Last month Brooke Sharkey and I met in Amsterdam and filmed a couple of songs at the Backstage Hotel. She treated us to beautiful covers of Tom Waits and Lhasa ...
Helge
Helge Slikker has been pretty busy over the past few years, composing for theater and film. I still have fond memories of the session we filmed in the early days ...
Elephant Stone
I went to Glasgow for a couple of days in November. The morning after I flew back, I managed to get myself out of my bed and on a train ...
Doghouse Roses
Last November, I was invited by the Scottish alt-folk duo Doghouse Roses to attend the launch of their third record Lost Is Not Losing in Glasgow and to film a ...
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 ...
Tangarine
I remember seeing Tangarine play in the finals of the Grote Prijs van Nederland in 2010, along with Case Mayfield. I remember thinking the wrong person won, but most of ...
Onder Invloed sessions in 2016
As almost every year since the start of Onder Invloed (The Influences) in 2008, last year has often managed to surprise me. After many sessions I found myself listening to ...
Paul Tasker
There aren’t many better folk guitarists around than Paul Tasker, however subjective such a statement might be. He’s often compared to his great hero and influence Bert Jansch or named ...
Emil Landman
Last year Emil Landman packed a bag, his guitar and some microphones and travelled across the world. Whatever he saw and experienced was turned into song and later recorded at ...
Robert Ellis
In June of this year, Robert Ellis released his latest, self-titled record on New West Records and I found myself listening to it over and over. The singer from Texas ...
Famous Blue Raincoat
Last week brought some terrible news, including the passing of Leonard Cohen; the writer of Hallelujah, probably one of the most covered songs in history, and so many other magnificent ...
Jenny Berkel
Jenny Berkel’s got one of these voices that you’ll end up recognizing instantly and there’s a timeless quality to her songs that often have poetic lyrics and original instrumentation. Listening ...
Paul Tasker
Paul Tasker has been one of my favourite guitar players for a good amount of years and still manages to surprise me whenever I hear him play. Earlier this year ...
Chatham County Line
The great thing about Chatham County Line is that they combine the typical bluegrass sound with a more traditional element and an impeccable songwriting talent. Everything about this band just ...
Kacy & Clayton
It’s hard not to think of Sandy Denny and Fairport Convention when listening to Kacy Lee Anderson’s voice, but luckily there’s a lot more to Kacy & Clayton than just ...
Three Blind Wolves
Earlier this year Three Blind Wolves’ singer Ross Clark jumped on a train to Utrecht on a day off from touring with a play in Luxembourg. In the short time ...
Cale Tyson
Born and raised in Texas, but now a resident of Nashville, it is no surprise Cale Tyson sings country songs. But, he does it very very well.
Son Little
Aaron Livingston can hear the different places he’s lived in his songs and he doesn’t shy away from political topics, although written from his personal perspective. The LP has very ...
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. ...
Small Houses
It’s a small crime that nowhere near enough people know Small Houses’ latest LP ‘Still Talk; Second City’ yet. Nowhere near enough people are enjoying this record by Jeremy Quentin ...
Yori Swart
About four or five years ago I was a judge for one of The Netherland’s biggest alternative music competition ‘De Grote Prijs van Nederland’, in the singer songwriter category. One ...
Lori Lieberman
Back in 2010 I met Lori Lieberman for the first time, in Amsterdam where we filmed her first session for this site. Five years later I invited her back for ...
A New International – Sammy (Ramses Shaffy)
It was a rainy night in Glasgow when I hijacked Biff Smith’s computer to play him some Dutch songs. Knowing the A New International singer’s love for French music, I ...
Three Blind Wolves – The Bridge
Song premieres do not happen often at Onder Invloed (The Influences). But, after hearing the upcoming EP by my Scottish friends Three Blind Wolves, I couldn’t help myself. The EP ...
Eerie Wanda
There used to be a time when certain Dutch people would look down on Dutch bands, and considered any band from abroad to be automatically better and more interesting. Obviously ...
Ryan O’Reilly
Ryan O’Reilly covered Lissie and Loudon Wainwright III for The Influences in this session, filmed before his show in Amsterdam.
Iona Macdonald (Doghouse Roses)
Iona Macdonald was one of the first Scottish persons, plus one of the best singers I ever met. She’s gearing up to release the third album with Doghouse Roses, her ...
Oh Thunder
Almost a year ago, there was a big harp in the water tower that had to be carried down some stairs before one of our sessions at the Grasnapolsky festival. ...
