What a wonderful evening yesterday in De Groeverij! Thanks so much for coming, it all turned out well in the end. The field recording collage by Cochlea (Tjerk Stoop), with explanation by Anneke Nieuwdorp, was a real tiny adventure for the ears. After listening to this fascinating piece, Dusty Stray treated us with a diverse, entertaining set full of stories, rootsy folk, weird instruments and his mighty voice. This performance was something else! Alright, hope to see you all on the next edition, October 31st with Geri van Essen.
We are starting a new concert series! Over the course of the next months, there will be 4 evenings with live music in De Groeverij in Houten. You can discover new, exciting, a little bit experimental and extremely good artists in a very intimate setting. We named these events Tiny Adventures.
The first edition is happening in a week: Saturday September the 2nd. Tilburgian indiepostfolkjazzkraut artist Microwolf is presenting his new album Changelings in a unique solo setting. Also playing is wh^rl, all the way from Groningen. Singer/songwriter Jurgen Veenstra lived many lives playing in noiserock bands all over the world, but finally comes (after almost 60 years) with his solo debut as wh^rl.
Two amazing songwriters who open up new perspectives on the whole ‘man with guitar’-concept. Very exciting! Hope to see you there. Limited seats available.
In my show overview post of December last year, I read that I was hopeful about 2022 without having reasons for that at the moment. There was still a lockdown and it didn’t seem things would go back to normal anytime soon. But it did, in a way. Venues opened up, bands were eager to participate in the rat race again but the whole landscape was different. Promoters were gone, venues closed, people had to find other jobs…
I had the feeling I had to hop on the train, sometimes leaving me feel stressed, misunderstood, rushed. But I did my best to make live music happen again, together with my friends. And a lot of things worked out, so I am super grateful for that and I don’t want to complain about having too much success or good things going on – that doesn’t make sense.
So how this year turned out… Tiny Room Booking booked, organized or hosted 76 concerts this year. Mainly for our own roster (Combo Qazam, The World of Dust, Toby Goodshank, Ilsha, Caspar Milquetoast). Very glad to see these artists play again. Then there was the Podiumdorst series in the Vechtclub. 16 evenings of cool, new, underground music, nice little gatherings of a DIY-minded music-loving community in Utrecht. Perfect celebrations of the exact thing we missed the past few covid-years.
New year
In the new year I hope I have the strength to hop OFF the train once in a while. I don’t know if it’s long covid or has to do with other things, but I need to recover one or two days after every event, and with so many shows there is no time for that. My plan up until summer is to organize 1 show every month. The shows for January and February will take place in De Groeverij in Houten, the subsequent ones in Studio Patrick. More news about that soon! There will be more World of Dust and Combo Qazam shows too, but also weeks of rest. See you all in the new year, with a different show overview at the end of the year.
– Stefan
(In the photo you see me playing a show with Combo Qazam in Wroclaw, Poland. Photo by poomackuszukam. And this show was booked by Yugofuturism )
Anti-folk superstar Toby Goodshank (USA) is coming to Europe! We booked the shows in The Netherlands, and after that Toby (along with Leslie Graves from the USA and Boo Hoo from Germany) will play more shows in Germany, Austria and Poland. On the first and the last show, The World of Dust will play a short set as well. It’s time to celebrate the anniversary edition of Toby’s majestic album ‘Truth Jump Fall’! All tour dates:
Netherlands June 4 Houten @ De Groeverij June 6 Utrecht @ Vechtclub XL June 7 Amsterdam @ De Nieuwe Anita Germany June 8 Cologne @ Die hängenden Gärten von Ehrenfeld June 9 Frankfurt @ Public Library June 10 Mainz @ Hafeneck June 11 Frankfurt @ Seilerei June 12 Offenbach @ Waggon June 13 Nürnberg @ Bernsteinzimmer Austria June 14 Vienna @ Tunnel Vienna Live Poland June 15 Poznan @ CK Nowe Amore Germany June 16 Hamburg @ Jolly Jumper June 17 Bremen @ Zakk June 20 Berlin @ Schokoladen
Picture: Ss. Cyril And Methodius University in Skopje, by architect Marko Mušič, which opened in 1974. Picture by Yugofuturism.
