Fans of the Netflix series Peaky Blinders have long embraced Dutch indie band Foxlane. How else can you explain the nearly two million plays of the track ‘Birmingham’ on Spotify, their tribute to the dangerous gang from the popular television series? One EP and a few singles later, at some point this year the band will release with the self-titled EP that shows the enormous artistic growth the band has experienced since then.
With an item about the Peaky Blinders in the most popular daily talk show on Dutch public tv in the fall of 2019, the band were invited to play their two-year-old streaming hit. In the presence of the famous barbers of ‘Schorem’ who had provided the British television producers with proper hairstyle advice, the boys in the band stole the show as if they were the gang members themselves. By that time, the so-called ‘Popronde’ (‘Pop Tour’) the nation’s most important traveling festival for young talent was yet to commence. There, with 34 shows to their name, they were the most booked band of the lot. They were allowed to kick off the opening day of the nationwide festival in their hometown of Nijmegen staged at Museum Het Valkhof. By the way, they were also invited to play at the closing party. Indie-formatted radio programme ‘3Voor12’ on pubcaster 3FM listed them among the best bands at that event. After so many shows and tons of praise, they have of course been able to develop much further.
Check their progress on the new self-titled EP that will be released later this year through their own label Stille Kracht (‘Hidden Force’) Records. In 2017 the band already released their debut EP called All Quite Good Now. One of the four tracks was that Peaky Blinders track Birmingham. It meant a great leap forwards. Successive singles such as Halley’s Comet and Reinc. (both from 2019), plus the new material show a clear boost of their sound, which is much richer now. It boasts that artistic vibe of New York around the turn of the seventies and eighties, when bands like Talking Heads would still walk straight out of art schools instead of special rock schools. Foxlane also seems to come from a similar breeding ground of talent spawned by the arty zeitgeist. They combine that jumpy dance energy from Foals with the rocky rawness from Shame, Fontaines D.C. and Squid. With producer Igor Wouters, they managed to capture the sound of the band at the peaks of their potential at the studio of the Amsterdam Recording Company. One by one that will be demonstrated by the singles of the EP they are going to drop.
The band featuring energetic main man singer/guitarist Guus Timmermans can now start
reaping what they have sown in the clubs and at the festivals. The ‘champions of the Pop Tour’ – the year before winner of the prestigious audience prize in the band competition of the Grand
Prix of the Netherlands – has worked hard as a DIY unit for their current success. Long car journeys across the country and back home, only to continue to drive to the ensuing show the
next day, well, they never shied away from it. Hard work like that makes a band truly great. Listen for yourself. After De Staat, Foxlane are the next band from Nijmegen to keep the renowned pop
city firmly on the map. Like hungry foxes they’re on their way to their next prey that lies in the clubs and at the festivals.
Photo: Valerie van Hazendonk (HQ-download)