The Young Folk
Early in 2015 I met The Young Folk from Dublin and filmed a session with them in Amsterdam. Later in the year we got to hang out a couple more ...
Onder Invloed sessions in 2015
While we’ve started a new year already, let’s look back one last time on the sessions that’ve appeared on Onder Invloed (The Influences) in 2015. It’s been a year of ...
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 ...
Demi Knight
Although still only 19 years old, Demi Knight says she has discovered her own style and sound. The country singer from Tiel – who in everyday life listens to the ...
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 ...
Steve Wynn
This session was set up rather last minute, and early on a weekend morning, but nonetheless very nice to film. Steve Wynn didn’t really seem to mind the early hours, ...
Yorick van Norden
Yorick van Norden is the kind of guy who can tell you in which key McCartney played a certain song during a certain show decades ago, or who was the ...
Phil Cook
Early in 2014 I filmed a session with Michael Taylor a.k.a. Hiss Golden Messenger, because I had become addicted to his records. Learning more about his music, I found out ...
Bertolf
In November it’ll be four years since I joined Bertolf Lentink in Carpentras in the south of France where he recorded his third, self-titled record. Filming and witnessing that process ...
Bewilder
If you’re a regular visitor of Onder Invloed, you might remember the solo session Maurits Westerik recorded in a church all the way back in 2008. Since then, his band ...
GFJF
I remember seeing Tenement Kids perform live on Dutch television some years ago and playing their self-titled record the morning after. I remember liking it and listening to it a ...
Small Houses
Ever since Jeremy Quentin, aka Small Houses, recorded his session for Onder Invloed two years ago, I’ve become a frequent listener of his music. Just about anything he’s released is ...
Christopher Paul Stelling
After stumbling upon a video on YouTube of Christopher Paul Stelling playing one of his songs live, I was rather impressed by the vigour and drive the Brooklyn-based songwriter radiated. ...
Anne Soldaat
It was over six years ago when Anne Soldaat recorded his first session and although he’s performed at several of our live shows and was featured in the book Onder ...
The Young Folk
The first person to introduce me to the Irish band The Young Folk was Davie Lawson, who you might know of one of his hundred sessions for Onder Invloed. Not ...
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, ...
Paulusma
It was still in the early stages of Onder Invloed’s existence, when Paulusma recorded his first session. Since then, he’s performed at multiple of our live events, including the book ...
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 ...
John Paul Keith
Last year I had the pleasure of meeting and filming with John Paul Keith, whose albums have made a lasting impact on me over the past couple of years. Especially ...
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, ...
The Staves
It started as a rather sucky day when I went to Amsterdam to film this session. It was the first really sunny day in a while, but my head was ...
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 ...
Kinbrae
If you’re a regular visitor of this website, you might have seen Scottish twin brothers Michael and Andrew Truscott before as members of the incredible, but no longer existing band ...
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 ...
Peter Broderick
It’s hard to keep up with the productivity of Peter Broderick, who’s released over fifteen records, EP’s and cassettes in about seven years, one of them being a website that’s ...
My Bubba
My bubba is another one of those acts that I’ve seen and read about for a couple of years, and when I heard their latest records Goes Abroader, it was ...
Onder Invloed sessions in 2014
Like every year, I’ve made an overview of what Onder Invloed did in the past twelve months. It’s a good time to look back on what has been done and ...
Allah-Las
Ever since Allah-Las released their self-titled debut album in 2012, I’ve been listening to their music a lot. Driving in a car in summertime just isn’t the same without their ...
Three Blind Wolves
Three Blind Wolves were the final band on the bill of our The Influences night at the wonderful The Glad Cafe in Glasgow. The Wolves and me go back a ...
Biff blogs #2: Utrecht
Biff Smith is the lead singer and songwriter of the Scottish band A New International, formerly known as The Starlets. He’s one of my favourite songwriters and currently preparing to ...
Courtney Marie Andrews
Whenever musicians that I like announce shows in The Netherlands, I tend to keep an eye on who their support act will be. Especially when they’re bringing someone with them ...
Alasdair Roberts
It’s taking me crazy long to edit all these wonderful sessions some of Glasgow’s finest musicians performed during our The Influences night at The Glad Cafe in November 2013. But ...
The Wood Brothers
‘When I die, I wanna be sent back to try, try again.’ (From: Neon Tombstone) It’s one of many beautiful sentences in the lyrics by Nashville-based group The Wood Brothers, ...
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 ...
