It was 1989 when Leo Gstrein first stepped on to the stage. Without guitar, but armed with only a beautiful, solid rock vocal, Gstrein became the notable front man of the band Nojoke, in those days one of the gems of the pop scene of The Hague.
Only with the birth of Frezno Falls Gstreins multi-faceted musical talent fully started to bloom. His skillful songs gave The Hague its own Big Star: catchy, melancholic and always full of emotional power. Frezno Falls released two eps and one cd, got many good press reviews, and got to play, among others, on festivals like Waterpop, Delft City Beats and Polderpop. Playing solo, Gstrein didnt lose much of his grandeur: his acoustic gigs carried him to the Crossing Border Festival and the Finals of the Great Prize of the Netherlands, the national ..1 pop contest of the country.
In 2001 Gstrein released Space Dog Station, a home-recorded collection of acoustic songs and demos. It was only a first try-out for Underneath the Willow Tree, a cd where Gstrein reveals himself as a many-sided multi-instrumentalist. Carefully arranging, and sometimes wildly experimenting with sounds and effects, Gstrein pulls out one sound decorandum after another, creating the optimal setting for his wonderful rock songs: the result of months of solitary confinement in his living room in s Gravenzande.
Gstrein draws upon four decades of British and American pop music to create the ideal sound of today: Beatle-like harmony vocals meet with with modern triphop beats, massive guitar walls intertwine with soothing synths, and dreamy new age-sounds combine with catchy rock riffs. It all results in an addictive aural adventure that catches your full attention from start until stop and keeps lingering through your mind for days.
