D E   K I F T

 

De Kift is a poetic nine-piece fanfare-punk band from the Netherlands. Boundless energy, theatrics, intimacy, melancholy and euphoria intertwine and alternate effortlessly during the controlled on-stage chaos created by the band. Bizarre rhythms, guitars, horns and unusual instruments, plus Dutch song lyrics that consist of playful fragments of world literature. Next to the Dutch, Russian and French ones, there are also English, Irish and American authors such as William Shakespeare, Jack Kerouac, Samuel Beckett, and Flannery O' Connor making their regular appearance in the lyrics. De Kift brings a melancholy mood, to laugh and to cry, stomp and dance. For almost thirty years De Kift’s performances transcend language, style and time.

Since its inception in 1988, De Kift released ten studio albums, collaborated in several theater-, film- and other multimedia-projects, and toured with their shows extensively all over the Netherlands and abroad. In 2005, they released the compilation CD “De Kift” for the US market, after which two vinyl albums, Krankenhaus and Yverzucht, were released there as well. In 2009, De Kift collaberated with, among others, Calexico (US) and Franz Ferdinand (UK) on a box with five 7 inch vinyl records, on which the various bands cover each other’s songs. Recently, on the prominent website Pitchfork, Franz Ferdinand referred to a recent live-show of De Kift with Rats On Rafts
(another Dutch musical gem) as ‘the best act we've ever seen at a festival”. Although the band sings in Dutch, which is their mother tongue, everybody understands De Kift. Those interested in the band’s poetic lyrics can simply consult the albums’ text books, in which their Dutch lyrics are accompanied by English translations.

Family De Kift
De Kift is often seen as a big family and that's indeed kind of true. Marco, the brother of frontman Ferry, is the business manager of the band. Cousin Pim plays guitar. Father Jan played trumpet in the band till late 2013, and mother An is still regularly doing the merch, nowadays quite often joined by her grandson Tim. Drummer Wim is not related, but, he and co-founder Ferry are the artistic directors of De Kift. Ferry is in charge of the music. Wim, educated at the Art Academy, is responsible for the various stage-scenery and the design of all the special, often
handmade album packaging.

Line-up
• Ferry Heijne (vocals, trumpet, guitar, bass tuba, baritone, trombone)
• Wim ter Weele (drums, vocals)

• Frank van den Bos (keyboards, accordion, vocals, autoharp)
• Pim Heijne (guitar)
• Mathijs Houwink (bass guitar)
• Han Hulscher (trumpet)
• Lot Vandekeybus (bass tuba, trombone, vocals)
• Patrick Votrian (bass tuba, trombone, baritone)
• Marco Heijne (vocals, steel drum, drums)
(Line-up varies with each album/show/project)