Sins7Sins, Sariola, and Imperia at De Baroeg
Gig review by Erwin
Rotterdam has earned its place in the world of metal because the cult / underground venue 'De Baroeg' is located in this city. The list of now famous metal bands that have performed there before their break through is endless but some of those bands that I personally think are great are (breath in) Opeth, Lacuna Coil, Napalm Death, Marduk, Trail of Tears, Gallhammer, Holy Moses, Imperia (twice), Epica, Bolt Thrower, Korpiklaani, Behemoth,Throne Of Katarsis, Nile and many more.
Bands you can usually see by paying for too expensive tickets and being threaded as terrorists by an over zealous security. And do not try to photograph the show with something bigger than a cell phone! But every positive has a negative. 'De Baroeg' is a dark hell hole and most professional photographers (I know at least two from the Rotterdam area who do this kind of music) do not even bother to show up here. If you have ever been at The Underworld in London than you know what I mean.
Usually 'De Baroeg' has its metal programmed at Sundays, which is ideal. Those gigs will start at 16:00 and end at 21:00 so you have enough time to get home for the dreaded Monday.
Friday and Saturday gigs are a bit more complicated and as it seems only for the local population. Gigs won’t start before nine in the evening and won’t end before midnight so even people from the north bank of the Maas (the river that divides Rotterdam like the Thames in London) can not get home with the crappy public transport. (and alcohol & driving is strongly discouraged in Holland) Or you have to use the good old bicycle.
There were three bands on the bill this night: Sin7sinS, Sariola from Germany and multi national Imperia. Sin7sinS have done a lot of gigs the last few months during the Jägermeister Dutch Demolition tour with Izegrim and Why She Kills. Compared to these bands Imperia is an old-timer. In fact, Imperia’s first ever gig was in the Baroeg (4.17.2004) and I have seen them about 15 times since then.
Sariola was the big suprise for me tonight. A lot of gothic bands from Germany are a bit too soft and poppy for me (Xandria and The Flaw for starters) but Sariola has a healthy dose of black metal style music to season their songs.
Sin7sinS have done some thirteen gigs the last two months and they show this with a flawless performance. Their music sounds young and jumpy. A bit industrial, a bit gothic and a lot of metal. Of course, the lighting in the Baroeg is only red and blue. (The venue used to have a very talented person behind the light switches but I haven’t seen her in a while) Lotus is a very eye catching front woman and there is absolutely no chance of falling asleep while she’s on stage as happened with Odysseus on the island of the Lotus Eaters (but I could image Hannibal Lector taking a bite out of her)
The sound is great, mostly because Cees, the guitar player from The Dreamside is responsible for the sound tonight (as always at De Baroeg).
As I said before, Sariola was a big positive surprise. Konny, the guitar player and one of the founders of Sariola said about their gig:
"We've been looking forward to perform in Netherlands and had honour to play in the great city of Rotterdam and in such a well-known club as 'De Baroeg"'with such a great band as Imperia. We became good friends with Imperia and the guys from Sin7sinS at that small backstage full of Dutch beer. (Hertog Jan beer in fact, the best beer you can have at a venue) It was this warm atmosphere of friendship, that we felt as we entered the stage and which made us feel comfortably and give our best, what we, in my opinion, did. We were also quite pleased with the sound. All in all it was a great show, we were accepted unusually warm as from the crowd so from the club-crew. We were happy to gain some new fans and of course to become friends with guys from the other bands that played that night. We can't wait to visit Netherlands again!"
Steve, Imperia’s drummer clearly knew the boys and girls of Sariola and assisted them during the change over. (Like Obi Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker in Star Wars or Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader)
Sariola has a lot of Black (as in Cradle of Filth) influences in their music (but minus Dani sounding like Donald Duck) The boys and girls from Sariola were clearly very excited to play in Rotterdam (and they were a lot more friendly than those German bomber pilots in 1940 in this city) I hope they will get the opportunity to do some more gigs in Holland.
