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Name: Willem Janssen
Date of Birth: 25-04-78
Country: Holland
City: Amsterdam
Instruments: bass guitar, double bass, vocal chords, keyboard, melodica, laptop,
pencil, whatever I get my hands on.
Musical
background: I started playing bass in 1996
and teamed up with Frans van Gastel (drums). We almost immediately formed our
first band (Schwa/ttack), which
made an experimental style of pop music. We were both very eager to make more
groovy dance-orientated music and created MRmoody (disco, funk, drum/n/bass) at the end of the year 2000.
With this band I did a lot of gigs throughout the Netherlands, got used to
playing at some larger venues until at the end of 2003 I decided to leave the
band. After that, I played bass in The_Inaxy
(indierock) for about 6 months. In this period of time I went on my first
tour to play in Czech Republic, Austria and Slovenia. However, after winning
De Wraak van Brabant at the end of May 2004, I decided to leave the band and
from then on I completely focussed on my own music.
Clemm: In 2002 I started to make my own tracks at home and
spent my lonely nights making soothing electronic music. Because of the lack
of a good name, my debut ep Einzelforschung came out
by the name of Janssen but later I changed it to become Clemm. In 2004 I
bought myself a laptop in order to be able to perform live and with my new
gear I finished my offical debut The
Tristan EP (July 2004), which is a modern electronic
interpretation of the ancient love story called Tristan
& Isold. This EP was picked up by a lot of Dutch reviewers
(OOR, LiveXS, Fret, Festivalinfo, Go Magazine a.o.) and radio programmers
(3VOOR12, KinkFM, Radio Mortale). The word was being spread. LiveXS pronounced
me Local Hero and gave me the opportunity to perform at Paradiso, Amsterdam. This
was actually the kick-off for the then 6-piece live-act. After a couple of
shows and computer crashes, I continued working on Consider the Lilies, which has
been released in June 2007. This album featured a number of well-respected
guest musicians like Robert Fisher (Willard Grant Conspiracy, USA), Rosa
Agostino (Red Ghost, AUS), Richard Neuberg (Viarosa, UK), Lucky Fonz III
(NL), George van Wetering (Monokino (NL/China) and Jaap Warmenhoven (Hit
Me TV, NL). Reactions and reviews in Holland were absolutely amazing (see the
reviews-section). At the end of 2007, Clemm did some nice shows with Spinvis
(NL), Leander (GER) a.o. and also reached the finals of the Amsterdamse
Popprijs which took place in the Melkweg, Amsterdam. ‘Consider
the Lilies’ even ended up in quite a few journalists’ 2007 top 10 lists!
In 2008 I
started doing some shows in a more intimate setting as well as one show as
part of the Cabin Kollektiv. Later this year Clemm took part in Popronde
2008 and “A Lily and a Frown” featured on the 2008 Popronde promo-cd. I
also decided that I would do the leadvocals myself both live as on the new
album.
2009: Far From Arcadia (11 tracks
mixed and mastered at the Mailmen studio) has been released in september. For
this album I joined forces with Tom van Nuenen (guitar, backing vocals). Reviews
were once again extremely positive. Our song "Clay puppets" was
pronounced Hit of the week at Radio
Mortale and "Mix it up" Indie Disc at
free40.nl. At the end of this year, Tom and I have done some liveshows with
visuals by Carla Pontes, Quim Llorens, Hypnoteis and YouEcho. The audiovisual
aspect has become increasingly important.
2010: In
february the video for Mix it up has been
made public. Working on exciting new music and plans for some unexpected collaborations.
YouEcho vs. Clemm (Flugroove): Along the way (since 1998!), Frans van Gastel and I started to
experiment with electronics like the good old Roland 303 and Korg Electribe
and later switched to using computer software in order to create our own
style of music. As FlugrooVe we did some performances by the name of TIU
together with a dancer, a poet and a rapper at a literary festival called
GDMW in the cities of Rotterdam and Eindhoven. After this we wrote the
soundtrack for the modern dance composition "Fase 2", as performed
at the Fontys Dance Academy in Tilburg. In 2004, we have had a raving review
of The Pre-EP in
Holland´s number one music magazine OOR, had our debut on national radio
(KinkFM) and Spanish Radio (Radioland) and performed at Diesel-U-Music
as well as the Cabin Music Label Night (alongside Clemm) in Utopia,
Drunen. This is also the year we teamed up with Sharon Quak (vocals) and Linda
Klumpers (violin) and we continued working with them ever since. In 2005,
Flugroove has been in the studio working on their first full-length album Like Brethren, which has been
released on Cabin Music on October 27th. In 2006 we were joined by our old
comrade Mark Thur on synths and guitar and we played at the Motel Mozaïque
Festival (with Mogwai, Cocorosie, Battles a.o.), and did a special
performance at the opening of the art object Le Poème Electronique created by
Le Corbusier. We also took part in the Popronde, a travelling festival which
took place in 15 cities across the Netherlands and shared the stage with
bands like Electric President (USA) and Templo Diez (NL). One track of our
latest album Like Brethren (cab002) featured in a horror movie named Horizonica,
which appeared in several cinemas across the country. During the Like
Brethren-period, we hooked up with two girls and one boy (Sharon Quak on
vocals, Linda Klumpers on violin and Mark Thur on guitar and synths) and
turned into a convincing live-act. However, for the time being, we have
decided to go back to basic and returned to our own little cabin. We won't
come out soon, but when we do, you will understand what we've been up to! New
material will be released as YouEcho
vs. Clemm.
