Zilverklif
Wessel Zweers, born 1964, background in mathematics and computer science. Nowadays I work as a parttime webmaster / web analyst at a Dutch NGO, which leaves me some room for personal projects.
Musical background
Music has always been my passion. From the age of 10 I have been playing various musical instruments: piano, clarinet, saxophone (alto / soprano), percussion and bass guitar.
When I was 18, I had to choose: mathemathics or music. It became the first, but I kept playing and creating music nearly every day. As a student I played in a few bands, both pop music and jazz.
Gradually I started to develop my own musical ideas myself. Some of them have been used by studio group DEM.
The turnaround
2012 proved to be an important year. After several years of family care and complicated legacy settlements music was my big outlet. Just sit at the piano, improvise and occasionally run into a new musical idea.
More or less at the same time I discovered the incredible usefulness of the iPad for developing musical ideas. More then 40 new demo’s were born on my iPad within two years, more ideas than I ever created at the piano. A creative eruption I never experienced before in my life. Time for a debut album.
The making of Atlas
In 2014 and 2015 I contacted a large number of musicians, producers and music studios to investigate whether my musical ideas would be viable. I also started looking for singers who were interested in writing and/or singing lyrics for this music. Even more than a search for other musicians, it appeared to be a search for what I exactly wanted. And it took a while before that became clear.
An important insight: what I really needed was a theme, a story as a stepping stone for my ideas. After an interesting meetup with Maartje in Rotterdam, I was on the train home and I suddenly realized: many of my ideas arise during train journeys – why not choose traveling by train as the hook of my future album?
In 2016 another milestone: the first recording sessions at Studilio. In fall 2016 most instrumental tracks had been recorded. So far, so good.
In 2017 a new setback in the private sphere: the dramatic death of my brother Bas, in which a train played an prominent role. I must confess that I seriously considered stopping this project permanently, but after months the conviction grew that Bas would have wanted me to continue. Moreover, it also offered a creative chance to give the album more identity and a stronger personal touch.
New inspiration arising. Bas listened to the radio everyday for hours, throughout his whole life. It was his thin connection with society. I came up with the idea to use radio voices and vintage movie quotes to announce all songs.
All in all, Atlas probably has become much better because of this dramatic turn. But don’t get me wrong on this: of course I would much rather have a worse album and my brother still alive. Anyway, it is a great consolation that he finally found peace after a lifelong battle against paranoia and psychosis.
Musical influences
Oh well… where do I start? Let’s have a try.
- Classic rock: Beatles, Queen, Pink Floyd, Electric Light Orchestra, Renaissance, Led Zeppelin, Focus, Kayak.
- Alternative: Beirut, Talk Talk, Radiohead, Lamb.
- Singer-songwriters: Tori Amos, Kate Bush, Sufjan Stevens, David Sylvian, Elliott Smith, Andrew Bird, Jeff Buckley, Vienna Teng, Lianne La Havas, Ane Brun, Joan As Police Woman, Amy Whinehouse.
- Dutch: Maartje Teussink, Wende Snijders, Blaudzun, Blof, Maarten van Roozendaal, Boudewijn de Groot, Cornelis Vreeswijk.
- Producers: Daniel Lanois, Trevor Horn, Nigel Godrich, Leo Sienot, Mark Ronson, George Martin.
- Film music: Hans Zimmer, Yann Tiersen, Ludovico Einaudi.
- Ambient & electronic: Jean-Michel Jarre, Klaus Schulze, The Orb, Boards of Canada.
- DJ’s: Joris Voorn, DJ Shadow.
- Minimal: Philip Glass, Simeon ten Holt, Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Portico Quartet.
- Classical: Debussy, Ravel, Fauré, Messiaen, Dvorak, Janácek, Sibelius, Grieg, Tchaikovsky, Mahler.
- Jazz: Duke Ellington.
About the name Zilverklif
Zilverklif is a Dutch name, translated in English: silver cliff.
I have always been fascinated by cliff coasts, especially in the south of England and northern Spain. Cliffs are a rough dividing line between land and sea, for me symbolising the confrontation between daily life and emotional world, which is not always that smooth.
The word silver gives me two associations: silver medals and silver mines.
During the Olympics in August 2016 I realised that silver medals are extremely ambiguous. I remember a Dutch female runner who won silver and was very disappointed by not winning a gold medal, but also other athletes who were euphoric by winning silver. It is almost symbolic for real life: are we content with silver, or do we always crave gold – a craving that could bring us disappointment and unhappiness?
And then the silver mines. In 1996 I have been travelling in South America, especially Bolivia and Chili, and visited the silver mines in Potosi, which once was the richest town in South America. The silver mines are still working, but the miners work hard for little money, have poor health and their conditions are dangerous. A tragic remnant of centuries of prosperity.