Access 2 Amsterdam: Day 4

by Bob Pomeroy

ACCESS 2 AMSTERDAM: Up All Night

You meet a lot of interesting people at an event like Access 2 Amsterdam. The whole point of conferences like these is to meet people and make connections. If you’re lucky, some of those people may end up being friends. It’s funny how quickly you that can happen. The first people I met at A2A were Kris Wilkinson and Joe Hughes. We kept running into each other all week and by Saturday it felt like I’d known them for years. This phenomenon intensified as the conference drew to a close. At the closing cocktail party, I found myself talking to some people who appeared to be very close friends. It turns out they’d met about 15 minutes before I happened by. The last cocktail party turned out to be a chance to meet artists whose sets I missed. I met members of Laberinto, Lemon, and Ifang Bondi hanging out by the bar. I talked shop with writers from www.rockezine.com and got to chat with Marynka Nicolai. Saturday night was off to a good start.

Since I missed the Ska showcase on Friday, I started the evening of showcases at the Melkweg. When I arrived, Venus Hill were already playing. I was immediately captivated by the Amsterdam-based band. The band play an irreverent, personal interpretation of the tried and true ska sound. With three lead vocalists out front, Venus Hill had a bit of the Supremes in their skank. The horn section alternated hot licks and silly dance routines while the rhythm section nailed down a steady beat. The bloom is off the ska rose here in the States but Venus Hill reminded me just how much fun this sort of music can be. Venus Hill are a fun band. I found it impossible to watch this band and not be energized by the obvious joy these people find in playing music. The only thing that disappointed me about Venus Hill is that they won’t have a CD out until later this year.

I popped over to Amuse and caught Golden Green’s set. This Belgian band have the mod sound down cold. They’ve got their Who, Kinks and Jam moves down and they have a hell of a good time playing their tunes. They have a tune about how the tunes of Paul Weller can make you feel better. Well, a set by Golden Green can make you feel better too. They’re not about being trendy. They’re just having a great time playing music. That spills over to the audience in a big way.

The Venue are from Sweden and also look back to the English mods for inspiration. These guys are take their cue from the soulful end of the British Invasion. With their hyperkinetic stage presence, the band made me think of the Zombies or the Animals.[[thevenue]] My favorite song of their set features a chorus of what sounded like nonsense words spit out with passion and conviction. There is always time for impassioned silliness! At times, the Venue’s exuberance seemed about to overwhelm the music. It felt like the band was desperately trying to get through the tunes before the whole things goes flying appart.

Red Vinyl Fur seemed way too serious to be on the same bill with Golden Green and the Venue. The five piece from Manchester are very much a modern rock band. Their sound is introspective and focused. Their songs are played in a very deliberate, very controlled manner. Red Vinyl Fur were almost the polar opposite of the Venue’s barely controlled enthusiasm.

Back at the Melkweg, things weren’t so silly either. Louise Hoffsten has the passion to play the blues and can summon angels and demons with her blues harps. Her guitarist blends tradition with technology. He used an array of effects and digital devices to layer rhythms against which he played leads and licks. It was pretty impressive.

I was heading back to the Ska showcase when I ran into Marynka Nicolai again. She was heading over to the Hard Rock Café where she’s landed a slot on the nightly jam session. It sounded like a good idea, so I headed over there too.

Another act that I’d missed at the Bimhuis were playing a stripped down set at the Hard Rock when I got there. The Puentes Brothers are Cuban musicians living in Canada who grew up around some of the Buena Vista Social Club people. You can hear that tradition in the music the brothers make. It’s relaxed, sensual, latin groove music, or at least that’s how it struck me.

The Hard Rock turned out to be a very interesting place late Saturday night. I found myself hanging out with an English artist’s manager, a Canadian record company executive, a Turkish publicist and musicians from all over the globe. Canadian singer Lisa Patterson did a stunning a capella tune before Marina got her chance to sing. Marynka’s brief set was impressive just in terms of logistics. Marynka in primarily a pianist, but the Hard Rock didn’t have a piano. So she borrowed a guitar, an instrument she hadn’t played in six years, and worked out an arrangement with one of the members of a Canadian band, the Outfit. It was a nice song. I wonder what she sounds like when she’s really in her element.

The Hard Rock Café officially closes at midnight. We were finally chased out at 2 AM. It wasn’t quitting time though. Our little group headed across Leidsplein to Boom Chicago for the closing party. This party was just starting when we left the Hard Rock and, for all I know was still going on when I caught my ride to the airport five hours later.

This concludes my notes on the Access 2 Amsterdam conference. The organizers emphasized that A2A was about the music in their promotional materials. They were right! There were very few “name” acts on the A2A program, but that turned out to be a good thing. Over the four days of the conference, I experienced the rush of discovering new and exciting bands over and over again. That is what motivated me to start writing about music in the first place. I wanted to share my excitement of discovery with other people. I came back to Florida with a huge stack of CD’s and a half dozen interviews on tape. The conference is over, but the thrill lives on. You can check out the A2A webpage to find out more about Access 2 Amsterdam and maybe see about getting your own showcase slot in 2002. We’ll all be using Euros by then.

Unfortunately, Venus Hill and Marynka Nicolai don’t have web sites at this time.