Headliner Imperia is the most experienced band tonight. They where also the band with the most difficulties tonight. Guitarist Jan has a lot of trouble with his gear and second guitar player Audun (or John) was absent tonight. So Jan had to work for two. With members from four countries (Norway, Finland, Belgium and Holland) it is very difficult to get everyone together for a gig. It was a lot easier when Helena lived in Groningen (in the far north of the Netherlands and almost in Denmark) But when she returned to Norway (see the “thanks to” section of the album “Queen of Light” for the reason why) things got difficult for the band. From performing at almost a weekly basis they barely did 5 shows between February 2006 and November 2008. The band even had to cancel a prestigious gig for last year’s (2007) Metal Female Voices Fest due to transport reasons.
Out of sight, out of heart as it goes in the music business.
Imperia’s last regular gig in Holland was February 2006 before they returned to Rotterdam this year for a gig in the Ahoy. (the Ahoy is a 12.000 plus visitors venue for bands like Metallica or Iron Maiden – Imperia’s gig was in a smaller hall of the complex) Helena has done a major extreme make over, from mermaid blonde to short and black and she does not really look like the promo pictures they still use from four year ago. (the two things that makes us mammals haven’t changed, as she demonstrated when I told her this)
This gig brought back old memories about the first time I saw her and Trail of Tears in the Baroeg almost one decade ago (the spring of 1999).
Second guitarist John Stam of even his replacement at the Ahoy Audun was nowhere in sight meaning Jan Yrlund (the man who is also behind a lot of Korpiklaani album covers) had to work for two. And, thanks to Murphy’s law, he had some technical problems with the gear during the gig. But this was not as disastrous as Imperia’s gig at “Het Paard”, Den Haag three years ago when the hard drive with the orchestrations crashed.
But it was a good gig. But as band you should never accept a Friday gig at the Baroeg. The Rotterdam population seems not to go out on Fridays. Besides, the Baroeg is for Death and Black metal fans. Even I felt a bit out of place when the DJ was playing Gothic instead of some brutal tracks you usually hear there.
(I saw Jan Yrlund the day after at the Melkweg, Amsterdam during the Finnish Fire evening with Battlelore and Korpiklaani – he is from Finland after all and apparently knows every band member and roadie from that tour)
Sins7Sins, Sariola, and Imperia at De Baroeg
Gig review by Erwin
Rotterdam has earned its place in the world of metal because the cult / underground venue 'De Baroeg' is located in this city. The list of now famous metal bands that have performed there before their break through is endless but some of those bands that I personally think are great are (breath in) Opeth, Lacuna Coil, Napalm Death, Marduk, Trail of Tears, Gallhammer, Holy Moses, Imperia (twice), Epica, Bolt Thrower, Korpiklaani, Behemoth,Throne Of Katarsis, Nile and many more.
Bands you can usually see by paying for too expensive tickets and being threaded as terrorists by an over zealous security. And do not try to photograph the show with something bigger than a cell phone! But every positive has a negative. 'De Baroeg' is a dark hell hole and most professional photographers (I know at least two from the Rotterdam area who do this kind of music) do not even bother to show up here. If you have ever been at The Underworld in London than you know what I mean.
Usually 'De Baroeg' has its metal programmed at Sundays, which is ideal. Those gigs will start at 16:00 and end at 21:00 so you have enough time to get home for the dreaded Monday.
Friday and Saturday gigs are a bit more complicated and as it seems only for the local population. Gigs won’t start before nine in the evening and won’t end before midnight so even people from the north bank of the Maas (the river that divides Rotterdam like the Thames in London) can not get home with the crappy public transport. (and alcohol & driving is strongly discouraged in Holland) Or you have to use the good old bicycle.
There were three bands on the bill this night: Sin7sinS, Sariola from Germany and multi national Imperia. Sin7sinS have done a lot of gigs the last few months during the Jägermeister Dutch Demolition tour with Izegrim and Why She Kills. Compared to these bands Imperia is an old-timer. In fact, Imperia’s first ever gig was in the Baroeg (4.17.2004) and I have seen them about 15 times since then.
Sariola was the big suprise for me tonight. A lot of gothic bands from Germany are a bit too soft and poppy for me (Xandria and The Flaw for starters) but Sariola has a healthy dose of black metal style music to season their songs.
