Ones To Watch*3 – De Staat

Continuing our ‘Ones to watch’ series, we are proud to bring you word of De Staat, the awkwardly named and exciting band from Holland. Already one of the biggest alternative acts in their native country, De Staat are set to release their second album, ‘Machinery’ here in the UK on 7^th March and, with festival appearances already booked for Lowlands and Pinkpop as well as Glastonbury, the band look set to make their mark in 2011.

The band’s own description is no less interesting stating: “De Staat has made an album that meets all expectations. Machinery is the band’s second album and follow-up to their stunning 2009 debut Wait For Evolution. Machinery is described by the band as a “gut-inducing slab of psycho funk.” It’s a dark sonic adventure that takes the listener through underground caves of blues, funk and electro where halal butchers, serial killers, whistleblowers, rats and sweat-covered bodybuilders cross paths.”

With comparisons drawn between the band and Queens of the stone age, Tom Waits and Nick Cave, De Staat are clearly drawing from a rich vein of creativity which should see them quickly build a following here in the UK and it would be wise to catch them while their star is on the ascent and UK fans will have the opportunity when the band hit the stage in April (see dates at the bottom of this post). Here’s what the band themselves have to say about ‘Machinery’:

“I often hear we sound like a machine when we play live,” says lead singer and songwriter Torre Florim. “I thought it would be fun to expand on that on this record and emphasise the mechanical elements in the music.”  

Continues Florim – “We played a lot of rhythms, and also created crazy sounds with the guitars. I didn’t want to exclusively focus on the rhythmic parts, but instead wanted to change the way we approached the tools of a conventional rock band setup.  During the process of writing and creating the music, the album developed an industrial flavour that reminded us of a machine.”

As a taster for the album you can check out the band’s EPK here, and a trip to the band’s website (here) is also highly advisable – ‘Machinery’ looks set to be one of 2011’s more interesting releases.

De Staat On Tour – April 2011