'Douglas Firs' branch out with Luxembourg gig

Douglas Firs are an indie rock and from Ghent in Belgium and they will support Manchester’s The Slow Show at their concert at the Rockhal on Monday. Frontman Gertjan Van Hellemont took some time to chat with Sam Steen ahead of their trip to Luxembourg.

Many people will not have heard of this four piece from Ghent but they recently released their second album entitled “The Long Answer Is No”. Gertjan struggles to define their sound though and says that they’re not reinventing the wheel musically, just writing and playing good songs.

“Whenever we get that question my first reaction is that we just play music, that’s a bit vague but the reason I say that is because it’s kind of an old school thing that we do” he said, “I write songs, I try to write good songs and then we play them. We try to play them as best we can but it’s not that we’re doing something new, it’s just songs.”

So if they’re just songs maybe there are some particular artists that influenced their sound, he mentions Ryan Adams and Wilco as some of the artists their current producer Tom Scheck has worked with so perhaps they helped to shape the music they make? He’s not sure.

“I listened to a lot of different types of music but I never know how much they are influencing what I do. I’m also influenced by books, movies or whatever happens around me. I guess everything that’s around you is influential in one way or the other” he said.

That makes it sound as though the lyrics and writing about his own life experiences are more important to Gertjan than the music but again he doesn’t really agree.

“No I think they’re as important as each other. You can’t have one without the other, mostly we first write the music and then the words sometimes they come together. I like them both a good song with bad lyrics is a bad song and beautiful lyrics to ugly music is a bad song as well so you need them both.”

The Long Answer Is No was released just a few months ago and the band were delighted to get Tom Scheck on board to produce having fans as they were of a lot of his previous work, Gertjan says that getting him involved was relatively simple, “I basically just wrote him an email, telling him we were recording an album and I wanted him to do the mix and I sent him two or three demos of new songs and the first album because this is the second one” he Said “I got a quick answer saying that he had some time and he wanted to do it and that was it.” 

Their current support slot with The Slow Show came about quite simply too, when I ask how that happened he said “I don’t know really, I just got an email again, looks like email is a useful tool these days and it said we were going to play support for them so that was nice.”

Their concert at the Rockhal on Monday will be the band’s first in Luxembourg but future tour plans are still up in the air, “The record’s been out for a few months in Belgium where I live and it would be cool to release it in Germany and different countries and see what happens” said Gertjan, “but in music it’s always very unpredictable, we’re also making vague plans to do a little tour in the east of Europe at the end of the year in Croatia and Slovenia and those types of countries”

“Just because it’s fun I guess”, he said, explaining why Eastern Europe is a draw for them, “we also did it when the first album was released. I did a trip to the states but it’s not like there was a real plan we just booked some small shows because it’s more for the adventure and it also gives you a lot of stuff to write about. I really like it, being on the road and playing music for people who don’t know it yet. “

Add to the adventure and discover this easy going group when they play at Rockhal in support of The Slow Show on Monday June 1. Doors open at 8pm

Tickets cost 21 euros and are available at www.rockhal.lu

“The Long Answer Is No” is out now and you can find out more about the band at their website: www.douglasfirs.be

Sam's Scene!

Read Sam's other articles in his very own dossier on wort.lu : Sam's Scene!_________________________________________________________

Sam Steen on ARA City Radio

You can catch Sam in his "Freshly Squeezed Breakfast Show" on ARA City Radio every weekday morning from 6-9:30am. For more info visit the website: www.aracityradio.com_________________________________________________________

Don't miss the news – sign up to receive the  wort.lu newsletter in English  delivered to your inbox six days a week.