Sin7sinS have done some thirteen gigs the last two months and they show this with a flawless performance. Their music sounds young and jumpy. A bit industrial, a bit gothic and a lot of metal. Of course, the lighting in the Baroeg is only red and blue. (The venue used to have a very talented person behind the light switches but I haven’t seen her in a while) Lotus is a very eye catching front woman and there is absolutely no chance of falling asleep while she’s on stage as happened with Odysseus on the island of the Lotus Eaters (but I could image Hannibal Lector taking a bite out of her)
The sound is great, mostly because Cees, the guitar player from The Dreamside is responsible for the sound tonight (as always at De Baroeg).
As I said before, Sariola was a big positive surprise. Konny, the guitar player and one of the founders of Sariola said about their gig:
"We've been looking forward to perform in Netherlands and had honour to play in the great city of Rotterdam and in such a well-known club as 'De Baroeg"'with such a great band as Imperia. We became good friends with Imperia and the guys from Sin7sinS at that small backstage full of Dutch beer. (Hertog Jan beer in fact, the best beer you can have at a venue) It was this warm atmosphere of friendship, that we felt as we entered the stage and which made us feel comfortably and give our best, what we, in my opinion, did. We were also quite pleased with the sound. All in all it was a great show, we were accepted unusually warm as from the crowd so from the club-crew. We were happy to gain some new fans and of course to become friends with guys from the other bands that played that night. We can't wait to visit Netherlands again!"
Steve, Imperia’s drummer clearly knew the boys and girls of Sariola and assisted them during the change over. (Like Obi Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker in Star Wars or Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader)
Sariola has a lot of Black (as in Cradle of Filth) influences in their music (but minus Dani sounding like Donald Duck) The boys and girls from Sariola were clearly very excited to play in Rotterdam (and they were a lot more friendly than those German bomber pilots in 1940 in this city) I hope they will get the opportunity to do some more gigs in Holland.
Headliner Imperia is the most experienced band tonight. They where also the band with the most difficulties tonight. Guitarist Jan has a lot of trouble with his gear and second guitar player Audun (or John) was absent tonight. So Jan had to work for two. With members from four countries (Norway, Finland, Belgium and Holland) it is very difficult to get everyone together for a gig. It was a lot easier when Helena lived in Groningen (in the far north of the Netherlands and almost in Denmark) But when she returned to Norway (see the “thanks to” section of the album “Queen of Light” for the reason why) things got difficult for the band. From performing at almost a weekly basis they barely did 5 shows between February 2006 and November 2008. The band even had to cancel a prestigious gig for last year’s (2007) Metal Female Voices Fest due to transport reasons.
Out of sight, out of heart as it goes in the music business.
Imperia’s last regular gig in Holland was February 2006 before they returned to Rotterdam this year for a gig in the Ahoy. (the Ahoy is a 12.000 plus visitors venue for bands like Metallica or Iron Maiden – Imperia’s gig was in a smaller hall of the complex) Helena has done a major extreme make over, from mermaid blonde to short and black and she does not really look like the promo pictures they still use from four year ago. (the two things that makes us mammals haven’t changed, as she demonstrated when I told her this)
This gig brought back old memories about the first time I saw her and Trail of Tears in the Baroeg almost one decade ago (the spring of 1999).
Second guitarist John Stam of even his replacement at the Ahoy Audun was nowhere in sight meaning Jan Yrlund (the man who is also behind a lot of Korpiklaani album covers) had to work for two. And, thanks to Murphy’s law, he had some technical problems with the gear during the gig. But this was not as disastrous as Imperia’s gig at “Het Paard”, Den Haag three years ago when the hard drive with the orchestrations crashed.
But it was a good gig. But as band you should never accept a Friday gig at the Baroeg. The Rotterdam population seems not to go out on Fridays. Besides, the Baroeg is for Death and Black metal fans. Even I felt a bit out of place when the DJ was playing Gothic instead of some brutal tracks you usually hear there.
(I saw Jan Yrlund the day after at the Melkweg, Amsterdam during the Finnish Fire evening with Battlelore and Korpiklaani – he is from Finland after all and apparently knows every band member and roadie from that tour)
Follow us on Twitter
Femme Metal News
Recent Photos
Featured Products
