Vincent Helbers and Hartog Eysman formed the band Flowriders as an
outlet for their interest in electronic music. The two met at
conservatory where they were involved in funk, rock, and blues bands
and had each made acoustic jazz albums. After making a few initial
tunes on their PC and releasing a well-received EP, they took their
show on the road with a four-piece live band. As they continued to
evolve and gain critical acclaim for their live performance, their
band line-up grew to include ten musicians and vocalists, most of whom
Helbers and Eysman have worked with over the past fifteen years.
"Our live shows are a mixture of album arrangements and
improvisation," says Helbers. "With such a large band, we have a lot
of possibilities to derive from the original material. We don't do
any covers during our shows. Although, a couple of years ago, we did
a Prince tune called Under the Cherry Moon. We also covered Curtis
Mayfield's Move on Up, but that's it for covers."
Under the Cherry Moon- WHHHAAAA???? Talk about a band after my own
heart. I thought I heard a sample from Prince's I Wonder U on their
first long-player Starcraft. That was really just the icing on the
cake of Starcraft. This collection embodies all the best of jazzy
nu-soul. I know some of you just cringed at that phrase, but stay
with me. If you want well-arranged live instrumentation going beyond
the standard horn-drums-guitar scenario and rich vocals with excellent
harmonies, then you've got all that with Flowriders. The
Amsterdam-based group accents their strong base with Indian and
Eastern musical flavours and broken rhythms. Somehow, they've managed
to access that delicate balance between accessibility and cutting-edge
innovation.
Helbers adds, "We mix a lot of styles that makes our sound special.
Compared to straightforward dance music, we use a lot more ingredients
in our songs. There are not many groups that play this sort of music
live, so that sets us apart from people who make a similar style of
music." Perhaps the live element is the trick that really puts
Starcraft in its own special place. Then again, it's got to be the
soul thing too; they have nailed the American nu-soul sound head-on.
But is the U.S. market, which has been slow to receive "broken beat,"
ready for a group of Dutch jazz musicians making soul music?
"I think the U.S. market is a challenge for us. You can hear a lot of
European influences in our music, but you can also hear a lot of
American influences as well. So I think our album could do really
well in the U.S. Hopefully we will be able to bring our live show
over there!"
Even if they don't get to perform live in the states, Flowriders will
be making their way around Europe this summer. They will celebrate
with a CD release party in Amsterdam in April 2005. Then they will
play the North Sea Jazz festival later on in the summer.
Starcraft is out on 4Lux records and is being distributed by Groove
Distribution stateside. Look for the singles Phermone and Matter.
