On the heels of a Dutch World Cup victory against Spain, I popped over to the Grand Victory for ‘Dutch Music Celebration’ (I know — how perfect) during Northside to catch I Am Oak. Thijs Kuijken, the Utrecht-based singer, songwriter, guitarist, and all-around nice guy hopped over the pond for Northside Festival to play a few shows around the city, and I got the chance to catch up with him to see how he’s taking it all in.
Before that, I brought along a girlfriend to see the show with me. I really enjoy going to shows alone; there are no group bathroom breaks, yelling in each other’s ear trying to talk and nodding when you pretend you heard any of it, and you can stay or go at your own will. I Am Oak’s set seemed chill enough, though, that I figured those concerns wouldn’t be an issue — and then something interesting happened.
“This makes me sad and romantic. I feel like it’s making me do things I shouldn’t be doing.” Looking over her shoulder, I see “ex-boyfriend” (name changed for protection of those involved) light up in her iMessage. I had myself a good think during the next few songs. What is it about a particular type of music, that induces such a strong, romantic nostalgia, that even painful memories and cold hard facts cannot eradicate? Thijs and his band had that power over my friend, and frankly, I could feel myself get sappy, too. I Am Oak put on a great show not because of any special effects or hokey stage presence, but rather because my friend and I felt something jarring and aching without the provocation of sweeping romantic lyrics.
Tell me about your band name — where did it come from?
I Am Oak comes from the town I grew up in, I grew up in a small town in Holland called “Berk Ike” that translates to “Mount Oak” and that’s where the Oak part comes from. I was thinking of a name and I thought the town you grow up in sort of also in a way makes who you are. So part of me comes from that town, so I Am Oak came from that.
So you guys have been recognized by SXSW as one of the top artists in The Netherlands, Brighton’s “Great Escape” Festival as their “Band of the day,” and Popkom Festival in 2011 — what has it been like to get such positive feedback from your work?
It’s super cool. It’s amazing and every time it happens I really can’t believe it. It’s still unreal and when people come to the show when we play outside of our country it’s still unreal that they pay to see us? It’s still weird but amazing.
So do you prefer to do festivals or smaller venues like this one? (The Grand Victory)
Both are fun in their own way. Festivals can be a bit bigger than the usual shows we play which is nice, so that’s an extra chance to get a bit more people to see you, and the regular shows are usually a bit smaller when we’re playing outside of Holland. They’re nice in the small kind of way. When we’re doing okay they’re pretty full and it makes for a nice atmosphere.
So your sound is described as very folk/indie — where would you say your sound is influenced from?
I think it mainly came from — I’ve always loved guitar — specifically acoustic guitar. I don’t know why but the sound was always nice to me — so I moved to Utrecht where I live now to study and I only took one acoustic guitar and I started writing. That’s where the first I Am Oak songs came to be and that’s what I kept doing for a long time and I switched over to keyboards to do some other stuff and then electric, but it all started with acoustic and I think that’s where the sound comes from — necessity I guess.
So do you have any artists in particular that you wanted to model your sound off?
I think it all started with Nirvana when I was a little kid, and that’s obviously a lot louder than I Am Oak, but the acoustic album was something that struck me so it started a little bit from there but I started to get into other bands like Iron and Wine.
Yeah — I compared you to them in my notes during the show
It’s not directly an influence maybe but the thing I found out was that he started recording his stuff in his home and I started thinking, well if he can do it, then why can’t I do it? So I started recording stuff in my bedroom and that’s how I Am Oak came to be. So that’s also an influence, and I think Mount Eerie from The Microphones — it’s the same guy — that’s one of my favorite bands ever so, I think that worked somewhere in there.
So how did you find the difference between recording your fourth album in January from recording your well-received first album?
Well I just kept going, after the making the first one I was already working on the next one and the last five years I released four albums, so I just kept writing and not thinking too much about what was happening to the records that were released, just that we got a little bit more popular and were able to play more shows because of it. There was this sort of rise I could feel but it didn’t really affect the way I was making albums. But still I’ve been playing a lot outside of Holland the last couple of years and I had to finish my studies so I didn’t have the much time to write new stuff, so I’m doing some new stuff again and I’m getting into that same vibe and I’m trying not to worry about what’s happening around.
That’s a good mission to hold. You collaborated with The Black Atlantic, what was that like?
It was really fun actually because I didn’t know what to expect. I’ve know Geert van der Velde for about six years now since I’ve been playing live with I Am Oak and we liked each other’s music but we only played together a couple of times and for years we had the idea to do something together but it never came together, so the beginning of this year we played a tour together both solo through Germany and we thought of actually doing the thing we talked about doing for years so we made a split record together. It was really fun, it went natural I think because we wrote two songs together and it went really natural and now we’re working on some new stuff and it works the same way one person plays one thing and the other plays something over it and it works in a really intuitive and natural way. I didn’t expect that to happen necessarily.
How do you mean?
I’ve never really collaborated with anyone since I Am Oak besides singing some harmonies on other people’s songs but never actually writing songs together, so that was quite frightening to me, and that way it wasn’t what I expected because I have a — well, not negative — feeling about it, but a little bit anxious because I didn’t know if it would work, but it worked [laughs].
Success! What are you currently listening to?
Um… I’m listening to a lot of Little Wings. I listened to it for years but I’m getting back into it and I’m revisiting a lot of old albums and getting into the new ones, so that’s what I listen to most.
What is the last performance you’ve seen that you particularly liked?
I saw Neutral Milk Hotel two or three weeks ago, and it was amazing. I’m a big fan and obviously they broke up ten years ago and they’re back playing shows with the whole band so it was really good.
How are you finding NYC on your first time?
The rain was super shitty and we had to walk through it, but it’s really great. We’ve been here for three days and the first day was like it didn’t really do that much for me because it was another big city with big city stuff, but now we’ve been in some parts like Williamsburg and walked through the streets and you get a feel for the city because Manhattan is totally different from Williamsburg and the lower side of Brooklyn, so you get all these impressions and they slowly start to sink in, so now it’s sunk in and it’s great to be here.
What are some of the favorite cities you’ve played at?
I think, for some reason, Toronto. I was there by myself because I played SXSW and then I flew to Toronto for Canadian Music Week and it was I think the first time I ever did solo tours before, but there’s always been someone with me and this was the first time I was totally by myself, and besides being a little bit frightened to be by yourself and play these shows and being there on time, it was really great to be by yourself and have the freedom to do whatever you want, so Toronto was a really great city. It made a good impression on me.
This is particularly nice, you’ve got the Dutch House and the event — how did it feel to win a game (during the World Cup) today?
It was pretty amazing. I hate football or soccer or whatever you call it, I always watch UEFA and FIFA and I usually enjoy it and this was good. This was a good game. My problem with soccer is that they games can usually end in like 0-0 and nothing actually happens. So this was exciting, really good that we won.
Interview by Eva Bandurowski. Follow her on Twitter @ewabando.
