Biography
When I was sixteen or seventeen years old, I walked into this theatre in my neighborhood with a friend. Before the show had started, I peeped through the curtains, and saw the instruments on the stage shining in beautiful colored lights. Actually, only one instrument just caught my eye: the drums. At this very moment, I realized what I wanted to do. I wanted to play the drums.
However, I was raised in a family listening to classical music all the time, so it took me two years to get the guts to tell my parents. That’s the reason why I started playing the drums when I was already eighteen years of age.
After playing along with records (and a lot of air-drumming, because the neighbors didn’t like the noise) for almost a year, I figured I really could use some lessons. From the local music store, I was sent to Eelco de Boer. He was my first teacher and almost like a mentor, it was like a perfect match. After about three years of lessons with Eelco, he advised me to try to get into the conservatory. I was accepted in Rotterdam at once in 1994. Since then, I enjoyed more than five years of lessons with great drummers and great teachers./span>
After graduation in november 1999, I gained lots of experience by playing lots of gigs with lots of bands, toured in many countries in and outside Europe, playing a lot of different styles of music. After a while, I felt like taking lessons again. There was only one drummer I wanted to have lessons with, and that was Chander Sardjoe. He is the best. I had a great time hanging out with him every now and then for almost three years, until he moved to Paris. Nowadays, it’s mostly the exchange with other musicians, the inspiration I get through listening to good music and consulting other drummers that give me the opportunity to develop myself into a better player.
Currently I’m working with Ralph de Jongh, Phil Bee’s Freedom, AJ Plug and a pop/rock/disco coverband called Captain Midnight.
Up until now, I played with groups and artists like: Backwater Roll Blues Band (UK), Trijntje Oosterhuis (NL), Bo Saris (NL), Shirma Rouse (NL), James Sayer (UK), Lana Wolf (NL), Patricia Vonne (USA), Aïcha Gill (NL), Rayn Bechoe (NL), Xander de Buisonjé (NL), Berget Lewis (NL), Charlie Luske (NL), Rafaëlla Patton (NL), Ron Walter (NL), The GrooveYard (NL), Bregje Sanne Lacourt (NL), Stefan Schill (NL), Saskia Laroo (NL), King MO (NL/BE), Kooymans & Carillo (NL/VS), Dennis Kolen (NL), Joris Lutz (NL), Cuccurullo Brillo Brullo (Zappa Tribute, NL), Corrina Greyson (UK), Ted Oberg (NL), Simone Roerade (NL), Tino Gonzales (VS/F), Superglue (NL) en nameless coverbands.
Just after I graduated, I was asked to teach rhythm training at the Pop Academy of the Rotterdam conservatory, called Codarts, Univerity for the Arts. I still teach there two days a week, and it is a lot of fun to do. I like to work there because of the great musicians and colleagues I work with, and the high level of the students.