For those of you looking for an alternative to Delft’s limited nightlife, Gouda is a great place to a have a good night out. This Friday, check out the Dutch band ‘De Hardheid’ at the club So-What.
Those who look outside of Delft usually find Rotterdam and The Hague, with their lively party scene and many café’s and bars, and Amsterdam, the city of sin, a bit further away. However, the Dutch underground scene exists much closer to home. For example, in Leiden you can find the Eurodusnie, an anarchist collective with its extreme left agenda. And in Gouda there is ‘De Gonz’: “A generally alternative, metal focused club, where beer is cheap,” as Erwin van Veldhoven, a member of the musical commission, describes it. He adds: “We have a very cultural agenda and in recent years try to reach beyond metal, the public is very diverse.” I have recently been to De Gonz, on a reggae night . unique even in the history of De Gonz . and can testify that its all true: beer is cheap indeed and the public is very diverse. Another Gouda-based club is ‘So-What’, which according to Erwin some see as “a sort of competitor” of De Gonz. So-What is a members-only club, but Friday is bands night, and non-members are welcome.
The link between all these places is ‘De Hardheid’ (The Toughness), a Dutch band that plays rough ska music. In Dutch they call it “ska met een ruwe bolster“, which I won’t even try to translate. Last year the band played at Eurodusnie in April and at the IO festival in Delft in June. And on January 14th they will play at So-What for the first time. The style of De Hardheid is difficult to describe, you have to hear it for yourself, and preferably live, because the atmosphere at the concerts is quite special. A wise man once said: “Nothing beats three guitars and a drum”, and that’s what De Hardheid began with. The band however has since been expanded with an impressive battery of tooters (wind instruments), which includes a trumpet, trombone, and tenor and alt saxophones, resulting in a unique sound. The texts are an experience as well: they sing in Dutch about dwarfs, jerks, drinks, doctors and much more. But you don’t have to know Dutch to mix it up with the wild crowd, which always dances and crashes into each other in front of the stage at every concert. De Hardheid at So-What, Gouda, Vest 30, Friday January 14, doors open at 22:00, entrance 5 euro for non-members.
Those who look outside of Delft usually find Rotterdam and The Hague, with their lively party scene and many café’s and bars, and Amsterdam, the city of sin, a bit further away. However, the Dutch underground scene exists much closer to home. For example, in Leiden you can find the Eurodusnie, an anarchist collective with its extreme left agenda. And in Gouda there is ‘De Gonz’: “A generally alternative, metal focused club, where beer is cheap,” as Erwin van Veldhoven, a member of the musical commission, describes it. He adds: “We have a very cultural agenda and in recent years try to reach beyond metal, the public is very diverse.” I have recently been to De Gonz, on a reggae night . unique even in the history of De Gonz . and can testify that its all true: beer is cheap indeed and the public is very diverse. Another Gouda-based club is ‘So-What’, which according to Erwin some see as “a sort of competitor” of De Gonz. So-What is a members-only club, but Friday is bands night, and non-members are welcome.
The link between all these places is ‘De Hardheid’ (The Toughness), a Dutch band that plays rough ska music. In Dutch they call it “ska met een ruwe bolster“, which I won’t even try to translate. Last year the band played at Eurodusnie in April and at the IO festival in Delft in June. And on January 14th they will play at So-What for the first time. The style of De Hardheid is difficult to describe, you have to hear it for yourself, and preferably live, because the atmosphere at the concerts is quite special. A wise man once said: “Nothing beats three guitars and a drum”, and that’s what De Hardheid began with. The band however has since been expanded with an impressive battery of tooters (wind instruments), which includes a trumpet, trombone, and tenor and alt saxophones, resulting in a unique sound. The texts are an experience as well: they sing in Dutch about dwarfs, jerks, drinks, doctors and much more. But you don’t have to know Dutch to mix it up with the wild crowd, which always dances and crashes into each other in front of the stage at every concert. De Hardheid at So-What, Gouda, Vest 30, Friday January 14, doors open at 22:00, entrance 5 euro for non-members.
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