Last week we released Chemistry, which is the first single of our upcoming EP. The EP release party will be on May the 28th in Ekko, Utrecht.
The video for the song was filmed and produced by our friend Jordan Satmary from Los Angeles, who came all the way here to hang out with us and shoot some nice material.
Last January the Knalland collective celebrated it’s 4th birthday. To celebrate this, the documentary Zoveel Gezichten was released.
Filmmakers Isaak Hoekstra, Boris van Lieshout and Rosa Lommen followed Knalland for quite a while, and managed to bring all their footage down to a 20 minute documentary about what Knalland was about the last 4 years, the different disciplines which came together in the project, and especially about the people who participated in the project.
Last week 2 mixtapes were released on which 3 new PRY tracks were featured.
The 1st mixtape is Yo! NL Raps, a project initiated 5 years ago by De Hiphop Adviseuse.
The idea was to bring different Dutch beatcreators and MC’s together to create a track from scratch in 1 day. Already back in 2010 she hooked me up for an inspiring session with Master Surreal, Joe Kickass and Shock N Surprise.
The 3=1 track which we made for the mixtape is also featured in Ik Zie, Ik Zie, a short film recently released by moviemaker Jefta Varwijk. The intro of the film also contains a little teaser from the upcoming Strangest Freaks album.
The 2nd mixtape is Independence Day, a project initiated by DisMissedFit (USA). The purpose was to connect beatcreators and MC’s via Soundcloud, and release an underground hiphop mixtape.
In contrast to Yo!NL Raps (where we really had a studio session going on with everybody present in the room) the tracks for Independence Day were recorded separately by the artists. I delivered 2 beats for the mixtape: Travel ft. DisMissedFit & Mezzo and Legion of Doom ft. DisMissedFit & Chris Ku$h.
Listen to the full Independence Day mixtape here.
For the last couple of years I lived in the neighbourhood of Kanaleneiland, Utrecht (NL). To be specific: in the part which we call Eiland 8. This part of the neigbourhood was set up for artists who could live there for a couple of years, and interact and collaborate with each other. After five years of fun, the project is now coming to an end.
My neighboor and filmmaker Jefta Varwijk decided that he wanted to make an video rememberance to Eiland 8, and in that short movie combine his video skills with images of the people who live there, and music made by people from the area including myself.
I delivered two (yet) unreleased tracks for the short film. The first is the track 3=1, from my forthcoming PRY album: Future, Past, Present, Infinity. The second is from the upcoming Strangest Freaks album: Thrills Galore and is called Initiation.
The last 3 years I worked together with Daniele Labbate (keys/samples), Bas Bouma (drums) and Jos de Haas (percussion) on the Umeme (Afrorave) project, where we combine African music with electronic influences. We recorded our first album and since a year we’ve been playing live. After some searching we found the perfect label for us in France: Mawimbi. They released our first track Agama in May on their first vinyl release. Our record will be available on vinyl and digitally.
So here we go: this coming Friday – the 25th of September – we will release our first record in Amsterdam (NL). The party will take place in the OCCII and features a donation only entry charge. We’ll have 2 rooms with DJs – including Mawimbi – and different styles of music.
Hope to see you all there! For the moment, here is some recent live footage.
The last couple of months I have been playing bass with a new band: FRIARS. Together with Jasper Demollin (vocals, guitar), Daan Scherpenzeel (guitar, vocals) and Brian Hokkeling (drums) we worked on new songs and just released our first demo tape.
This fall we’ll play some shows during the Popronde tour around the Netherlands, so check the shows section for updates about that. Don’t forget to check out our Facebook and Soundcloud page, and hope you’ll enjoy Chemistry and Fear It All for now.
Over the last 2 years I worked together with Bas Bouma (drums), Jos de Haas (percussion), Daniele Labbate (keys/bass) and singers Koko Lawson & Minyeshu Kifle on a new project called Umeme. We worked on 8 new songs, trying to combine African and Elektro influences.
The debut record is finally finished and mixed by Dub Creator! The vinyl is being pressed as we speak and will be available soon. It will be released by our record label Mawimbi, which is based in Paris, France.
Mawimbi themselves work as a DJ collective and they also have their own record label. This month they released their first full compilation album. The compilation also contains the Umeme song Agama.
Next to my work as a guitar/bass player, I have been producing hiphop (beats) for years under the name PRY. In the coming year 2 new albums will be released.
For now I collected and published practically all related works which have been released so far as PRY at my new YouTube Channel.
Every year on the 4th of May we have remembrance day here in The Netherlands, to remember the people who fell in WW II.
Last year Knalland was asked to perform that evening in the Domchurch, Utrecht. It was also the release of our Volhard album, which we made around the the theme of remembrance day and liberation day that year.
Last year, the Afghan singer Awesta was looking for a live band to perform some of his own songs, as well as other pieces from the legendary Afghan singer Ahmad Zahir. Violin player Myrthe vd Wetering formed a band for him, which included me on guitar, Remy Dielemans on bass, Lars Visscher on keys, and Christian Palmieri on drums.
We had some nice sessions, where we re-arranged some of the Ahmad Zahir songs (which were also interpretations of more traditional songs), but still tried to keep the oldskool sound and feeling.
Enjoy our versions of Degar Ashkam Marez and Ba Aseman Begoyed!