17 January 2024

16 mins read

Photography: Femke Valks

Written by: Aspen van der Wijst

what's happening with movements

INTERVIEW: ‘RUCKUS!’ Talk, Childhood Memories & More With Movements’ Patrick Miranda

Movements were recently touring Europe. During that tour, we got to sit down with their singer Patrick Miranda. We talked about how the album RUCKUS! came to be, how they came up with the creative and unique marketing for the album, some childhood memories, some hidden passions, and more.

How are you?
I’m good. I’m really excited to be back in the Netherlands. It’s nice to come back and be able to play a show. I love Europe, it feels good to be back. I’m a little cold. The weather’s been sort of shitty.

Congrats on the release of your new album, RUCKUS!. How has everyone been reacting to it?
Very, very well, for the most part. I think that we were a little apprehensive about what the reaction was going to be. Obviously, we felt very strongly about the record being the best record that we’ve ever made. But we weren’t totally sure if everybody else was going to feel the same way, you know, and obviously, we can have our confidence, but you never know until you put it out and see what happens.
I think that overall it’s been insanely positive. I’m hearing people say, “this is your best record. You guys are putting out the best work of your career so far”, and saying that they love the songs and that, not only are our fans connecting with the music, but people who maybe have never heard of Movements, or who would never even consider listening to a band like Movements in the past are being kind of reached through this.
I guess it extended sort of the new outlook that we have on songwriting and trying to appeal to a wider audience. It’s working, and we’re getting people who have almost no connection to the scene before hearing this, but are coming to these shows and contributing to them because they have fallen in love with the newer music that we’re writing.
So that’s really cool because we have higher attendance at these shows than we’ve ever seen before. I don’t think there’s ever been a larger demand for this band than with this record. And that’s really, really special to see.

You’re writing more songs that appeal to a bigger audience. Are there still songs in the album that really hit home for you emotionally?
Absolutely. And I think that the thing is: just because we’re writing to appeal to a wider range of people, doesn’t mean that we’re sacrificing what the songs are about or what the core values of this band are.
At the end of the day, we’re always going to write stuff that is relevant to our lives at the time. I mean, for the most part, my life, right? Because being the lyricist of the band, writing 99 percent of the lyrics, all the songs are usually about me, and about things that I’ve dealt with, or things I’ve gone through. There’s never going to be a lack of that, right?
But what I think the difference is now is that: one, I’ve grown up, right? I’ve matured so much since the time that this band started. This band started when I was 19 years old. I’m 28 now. I’ll be 29 next year, so it’ll be 10 entire years of this band next year. From that time, from being 19 to being 28 now, I don’t even feel like the same person. I completely feel like my consciousness has shifted. To a different mentality or whatever. And I look back at who I was back in the day and I don’t really recognize that person. I don’t really know who that person is, because it’s not who I am currently.
And there’s a bunch of reasons for that. But one of those reasons is that I’m just simply not as mentally ill anymore. My struggles with anxiety and depression have gotten much, much easier as I’ve gotten older. So there’s less depressing, dark, gnarly shit to write about.
I don’t think that there is a lack of that, because there’s always going to be something that I could say about those things. But I think when it came down to writing this record, I wanted to be true to what I was feeling in the moment, and what I was feeling throughout most of this was not, oh, I’m depressed, I want to kill myself. It was, I’m feeling happy, I’m feeling in love, or I’m searching desperately for love or something like that.
Additionally, there’s songs on the record that are very mean and angry. And that’s not something that we’ve really explored in our music in the past. We haven’t really ever had those anger feelings. It’s always been kind of like, sad, I’m depressed. Not, I’m mad at the world around me and I’m going to do something about it.
So I guess to answer your question, the emotional depth is still very much there. It’s just being plated a little differently, we’re wrapping up that emotional depth and kind of putting it into a new sonic experience. Which I think can throw people off because they might hear it and be like, this doesn’t sound like the way they used to sound. So, therefore, they’ve changed and it must be different. But what I say to that is, if you don’t think that these songs have that same depth, that same meaning, that same emotion, then you simply aren’t listening. Because it’s all there. It’s just being presented to you a little bit different.