Hanna Leess
On the same day I filmed Parker Ainsworth‘s session at the old Tivoli Spiegelbar in Utrecht, Hanna Leess – who was touring with him – also played a session. Lucky ...
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 ...
Parker Ainsworth
Every week a lot of musicians get in touch asking for a session. Although I have to turn down most of them, I do like getting these emails and listening ...
Moss
Early in 2009, Moss’ lead singer and songwriter Marien Dorleijn recorded this solo session, and ever since then I’ve hoped for a full band session. God knows why it took ...
Kinbrae’s Top 5 songs
Michael and Andrew Truscott are musicians you might know of their band The Seventeenth Century who’ve been featured on this site multiple times. These twin brothers from Glasgow, one a ...
Hiss Golden Messenger
One of my more recent musical addictions, has been the music of Hiss Golden Messenger. Having released a lot of albums since 2008, it wasn’t until February this year that ...
The making of ‘Unterwelten’
A little over five years ago, I decided it might be interesting to start filming Michiel Flamman, a Dutch musician then operating under the name Solo. He had recorded three ...
Bas Wilberink’s Top 5 songs
Bas Wilberink formed Color Reporters together with Bertolf Lentink. “It was very difficult to make a top 5 of favourite songs. I could’ve made a list of songs by bands ...
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 ...
Blue Grass Boogiemen
The first time Blue Grass Boogiemen and I spoke about filming a session must have been about four or five years ago. Somehow it didn’t happen earlier than late 2013. ...
Simon Angell’s Top 5 songs
The Montreal based Thus Owls have just released their third album Turning Rocks and to celebrate, Simon Angell – also known for playing guitar with Patrick Watson – has sent ...
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) ...
Jack Savoretti’s Top 5 songs
Probably one of my favourite musical discoveries of the last year and a half, is Jack Savoretti; the English singer from London with Italian roots. I saw him support Jake ...
Biff blogs #1: ‘Vrijgezellenfest’
Biff Smith is the lead singer and songwriter of the Scottish band A New International, formerly known as The Starlets. He’s one of my favourite songwriters and currently preparing to ...
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. ...
Jay Nash
Back in 2010 I filmed a session with three American songwriters; Joey Ryan, Jeff Klein and Jay Nash. In September 2013 Nash was touring again in The Netherlands and we ...
Bent van Looy
In the last four months of 2013 I saw Bent van Looy perform live three times: at Into The Great Wide Open at Vlieland, in Tivoli’s Spiegelbar and at EKKO, ...
William Tyler
If you don’t know the Dutch booking agency Belmont Bookings, you should check their roster, because it’s an overload of great acts to go and discover. One of them is ...
Port Of Call – Aoide Pt. II
Last year I published a session with the Dutch songwriter Port Of Call which has been watched very well and got a lot of good comments. I never published the ...
Clean Pete
Next week the debut album of Clean Pete will be released on Excelsior Recordings. The twin sisters Renee and Loes Wijnhoven have teamed up with Anne Soldaat, who’s also produced ...
Onder Invloed sessions in 2013
I don’t know about you, but within a week I got fed up with the abundance of ‘best of 2013’ lists by journalists, bloggers, venues, you name it. Especially the ...
Small Houses
If I’m honest, I didn’t know anything about Jeremy Quentin, a.k.a. Small Houses, until I received an email and started listening to his songs. Usually I’ll have been following musicians ...
Kevn Kinney
In 2012, Tim Knol toured in the United States, together with the American songwriter Kevn Kinney of Drivin’ N’ Cryin’ fame. Earlier this year Knol founded his own record label ...
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 ...
Color Reporters
He hoped to escape for a while without creating too much of a fuss, but although he had already made the decision in the summer of 2012 – a couple ...
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 ...
Jason Falkner
The first time I heard of Jason Falkner was when I was talking to Anne Soldaat about five years ago. Soldaat was flying to Los Angeles to record what would ...
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 ...
Basia Bulat
On the promotion tour for her third record Tall Tall Shadow, out now on Secret City Records, Canadian songwriter Basia Bulat made some time to record a session in Amsterdam. ...
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 ...
Ben Caplan
The first time I met Ben Caplan, I was seated about two meters from his piano and obviously wasn’t acquainted with the volume of his voice yet. It was Record ...
Lukas Batteau
I met this guy at a local radio station where he played some songs. It was his voice I liked. And so, a couple of weeks later Lukas Batteau recorded ...
Dead Fingers
If I’m completely honest, I didn’t know Alabama duo Dead Fingers for long when I heard they were going to be touring in The Netherlands this Spring. I knew enough ...