Photo: Jelmer De Haas

Band Line-up:

Torre Florim - vocals, guitar
Vedran Mircetic - guitar
Jop van Summeren - bass, vocals
Rocco Bell - percussion, keyboards, vocals
Tim van Delft - drums

Creative Breeding Ground

The preparation of Machinery took place in what only can be described as De Staat’s mansion - a farm, just outside Nijmegen, the hometown of the band and a small city in Holland with a big rock scene. That’s where the basis of the tracks was laid down and the concept of the record was realized. Eventually they recorded the album in Eindhoven, with Florim as producer and engineer Attie Bauw (The Scorpions, Menace featuring Bootsy Collins and Maceo Parker).

Says Florim - “We have recorded 13 songs in 10 days. It was great to have an engineer like Attie with us because it gave us a lot of experience. On the song Wait For Evolution I did everything myself, but this time I needed to record a full band and I didn’t have a lot of experience to do that on my own.”

NATIONWIDE APRIL 2011 UK TOUR

Box Office: 0845 413 4444
www.alt-tickets.co.uk

Wednesday 6th April
Camden Barfly
Tickets: £7.00 / Box Office: 0845 413 4444
www.barflyclub.com
49 Chalk Farm Road NW1 8AN

Thursday 7th April
Manchester The Deaf Institute
Tickets: £6.00 / Box Office: 0845 413 4444
www.thedeafinstitute.co.uk
135 Grosvenor St Manchester M1 7HE

Friday 8th April
Nottingham The Bodega
Tickets: £6.00 / Box Office: 0845 413 4444
www.thebodegasocialclub.co.uk
23 Pelham Street Nottingham NG1 2ED

Saturday 9th April
Bristol The Louisiana
Tickets: £6.00 / Box Office: 0845 413 4444
www.thelouisiana.net
Wapping Road Bathurst Terrace Bristol BS1 6UA

De Staat - Official Biography

De Staat sounds old and new, weird and familiar, ugly and sexy, dead and alive at the same time. It’s like Elvis, Tom Waits, and Queens Of The Stone Age going on a holiday together,” says 3voor12, Holland’s biggest alternative rock magazine. De Staat’s rise in popularity proves that humble beginnings can lead to great things. It started as a one man project by the Dutch singer, musician and composer Torre Florim. Even before the release of their 2009 album Wait For Evolution, De Staat was already a full grown band.

Photo: Jelmer De Haas

Since early 2009, the band established itself as the most exciting new rock band Holland had to offer in decades. Their concerts received unanimous rave reviews. Wait For Evolution was embraced by fans and journalists alike as one of the best albums of 2009. Holland fell for the charm of De Staat, big time.

Later that same year, Cool Green Recordings (Mascot Records sub label) eventually released Wait For Evolution internationally. At the time of the international release Florim said - “I can’t wait to introduce our music to a new audience. We’ve already done some shows abroad. There have been lots of responses on the internet. The time seems right to take it to the next level.”

Torre Florim has been actively playing in bands since his early teenage years. Joining the Utrecht School of the Arts for a study in music production and composing, proved to be a major turning point. “I started to write songs, for myself,” recalls Florim. “I wanted to see how far I could get by writing and recording them by myself, like some sort of experiment. My initial plan was also to release a self-financed EP on my own, all very low profile.”

One thing led to another though. A small circle of friends and musicians heard the first batch of songs. They instantly were blown away. They convinced Florim to form a band and look for a proper record company. It was suggested that the EP should be a full length album.

And so it happened. The band took its name from a piece written in the seventies by the Dutch composer Louis Andriessen. When Wait For Evolution came out in early 2009, De Staat had already generated a healthy foundation with truly mesmerizing live shows and euphoric reviews. De Staat was invited to play on major Dutch festivals including Pinkpop and Lowlands.

By now the band was built around Vedran Mircetic (guitar), Jop van Summeren (bass, vocals), Rocco Bell (percussion, keyboards, vocals) and Tim van Delft (drums). Success and critical acclaim happened very fast. To this day, Torre Florim still struggles to find a concise explanation for this sudden success.

“In some reviews our music has been compared to Queens Of The Stone Age, Nick Cave and Tom Waits. I can see where that comes from. I really like their music. It’s their attitude that I find even more inspiring. These particular artists do their own thing, no matter what. They are all extremely stubborn and highly dedicated. That’s the attitude I’ve adopted. I think our live shows played a big part in all of it. We truly try to make every show different. Every night should be a unique experience.”

•De Staat’s Wait For Evolution voted Best Album of 2009 in Live XS magazine
•The album won the prestigious 3VOOR12 AWARD 2009 for best album in Holland
•De Staat embarked on a UK tour with dEUS in Nov 2008
•2009 festivals include Pinkpop, Lowlands, Dour, Sziget
•In 2010, De Staat was one of six Dutch bands to receive a Music Export subsidy
•Rave reviews and critical acclaim - the debut album entered album chart at #12
•#1 in the alternative album chart and
•#12 in national album charts, where it stayed for half a year
•First tour Feb-April: sold out 250-500 cap shows, including De Staat’s Amsterdam gig at the Paradiso
•”Wifty Winter Tour” - all 700-1500 cap venues, completely sold out
•Codemasters’ GRID2 video game, including De Staat’s “The Fantastic Journey of the Underground Man”
•De Staat made several appearances on national TV (live, interviews)
•The band played Glastonbury in 2010

De Staat Official Website
www.destaat.net