What’s the song that hits most home for you emotionally on this new record?
It’s hard to say. I’m running through all the songs in my mind to see which one is the most emotionally weighty for me. Tightrope obviously is very emotional in many ways. But it’s not emotionally sad. It’s just emotional, like big feelings, emotional.
Additionally, I think I can make the argument that I hope you choke is maybe the one that I’m like really kind of feeling the most, because it’s an emotion that we haven’t explored. So even though this isn’t like, oh like I’m connecting with this because. I know what it’s like to fucking be depressed and want to fucking kill myself. Instead, I’m connecting with this because I’m expressing my anger for the first time, and it’s anger at the things that are happening around me, and the people who are kind of fucking up the world. And making it so that everyday things like human rights that are being fucking taken away from from various groups of people in the world.
That to me is more where my head space is at these days. I’m less worried about myself. I’m less focused on what’s going on inside of me, and it allows me to focus on what’s happening around me and outwardly, and it allows me to be more vocal about those things and about those issues. So, that song to me is the one that I feel the most when I listen to the record, and when we play the songs live, that’s the one where I’m just like, oh, I’m fucking feeling this shit.

You recently announced that you’ll be playing on When We Were Young in 2024. It’s been massively in the news. With the concept of bands that are playing entire albums. How are you feeling about this situation?
I feel very excited and I feel very nervous because I don’t remember half of those songs. So I’m just gonna have to re-listen to feel something and relearn all the songs because I don’t remember most of them.
We don’t play the whole record very often there’s songs on that record that we haven’t played in fucking years. So yeah, nervous, because I’m gonna have to relearn all those songs, but very, very excited. It’s an honor to be a part of something as big as When We Were Young, let alone to be on When We Were Young, doing an album play with some of my favorite all-time bands.
Anberlin – Never Take Friendship Personal was the first CD that I ever bought by myself. I went into a bookstore, and back then they still sold CDs and stuff at the bookstores. And you could scan a CD and put on a little headset and preview what was on that CD. I bought it because I liked the album artwork. But, I scanned it and listened to it, and I was like, yeah, I want to buy this. I told my mom “I want to buy this”. She said, “okay, well, you have 10 dollars from your allowance. Are you sure you want to spend it on this?” And I was like, “yeah, I want to spend it on this.”
That was the first CD that I bought. They’re playing When We Were Young and playing that record in its entirety. And I’m like, holy shit. This is like the biggest full-circle moment that could have ever happened. And that’s just one example. I mean, fucking Underoath is playing that show. Jimmy’s playing that show, like all of like these really formative bands, not just for me, but for the whole band are playing albums that mean so much to us. To be included in that is like, I have no words. I’m just so thankful.

What’s been some of the best memories from tour recently?
We just got off of a six-week tour in the United States. It was the first RUCKUS! tour. And the shows were unbelievable, easily the biggest shows we’ve ever played. We played three hometown shows. Essentially, the tour started in Los Angeles at a venue called the Palladium, which holds about 4,000 people and it was sold out. And that was to this day, still the biggest headlining show we’ve ever played. It was fucking incredible.
We did the entirety of the United States. Came back and played two more Southern California shows. But this time we played in a smaller venue. I think it was 2000 people, but we played it two nights in a row. So it was, one show with 4000 people at the beginning of the tour, and then two shows with 4,000 people at the end of the tour. And that was just so crazy to see that amount of support and love from our hometown was insane.
But then also like the tour as a whole was like, we were on the east coast of the United States, which is the complete opposite end of where we’re from. We’re on the East Coast playing shows to thousands of people every night. And those were selling out and shit like that was fucking crazy.
Plus, we were just on tour with some really, really great bands. Softcult, who are playing tonight, were on that tour. Mannequin Pussy from Philadelphia, they were on that tour. And then this band from Minneapolis called Heart to Gold, they opened. And every single person in every single band was just the sweetest person alive. And it made hanging out with them so much fun. All the shows were just a great time. So, all around great shows. We couldn’t be happier, truly.

