The Captain announce their first UK headline tour
Dutch post-punk masters The Captain are preparing to tour the UK and Netherlands in November and December. Makeit-loud.com caught up with guitarist Jasper Does to see how the band plan to fly high this winter.
MI-L: First of all, how did you meet your fellow band members?
JD: We all went to the same high school, where they had a talent show called De Grote Prijs (the Big Prize in English). Jens, me and Bryan have been playing together since 2017. Kiki and Bouke also took part in the talent show, but in different bands. After a couple of failed band projects, Bouke joined us in 2021, followed by Kiki in 2022.
MI-L: The Dutch are known worldwide for EDM and DJ’s such as Tiësto. Why did the post-punk genre appeal to you?
JD: Because we don’t like money. All jokes aside, we were really brought together by playing live. After being together for so long, our individual tastes in music have developed quite a bit, and we’ve found that post-punk is a great melting pot for all of our different influences and preferences.
MI-L: What can a British audience expect from your live performances?
JD: A lot of sweat, mosh pits and loud guitars. Dynamics are really important to us, because we don’t want the show to become repetitive. We have a lot of fun together on stage and we’d love to share that with a completely new audience. Except for Jens. He’s a miserable person.
MI-L: How do you decide the set list for each show?
JD: It depends a lot on the venue and the crowd we expect. Based on that, we shuffle quite a few songs around. The opener and final song tend to stay the same, but everything in between is something we like to play around with.
MI-L: As an independent band, how difficult is it to put a tour like this together?
JD: Getting the shows in England was actually much easier than we expected. Sometimes it feels harder for us to get a show outside our own region in the Netherlands than it was to book one in England! What we did discover is that touring the UK is quite a bit more expensive than we originally thought, so we needed some help to make it all work. We definitely couldn’t have done it without some very important people.
MI-L: Touring means leaving a lot of home comforts behind. What is the one thing you just can’t do without?
JD: I think the thing we’ll miss most is having a bit of privacy. Normally, after a couple of days together, we start getting the urge to strangle each other.
MI-L: As there are 5 members of the band, who will do the driving, and what will everyone else do?
JD: We’re planning to rotate the driving between us. Whoever is riding shotgun gets the important job of reminding the driver to stay on the left side of the road, as well as doing some navigating. The rest of us will probably be recording and editing content, answering emails, keeping the socials updated and doing all the other things that come with running the band ourselves. We’re also planning to record a podcast while we’re on the road.
MI-L: What are you most looking forward to in the UK?
JD: Playing our music to a completely new audience. And beer!
MI-L: Tell us about your new single Joy’s?
JD: It’s the first single from our upcoming EP Affect State. The song is about recognising your own patterns, knowing exactly where things go wrong, and still ending up making the same mistakes. The EP as a whole explores the thin line between intensity and toxicity, and Joy’s is the first step into that story.
The UK is looking forward to welcoming The Captain, even Jens! It promises to be a great tour. Anyone with a serious interest in rock music should go to one of the shows, and see first-hand what makes The Captain one of the most exciting bands on the alternative music scene.
You can check out all the dates for the tour below. Tickets for the show at Victorie in Alkmaar can be purchased by clicking here.
I’ve been lucky enough to hear the Affect State EP in full, and I promise fans of The Captain are in for a real treat. This is the band’s most accomplished work to date, and is a template for modern alt-rock. Affect State showcases The Captain’s trademark jangly guitars, pounding drums, driving bass and Kiki Baljé’s powerful vocals. If somebody put Led Zeppelin and The Smiths in a food blender and added Joan Jett’s vocals, this is what would come out.
So, take some flying lessons this winter, and give the Captain a try.
