On Stage: BRUUT! + Anton Goudsmit @ Paradiso

Jazz quartet BRUUT! play their jazz music with a rock attitude and indeed many songs are swinging and rocking. The foursome always wanted to record and play with one of the best guitarists in The Netherlands, Anton Goudsmit. Now they got their chance and recorded a jazz surf LP with him, appropriately titled Go Surfing and are playing around the clubs.

BRUUT! with Anton Goudsmit at Paradiso Amsterdam, December 11 2019

I've seen BRUUT! play several times and really like their exciting music a lot. I've also seen Anton Goudsmit play before and his guitar skills are amazing. On stage he's a delight to watch and I can't wait to see him in this formation tonight. A blue neon sign depicting three waves at the back leaves no doubt that tonight is all about surf music. Jazz and surf music sounds like a match made in heaven. Tonight these guys prove it definitely is.

No better man than Goudsmit to let his guitar go under water. Of course we know he can play some mean surf guitar and he's totally in his element. I love his facial expressions when he's playing and his happy head. He makes music look like so much fun, which it is of course. His style is very contagious while his fingers sometimes pick the strings at lightning speed. The other members are clearly enjoying his company as they are throwing smiles around all the time.

The quartet themselves are a great band which shows once more. Fronted by sax player Maarten Hogenhuis, these musicians know how to have fun too. They play the songs with a lot of energy and definitely got their groove on. There are some typical BRUUT! songs on the setlist, which have been rearranged to include guitar and a lot of surf ingredients. A song like 'Baha' lends itself perfectly for this treatment.

Not only their own songs but some jazz standards got reworked as well like Charles Mingus' 'Boogie Stop Shuffle'. Even some popular songs got the jazz surf (or surf jazz?) treatment and are almost unrecognisable. We can hear Dolly Parton's 'Jolene' with some Ennio Morricone added to it. There is James Brown's 'Choo Choo Locomotion' and then there are some surf classics that maybe never sounded better. Brian Wilson's 'Surfer Girl' and Dick Dale's 'King of the Surf Guitar' are absolute classics.

The band throws in some extras that are not on the album: the 'Hawaii Five-O' theme and Dick Dale's legendary 'Misirlou', made even more famous by Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. BRUUT! and Goudsmit's music on this LP could easily be the soundtrack to one of his movies. It is definitely a swinging and fun album, that sounds even better live. The quintet throws in some beach balls at the end and the surf party is complete. Now if only we could have surf weather. Surf's up!

All Pictures



Official Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | Spotify

Read more!

North Sea Surf Festival 2015

After visiting a very successful edition of the North Sea Surf Festival last year I made sure I would make it to this year's edition. With nine bands lined up, it looked like another promising edition. So I waxed my board and went out to check the waves at the Melkweg.

North Sea Surf Festival 2015 at Melkweg Amsterdam, September 26 2015

Since the festival starts quite early, we make it into the Melkweg about 1,5 hours after the festival has started. There we find Swedish band The Illuminators already in the last part of their set. They do a good job warming us so we are ready for the next wave.



Scrammers
Belgian band Scrammers play quite a heavy side of surf music with solid riffs and grooves that sounds very good. It's a blend of surf and rock with a punk twist which works quite well. The members look a bit modest on stage but the energetic music speaks for itself.

Official Website | SoundCloud | Facebook |



Watang!
"Mandarina Surfers" Watang! from Italy are a different cup of tea. Dressed in stylish Japanese outfits you would expect some Kung Fu surf music but looks can be deceiving. The band plays average surf music and doesn't add a lot beyond their appearance. With the addition of a keyboard player adding organ to the mix, this band looks good on paper, but live it isn't really convincing.

Official Website | Facebook | YouTube | Spotify



Los Fantasticos
Playing in the low lands for the first time this Brighton band actually is no stranger to the festival. Guitarist Django Deadman also is the host of the festival so it's about time his band get a chance to show what they are made of. The foursome play down to earth surf songs that aren't spectacular but at the same time sound nice and are fun to watch. A trumpet in one of the songs gives it a Mariachi feel and is a nice twist. The band seems to be enjoying themselves which is always a good sign and it rubs off on the crowd.



Official Website | ReverbNation | Facebook | Spotify



Els A-Phonics
At the pre party a day before which I wasn't able to attend, Els A-Phonics from Valencia already gave a little taste of what is coming. Playing as a backing band for John Blair from Jon & The Nightriders, this band turns out to be one of the highlights of the day. The uptempo surf music doesn't miss its effect and the filled up venue enjoys the band's energy that are playing with whole their heart. Especially both guitar players keep firing up the crowd, showing their best moves, backed up by the tight rhythm section. This is exactly what makes surf music so exciting.

Official Website | Facebook | YouTube |



The Phantom Four
As the organizers of the festival, especially drum player Niels Jansen, of course The Phantom Four are also one of the headliners. However even when they weren't organizing it, this is the band to get if you want a surf band. At a festival like this, it is obvious they are one of the top surf bands around with a unique sound and a lot of variation in their songs. Tonight they are trying out some new songs that sound very promising. Phantom Frank plays a lap steel guitar in one of them which gives it an authentic Hawaiian feel. Hopefully there will be an album out soon, although I'm still waiting for their anniversary live album to come out too.