You also got a lot of unique and diverse merch. How did you get to have this plethora of merch?
We’ve always been a merch band. I don’t know what it is about movements merch, but we’re just one of those bands where people eat it up. There are bands that just crush with merch and for some reason, somehow we’ve just become one of them. But because of that, we’ve established a sort of standard for our merch stores and our merch supply, and we kind of have to continue to meet that standard so that people want to continue to support that.
So, we like to work with a wide range of graphic designers or artists or whoever to kind of create these really memorable, really special merch items. And we always try to do something special with our merch, whether it be the quality of the garments being super high quality or doing a weird kind of unusual garment that you wouldn’t usually see as merch. We just try to challenge ourselves to really curate a nice spread so that people want to continue to buy it.

How did you come up with the entire promotion for the new album and Ruckus TV?
I was having a brainstorm one night about what I wanted the vibe of the rollout to be. And I liked the energy of the record and I liked how youthful the record felt. It screamed like fun, not necessarily childish, but youthful energy. So when I think back to my youth and what that was like, I’m like, okay what things can I pick out of this? That I could emulate to create a sort of vibe for the record.
And what it came down to was essentially putting myself in the early 2000s. I’m a kid. It’s a hot summer night, I don’t have school. So I’m staying up super late. I stay on the couch watching TV, but I fall asleep watching TV and I wake up and it’s like, 3, 4 in the morning. And on TV, whatever channel I fall asleep on is just like the weirdest, most obscure, random late-night television. And you’re half asleep, so you’re like, kind of in this weird dream state, but you’re trying to process what’s on the television, and you’re sweaty and sticky and like, stuck to the couch. And you’re just like, what the fuck is going on? And this is like that in between dream mode, but awake enough to sort of see what’s going on. And then like the TV just being weird. And it all kind of feels surreal almost. That was the exact feeling that I wanted to emulate.
So when it came to the rollout and even the look of the record. All of the album art is all analog. We projected the logo onto an actual VHS TV and then took photos of the screen. There’s different color variations and all that. That’s all just different settings of putting that shit on the TV. So it was weird, but super cool and fun.
And then the commercials for the rollout being these weird, nineties-style, infomercial-type things that are fun and kind of weird. All of that was just meant to feel like it’s living in its own kind of network that just exists in that specific memory in my brain.
And that’s like where Ruckus TV came from. And I don’t know if like we did a great job of explaining all that or having that feeling come across, but that was the vibe and the idea. And I think that it was cool. So it’s like a canon event. We’ve all woken up to some, either, adult cartoon, or infomercial, or softporn, or some shit. It happens to every kid, and I just felt like that feeling was what I wanted to recreate.

You take a lot of pictures. Where does that originate from?
That was actually what I wanted to do before I was playing music. I wanted to be a photographer. Well, to be fair, I was choosing to be a photographer because I felt like that was my best shot at a career while still being creative. Cause I didn’t really have a whole lot of faith that music was going to work out, or that art was going to work out in general. I thought to myself, well, you know, photography is something that I can still do and still be creative and still make a living. So I went to college and I studied visual journalism because I wanted to do photojournalism-type stuff. Less editorial, more real life, real world, every day, people kind of, photojournalism.
And I ended up giving it up because I wanted to pursue music and music ended up working out, but I still have like a deep love for photos, and photography, and capturing really special moments, or moments that just kind of make you stop and think about what’s going on. I’ve just always had a love for it. I got really into film photography back in the day. When I was still kind of working in photo. And then as music got more and more busy, and hectic, I kind of let photography fall to the wayside, and I stopped caring about it as much.
And then I realized somewhat recently that I just had a significant lack of memories attached to my everyday life experiences because I wasn’t taking photos. And I’m bad about opening my phone and taking photos on my phone. Cause I feel like iPhone photos just look like shit. There’s nothing special. So I’ve been forcing myself, lately, to really dive deep into film photography again. And I’ve been loving it.
I’ve had a fucking great time with it. It’s a very expensive hobby, which is maybe another reason why I wasn’t doing it for a while because I couldn’t fucking afford to, but now I’m doing all right. I’m making a little bit of money, so I’m like, all right, cool. I can spend a little bit more and fucking get a stockpile of film and pay the ridiculous fees for developing it and all that stuff.
I’ve been enjoying the work I’ve been putting out. Next year, I’m hoping to make a photo book and actually pursue photography again. Not just like a dude in a band who takes photos, but as a person who could be respected as a photographer.

