Tami Neilson
Being cradled in Roy Orbison’s arms as a baby, and singing a duet with Willie Nelson are only some of the many impressive aspects of Tami Neilson’s life. Hours before ...
Sessions, TakeRoot festival, USA
Dylan LeBlanc
Ever since 2016’s Cautionary Tale, Dylan LeBlanc has been on The Influences’ wish list. The American songwriter released multiple beautiful records since, like 2019’s Renegade, 2021’s covers EP Pastimes and ...
Sessions, TakeRoot festival, USA
The Pink Stones
I’ve lost track of the number of New West Records-artists that have recorded sessions for The Influences by now. All that matters right now is the newest addition: The Pink ...
Sessions, TakeRoot festival, USA
Kassi Valazza
Kassi Valazza Knows Nothing is one of those records you just can’t help but play over and over again. The American folk singer from Portland Oregon – who grew up ...
Sessions, TakeRoot festival, USA
Alexa Rose
Alexa Rose has a talent for writing songs that subtly force their way into your heart. Every since I first learned of her name – after noticing she was opening ...
Ole Kirkeng
One of the lessons these last few years have taught me, is don’t take any opportunity to connect for granted. You never know when you’ll see that person again. So, ...
Ireland, Sessions, TakeRoot festival
Adrian Crowley
Three years after filming his first The Influences session, Irish songwriter Adrian Crowley returned for another, during TakeRoot festival in late 2021. Yesterday we reached the 20.000 subscribers mark on ...
Ireland, Sessions, TakeRoot festival
John Blek
One of the great things about the TakeRoot festival in Groningen is that you’ll get to see some of your favourite acts perform and always will discover one or more ...
The Influences is coming to Ireland
Great news: I’m heading to Kilkenny, Ireland in August, to film sessions during Kilkenny Arts Festival. Over the course of two weekends, I will be filming a couple of acts ...
15 year anniversary concert
The Influences exists 15 years! Since 2008, Matthijs van der Ven has been filming his favorite musicians covering their favourites. In 2016, Café de Stad in Utrecht became the permanent ...
Sessions, TakeRoot festival, USA
Don DiLego
About a week ago, I filmed a session with New York City super group Fantastic Cat and attended their show at the Paradiso. That band consists of four songwriters, two ...
Sessions, TakeRoot festival, USA
Diana Jones
The first time I heard Diana Jones sing live was over a decade ago in Glasgow. My friends of Doghouse Roses opened for her at – I think – the ...
Sessions, TakeRoot festival, USA
Tyler Ramsey
Not unlike myself, Tyler Ramsey some years ago moved closer to nature with his wife and daughter. For me personally, I can tell you it was the best decision I’ve ...
Sessions, TakeRoot festival, USA
S.G. Goodman
“I never want to leave this world, without saying I love you.” As soon as those first lines of Space And Time, the opening song of S.G. Goodman’s debut album ...
Sessions, TakeRoot festival, USA
Native Harrow
If you’re described as ‘Laurel Canyon-style folk rock with shades of Joni Mitchell’, you’ve got my attention for sure. And to be honest, the soulful folk duo Native Harrow had ...
The Influences presents Christopher Paul Stelling
Christopher Paul Stelling is coming back to Utrecht to play our live show at Café de Stad on Sunday September 4th. Get your tickets now.
Jerry Leger & Yorick van Norden live in Utrecht
After a two year delay, Jerry Leger and Yorick van Norden finally played The Influences’ live show at Café de Stad in Utrecht this Sunday.
Sessions, TakeRoot festival, USA
Cedric Burnside
A lot of the times when I’ve just finished filming a session, I can’t stop smiling. At Take Root festival, the smiling began as soon as Cedric Burnside walked into ...
Sessions, Ireland, TakeRoot festival
David Keenan
In August 2019, I stayed a few days with my friend Davie Lawson and his lovely family in Ireland. Upon arrival, his eldest son called me into his room to ...
Sessions, Down By The River festival, USA
Blitzen Trapper
Filming with Blitzen Trapper was a dream come true for me, honestly. They’ve been one of the bands I keep listening to for well over a decade now. I remember ...
