Judging from their music this pace is a pace of extremes. The high-energy up-tempo songs touch punk rock whereas the subdued ballads are of an extremely fragile beauty. Variation, energy and dynamics: that is what makes this Dutch band stand out from the crowd.
Add to this the enthusiasm of the five young musicians headed by 'stage-kangaroo' Jacqueline Govaert and you've got the perfect recipe for overwhelmingly good live-shows.
Fortunately, Oscar Holleman - the producer of Nothing Less - proved to be an ace at capturing the energy that characterizes Krezip live performances. At first Krezip sometimes added a cover to their play list (the police) at live performances, but not anymore. The songs on the album are all originals, composed by Jacqueline. This proves the talent of Jacqueline, responsible for the lyrics and singer, but also of the drummer Thijs Romeijn, bassist Joost van Haaren, guitarist Anne Govaert and guitarist/ singer Annelies Kuijsters.
Roller coaster called Krezip Even before the official release of the first album, Nothing Less, at 5th of May 2000, Krezip made the way to the top in the Netherlands. The road to success started in their hometown Tilburg in 1998. After winning two local talent scouting competitions Krezip was the talk of the town. Invitations followed to appear at several important national festivals, like Festival Mundial (1998, 1999, 2000) and Lowlands (1999, 2000) A&R-managers courted the band but Krezip decided to wait a little while and to try recording by their own hand first. This resulted in the demo Run Around. This compact disc was released somewhere in 1999. It is still available, by the way. One of the songs - the energetic live-hit In Her Sun - did very well in the cyber charts. This in spite of the fact it wasn't even released as a proper single. If that isn't popularity in the bud ...
Since then Krezip has gone like a roller coaster. The four high school kids who started their own little band back in 1997 (Thijs didn't join the band until 1998) found them selves playing an important role in the Dutch and Belgian pop scene all of a sudden. The first single Won't Cry was backed up with a great show at the Pinkpop festival. This festival was broadcast nationwide. This meant Krezip's breakthrough to the Dutch audience at large. Highlight of the show was the ballad I Would Stay. This live-version was released as a single that hit the top of the charts immediately. The summer of 2000 will definitely enter the books as the summer of Krezip. The success of Pinkpop was repeated in Belgium.
After their appearance at Torhout/Werchter they had conquered yet another country! This season of successes got a grand finale with a headliner show at the Lowlands festival. All the while, Krezip hadn't been out of the media: interviews, radio-shows, and television appearances. One Dutch station (BNN) even made a documentary following Krezip on the road to success.
Silver Harp Despite the overwhelming success the Krezip members won't let themselves be carried away. Apart from musicians they're also students. Anne and Annelies will take their high school finals this year and Jacqueline, Thijs and Joost want to complete their studies at the Tilburg Rock Academy. So they have to study and take their time. But once on stage everything else has gone. The energy generated during the sold-out club tour last winter could easily have heated up a midsize town.
In the meantime Krezip keeps on winning awards. Nothing Less brought them 3 platinum records. In December 2000 Krezip topped many end-of-year charts. In Belgium the band received a TMF-award and in the Netherlands Krezip was awarded with the Silver Harp. With so many prices won within a year, it seems that this success story is only just the beginning!
Source: http://www.krezip.com