What’s your favorite soup?
My favorite soup? Probably a tomato basil bisque. I love a good grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup. That’s the perfect meal. Probably because it’s nostalgic, but also that was my rainy day food that my mom would always make. If it was cold and rainy, which was not very often in Southern California, but we had our moments. Whenever it was cold and rainy, my mom would make grilled cheese and tomato soup. It’s always stuck with me. And now to this day, as an adult, I love grilled cheese and tomato soup.

21 November 2023

3 mins read

Photography: Femke Valks

Written by: Aspen van der Wijst

what's happening with movements

CONCERT REVIEW: Movements Play Long Awaited Netherlands Show

It’s been almost 5 years, so it was finally time for MOVEMENTS to return to the Netherlands. They played a show in one of the Netherlands’ smaller venues. They took I’ll Get By and Softcult with them as their openers. All these bands promised a great night with amazing music.

I’ll Get By was up first, they’re a Dutch band that set the mood for the evening. They got on stage when only a small part of the venue was filled. But everyone seemed to enjoy their performance a bit. There wasn’t that much energy on stage except for the singer who kept jumping all over the stage. They got someone on stage during a certain song who sang one verse with the band. Overall it was nice to see a local band play at a show like this.

I’ll Get By

Softcult was next up and they took the energy a bit down. Their music was a bit more slow but they did perform well on stage. The bassist was dancing and jumping during basically every song. They started picking up the pace later on with more high-energy music. Overall they were nice to see live and the crowd seemed to love them too.

Softcult:

Then, the moment everyone had been waiting for, It was time for Movements. You could immediately feel that the energy shifted in the room. Everyone got way more excited and pits started forming from the first few sounds that were played. People also started to crowd surf a lot and you could barely hear Patrick(the singer) over the singing of the crowd. Everyone was ecstatic during the set.

What set Movements apart was their ability to convey raw emotions through their music. The lyrics were deeply personal, tackling themes of self-discovery, mental health, and the human experience. As they performed these songs live, there was an overwhelming sense of vulnerability and authenticity that filled the venue.

As the concert came to a close, Movements left the stage to thunderous applause and cheers. The audience was left in awe, still buzzing with the energy that the band had ignited. It was a performance that left a lasting impression, reminding everyone in attendance why they fell in love with this genre of music in the first place.

In conclusion, Movements delivered a powerful and emotionally charged performance that showcased their talents as musicians and their ability to connect with their audience on a deep level. For fans of post-hardcore and those seeking a cathartic live music experience, a Movements concert is not to be missed.

Movements:

9 November 2023

3 mins read

Photography: Vera Deuling

Written by: Aspen van der Wijst

what's happening with Greta Van Fleet

CONCERT REVIEW: Greta Van Fleet Give Banging Performance In The Netherlands

Greta Van Fleet returned to the Netherlands a year after their last appearance, performing at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam. As one of the Netherlands’ bigger venues, the Ziggo Dome can hold up to 17,000 people, making it a highly anticipated concert for the fans.

The evening kicked off with the opening acts, Hannah Wicklund and Mt Joy. When Hannah Wicklund took the stage, the venue was relatively empty. However, as the lights dimmed and the first notes resonated throughout the venue, it was a nice first warming-up of the evening. Although their set was short, it provided a pleasant start to the concert.

Next up was Mt Joy, and by this point, the room had started to fill up. While the venue wasn’t completely full yet, there were certainly more people present. They had the opportunity to play for a little longer as the room slowly kept filling up. By the time they finished their set, the venue was almost full, setting the stage for Greta Van Fleet.

Finally, it was time for Greta Van Fleet to take the stage and entertain the crowd. Their entrance was met with a bang, accompanied by fireworks on the stage. The first moments were a sensory explosion, with the music turned up to a volume that required hearing protection for many attendees. While concerts are often loud, this one was particularly intense.