Sessions, Down By The River festival, USA
Nicole Atkins
“Sure Tias!” was Nicole Atkins’ response when I suggested we would film another session at Down by the River festival where we would both be, in Spring of 2019. Literally ...
Sessions, TakeRoot festival, USA
Gold Star
During Take Root festival 2018, Los Angeles-based songwriter Gold Star recorded two songs from his latest record ‘Uppers & Downers’ and a raving cover of The Velvet Underground’s ‘I Found ...
Sessions, TakeRoot festival, USA
Molly Tuttle
Usually recording a session after a live show isn’t the best idea. Musicians are tired, happy the job’s done and either want to enjoy a great experience or forget it ...
Sessions, Down By The River festival, Scotland
Davey Horne
There aren’t many surprises and secrets left in life. Not of the good kind anyway. Remember when you’d read about an artist in some magazine, or just found an unknown ...
Sessions, Nashville, TakeRoot festival, USA
Caroline Spence
The first time I heard Caroline Spence’s single ‘Sit Here And Love Me’, was in a plane – somewhere in between Amsterdam and Glasgow. When Ryan Joseph Burns picked me ...
Sessions, Down By The River festival, USA
Caleb Elliott
Caleb Elliott and I spoke about staying hungry for music, discovering fairly late there’s more than just classical music and the important people in his development; his high school orchestra ...
TakeRoot festival, Sessions, USA
Anthony D’Amato
New York City-based songwriter Anthony D’Amato has been on a streak in the past seven years and released three full-length records and two ep’s. And now also two sessions for ...
Sessions, TakeRoot festival, USA
American Aquarium
It was Anthony D’Amato who introduced me to American Aquarium. The singer from New York – who’s releasing a new EP soon – said I had to check them out ...
Sessions, TakeRoot festival, USA
Becca Mancari
Becca Mancari made one of my favourite records of 2017. There isn’t a mediocre song on Good Woman. In fact, someone should really start a petition to rename it Great Woman. Anyway, ...
Jerry Leger
TakeRoot just announced its first names for 2019, featuring Brandi Carlile, Nikki Lane, Erin Rae, Caroline Spence and many others. In november 2018 I got to work with the lovely ...
Emme Woods
In December 2018 we hosted our third live show at the always lovely The Glad Cafe in Glasgow. Five local acts performed a couple of covers and originals in front ...
The Influences is coming back to Glasgow
On Friday December 14th, I’m bringing this project to The Glad Cafe in Glasgow for the third time, with live performances by Fiskur, Michael Cassidy, Emme Woods, Lenzie Moss and ...
Down By The River festival, Sessions
Jerry Leger
Jerry Leger’s records stand side by side to John Lennon’s in my living room. It’s only fitting because Lennon’s the first association I got from ‘Coat On The Rack’, the ...
Photos of our 10-year anniversary show
There is positively no way Onder Invloed’s sold out 10-year-anniversary yesterday could’ve been any more special. We even heard some brand new Moss and Bettie Serveert songs!
Sessions, TakeRoot festival, USA
Jim Lauderdale
It’s not that often I film sessions with a winner of multiple Grammy Awards, and a writer of songs that were recorded by Elvis Costello, The Dixie Chicks, Blake Shelton ...
24 juni: 10 jaar Onder Invloed
In juni bestaat Onder Invloed tien jaar. Om dit jubileum te vieren, is er op zondagmiddag 24 juni een speciale editie van Onder Invloed in het Utrechtse Café de Stad, ...
Sessions, TakeRoot festival, USA
Michaela Anne
Sometimes a voice simply forces me to keep listening. Luckily, combined with Michaela Anne’s songwriting that’s hardly an ordeal. Anthony D’Amato told me to check out her most recent record ...
Sessions, TakeRoot festival, USA
The Secret Sisters
If you’d asked Laura and Lydia Rogers some time ago, they’d have told you that there might never be a third The Secret Sisters album. They really didn’t know if ...
Onder Invloed presenteert: Awkward I & Helge
Op zondagmiddag 19 februari is de derde editie van ‘Onder Invloed presenteert’ in Café de Stad in Utrecht, met optredens van Awkward I en Helge. De twee gelauwerde muzikanten én ...
