tears, was presented. It’s a traditional full-flavoured English-style pale, quite different from the first SL’OCCII Decrust which was an amber beer with a smoky taste. Already a new beer is being brewed for autumn.

The Kurws are an experimental rock band from Wrocław, Poland. Since they formed in 2008 they have released more than 10 albums and cassettes, and have toured Europe extensively. On April 17th they will play OCCII during SOTU Festival.

Wolf Eyes, recently dubbed ‘the kings of US noise’ by The Wire, are a band from Detroit that has been around since the nineties. Wolf Eyes member John Olson (b. 1972) talked to us about their upcoming European tour, his label American Tapes, and how making music is a lot like trading skate boarding tricks.

Mdou Moctar is not your average tuareg musician. While Tinariwen, Desert Rebel and Bombino sing about the rebel cause with a quite western rock sound, Mdou Moctar chooses another path by singing for the tuareg youths of today.

In its 20-plus years of existence, OCCII has been run largely by volunteers, allowing the venue to offer a diverse program while remaining cheap to attend. The volunteers come and go, but for more than ten years, on any given day, chances are high that you’ll find Sjoerd Stolk and Rogier Smal at OCCII.

English Nederlands Corno Zwetsloot thinks that music needs to be recorded in analogue, without any tricks and with all the mistakes. His studio Next To Jaap, where many Dutch indie bands have recorded their albums or singles, is located in an old flower bulb barn in Voorhout.

It’s just about impossible to love punk in Amsterdam and not know about the Adrenalin Addiction nights. During the day, organiser Bianca Refualu works as a physiotherapist in a hospital; at night, she manages her unrelenting addiction to adrenalin.

Indonesian duo Senyawa is Rully Shabara on vocals and Wukir Suryadi on instruments that he builds himself. With their experimental music they combine traditional Javanese music with contemporary free jazz and rock.

The legendary German hardcore band Spermbirds has been around since 1982. How do you keep a band together for over 30 years? And what does hardcore mean to these veteran HC musicians? Marko Korac emailed with drummer Beppo to find out. By Marko Korac I grew up listening to the Spermbirds. They have been one … Continue reading “Scream Back: An Interview With Spermbirds”

Hysterics, a young hardcore band from Olympia Washington (US), is currently on tour in Europe for the first time. We spoke to Adriana (guitar), Jessica (bass) and Stephie (vocals) about awkward shows, tour frustrations, and why this is the right time to be alive.

Named after a cutting machine, Massicot is a quartet from Geneva. Since their start in 2009, Massicot has toured Europe frequently, charming many a listener into dancing to their sharp and minimal post punk riffs.

Over the past years the Marseille duo Ideal Corpus has brought their energetic mix of hip hop, ghetto techno and seapunk to audiences in Europe and Japan, and even further across the internet. In chatting with KNiK, Ideal Corpus’ MC Kawaii and Fruity Free share their thoughts about online music, handsome boys and their dream … Continue reading “Ideal Corpus: An Interview with Fruity Free and MC Kawaii”

English Nederlands Aimee Bender (b. 1969) has famously written while inside a closet for years, its constrained environment helping her to focus. She has written several collections of short stories and two novels, has been a New York Times bestseller and her books have been translated into sixteen languages. Last August, her new book The … Continue reading “Making messes on the page: An interview with Aimee Bender”

English Nederlands American film maker Hisham Mayet has produced films on music from various traditions for over a decade, focusing mostly on North and West Africa. Together with Alan Bishop he runs Sublime Frequencies, a record label that releases “obscure” recordings from many parts of the world. Mayet was born in Libya and has lived … Continue reading “Experiential Viewing: An Interview with Hisham Mayet”

English Nederlands The Portland based trio Lovers combine dreamy harmonies with danceable beats. Carolyn Berk started writing and recording songs in 2001, and a few years later Emily Kingan and Kerby Ferris added drums, keys, and electronics, making Lovers’ sound what it is today.

English Nederlands Few bands manage to exist over the course of decades. Smegma started forty years ago in Pasadena, California, when a few friends decided they wanted to be involved in music but not become musicians. Without managers or record labels, they’ve played their experimental music while sharing musicians with Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart. … Continue reading “DIY before it existed: An interview with Smegma”

English Nederlands In the down time between tours, Dylan Carlson of the drone rock band Earth, decided to start a solo project. Under the moniker D. R. Carlson Albion, Dylan pursues his interests in Albion and folklore. Already he’s put out a tape of guitar improvisations and field recordings from around Waterloo Station in London … Continue reading “Music is a living creature: An interview with Dylan Carlson”

English Nederlands Versal is an international literary journal based in Amsterdam, featuring poetry, fiction and art, with their 11th annual issue released this year. Submissions for next year’s issue are accepted starting September 15. We talk with founder and editor-in-chief Megan M. Garr about Versal’s roots, the printed book as an object, and how she’d … Continue reading “Move through hands: An interview with Versal editor Megan M. Garr”

English Nederlands They didn’t have any previous music education when they enrolled for a music course in 2010. But they liked it, and decided to form a band. Since then Dark Times has recorded and toured extensively. How did they get so successful in so little time and with so little experience? Their answer, “We … Continue reading “Writing songs with Dark Times”

English Nederlands The three members of Olympia’s young band Hot Fruit are on a post, post-feminist mission. They’re determined to make ‘comfortable places’ for both sexuality and music. They’re not interested in writing the perfect pop song; instead they use music, videos and live performance to conjure new spaces and explore unconventional ideas. They’ve also … Continue reading “Fear No Man: An Interview with Hot Fruit”

English Nederlands   Foton Kuşağı is an indie band from Istanbul that is often compared to Dinosaur Jr.. They’re planning their first tour this fall and will visit four countries. For two of the band members, it will be their first time crossing Turkish borders. At the moment they also have a week of protests … Continue reading “Full steam ahead: Foton Kuşağı”

English Nederlands Lori Goldston (b. New York, 1963) is an experimental cello player and composer. In the mainstream world she is probably best known as the cellist for Nirvana’s MTV ‘Unplugged in New York’. On June 25th and 26th, she is artist-in-residence at OCCII in Amsterdam. Just before kicking off her European tour, she took … Continue reading “Golden Time: An interview with Lori Goldston”

Mike Watt (1957), een van de meest invloedrijke bassisten in de indiemuziek, is een nieuwe band begonnen: Il Sogno del Marinaio. Terwijl hij op tour was in Europa, sprak hij met ons over cynisme, open staan voor nieuwe dingen, en Okinawamuziek. Mike Watt (b. 1957), one of the most influential bassplayers in indie music, recently started a new band, Il Sogno del Marinaio. While on tour in Europe, he talked to us about cynicism, open minds and Okinawa music.