The New Hip

- Rock & Roll is my religion - Ozzy OsbourneThis doesn't go for Ozzy Osbourne alone. Just like this vintage Rock & Roll icon, playing music is a pure must for The New Hip. The members' side-projects prove their love for music. Besides The New Hip Erik van Haaren handles the vocal duties in One in a Million and The Undeclinables, drummer Pieter Holkenborg played in Woost and Joost van Haaren plays bass with dutch pop sensation Krezip. Guitarists Ton de Munnik and Jair Yess were to be heard frequently in a variety of lineups of bands.They met each other during their education at the Rockacademy (NL) where they became friends. The band was started out of frustration because of the 'cover band attitude' that sometimes resides at the academy. The band's name - The New Hip - points out the phenomenon of the correlation between art and the power of the media in a mean way. Actually the band screams for attention in a cynical way, 'We're here, we are the new hype'. Their forthcoming debut 'This album starts of just like any other album' will be released in the near future.Erik, who was the first to leave the Rockacademy in an early stage, is a renowned songwriter primarily known for his Beatlesque popsongs with a punk-edge. Before being in One in a Million, his present band, he played in several punkbands in Tilburg. 'I write quite a lot of different songs actually, I like to show another side of my writing within The New Hip. Obviously the song remains very important, but the atmosphere in the music is very different.' And that's the first thing you will notice when you listen to the new songs.The atmosphere that is present on This album starts of just like any other album is dark, raw, melancholic. It's exactly the sound that the band imagined. Songs like Tilburg Chainsaw Massacre and Grey have a forced and almost neurotic vibe tot hem. Erik intensely lifts his dark lyrics over the music while it plays on at full speed. On the background of the record the inspirations by bands like Queens Of The Stone Age and The Mars Volta are obvious. And the band can rave on for hours about music and inspiring records. Secretly the guys hope that their album will, in the future, disclose as a source of inspiration, just like any other album.