Alistair Ogilvy
Until about a year ago, my life was a little worse than it is now, if only because I had not yet gotten acquainted with folk singer Alistair Ogilvy’s music. ...
Pronto Mama
The first video I saw of the Scottish band Pronto Mama was a perfect cover of Franz Ferdinand’s Take Me Out at the BBC. That, plus my persistent friend Jamie ...
Midas
Back in 2010 Onder Invloed hosted a stage at the first ever edition of the Grasnapolsky festival in Bunnik. Since then, the festival has exploded into a way bigger version ...
We are coming back to Glasgow
Onder Invloed, the video project from The Netherlands for which musicians from all over the world cover their influences, is coming back to Glasgow. On Saturday 21 November, six Scottish ...
Nana Adjoa
Nana Adjoa is a young musician who’s played bass in quite an impressive collection of bands already, one of the latest being Janne Schra. It wasn’t until last year though, ...
Grasnapolsky, Live, Sessions, USA
Stephen Steinbrink
When I was talking to Grasnapolsky promoter Jelte Heringa about filming sessions during the festival, the first act on his line up he talked about was Stephen Steinbrink. I didn’t ...
Love Like Birds
When Elke De Mey confirmed to record a session for Onder Invloed at Grasnapolsky, I was really pleased. The Love Like Birds’ EP from 2011 had impressed me a lot, ...
No Ninja Am I
Back in 2010 Onder Invloed hosted a stage at the first ever edition of the Grasnapolsky festival in Bunnik. Since then, the festival has exploded into a way bigger version ...
Rob Heron & The Tea Pad Orchestra
Back in 2010 Onder Invloed hosted a stage at the first ever edition of the Grasnapolsky festival in Bunnik. Since then, the festival has exploded into a way bigger version ...
Ryan Joseph Burns
Last night at Paradiso in Amsterdam, I saw Ryan Adams play live for the first time. Somehow I never got to see him before, although I’m a big fan of ...
A New International
Those of you who have visited this website more often, have probably heard of A New International before. If not, then certainly you’ve heard of The Starlets, which was the ...
Duglas T. Stewart (BMX Bandits)
He formed BMX Bandits with Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub) back in 1986, saw Kurt Cobain wear a ‘Bandits’ t-shirt, has released over ten records since – including hit single Serious ...
Paul Tasker
Last Sunday he ran the London marathon (well done!), but even more than his feet, Paul Tasker knows how to use his hands. On a guitar, that is. The (former) ...
Les Johnson And Me
On November 28th 2013, a dream came true for me. Really. Ever since the start of Onder Invloed in 2008 I knew I wanted to organize an event abroad sometime. ...
Into The Great Wide Open, Live, Sessions
Meindert Talma
The first time I heard Meindert Talma‘s music, was when his album ‘Nu Geloof Ik Wat Er In De Bijbel Staat’ (trans: ‘I Now Believe What’s Written In The Bible’) ...
Into The Great Wide Open, Live, Sessions
Broeder Dieleman
During the Onder Invloed shows at festival Into The Great Wide Open in September, Broeder Dieleman made a surprise appearance. At the end of the interview with Meindert Talma – ...
What a night!
What. A. Night. I’ve had the idea to only post those three words, because I have been having difficulties finding words to describe our ‘The Influences‘ night at The Glad ...
Into The Great Wide Open, Live, Sessions
Theo Sieben
There’s nothing better than listening to musicians who are really outstanding instrumentalists and sing their songs with every bit of heart and passion they have in them. Theo Sieben is ...
Into The Great Wide Open, Live, Sessions
Leine
Earlier this year I published a session by Leine that was recorded in Amsterdam in 2012. In September this year, she played a live session for us at Into The ...
Onder Invloed presents The Influences in Glasgow
All right folks, listen up. I’m very proud to be announcing this. On Thursday 28th of November, Onder Invloed will host a night called ‘The Influences’ at The Glad Cafe ...
Into The Great Wide Open, Live, Sessions
Tangarine
Tangarine were the first to play a session on the Sunday of our Into The Great Wide Open show. Twin brothers Sander and Arnout Brinks are known for their delicate ...
