By Rick Slagter, Groningen
The Netherlands is a country with an interesting and high quality music scene (and I’m not talking about mainstream or even Amsterdam). In the north is Groningen, a city with the largest and oldest underground scene of the country, they say. Indie, alt, garage rock, noise, and psychedelic rock–many times with a good smell of the sixties and eighties in it.
A very famous venue is Vera, in the 80s U2 was there, Joy Division, Nick Cave, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and many more. And it has been always a stage for the local bands. On Friday the 20th of March, the local band Avery Plains released their first self-titled album. They describe their music as ‘rock noir’–a melancholic, melodic, noisy, intimate, wall of sound, with a sense of psychedelica. Reviews of the band in music magazines and newspapers have been very favorable.
Avery Plains is Jurgen Veenstra (lead vocals, guitar), Ruud Slingerland (vocals, guitar, kb), Merijn Jansen (guitar), Ben Wennekers (bass), Michel Weber (drums)
The support act was Kin, a band formed by singer/songwriter Kim Foster. She was raised in Manchester, UK but later emigrated to Groningen. Kin is a real alt band and they describe their music as “sounding like the disturbed and flaired hairs on the back of a scaredy-cat’.” But it’s not noise…not at all.
Kin is Kim Foster (lead vocals, guitar), Jouke van der Krieke (bass, guitar), Maike Dornebosch (guitar, bass), Peter Blokzijl (drums)
AVERY PLAINS Links: KIN Links:
Avery Plains–Smells Like Trombone
AVERY PLAINS–The Gloomy Ones
AVERY PLAINS PHOTO GALLERY
KIN PHOTO GALLERY
Photographer (concerts, documentary), musician (rock, blues), writer (fiction), straight edger (sober in any sense), dwells underground (alt scene).
Living in the North of The Netherlands, the independent creative area of the country (hotspots are Groningen and Leeuwarden).
- Groningen welcomes back live concerts with cajun band Cochon Bleu - August 18, 2020
- Rock At Night’s first live review since COVID-19 lockdown: Dutch band Avery Plains in Groningen, The Netherlands - August 11, 2020
- Dutch band The Kittyhawk Bomber Billies release debut album after 30 years - February 2, 2020
