I had scheduled an interview with a group called C-Mon & Kypski a few days before Bisco, so I knew had to have most my senses for at least that 30 minute period. They are an Electro/Alternative rock group was far far from home, they hailed from a town south of Amsterdam in Holland, called Utrecht.
After listening to some of their tunes on myspace, I decided this was a must see as well, live music is just soo much better. Plus, I had no clue what they looked like, so I figured going to their show was my best bet to smoothly finding them later and conducting interview.
Their set was at noon on Saturday, wasn’t the best time to jam out especially after the craziness from Friday, ( one of the best days of music in my short life), but surprisingly there was a good deal of people in the crowd.
They consist of Jori Collignon on the keyboards, Thomas Elbers on the drums, ( half real/half electro), Simon Akkermans mixing samples and supplying the beats and Daniel Rose shreddin the guitar(s). I say plural because for part of their set he was sporting a double neck guitar, (possible a Gibson EDS-1275, but I don’t shit about guitars, so who knows) which was shhwweet.
Big ups to Simon Akkerman who was DJing, he brought 150% of his daily supply of energy which he excellently transcended upon all who was there, ( remember it was just after noon, and many in attendance at festival were just getting to sleep), getting alot of people on their feet and into the dance tent. They have a great combination of an electo band and still keeping the authentic feel of an actual old school rock band.
“More is Less” and “High on a Wire”, were two of my favs that they graced us with. Check out some more at
It was very neat to first be a fan via Internet, then actually see them rock it live, then actually meet them.
Funny story.
So prior to interview, I am in media tent looking around for members of band I had just seen hours earlier, (interview was scheduled for 4:00). Didn’t see them anywhere. They must have blown me off, I was a bit sad. People must look different when your jumping around and when they’re in rock&roll mode, because it turned out that the blokes I began chatting with next to me once I had given up on finding C-Mon & Kypski, were in fact C-Mon & Kypski!! Right on!
After feeling like a dumb shit for a couple seconds, I composed myself to best of ability and we started talking.
During their set, I was quite curious to what genre they were, or at least what they considered they were. I asked them, and received best answer ever.
“We are electronic, scratchadelic, exotic, electro, adventure, funk, rock”
“Fuck yeeaahh you are,” I replied, quickly jotting down as much of that as i could remember.
I found out they had been playing together for about 8 years, and that Kypski was in fact awarded DMC Dutch DJ champion 6 times and Jori won Dutch Keyboardist of the Year. They are quite established oversea, having played all over Europe and in parts of China.
When asked what they thought of this 15,000+ person festival in NY, they kind of chuckled, having previously rocked the socks off a 60,000 person festival in Holland.
They are set to keep touring throughout South Africa, hit up Hungry then back to the Netherlands.
I asked them about their world travels and any cultural differences they have noticed, ( as a traveling man myself, different cultures are very interesting to me).
“Great food in France,” someone replied, “and no jam bands in China.”
I don’t think they have any fun in China either.
It was approaching 4:30 and the fan in me was starting to emerge. I really wanted to catch Talib Kweli, who was playing with Break Science and David Murphy from STS9, all of whom I wanted to see.
I asked C-Mon and Kypski whom they were most excited for here at Bisco, they obviously said Disco Biscuits, and added in Bassnectar and Major Lazer. Two artists who not only partook in a large act of genocide by completely killing their respective sets, but who I was also a fan of.
Then it hit me, these are just some bros from Holland, who like myself, love music, and unlike myself can make some freakin awesome music. Good shit guys and best of luck to you in your travels around the world; keep jamming and forcing people to rock out.