Rotterdam Ska Jazz Foundation

Upsessions-Interview

Band name:
Rotterdam Ska-Jazz Foundation

Members and the instruments they play:
Arjen Bijleveld - Trombone
Sybren Bijleveld - Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Baritone Sax
Tues Nobel - Trumpet
Zoot - Tenor Sax
Jeroen van Tongeren - Guitar
Matthieu Cleijne - Bass
Hidde Wijga - Piano and Organ
Dimitri Jeltsema - Drums

Average Age: 32

Year band formed: Around 2000

Home town: Rotterdam

Homepage: www.rsjf.nl

CD's (Year of release):
Sunwalk (2005)
Black Night - Bright Morning (EP, 2004)
Shake Your Foundation (2003)
+Various samplers throughout the world (2000 - 2005)

Date of interview: 22 aug 2005

Questions directly relating to you:

DerDUDE / Miansha:
How did you come up with your band name? Does it have a background??
Rotterdam Ska-Jazz Foundation:
The name is cooked up by Arjen, Dim and Gemma (Dim's wife). It is just a cristal clear summary for what we do and it sounded good too.

DerDUDE / Miansha:
How would you specify your style as a ska band?
Rotterdam Ska-Jazz Foundation:
Der name ist programme, they used to say in Germany.

DerDUDE / Miansha:
Which song would you suggest someone to listen to in order to get to know your music best?
Rotterdam Ska-Jazz Foundation:
Our latest record "Sunwalk". People can download some tracks at rsjf.nl

DerDUDE / Miansha:
Which ska band/personality influenced you the most?
Rotterdam Ska-Jazz Foundation:
No bands or personalities in particular, just good ska and jazz music

DerDUDE / Miansha:
Apart from ska, what music style influenced you the most?
Rotterdam Ska-Jazz Foundation:
Other good music.

DerDUDE / Miansha:
What message are you trying to get across to people with your music?
Rotterdam Ska-Jazz Foundation:
Enjoy yourself, it is later than you think.

DerDUDE / Miansha:
Does ska have a political meaning for you, and if so what is it?
Rotterdam Ska-Jazz Foundation:
No

Concerts:

DerDUDE / Miansha:
What were the best and worst venues you've played?
Rotterdam Ska-Jazz Foundation:
Most venues in Germany are always very nice to play. If we sometimes have a bad experiences, we learn from it and try to forget the rest as soon as possible.

DerDUDE / Miansha:
How would you describe your audience?
Rotterdam Ska-Jazz Foundation:
Well, 1.80m on average. 40% male, 60% female, sometimes the opposite, 99% likes to dance,...

DerDUDE / Miansha:
Which song do you usually play as an encore?
Rotterdam Ska-Jazz Foundation:
For that, we usually play songs like Life-Wire or Skamania. Sometimes a new song.

DerDUDE / Miansha:
Have you got any weird touring experiences worth a mention?
Rotterdam Ska-Jazz Foundation:
Too many (weird) stories to put you up with. Though, a couple of highlights are the Popkomm last year in Berlin were our van was about to be dragged away from the hotel just before the gig by the parking police because it was parked one meter too close to a bustop. We were just in time to open all doors so that they could not drive away. In the end we unloaded our backline and drove with a couple of taxis to the venue and we had to pay a large fine.
Another bad story was the gig in Milano, or actually the promised "hotel" after the show. We had to park our packed van in the middle of an ongoing party area with a lot of completely wasted people passing by and out, and before we could enter the so-called hotel room, we first had to kick out people sleeping in our beds. In the end, we decided just to drive back to Holland since it was the last show of the tour.

DerDUDE / Miansha:
Which band would you most like to play with?
Rotterdam Ska-Jazz Foundation:
PIt was an honor to play a support show for the Skatalites once.

DerDUDE / Miansha:
I've always been interested to know how you deal with Nazi-Skins at your gigs.
Rotterdam Ska-Jazz Foundation:
In principal everybody is welcome at our shows as long as they respect eachother.

Ska History:

DerDUDE / Miansha:
There's a lot of talk about 3 ska waves. How far can you identify yourselves with those? What do you think is going to come after the 3rd wave? What's the future of ska?
Rotterdam Ska-Jazz Foundation:
We only know mathematical descriptions of waves, like Maxwell's equations.

DerDUDE / Miansha:
Why do you think it is that most young bands either play traditional ska or ska-punk?
Rotterdam Ska-Jazz Foundation:
Because they like it?

DerDUDE / Miansha:
Why do you think it's so difficult for ska to establish itself? Do you think ska is doomed to continue to play a minor role in the music scene?
Rotterdam Ska-Jazz Foundation:
Depends how big do you want it to be? Watch only the Moskito agenda to see how many ska gigs there are planned every weekend. Here in Holland many TV commercials use ska tunes explicitly. The new Madness CD is played on the national radio everyday, haha.

General:

DerDUDE / Miansha:
Which band or ska CD do you recommend (apart from your own) to the people out there?
Rotterdam Ska-Jazz Foundation:
Saw Yellow Umbrella playing in Dresden lately. Really good stuff! Also the new CD of Pannonia Allstars SKA Orchestra from Budapest is worth checking out.

DerDUDE / Miansha:
Who, in your eyes is the "Godfather of Ska"?
Rotterdam Ska-Jazz Foundation:
Laurel A. (rip)

DerDUDE / Miansha:
Which ska site do you particularly recommend? What are your favourites?
Rotterdam Ska-Jazz Foundation:
Of course, www.ska-talk.com and www.derdude-goes-ska.de ;-)

DerDUDE / Miansha:
What's going to be coming up in terms of gigs or any other projects? Is there a new CD coming out?
Rotterdam Ska-Jazz Foundation:
We are very busy writing new songs for the next RSJF album. But first we are going to make a record with Kingston Kitchen. Check www.kingstonkitchen.com

DerDUDE / Miansha:
When is it going to be out and what should we be expecting?
Rotterdam Ska-Jazz Foundation:
Hope to see you all at our gigs! In the meantime draw us a line at www.rsjf.nl and/or www.myspace.com/rsjf Thanks for the interview!

DerDUDE / Miansha:
Thanks for this very interesting interview!

zurück