JFK Man - Emmer about Home Ground
My Dutch teacher once told me that I should try to turn my hobby into my job. I did that, but now I have a problem: I no longer have a hobby. I find it very difficult to detach myself from music. If I try something else, it automatically heads in that direction.Then, for example, I come up with a cool pair of headphones, or a special ringtone that lets you recognize when your friends are calling. It feels like I’m only just getting started. Now, in my old age, I’m going to learn to play the cello and compose the music for a Live Nation show premiering in India.”
Stubborn
“I tried film school, drama school, and studying Dutch. None of that was a success. It’s not so much that I have problems with authority, but I find it difficult to concentrate and I am incredibly stubborn. In Dutch studies, for example, we started with poetry analysis, to which I pointed out that I found a contradiction. You can’t analyze poetry. As a result, I studied Dutch for exactly one morning. Eventually, I started my own business and co-founded the music magazine Vinyl. Making music myself increasingly interested me, so eventually I threw myself into that completely.
Velvet Fist
“With my soul album Home Ground, I am making a social statement. The lyrics are critical and address the world we live in. The album is inspired by foreign soul from the sixties and seventies. Even back then, they realized that you don't have to shout to convey a message. You have to create a velvet fist: deliver a hard message with soft music. Because do you really want to reach people with your music, or are you just doing it for your buddies? If you only do it for your buddies, then you are preaching to the converted. You have to step outside your comfort zone to reach as many people as possible, and you don't do that by making niche music that only your buddies think is cool.”
Cockroach
“I possess a strange combination of perseverance and curiosity. Additionally, I find that putting myself on the spot works. For example, I once decided to compose a tune together with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra from London. I did not attend a conservatory and had absolutely no idea how to conduct an orchestra. Yet, a full orchestra looked at me questioningly, waiting for instructions. I have always taken those kinds of gambles, and it certainly didn't always go well, but I am a kind of cockroach. You can kick as much as you want, I will get back up again.” Unable to walk
“The past few years are a good example of that. Due to gout in my ankle, I was unable to walk for a year and a half. I had been taking preventative gout medication for about seven years, but I was being stubborn again and thought I could manage just fine without it. I certainly learned my lesson, but fortunately, with a lot of physiotherapy, I managed to recover. Not being able to walk is a nightmare, especially if you live in an upstairs apartment. What I found hardest was that not everyone around you can keep it up. There were evenings when no one could come over to run an errand for me. I still remember having to crawl sometimes just to get to the kitchen or the shower.”
Relationship
“I met my girlfriend back when I couldn't walk. I look cool now, but back then I didn't at all. I was in a wheelchair, wore those big clogs, and because of all the sitting and eating out of dissatisfaction, I was a lot fatter than I am now. Nothing was too much trouble for her. She put up with me all that time, and now it comes as a surprise to her that I can be fun too!”
[JFK Magazine - Editorial]