Wednesday, 23 November 2011

Shaking Godspeed Shaking Effenaar



Their first full album 'Awe' was one of the nice surprises in 2010. The band Shaking Godspeed filled it up with a variety of great heavy rock songs with a unique sound. I really wanted to check them out, but every time they were in the neighbourhood it didn't fit my schedule. This was no different when they were scheduled to play in Amsterdam on November 19. I was out of town in Eindhoven, where they were going to play the night before. So I left a day early and finally was able to catch them on stage.


Shaking Godspeed at Effenaar Eindhoven, November 18 2011 (Ronald Says 8 out of 10)
They sometimes call Eindhoven the rock city of The Netherlands. But while The Wombats sold out the big hall next door, only around 40-50 people showed up in the small hall to see these three musicians play top notch rock music in its purest form. Maybe their reputation hasn't made it this far south yet? But the band doesn't care and is laying down a great performance.



The heavy songs are solid as a rock and have a full sound. It's a mix of classic hard rock, a bit of stoner and some psychedelica. They are fond of freaky and heavy effects. Guitarist and singer Wout Kemkens can play some mean guitar and is treating us to long solos. Paul Diersen switches between bass and organ all the time, playing groovy bass lines and creative organ parts. Meanwhile drummer Maarten Rischen works up a sweat on his big drum kit that produces a deep sound and has huge hihat cymbals.



Their set doesn't have any weak spots and keeps on rolling all the time. It's impossible to ignore the heavy rocking grooves and in the mostly male audience everyone is nodding their heads to the beat. It's a high energy performance that ends with Rischen trashing a part of his drum kit while Kemkens leaves his guitar screaming on the stage. This band deserves so much more than tonight's pale looking crowd. Currently the band is recording its second album and I really hope it's just as good as their first and gets picked up by a wider audience. Since they are probably one of the most exciting rock bands in our country at the moment.

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