Woot Interview: SXSW 2010

Recently, the three teenagers who make up the Dutch rock band Woot won second prize in the national High School Music Competition in the Netherlands. They were also one of six bands chosen by their government to represent Hague's 2010 "Crossing Border Delegation" at SXSW. These are impressive achievements for any band, let alone one whose oldest member is only 18 years old. Woot, named after the battle cry from a popular video game, recently released their debut EP, "#1," and are currently very excited to be visiting the United States for the first time. In anticipation of the festival, Spinner spoke to their drummer, Thijs ("Tyce") van Teijlingen, after he had finished his studies and work for the day.

Describe your sound in your own words.

That's a pretty difficult question. I'm 17, and the other two guys in the band are 18, [so] we are still searching for our own sound. The music from our first album was an English pop/indie kind of music. Now I think we're getting a lot more serious, making the music a bit more complex. A lot of the bands we like right now seem to be labeled as something ending in "folk," so it seems that we might be heading perhaps towards an indie-folk sound.

You mean like Fleet Foxes and Iron and Wine -- that sort of thing?

Yes, Fleet Foxes are an inspiration, Grizzly Bear is an inspiration, Patrick Watson is a big inspiration -- those kind of bands. Radiohead, as well, but I wouldn't know how to describe them, either.

How did you come up with the band name?

Our first name was Concrete, but then there was a rapper [with that name] from another city in Holland who had a bit of success, so we had to lose that name before we put our album out. Our guitarist and singer, Tobias Wolring, used to play 'World of Warcraft' a lot. The people who play that video game have their own little language. When they kill an opponent, they say, "WOOT!" which stands for "We Own Other Teams," and he liked how that sounded. It's a bit stupid, but it's funny. Plus, the name wasn't taken on MySpace yet. That's the most difficult thing for a band nowadays -- to get your own URL on MySpace."

How did your band form?

Myself and the bass player [Sebastiaan Simoen] were in junior high in the same class. We played a little music together. His father is a musician, [and] we got connected. In high school, we wanted to form a band. At our schools, you can choose directions. You could be a musician or an athlete, and they'll give you extra work in that field. That's where we met Tobias, our singer and guitar player. There were a bunch of guitarists available, but he was the only one who could play Jimi Hendrix.

Who's your favorite drummer?

I have two: Ginger Baker and Keith Moon. There was a DVD with Ginger Baker and his son. They did all kinds of drum solos together, and it was great. The son's not as good as Ginger, but it was still fun to watch.

Besides the indie-folk bands mentioned above, who are your musical influences?

Well, Tobias is very much influenced by Radiohead, and we all grew up with old music. I don't know if that's the right term, [but] bands like the Beatles, the Who, Jimi Hendrix, Blind Faith.

We call that classic rock here.

Yeah, but that sounds a bit soft. To me, I see them all as super-rock stars!

Do you go to a lot of music festivals, and if so, what's in your festival survival kit?

I don't know. Beer? I haven't been to very many festivals. In fact, today I just bought tickets to Lowlands. I got one of the last tickets, so that's going to be nice. I really like small concerts. Last year I saw Patrick Watson at a small venue here. There were about 100 people there. It was wonderful.

What is your biggest vice?

My biggest bad habit would be having trouble waking up on time. I like to wake up late. But I think that's more of a band thing -- we all do that.

What's your musical guilty pleasure?

I like some hip-hop that's probably not the best. There's a Dutch hip-hop group, Flinke Namen -- they had one album, [and] they recorded the whole thing drunk. Musically, it's horrible, but it's so funny,when you're going out, listening to that. It's more a joke than anything else. So, I'm a bit embarrassed to like that because it's not really music.

Beatles or Stones?

Beatles. I like their music more. They had a great psychedelic phase that I really liked. I'd say the Beatles are one of the best bands ever. They had three songwriters who were all extraordinarily good. I don't know who else could say that -- maybe Monsters of Folk someday. They were awesome. I saw them recently -- we played at the same festival.

Who was your first celebrity crush?

I haven't had one. I wasn't really into whatever celebrities do, that kind of stuff. I was making music by then. When I was six, a friend of my father walked into our house and found me hitting a little drum. He was a drum teacher, so he left a little kit at my house, and from then on I've been playing!

Matthew Wilkening is a contributor from Seed.com. Learn how you can contribute here.