Combo Qazam goes on tour! In May, the postpunk/math/kraut band from Utrecht will go to Germany, Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia to play 9 shows. Very exciting stuff! The tour is booked by Yugofuturism ❤️ Here are all the dates & venues:
06-may-2022: Arcanoa, Berlin (DL) 07-may-2022: Hulajpole, Wroclaw (PL) 08-may-2022: Chmury, Warsaw (PL) 10-may-2022: Letní Kino, Olomouc (CZ) 11-may-2022: Klub Brno, Ostrava (CZ) 12-may-2022: Koncerty na garážach, Bratislava (SK) 13-may-2022: Bajkazyl, Brno (CZ) 14-may-2022: Kasárna Karlín, Prague (CZ) 15-may-2022: Kickerkeller, Erfurt (DL)
We are finally hosting shows again! On the last day of this month you can see Tiny Room acts Geri van Essen and Microplaza both celebrating their 2021 releases on a stage in Utrecht: Vechtclub XL. Also playing is SOON, who are releasing their debut album on Subroutine that week. From the timeless altfolk of Geri van Essen, to the playful indie pop of duo Microplaza, to the spacey kraut noise of SOON: this evening has it all. It’s on a Monday, so there’s nothing else to do anyway. And you are probably longing for live music as much as we are. See you there!
2021 is coming to an end. The corona virus made this another year with less music, art, shows, and color. But it’s time for some positive reflection. Because what did happen, was GOOD.
Ilsha at Het Koffiepand, Middelburg.
We are very, very grateful for the shows we booked this year. It turned out we managed to book and host 20 shows. 20 concerts by brilliant artists such as Ilsha, Combo Qazam, The World of Dust and Microplaza. We organized one amazing day filled with love and laughter in Studio Patrick during the Le Guess Who? / U? festival. The Tiny Room train visited Utrecht, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Middelburg, Apeldoorn and Liège in Belgium.
Combo Qazam at U? Festival, Utrecht. Photo by Mirel Masic.
Every one of these shows was memorable and worth living for. Thank you to the artists, the venues, the sound engineers, the promoters and the audience. Thank you, thank you. 🙏 Let’s make 2022 as best as possible.
Last Saturday we hosted 8 bands during the Le Guess Who? / U? festival, in our beloved DIY home Studio Patrick. It was the first time in more than 1,5 years that we had live music in this cool venue. It felt good to be back, just a few hours before new measures made it impossible to do this kind of stuff again. But Saturday, it WAS possible and it WAS everything we hoped for. It felt safe and we managed to share the Patrick vibe with around 250 people, spread over the different shows. All artists played incredible, and everybody was smiling all the time. This was the “happiness food” we needed before going in another lockdown.
Thanks to the organization for letting us do this, to all the bands for their beautiful music and presence, to Arthur Duijzers for the amazing sound, the volunteers, and of course the audience, for sharing this experience with us.
Ilsha‘s wonderful debut Dive is out today! Listen to this amazing set of songs on all streaming platforms now. If it’s your thing, you can buy the vinyl in our Bandcamp webshop or at one of the release shows next week: Nov 2: Worm, Rotterdam Nov 5: Het Koffiepand, Middelburg
And the press agrees with us: De Subjectivisten: “intense mini soundtracks full of contemplative splendor” Here Comes The Flood: “a memorable trip through emotions by way of intricate multi-layered compositions that sparkle and shine”
First live show we organized in more than a year… and it’s happening this Monday (June 14) already! Combo Qazam will play the big hall of the Vechtclub XL in Utrecht. Seats are limited to 30, and all usual corona measurements are in place. No need to test or anything though, you just have to be healthy and buy a ticket in advance. We are beyond excited and really hope you will share this weird sitting-on-a-chair-with-distance-between-you experience with us one last time.
It’s a special show for Combo Qazam, cause it’s the first (and probably last) time they will perform as a three-piece. Guitarist Gino is still quarantined, but will re-enter society soon. The other members worked on new material all year and are eager to share their work with you. Expect a few Flight Music ditties, and a lot of new and newer stuff. It’s dark, groovy, and cool.
We are happy with the opportunity that Vechtclub XL gave us, as it is not possible at the moment to host shows in our own Studio Patrick. We hope to be able to soon, but you can see this event as a sort of “Patrick presents”. We’ll bring the music, Persian rugs and lamps, and we hope to see all your lovely faces that we haven’t seen at all for so long.
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