These are my current projects:
* Clemm_
pop/electronica (2002-present)
* YouEcho vs. Clemm (FlugrooVe)_
electronic duo (1998-present)
Past/sleeping
projects:
* Cabin Kollektiv_
audio-visual live performance (2008)
* Bears and Razors_electro/indie/hiphop,
my weird alterego (2008)
*Wotienke_ occasionally playing upright bass with
Wotienke (piano/vocals) (2006) *The_Inaxy
(turned into Awaiting Seasons)_
indierock (2003-2004)
* MRmoody_
discofunksouldrumnbassgroove (2000-2003)
* Schwa/ttack_ my
first, rather experimental, band (1996-2000)
* Shh!
_singer/songwriter (asleep)
* TIU_
music/dance/poetry/rap in one show (asleep)
* Aerial Project_
making pop music (asleep)
Inspiration (but I hate
imitation)
* (music) The Notwist, Clint Mansell, Damien Rice, Hood, Fourtet, Thom Yorke,
Death Cab for Cutie, TV on the Radio, Vampire Weekend, Telefon Tel Aviv,
Sufjan Stevens, Tunng, Kings of Convenience, The Arcade Fire, Beirut, Bon
Iver, Patrick Wolf, Joan as Police Woman, Ladytron, The Postal Service, Yo
La Tengo, The National, Interpol, Max Richter, Kronos Quartet, Air,
L´altra, Gravenhurst, Mogwai, Styrofoam, Xela, Apparat, B.Fleischmann,
Boards of Canada, Arovane, Christian Kleine, Bitstream, Röyksopp, Radiohead,
Red Snapper, Why?, 13&God, Soul Coughing, Tortoise, Jazzanova, Coldcut,
Kid Loco, Lali Puna, Paul Simon, David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley,
Keith Caputo, This Beautiful Mess, Dredg, Placebo, Medeski Martin&Wood, Salif
Keita, Zap Mama, Gil Scott-Heron, Chico Buarque, Astrud Gilberto, Gilberto
Gil, Erik Truffaz, Herbie Hancock, Weather Report, Marcus Miller, Miles
Davis, Chet Baker, Earth Wind & Fire, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder,
Yonderboi, The Roots, Jacques Brel, Ramses Shaffy and many, many more.
* (literature) Fernando Pessoa, Hermann Hesse, George Orwell, Haruki Murakami,
Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Michel Houellebecq, Friedrich Nietzsche, Franz
Kafka, Gottfried von Straßburg (Tristan und Isolde), T.S. Eliot, Milan
Kundera, Italo Calvino, Albert Camus, Erich Kästner, Markus Seidel, Robert
Schneider, Stefan Zweig, etc.etc.
* (movies) To me there are 4
directors that really stand out: Michael Haneke (Das Weisse Band, Funny Games, La Pianiste, Benny’s
video, Caché), Darren Aronofsky (The Fountain, Requiem for a Dream, Pi),
David Cronenberg (Existenz, A Naked Lunch, Videodrome, A History of Violence)
and David Lynch (Mulholland Drive, Lost Highway, Blue Velvet, The Elephant
Man). Other favorite films include:
Persona, Brazil, Bin Jip, Gegen die Wand, Noi Albinoi, Cidade de Deus, Me and
You and Everyone We Know, Man Bites Dog ( c´est arrivé près de chez vous),
Taxi Driver, Lost in Translation, Alexandra´s Project, Festen, Irréversible,
Jenseits der Stille, Breaking the Waves, Little Criminals, In den Tag hinein,
Heaven, Der Krieger und die Kaiserin, Abre los ojos, etcetc..
My
discography
Clemm/Janssen
* Einzelforschung (2002)
* The Tristan EP (2004)
* Consider the Lilies (2007)
* Far From Arcadia (2009)
FlugrooVe
* Our words are as meaningless as yours (2000)
* Muésique (2001)
* Recently I lacked eruptions ep (2001)
* The pre-ep (2004)
* Like Brethren (2005)
MRmoody
* Jams/n/gigs2001/2002 (2002)
* MRmoody (2002)
* Moove to the Groove (2003/2004)
Schwa/ttack
* DisGUSting (1997)
* My walk throughMother Nature (1998)
* Circle the Vortex (1998)
* Schwinfected (1999)
* Don't swear at sweet surroundings
(2000)
info@clemm.nl
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