Rotterdam bands on stages across the city

Last year's books Rotterdam Popstad and Rotterdam, Laat Je Horen show once again. Rotterdam is a real city of music. This coming period, several local bands and acts will perform in the city again, often to present a new album.

Rats on Rafts

The band around David Fagan has been active for over 15 years. Their new studio album, Deep Below, will be released on 7 February. The foursome is also popular in the UK so they will tour there first in February. This will be followed by a tour of the Netherlands in March, starting on 7 March in Rotown.

But before they leave for Edinburgh, Manchester, Dublin and London, among others, there will be two listening sessions at Galerie Weisbard on 6 and 8 February. Fans can register for one of the two listening parties via thislink. There will be a special audio set-up using the original master tapes to perform the album Deep Below. This will be done from the master recorder used in the recordings, a 1969 Telefunken M5C reel-to-reel tape recorder. There will be an exhibition of the photographs shot during the making of this record by Jasmijn Slegh. There will also be a Q&A with the band and Jasmijn.

Ricky Sheridan

Ricky Sheridan is a Dutch actor and singer-songwriter who grew up in a small village near Rotterdam. He studied theatre and dance at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Amsterdam. After graduating, he started working as a dancer, but soon decided to focus on acting. He splayed in Misfit The Switch and has since released his own film, titled: Things I Would Tell My Dad. An auto-fictional story about his experience of loss at a young age. The short film deals with the raw reality of grieving and is told with both dialogue and musical performances. After a sold-out premiere at Kino Rotterdam, there will now be a screening on 7 February at the Containertrap next to Cafe Dox. This will be followed by a performance by Ricky and his band.

Drunken Dolly

On 7 March, Rotterdam-based Drunken Dolly will celebrate St Patrick's day at Annabel. It is now a tradition. Last year they celebrated their 20th anniversary and for the annual Drunken Dolly's Biggest St. Patrick's day (yet) they invite bands they meet during their worldwide tours. This time, The Cloverhearts and Mr Irish Bastard have been invited.

The Cloverhearts is one of the newest and fastest-growing folk punk bands today. With a frontman from Australia, they now tour all over the world and have millions of listeners via streams. With influences from skate punk, paired with traditional instruments from the Celtic world.

Mr Irish Bastard is now an established name in the folk punk scene. This German band with Irish frontman has been playing the biggest festivals and venues in Europe and Asia for years.

Nagasaki Swim

Nagasaki Swim have firm roots in Rotterdam and already two albums under their belt. The third album is forthcoming, the seven-minute single: Picture, is already out and there is a gig at Roodkapje on 28 March. The band around Jasper Boogaard is at times a warm-hearted folk act and at other times a euphoric, fearless rock band. Alongside Boogaard, multi-instrumentalist Kat Kalkman (Library Card), bassist Juliette van Balen (Sarah Julia), drummer Paul Dijkman (Coaster) and, during live performances, guest artists on, for instance, violin, lapsteel and saxophone, usually feature.

Dawn Brothers

The Rotterdam-based foursome provides a makings of folk rock, blues and soul. Since their debut Staying Out Late (2017), the Dawn Brothers have toured from Hungary to South Africa, played at North Sea Jazz and the renowned Americanafest in Nashville, fronted The Black Keys and Golden Earring, garnered an Edison nomination and made several albums with the soulful DeWolff. In Rotterdam, the new album will be presented at LantarenVenster on 28 March.

Elephant

After the lauded breakthrough album Big Thing (2022) and its follow-up Shooting for the Moon (2023), Elephant now releases III. With no less than two release shows in Rotown. On 3 and 10 April. On the third album, the sun-drenched rock band from Rotterdam lets in some darkness and experiments a little more.

Tramhaus

Perhaps the standard-bearer of the current scene in Rotterdam. Despite not existing for long, the band has already made a considerable international impact. Even for a long time without a full album. But at the end of September, their debut The First Exit was finally released. Metloved reviews. Since the release of that record, the band has yet to play a gig in its hometown. First they had to tour Europe extensively. But on 11 April, Annabel will be the staging post.