JEROME CRUTSEN
FROM
Hi Jerome nice to get your time for this little interview...tell me a little bit about your work on Eclipse Productions.
What can you say about the tour with Planet of Zeus in spring 2012 and the minitour with Radar Man from the Moon in summer 2012?
The tour with POZ was a blast being in four countries (Netherlands, Germany, France and Austria) in two weeks. Some gigs got cancelled but also some last minute gigs so that keeps it excited. The highlights were at Oetingervilla in Darmstadt which was kinda like a jamparty. First local support Black Lizard played a short set and after that POZ played their normal set. Afterwards people could join them with their instrument playing some songs and jams. The bands weren’t playing onstage but in the middle of the room with the people standing round them so that created a special atmosphere. Besides that the villa is an awesome place to be with friendly people and everything what a band needs. The other highlight was playing as support for Black Tusk and Red Fang in Salzburg. A sold out Rockhouse and cool to meet the people from both bands and of course you guys from Sativa Root.
We rented a big van from Highway Tiger which was very relaxed with a bed and playstation in it. Pity thing was the playstation was already broken after one or two days.
A thing that I would never arrange for a band is pay to play as we had to in Munich. Paying a lot of money to play for a few people and no food and drinks as even no sleeping place so that was a very expensive night unfortunately. But you learn the more you’re on tour.
with Radar Man from the Moon 2012
The minitour in Italy with the guys from RMFTM was a real fun thing to do. We drove twelve hours one way for just two gigs near Milan but it was worth it. Never had so much fun in that short time haha…we arrived in a small village which I can’t remember the name from anymore. The outside ‘venue’ was like a courtyard with a water well surrounded by some old houses. The night RMFTM performed onstage was the so called Rocknight from a fourdays festival and a couple of other local (stoner)rockbands played also. It looked all a bit amateuristic with simple electricity connections and stuff but the people took good care of us with a lot of bottles of homemade wine and pasta.
The day after was also a little festival on the square of a school in the centre of the village which looked pretty professional when we arrived. Also here we were welcomed very good with everything on it. Too bad a storm spoiled the festival but after some discussions they decided to remove the festival inside of the school which was for RMFTM maybe even better cause of visuals and sound.
What can you tell us about working with the people of Planet of Zeus? What kind of guy’s are they?
The guys from POZ are friendly malakas who are very pretentious and make good quality rockmusic. But to answer this question a bit more generally so far I luckily always worked with nice people and bands who knew what their status is.
What was your first record you bought and how old were you at that time?
Oef, that’s already a long time ago and I cant remember exactly what my first record was actually. But I guess I was 15 years old when I got into the local punkscene and started to listen to a lot of punk- and hardcorebands. Then also I started to collect my musiccollection which is now like 3000 cd’s, 200 vinyl’s and several music DVDs against the wall. Bands like NOFX, Pennywise, Green Day, Offspring, No Use For A Name, No Fun At All, Lagwagon but also hardcore like Ignite, Born From Pain, Earth Crisis, Spirit Of Youth, Morning Again etc. and local bands like Zwaar Klote and Cradle To The Grave I played and saw many times.
Then in 1997 I met some guys in my town Heerlen who played in a band called Cupids Quality who made kinda noise/postrock with influences from Sonic Youth and Blonde Redhead. So I started to listen to a lot of bands like previous and more. Years later after working for several local bands I met a band called 3 Speed Automatic and then the world of stonerrock opened up for me.
Jerome at work with Cojones 2011
Count me three positive things and three negative things while you are on tour.
Positive things;
- having a small vacation
- meet new people and see old friends
- a lot of alcohol and (soft)drugs
Negative things;
- too less sleep
- too much alcohol and (soft)drugs
- dirty toilets, sweaty and stinky vans and Burger King/McDonalds
Ups, bit more then three but some belong together! ;)
What bands are your absolutely heros in the scene of stoner/doom/sludge/psych?
That’s a pretty difficult question because there are so many good quality bands walking round on this fuzzy and psyched planet. Not only the well-known names but also a lot of underground bands who make quality music. To name a few of my favourites; Unida, Kyuss, Karma To Burn, Brant Bjork, Sleep, Earthless, Celestial Season, Astrosoniq, Lonely Kamel, Colour Haze, Green Leaf, Graveyard, Sons Of Otis, Truckfighters. These are just a few cause there are too many to name all of them.
Ofcourse I listen also to a lot of less-known bands like 1000mods, Cojones, Nightstalker, Planet Of Zeus, 3 Speed Automatic, Blowback, The Quill, Deville, Routes, Bushfire, Grant National, Radar Men From The Moon, Arc Of Ascent, etc…I can go on and on.
Do your listen to some other kind of music?
Of course I listen to other music. Main thing is indeed stonerrock but also psychedelic music I listen to even as some heavy rockstuff, metal and postrock. My favourite of all times is and always will be Pearl Jam. These guys make such intense and emotional music, no other band can tip on it is my opinion. Besides that what I like bout them is that they’re famous all over the world but almost never you hear rumours or commotion bout them. Another big favourite of me is Mastodon. What a killerband! I like the cult that is created around them with all this magnificent artwork and of course also I dig their music a lot. Their latest album isn’t the best and not a concept-album but the previous ones are all good to me with maybe ‘Crack The Skye’ one of the best albums from the century. Besides these two bands I listen a lot to other bands also like Baroness, Alter Bridge, Isis, Helmet, Therapy?, Red Fang for example. Sometimes some slow music like on a Sunday morning but for the rest I listen mostly to heavy stuff.
What are your plans for the future, some new tours in planning?
At the moment I’m working on some upcoming tours for bands like Wo Fat (USA) and Abrahma (FR) together, Nightstalker (FR), Ape Machine (USA), The Quill (SE), Banda De La Muerte (ARG) and Planet Of Zeus (GR). Another goal is reached and that is to get a band on the famous Roadburnfestival which is Wo Fat from USA for next year. Besides that at the moment I’m in contact with some pretty well-known Dutch bands which I’m also planning some tours or gigs for but we’re still discussing how and what so I’m not gonna talk bout that too much for now. Keep an eye on my website or facebook
Me and Jerome are hard working on SFTU 2012
Do you have an other job next ECLIPSE PRODUCTIONS? Can you live on that?
Yes, I work as a pedagogic worker in childcare which is a fun job to do. It’s cool to see how these little children grow up and I can teach them some education. Ofcourse also some music education ;). Unfortunately I can’t live on that cause making too less hours.
How would you personally assess the current situation and popularity of Stoner rock?
At the moment there’s a good and big scene going on but I’ve got this feeling that it’s getting too big. So many bands and so many festivals are existing now that people can’t decide anymore what to listen to or where to go to. Don’t get me wrong but it all looks like a big concurrency and on a lot of festivals you always see the same names.Stonerrock is getting more and more commercial which is a good thing in a way cause bands getting more attention now and the scene is getting more accepted by the big audience. But I hope it still stays also underground cause of the atmosphere and the tight relationship between people.
What are the Stoner/Doom/Sludge/Psych bands of the near future...which you can think well?
Radar Men From The Moon, 1000mods, Kadavar, Black Bombain, Monomyth, Nightstalker, Blues Pills, Goat, Wo Fat, Stoned Jesus to name a few.
Some words to the Stonerhead's out there?
Thanks for this interview and giving me the opportunity to tell bit more bout Eclipse Productions and I’d say; keep the spirit alive!
