Flowriders

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Hartog Eysman vocals

Richard Hallebeek electric guitar

Vincent Helbers piano sampler synthesizer

Han Litz flute

Matthias Bergmann trumpet

Pablo de Haas saxophone

Cord Heineking bass

Farida Merville vocals

Johannes Papilaja vocals

Gregory Pataca drums

Jeffrey Patty percussion

Vincent Helbers and Hartog Eysman formed the band Flowriders as an outlet for their interest in electronic music. The two met at conservatory where they were involved in funk, rock, and blues bands and had each made acoustic jazz albums. After making a few initial tunes on their PC and releasing a well-received EP, they took their show on the road with a four-piece live band. As they continued to evolve and gain critical acclaim for their live performance, their band line-up grew to include ten musicians and vocalists, most of whom Helbers and Eysman have worked with over the past fifteen years.

"Our live shows are a mixture of album arrangements and improvisation, " says Helbers. "With such a large band, we have a lot of possibilities to derive from the original material. We don't do any covers during our shows. Although, a couple of years ago, we did a Prince tune called Under the Cherry Moon. We also covered Curtis Mayfield's Move on Up, but that's it for covers. "

Under the Cherry Moon- WHHHAAAA???? Talk about a band after my own heart. I thought I heard a sample from Prince's I Wonder U on their first long-player Starcraft. That was really just the icing on the cake of Starcraft. This collection embodies all the best of jazzy nu-soul. I know some of you just cringed at that phrase, but stay with me. If you want well-arranged live instrumentation going beyond the standard horn-drums-guitar scenario and rich vocals with excellent harmonies, then you've got all that with Flowriders. The Amsterdam-based group accents their strong base with Indian and Eastern musical flavours and broken rhythms. Somehow, they've managed to access that delicate balance between accessibility and cutting-edge innovation.

Helbers adds, "We mix a lot of styles that makes our sound special. Compared to straightforward dance music, we use a lot more ingredients in our songs. There are not many groups that play this sort of music live, so that sets us apart from people who make a similar style of music. " Perhaps the live element is the trick that really puts Starcraft in its own special place. Then again, it's got to be the soul thing too; they have nailed the American nu-soul sound head-on. But is the U. S. market, which has been slow to receive "broken beat, " ready for a group of Dutch jazz musicians making soul music?

"I think the U. S. market is a challenge for us. You can hear a lot of European influences in our music, but you can also hear a lot of American influences as well. So I think our album could do really well in the U. S. Hopefully we will be able to bring our live show over there! "

Even if they don't get to perform live in the states, Flowriders will be making their way around Europe this summer. They will celebrate with a CD release party in Amsterdam in April 2005. Then they will play the North Sea Jazz festival later on in the summer.

Starcraft is out on 4Lux records and is being distributed by Groove Distribution stateside. Look for the singles Phermone and Matter.