Greta Van Fleet also showcased their musical talent through impressive solos. These solos were a highlight of the performance, allowing the band to demonstrate their musical prowess. At one point, they even moved to a secondary stage for a few acoustic songs, providing a nice change of pace. Afterward, they returned to the main stage to finish their set.

Overall, attending a Greta Van Fleet concert is highly recommended for fans of their music. They deliver a powerful and entertaining performance, showcasing their musical abilities and creating an electrifying atmosphere. If you’re a fan, it’s an experience worth checking out. Check out the pictures we took below!

Hannah Wicklund

Mt Joy

Greta van Fleet

5 November 2023

3 mins read

Photography: Christine Mooijer

Written by: Aspen van der Wijst

what's happening with Waterparks

CONCERT REVIEW: Waterparks Perform Energetic Show In Netherlands

It hasn’t been that long but Waterparks returned to the Netherlands. They played a new show a little over a year after their last show here. This time they played their show in a slightly bigger venue which was completely sold out.

This new show was for their latest album Intellectual Property which was released in April. The Netherlands show was the 3rd performance on this new tour. They played many songs from the new album, but they also played some way older songs.

But Waterparks didn’t get to the Netherlands alone. They took Stand Atlantic with them as their opener. The band had roughly 45 minutes time to play and they sure got the crowd warmed up for Waterparks.

You don’t often see an opener that gets a crowd going this much as Stand Atlantic did. Many people started dancing and singing along to the music, way more than usual. Then some pits started to open, and before anyone knew it, people even started crowd surfing. Stand Atlantic even played a song that wasn’t released yet. This was received with a lot of positivity and everyone seemed to love the upcoming song. It seems like they will be playing this song the entire tour.

The wait was not that long in between sets. And waterparks had a great entrance. The first song that they played was St*rfucker from their latest album. This was the moment you could feel that the evening would have great things to come. Awsten, the singer, explained later on that they would be performing a lot of new songs but that they were planning to play a lot of older songs too.

Pits started forming quite early and everyone’s energy started to get higher and higher. There was even a kid who asked to play Funeral Grey on the drums, he was sadly not allowed to play Funeral Grey but Awsten did invite him on stage to play the song Group Chat, which is a 6-second track that has a really simple drum beat from their album Fandom. The kid was allowed to stay on the side of the stage after that so he could watch the show from a better angle.

Waterparks played a big mix of older and new songs with mostly songs from their latest album. There was something nice for every single fan. It was a typical Waterparks show with a lot of humor and good music.Overall, I’d highly advice going to a Waterparks concert. Their humor in combination with their music makes for a great show that will not be boring for a single second. Check out the pictures we took below!

Stand Atlantic:

Waterparks:

1 October 2023

4 mins read

Photography: Eva van den Bosch

Written by: Aspen van der Wijst

what's happening with NF

CONCERT REVIEW: NF Gives Insane Performance In Amsterdam

NF came to the Netherlands last night. It was his first time visiting the country since 2020. The Nashville-based rapper is currently on tour throughout Europe after finishing an American tour. He did not have an opening act, but NF made sure that he would be delivering a show that no one in the room would forget.

The queue was insanely long, it wrapped all the way around one of the biggest soccer stadiums in the Netherlands. After it wrapped around, the queue even went on so that the queue had people standing there who just arrived, but also people who arrived a few hours earlier right next to each other, even though they were standing in completely different positions in the queue.

The VIP queue had around 300 people and they were allowed to enter the venue 1.5 hours before the general admission was allowed to enter. Everyone had to wait a little bit more until the actual show started. The lights turned off eventually and the intro of Hope started playing. The song kept building up and NF jumped on the stage from behind the stage at the first breakdown of the song.

It was clear from that moment that it would be an amazing show to watch. NF clearly put effort into the stage and how he performs during his performances. More of this was visible during the next few songs, Motto and Careful. He had specific visuals from shoots that were just for tours. He walked all over the stage and even had moments where he sat down at the front of the stage.

He stopped the music for a second when he was performing Careful. Not for something negative, but because he saw a group of people being so enthusiastic and fun that he asked the entire crowd to be like them. NF then restarted the song, and everyone jumped higher and screamed louder than before.