Into The Great Wide Open, Live, Sessions
Keaton Henson
I’ve had two weeks to think of a sufficient way to describe the weekend we had at the Into The Great Wide Open festival on Vlieland, but I’m afraid I’ve ...
Into The Great Wide Open, Live
Into The Great Wide Open 2013 (update)
UPDATE 3 SEPTEMBER 2013: Meindert Talma, Keaton Henson & Leine bevestigd Onder Invloed is het project van journalist Matthijs van der Ven. Sinds 2008 filmt hij een groot aantal internationale ...
Photos of Onder Invloed at EKKO
Last night was really good. The musicians played well, the audience listened. That’s the way it should be. In between filming, I managed to take a few photos, that you ...
Here comes the Summer
Last week, Onder Invloed was at Here Comes The Summer, the Spring version of the Into The Great Wide Open festival. At our stage, Gijsbert Kamer (de Volkskrant) interviewed a ...
Onder Invloed viert 5-jarig jubileum
Op 16 juni 2008 ging de website onderinvloed.com online en dus heeft het muziekproject Onder Invloed dit jaar zijn 5-jarig jubileum te vieren. Dat gebeurt in het Utrechtse EKKO op ...
Kim Janssen – Willow Tree
In April last year, there was an Onder Invloed show at De Spot in Middelburg. Line up: Davie Lawson, Kim Janssen and Lucky Fonz III. I filmed a song here ...
Janne Schra
She is featured in the Onder Invloed book and on the second Traditionals record, but we have yet to find a time and place to record a session. However, this ...
Ryan Joseph Burns at the beach
This morning I woke up to see the speech of Barack Obama and thought this day couldn’t start any better. But, to keep a great day on the right track, ...
Davie Lawson at the beach
It’s almost two months ago already, but I still have some unpublished footage shot at Into The Great Wide Open lying around, gathering dust. So before I start to sneeze, ...
Ryan Joseph Burns on the boat and in the sea
Aside from the shows on the stage in the woods, we filmed a couple of extra songs on different locations on the isle of Vlieland during Into The Great Wide ...
Into The Great Wide Open, Live
Davie Lawson
On the first day of Onder Invloed at Into The Great Wide Open 2012, Davie Lawson performed a full set, as many covers as his own songs. Lawson, a Welshman ...
Into The Great Wide Open, Scotland
Ryan Joseph Burns
Words can hardly describe how much fun we’ve had at the fourth edition of Into The Great Wide Open. Ryan Joseph Burns played on the ferry on the way over ...
Into The Great Wide Open: the photos
The footage of the Onder Invloed shows at Into The Great Wide Open 2012 is being edited, but the photos are already finished. As there’s no reason to keep you ...
Into The Great Wide Open, News
Onder Invloed at Into The Great Wide Open 2012
Last year, the Onder Invloed stage at festival Into The Great Wide Open at Vlieland was considered a big success. We had a good crowd, a nice location and performances ...
Davie Lawson live at 013
During the April editions of the Onder Invloed shows, Davie Lawson and his band featured on all three of the line ups. Having recently released his well received third album ...
Paulusma live at EKKO
Earlier this year I posted videos of Chop Wood, Marien Dorleijn (Moss) and Bertolf performing at the book release show at EKKO in January. Multiple reasons caused the videos of ...
The Black Atlantic live in Utrecht
Last Monday, it was the third Onder Invloed night at the Festival aan de Werf in Utrecht. After previous editions in 2010 (with Awkward I and The Seventeenth Century) and ...
Three Blind Wolves, Maarten Kooijman & Case Mayfield – The Weight (The Band)
Last week, The Band-drummer Levon Helm died. It made me think not only of all the great songs he’s responsible for, or ‘The Last Waltz’ which is one of my ...
Onder Invloed at EKKO – photos
I’m still a bit too tired to write a lot, but I promise I’ll look back at the three Onder Invloed nights soon. Luckily, there are some photos to do ...
