I often receive mails from non-Dutch musicians asking if I know suitable places for doing a performance. HereÕs a short-list to explain roughly where to focus on. Please spend some time on research and select only venues that seem reasonable for your kind of work, they receive tons of wild requests daily.
dBÕS
Venue in Utrecht Ð Indie rock/Experimental Pop
De Nieuwe Anita (DNA)
Venue in Amsterdam. Focuses mainly on indie pop, not on
cutting edge harsch awkward noise or other heavy experimentation. Many of the
gigs are arranged by Subbacultcha! (see below).
Venue in Utrecht, mainly booking professional international
touring bands.
Venue in Rotterdam, focuses on indie rock acts. Very
suitable if you just want to play in the Netherlands.
Venue in
Nijmegen Ð Experimental music/Art, circuit bending, etc.
Incubate
Festival in Tilburg.
Incubate
is the annual celebration of independent culture. Expect a diverse view on
indie culture as a whole, including music, contemporary dance, film and visual
arts. They bring more than 200 cutting edge artists in an intimate context to
an international audience. Black metal next to free jazz. Street art next to
academic dance.
Has a montly musical side Tuesday programming called
ÔproeflokaalÕ that focuses on cutting edge music.
Festival in November in Utrecht. Most acts are professional
international touring bands.
Venue in Amsterdam Ð Squading/Riot Grrl/Punk/Garage/Indie
Owsum
Owsum is
an artist collective with a strong affiliation with the visual side of
contemporary, international, underground pop culture, and considers it a
challenge to demonstrate these underexposed subcultures in her presentation.
The gallery is both an exhibition space as well as an art shop, where
silkscreen posters, T-shirts, (hand made) books, magazines, records, CDÕs,
cassettes, paintings, collages and buttons are on sale. Items from other
galleries, art shops and independent record labels are exchanged and sold as
well.
OT301 used to be a squat in the Dutch city of Amsterdam which is located on Overtoom 301. EHBK has now bought the building which is used as a multi-media alternative cultural centre. The building is an old film academy and was squatted in 1999 by a group of artists. It is used in a range of ways, including as a venue for music and films, a non-profit print shop, artists workspace and an 'organic cultural kitchen' (a vegan restaurant) called De Peper. Formerly, it housed the offices of EYFA (European Youth For Action) and Green Pepper magazine. OT301 received the Amsterdamprijs voor de Kunsten from the Amsterdam Fonds voor de Kunst on 23 August 2007 from Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen.
http://ot301.nl/page=site.home
State-X New Forms Festival
State-X
New Forms is an indepenent festival for independent music culture such as avant
garde music, noise rock, indie rock, IDM, held in The Hague, in The
Netherlands, since 2004.
http://www.state-xnewforms.nl/2009/
Subbacultcha!
Subbacultcha! is an independent music platform from Amsterdam. We
promote shows, run a label, a website and a magazine. Some of the bands that
played: Ponytail, High Places, Health, Marnie Stern, Oneida, Phosphorescent,
Yacht, Zach Hill, Enon, Scout Niblett, The Chap, Pre, Old Time Relijun, Adept,
Skeletons, Aids Wolf, zZz & The Moi Non Plus.
Venue in Groningen. The big stage is for professional
touring bands. De ÔkelderÕ is a small stage for more obscure bands.
Since 1999, WORM is a venue in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. In it's music, film and sound art programmes, WORM selects according to musicality and raw gutted persuasiveness. Transgressing normal segregations within sound, we represent the unruly, the adventurers; those innovating beyond genre...
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