Ritn Ditn är ett rockband från staden Nijkerk i Nederländerna som spelar vad de kallar “farmers rock”. Då jag var på resande fot bjöds jag in att fota deras spelning på festivalen Gelderpop (6 juli) och jag passade även på att göra en liten intervju med sångaren Wouter Bakker som är en stadigt återkommande festivalbesökare i Sverige. Nedan kan ni bland annat läsa om kopplingen till The Hellacopters, Bonafide, Lucifer och Thundermother, vad han tycker om den svenska musikscenen, bandets egna musik (intervju på engelska) och ni kan även kolla in lite bilder.
Tell us about the band, the name Ritn Ditn, and what kind of music you play?
In 2010 we were members from 2 bands that had split up and we formed a new one. Our influences were bands that played their music in their dialect, so we decided to do that too which means for us, the songs should be in Niekarks (we live in Nijkerk Netherlands). The music we play is what we call Farmersrock, a typical Dutch thing. The sound is like Status Quo whit a little bit of ACDC, also sometimes a good ballad. Mainly the songs are about drinking beer and having fun. We came up with the name of the band because it sounds like the 3 chords playing on a guitar like in Status Quo songs; RitnDitn RitnDitn RitnDitn.
What do you think of the rock/metal scene in your country compared to Sweden?
It’s a bit different here, there is a rock and metal scene but not as big as in Sweden. Of course we have some metal festivals like Dynamo. We had Arrow Classic Rock festival and Fields of Rock. Great bands played there. There are still venues where you can go for real metal and rock. For me in Sweden though it looks bigger, looks like it’s part of the culture.
Do you have a favorite gig you played so far?
We played a lot of fun gigs. But the ones which were really fun were the ones in the UK. We played for 5 years at the Balstock festival. That s a festival for charity and we played there with our Dutch songs so they couldn’t understand a word of it, but it was a great party. The audience went crazy when we came on stage on our clogs. Uk was really good. Hopefully soon we will play somewhere in Sweden and make that our favorite gig.
And now you just played at the Gelderpop Festival this summer. It was a pretty big stage, at least I felt so as a short photographer. How was it to play there, did you feel like you could blend in considering the festival was mainly another genre of music and maybe not your usual crowd?
It’s the biggest stage we played we played and we also opened the festival. It was a bit scary but really fun to play at such a big stage. I think we could blend in there, it was not really our kind of music but it’s still in our region, so people know us. That is also the reason we played there, we were chosen by the audience when they got a say about who should play this year.
About Sweden, I know you have a special connection to the country and you’re a regular visitor, especially to Sweden Rock Festival. Tell us something about that?
Yes, I’ve been going to Sweden Rock for 16 years and to Sweden over all plenty of more times. I’m even going to take some Swedish language lesson this fall. Recently Sweden Rock Magazine also wrote a little something about me since I designed and made some bottle openers for some Swedish bands.
Tell us about the bottle openers, how did you come up with that?
I like to be creative and I had the possibility to make these openers through my work. First I designed them for my band but then I also made some for Swedish bands and brought them to Sweden Rock to hand them over as gifts. It started with Bonafide and they liked it very much, and then came another band, Thundermother. Most of us knows the connection between Bonafide and Thundermother. Eventually i also made bottle openers for The Hellacopters and Dynazty. At this years Sweden Rock I gave them to Lucifer as well and Sweden Rock Magazine wrote an article about it.
I know you were also in a documentary for a regional TV broadcaster in Netherlands which you thought was a pretty fun thing to do. Can you tell us about that?
There was a Dutch band which was called NORMAAL that was quitting in 2015 and they were one of our influences. They existed for 40 years but because of the health of the lead singer they had to quit. When they announced their last concert a regional TV broadcaster wanted to make a documentary of new bands in the same genre to fill in the gap they left. Because we were already on the radio and TV with our band they asked us too. In total there was 6 bands picked to do the show. Each band had their own documentary and one of the assignments was to rewrite one of their songs. So there were 6 new songs that were recorded with the guitar player of Normaal and all put on a cd. Ours was “Omdat Iedereen ok vreten mot“. In my opinion still one of our greatest songs.
So what’s up next for Ritn Ditn?
At the moment we are recording new material and hopefully next year there will be some new Ritn Ditn songs coming out.
Thank you Ritn Ditn for having a Swedish photographer joining the festival, the party and the stories in Netherlands, and good luck in the future.
Ritn Ditn
Hans – Drums
Edwin – Guitar
Frits – Bass
Wouter – Vocals
Ritn Ditn, Gelderpop Festival 6th of July 2024:
TEXT: Cathrin Linné (cathrin.linne@rockbladet.se)
PHOTO GALLERY: Cathrin Linné
INTERVIEW: Wouter Bakker, Ritn Ditn