Win tickets to the live shows
Next week there’ll be three Onder Invloed shows in a row. Davie Lawson and his Dutch band will play at all shows, accompanied by Dazzled Kid and Rebecca Sier at ...
Bertolf live at EKKO
I made the final corrections on the book in the middle of the nights of a week when I was in the South of France, in November 2011. I was ...
Marien Dorleijn (Moss) live at EKKO
Second on the line up of the book release party was Moss singer Marien Dorleijn. It’s not the first time he played an Onder Invloed night, and hopefully it won’t ...
Chop Wood live at EKKO
The book release night at EKKO was amazing. I won’t tell you that twice, so take note. Norbert Pek hosted the night, the musicians from the book played great shows, ...
Paulusma live at Festival aan de Werf (2)
Sometimes I search through external hard drives, without a specific purpose. Most times I’ll find some old recordings of live shows or sessions from previous years. Maybe it shows that ...
Maarten Kooijman live at EKKO
I was filming on a boat on the sea of Terschelling. Around me, the band members of Johan were playing some songs, enjoying the sun and watching the view. It ...
David Pino live at Hedon
El Pino and The Volunteers was one of the first Dutch bands I really got into, years back. I’ve been buying their albums and going to their shows ever since. ...
Theo Sieben live at Hedon
Every now and then, I’ll hear a song or album or voice that stops everything around me, and makes me want to cancel all appointments, lock myself in a room ...
Into The Great Wide Open, Live, Sessions
Ro Halfhide (GWO11)
There are no words to describe how much Ro Halfhide has done for this project, he even flew with me to Glasgow in 2009 to record Scottish bands. But that’s ...
Into The Great Wide Open, Live, Sessions
Kim Janssen (GWO11)
For those of you who didn’t know that Kim Janssen is not only a band member of The Black Atlantic, but also a singer songwriter; you should’ve known better. Janssen ...
Into The Great Wide Open, Live, Sessions
Alamo Race Track (GWO11)
I already published Alamo Race Track’s cover of ‘Breaking The Law’ at Into The Great Wide Open on YouTube last month, after lead singer Ralph Mulder sang 20 seconds of ...
Onder Invloed at Hedon: photos
Photographer Tom Roelofs, who’s also responsible for all photos in the upcoming book, was present at Onder Invloed at Hedon in Zwolle last week. I don’t think Roelofs needs another ...
Paulusma live at Festival aan de Werf
In May this year, Paulusma headlined the Onder Invloed night at Festival aan de Werf in Utrecht. I can’t describe how good this set was. Luckily I’ve got some amazing ...
Solo live at U ROCK Cafe
In the first three years of Onder Invloed I’ve filmed a lot. I mean… A LOT. Seen as I also have to sleep sometimes, I didn’t have the time to ...
About last night
Last night was amazing. Thank you Tim Knol, Peter Visser and Carol van Dyk (Bettie Serveert), The Kik, Norbert Pek, EKKO and audience. I’ll do my best to get the ...
GWO11: photos
Photographer Bart Schalkwijk joined us on our trip to the Into The Great Wide Open festival on Vlieland and captured the two days in beautiful photos. Soon, I’ll continue to ...
Into The Great Wide Open, Live
Case Mayfield (GWO11)
The last time I posted a blog on Case Mayfield, the servers started smoking and I had to pay a lot of money to get the website up and running ...
Live, Into The Great Wide Open
Bettie Serveert (GWO11)
We journalists always like to have some sort of scoop. Onder Invloed had one at the Into The Great Wide Open festival. Carol van Dyk, lead singer of the band ...
Into The Great Wide Open, Live
The Kik (GWO11)
Every day of this week, I’ll publish videos of the Onder Invloed stage at festival Into The Great Wide Open on Vlieland. In the order in which they performed on ...
Into The Great Wide Open, Live
Rebecca Sier (GWO11)
Last Friday, I’ve started to publish the footage we shot at the Onder Invloed stage at the Into The Great Wide Open festival. I’m very excited about every single video ...
Into The Great Wide Open, Live
Roy Santiago (GWO11)
The organisation of festival Into The Great Wide Open invited Onder Invloed to host a stage in the mornings of the festival weekend. To keep it short, it was brilliant. ...