Official Website | MySpace | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Spotify



Messer Chups
The Messer Chups trio from Russia have quite a history behind them with line-up changes to go with it. They have somewhat of a reputation which promises a lot. The band also have a real eye catcher with their female bass player Svetlana 'Zombierella' Nagaeva. Her burlesque pin-up appearance is striking but it would be nice if she would break out of her act once and a while. The rock 'n roll surf music sounds nice enough but this way she's kind of bringing the performance down, or maybe I'm simply just missing it. The two other members aren't really bringing a lot more to the table as well to lift it up. We even decide to leave halfway to catch part of one of the surf movies playing in the cinema upstairs.



Official Website | MySpace | Facebook | Spotify



The Barbwires
Swedish surfers The Barbwires are the ones to close the festival and do a great job at it. Their music has that Hawaiian feel and their classic look is helping a lot too. The threesome are very much into the music and have a good stage presence with plenty of energy and good vibes. It's a good end of another wonderful edition of this festival.

MySpace | Spotify

As long as The Phantom Four keep organizing these kind of events I will keep showing up, since the combination of great honest music and a friendly and devoted audience simply is irresistible. And it is wonderful that the surf music scene is staying alive this way. If only I could really ride those waves!

More Pictures

Read more!

Flaming North Sea Surf Festival

Surf music had quite a revival halfway the nineties when the movie Pulp Fiction came out. It slowly declined again to the more or less underground scene it was before. Now there seems to be another sort of revival. The good thing is, it never died out and there are still great surf bands around. Dutch surf masters The Phantom Four even organize a North Sea Surf Festival and this year it's the fourth edition. So in the afternoon we drove off to the actual North Sea on the last day of summer and in the evening we went back to Amsterdam for some good surf music.

North Sea Surf Festival at Melkweg, September 20 2014

The line-up has around nine bands on the bill and the festival starts a bit too early for us in the afternoon. So by the time we make it into the venue the festival is in full swing and halfway the line-up.



Dirty Fuse
Dirty Fuse from Greece have just started their set and dressed appropriately in Hawaii shirts are treating us to nice surf tunes. Their sax player is a nice addition to the standard surf line-up and also adds a bit of edge to their middle of the road surf songs. It's a good way for us to kick off the festival though and get us in the right mood.

Official Website | SoundCloud | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Spotify





Steinar Karlsen
Norwegian guitarist Steinar Karlsen is the lead guitarist and song writer of rock band Hot Little Mama and was even nominated for a grammy with Good Time Charlie. Tonight he's playing two short solo sets in the cinema where we join the first one. It's a bit of a weird setting for rock 'n roll, since we're seated where normally you want to shake your booty. Karlsen is a skilled guitar player and is playing interesting compositions. It's good that he's keeping it short, since you do miss the energy and power of a full band.

Official Website | Spotify



The Phantom Four
This band shouldn't need any introduction anymore. They are the front runners of the surf scene in our country and probably globally as well. Tonight they once again prove why, with an energetic and swinging set that calls for dancing. Phantom Frank is firing up the crowd with great solos while the band is grooving along. With your eyes closed you're at the beach and ready to hit the waves. It's exactly what happens when a surf board is showing up from back stage and a surfer is shortly looking for the perfect wave in the crowd.



Official Website | MySpace | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Spotify



Fifty Foot Combo
This band from Gent Belgium was quite a big name until they ceased to exist in 2006. Now they have risen from their ashes for their twenty year anniversary and even released a new EP. The band is showing why they rose to fame with a lively set of great rock 'n roll. A freaked out Hammond together with reverb-drenched guitars played with a lot of heart gives the crowd exactly what they want. It's impossible to stand still and so we shake it a bit harder.



Official Website | MySpace | Facebook | Twitter | Spotify



Daikaiju
It's already time for the last band of the night. The masked Daikaiju members from Alabama are taking the world by storm. Their mix of surf, prog rock and psych rock is winning over many hearts and especially their live shows are quite a spectacle. The band prove to be good musicians and their clever songs sound impressive. The masks are quite a nice addition and also an interesting one, not showing any emotion in their faces this way. Therefore they have to exaggerate their moves which makes it a bit too much I think and draws the attention away from the music. The band take audience participation to a whole new level when they all step off stage, including the whole drum set and continue in the crowd. Then it doesn't take long before the guitarist climbs the stage again and invites everyone over to come along with him. It's obviously hard on the security people who don't look amused. They are frowning even more when the drummer is spraying cigarette lighter fluid on the cymbals to play them while they are on fire. It is quite a spectacular end of the festival though.



Official Website | MySpace | Facebook | Twitter | Spotify

This was a good day with great music, that normally you will find in dark small stages or bars. Hopefully The Phantom Four are able to organize another edition next year. I sure will try to make it again. Maybe this time on the beach?

More Pictures

Read more!