NF played some more fan-favorite songs like The Search, Leave Me Alone, Paid My Dues, and WHY. After which the setlist took a massive turn towards more depressive and sad songs. He got off stage and -Interlude- started playing from the boxes. He then got on stage again and played Hate Myself. That is one of his most depressing and sad songs if you ignore songs like How Could You Leave Us. You could hear everyone sniffing at the quiet part after the song was over. A lot of people were crying during the song.

He kept the emotion going with Mama where he explains that he forgives his mom and that he hopes that she is happy in heaven. People kept crying, which did not stop once he played Happy right after. This was followed by the only moment that he took to talk to the crowd. Everyone calmed down and he got everyone hyped up again with Pandemonium. NF got down from the stage during Gone to sign the laminates that people got if they bought VIP tickets.

After that, he played a few more songs that had a lot of energy, and he got off stage after all that. There was no encore but that was fine. I don’t think any of his fans minded that. The setlist was amazing, there were emotional and hype moments in the show. The visuals and lighting were also done amazingly. Everything was as good as it could be.

If you like rap, then I would highly recommend you go to an NF show. The nice thing is that his music is not the basic rap that everyone knows. His instrumentals are already insanely cinematic, but he also talks about the more meaningful things in life and really shows that he uses his music as his outlet for his feelings and thoughts. Check out the pictures we took below!

18 August 2023

4 mins read

Photography:

Written by: Aspen van der Wijst

what's happening with Boywithuke

CONCERT REVIEW: Boywithuke Revisits Amsterdam With Lively Show

It had only been a year since Boywithuke last visited the Netherlands. After which he showed his love for the performance multiple times. So, it was only reasonable that he would be returning as soon as possible, which he did. Boywithuke returned to the Netherlands a year after his previous performance in the country. He did this during his tour through a small part of Europe and the UK. He took the artist Sfven with him for this part of the tour.

The day of the show was a bit colder than the days before which made being outside and waiting for the concert a bit more pleasant, since it wasn’t so incredibly hot. At the end of the day, there was a line of around 200-300 people that walked in right as the doors opened. We got to the front row and had to wait around 30 minutes for Sfven to get on stage.

Sfven got on stage in a really awkward way. The lights didn’t change, and the music didn’t turn off. He walked on stage and awkwardly said hi. He introduced himself and started the set. He’s quite the small artist so barely anyone knew him. What also didn’t help was that most of the crowd were just parents with their kids, who just got there to hear Boywithuke’s most famous songs.

All this contributed to quite a silent set. Sfven played for around 30 minutes, but he did have his moments. The crowd clapped along to a bunch of songs and there was even a moment where almost the entire crowd had their flashlights on. He played his set alone on his guitar with a bunch of slow songs so there wasn’t a lot to do or see. It was, however, quite an enjoyable set.

Boywithuke got on stage after the normal break between sets. His entrance was way less awkward and he was met with a lot of applause and screaming when he got on stage. He started off with a few songs from his EP called Antisocial. After that, he continued to play a bunch of hits and popular songs. This streak ended when he played Haha Hi. It was really noticeable that barely anyone knew the lyrics. It showed that most of the people that were there barely knew his songs other than the well-known songs.

He also took one massive break from the set where he just started signing things left and right. This probably took around 10 minutes and really took the energy and momentum out of the set. This was not just because Boywithuke allowed all of this, but it was mainly because so many fans were so insanely intrusive about wanting to interact with him. This continued after the long signing session and really took the energy down sadly. Boywithuke kept giving an amazing performance and even took a few pages out of Twenty One Pilots’ book. Boywithuke is known to be a fan of Twenty One Pilots. This was once again recognizable when he did the same teleporting trick as Tyler Joseph, and when he crowd-surfed on a little platform.

It was a nice show overall. Boywithuke really seemed to give it his all but the crowd made the show less enjoyable with their lack of positive interaction sadly. I’d highly recommend going to a Boywithuke show though since they are really fun to go to especially if you’re a big fan. He’s currently finishing his Europe and UK tour, after which he will be touring America. He has an upcoming album releasing on October 6^th called Lucid Dreams and the first single called Trauma was released recently. Stream it below!