When I learned the meaning of the word Epicurean, I thought of my dad straight away. A person devoted to sensual enjoyment, especially that derived from fine food and drink.

He learned the love for cooking from his grandmother, as I learned the love for making music from my grandmother. I will always love my dad, he loves life and might have a bit of a hard time with living from time to time. But who doesn’t. This one's for you, dad.

This is the first song I wrote for this EP. I missed the life I lost after the breakup. After being with someone for a long time, you make plans for the long run. Still, nothing is forever. So when these relationships end, we have to find a way to keep on keeping on. Finding new roads, without a dead end.

One of the main reasons I moved back to the Netherlands was the opportunity to buy a business from an older craftsman. We made a deal, he will teach me the craft and I would build an online webshop. After 6 months of hard work, learning end building a clientele, he turned around and said: this collaboration is not working. This was the first time in my life to meet a narcissist. This guy only cared about his own success. So I ended up with no work, but did write Narrow Minded Fools.

Meeting someone is one thing, but falling in love is something else. When this happens a new dynamics will grow. After a while, no one will know this dynamics like you and I used to. Or still do. This dynamics will always stay, also after breaking up with someone. When this happened to me, I was wondering. Is this now gone? Are you a friend now? Time will tell.

Well, when love hits you in a very impractical way. The wrong setting, wrong timing, unavailable, unpractical; you name it. But it happens and when it does, it’s magical but not sustainable. What it did show me, there is more than one.Item description

Recording my own songs has been something I wanted to do for a long time. 

I’ve always loved playing my guitar, but my buddy and singer songwriter Jimmy O, showed me that music can be more than just playing the guitar. It really is about creating your own sound and songs, my own sound and songs. 

July the 19th was my birthday. On this special occasion some of my best friends and even my brother Simon from Amsterdam came over to celebrate at The Mayflower pub. Whilst celebrating and sitting outside, overlooking the River Thames, we brainstormed about the EP title. My dear friend Brandy came up with the title, Times. 

Good times it was. Times it is. 

Beside songs you also need fellow musicians to record. Ever since I met bassist Tom Sansburry and drummer Mikey Sorbello, I knew that it had to be these two soulful players to lay down these 4 songs as a legendary rhythm section. 

When I asked them, they both said yes so I was over the moon. But before I went there, there was one problem. Tom told me over the phone that he was going on tour, so it had to be either next week or in two months time. Because I already waited for 28 years before making my first EP I decided that it was better to do it sooner than later. So I went for the next week option.

We did not have time for rehearsals. But with the help of modern day technology and some dodgy home recordings, Tom and Mikey could still prepare for the songs at home. 

Next step, recording studio. Finding the one that was right for this project, and available at such short notice. These days it’s common to record the instruments layer by layer, instead of everything at once. But I wanted to give this EP a live vibe and make it sound old, analogue and real. So the studio needed to be big enough for this and experienced in this way of recording. After calling 3 studios without luck, I found an amazing studio, on an old lightship in Canning Town, London. They were available for Tuesday the 16th, so perfect! 

Waking up Tuesday the 16th of July. After breakfast we drove down to the studio early in the morning. After all the instruments were mic’d up, we counted till four and recorded the four songs, with only one short burger-and-beer break in between.

To make this EP even more special I asked some other talented musicians to play on these songs. On the first track William South plays the Hammond organ. 

My dear friend Coen Witteveen plays Saxophone on the second track, Straight Six. Coen is one of the main reasons I am a musician today and when I asked him to contribute he said yes straight away! Thank you, for both. 

For the track No More Us, Jolijn Goethals plays the Wurlitzer.

Mixed by: Magnus Thomson

This song is dedicated to my mom. My mom brought 3 boys into this world and she is the sweetest person on this planet, as far as I’m aware. Looking into her eyes is enough to give me an update about how I feel. Whatever you’re doing and whatever your ambitions are, looking into your mother’s eyes makes you aware that there is always a way and everything’s OK.

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The second song is a tribute to the great feeling of driving your car and the freedom that comes with it. It brings up a lot of emotions. 

The stress that comes from sitting in traffic jams, the speed on the motorway if there aren’t any, the mystique from the rain and fog, the surprising views from constantly changing nature. This combined with the ongoing sound of the engine, is something magical. 

The humming sound from BMW’s straight six cylinder M30 engine which they put in their cars from 1968 all the way up to 1994. 

We all need our guilty pleasures from time to time. This is one of mine.

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Through this song I try to picture the thoughts we sometimes have while in a relationship. How tempting it sometimes seems not to be in love and how easy it is to blame the things you don’t do on the fact that you’re in a relationship. But in the sad conclusion of no more us, I also try to look at the other side. No more listening to each other’s moaning and not having someone who cares about you like no one else does.

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Loved ones can be taken from us unexpectedly. Gone away from where we are with no chance of saying goodbye to one another. When this happens there is a big gap. A gap that cannot be bridged but only compromised over time. 

A mixture of unanswered questions, anger because of the unnatural cause of death, a missing link in our circle of life that will always be missed.  This song is a tribute to my three uncles. 

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