Direct

Radio 3 DJ Rob Stenders receives the 5-track demo in 2000 and plays "Just The Way I Do" on his morning show Stenders Vroeg. Manager Edwin Jansen, who also hears the track on the radio, signs the band to AT Productions. He also brings the band into contact with Dino Music, who offers them a record deal.

The single "Just The Way I Do" is released in 2001 and the debut album "Discover" follows. From there, Di-direct's success takes off rapidly. They score hit after hit with the Who cover "My Generation", "Inside My Head" and "Free". The album reaches gold status.

The band plays at major festivals in 2002 such as Pinkpop, Parkpop and Lowlands and takes their first step towards international success with a number 1 hit in Indonesia, which leads to various performances there.

In 2003, the follow-up album "Over the Moon" comes out. According to the band, an album that sounds more mature than Discover and on which it is clearly audible that the band has gained more live experience. From the album, "Adrenaline" is released as a soundtrack for the film of the same name. The following ballad "She" scores very well. Then "Rollercoaster" and the sensitive ballad "Don't Kill me Tonight" are released.

In March 2003, the band receives the prestigious Edison audience award for the single "Inside My Head". In April of that year, the band wins 2 TMF awards: Best Rock National and Best music video for "Adrenaline".

The first quarter of 2004 is marked by various performances in the Netherlands, but also by seeking out the "rock & roll feeling": in February, Di-direct travels with The Bus to Italy and performs 4 shows there, including as support for Italian punk rock band The Shandon. In April, the band wins a TMF award for "Best music video" for "Rollercoaster".

In September, Di-direct writes a song about The Hague's tram tunnel and decides to perform in the tunnel as a stunt, even though it is not yet open to the public. The Municipality of The Hague thinks it is a great idea and the song "Underground café" is released as a single to promote the opening of the tram tunnel. A few months later it turns out that the song is also added to the album "All Systems Go!".

The autumn of 2004 is marked by many performances and preparations for their third album "All Systems Go!", which was released on 18 February 2005. The first single from the new album "Hungry For Love" is released on 21 January 2005. The catchy track is immediately proclaimed an Alarmschijf on Radio 538 and Superclip on TMF, where the "reality soap" Live & Di-direct is also shown, about the making of the new album "All Systems Go!".

The first part of 2005 is largely dedicated to promoting the album "All Systems Go!". The second single from this album, "Cool Without You", became a great success.

In the summer, Di-direct plays at various festivals, including Pinkpop. As a special guest, concert pianist Wibi Soerjadi contributes to Di-direct's performance. The pianist works on the album: the song "Blind For You" is proof of the unique combination between rock and classical.

At the end of July, the third single from the album "All Systems Go!", "Webcam Girl" is released. The single is released in two parts: on part 1 the single version and a number of live tracks from Pinkpop 2005. On part 2 the Pinkpop version of the song, the music video, the "making of" the video and the song "Blind for You" live at Pinkpop with Wibi. The single becomes an Alarmschijf almost immediately.

At the end of 2005, Di-direct participates in the MTV program Road Rally. A competition between two bands with the aim of being the first to cross America from West to East. All the while performing to make money because they have to give it up, just like their mobile phone and credit card.

It is a wonderful experience, with moments of irritation of course (what do you expect when you spend three nights in a row shivering in a van because of lack of money), but mostly euphoria. The guys not only manage to arrange paid performances, the music they make is also received with tremendous enthusiasm. Spike: "Playing flat in a random foreign bar and getting paid for it gives you an enormous kick. Those guys thought we were great and not because they knew our faces from magazines, but because they simply liked the music." The American adventure really energises the band. Bas: "It was really back to basics: guitar around your neck and play. No limo, no 8-man crew, no sequencers, pure rock 'n' roll".

After returning to the Netherlands, the band enthusiastically dives into the rehearsal room to take their experiences into the next album. Writing songs goes more smoothly than on previous albums. Everyone clearly still has the energy of the road trip in their system. Until slowly a different feeling begins to seep through. A feeling that maybe not the whole band is on the same wavelength after all.

And that's true. When you are on the other side of the world and thousands of kilometres pass beneath you, one person dreams themselves further and further from home, while the other gets closer to the basics.

For Tim, it is the latter, and not long after returning home he has big news: I'm getting married and I'm going to be a father. Spike: "I went crazy! Happy for you, but why now? How can that be when we as a band have just had such a successful trip in America and are working on a new album?!" Tim: "In the Netherlands, we were always rushing ahead, and in America in that bus I suddenly had time to think. I was able to sort out a lot of things." Bas: "We all saw an ideal image coming closer, but one of us had a completely different image than the other three".

Although they try at first, Spike, Jamie, Bas and Tim can no longer continue working on a new album. Spike: "Sometimes it went quite well for a while, but then we saw something on TV about Tim's private life and the whole thing flared up again. Then we said: are we here to work on Tim's soap opera or are we recording an album?!"

At some point the tensions run so high that it becomes clear to everyone: either we solve this once and for all, or we break up. Bas: "The combination of the four of us is the strength of this band, but at the same time also its weakness. Because if one of us doesn't feel like it anymore or the chemistry is gone, then it's over". That conclusion hits all four hard.

The album recordings come to a halt for well over half a year, but in the meantime Di-direct still takes to the stage. "The strange thing, or actually the good thing, was that it just worked," according to Tim. "In the studio we were really stuck, but as soon as we went on stage, something clicked and it was just there again". Spike: "That was also an eye opener: so the basics are not broken".

But it is clear that something needs to be talked about, and that is not the rockers' strongest suit. Jamie: "We have lived in a rock 'n' roll haze for 7 years and some of us didn't want to come out of it at all". Spike: "But then you get shaken awake by something like this and you're suddenly 7 years older and believe it or not: wiser. If this had happened 5 years ago, we wouldn't have faced the confrontation. Then you think: forget it, I don't feel like this. I'll start another band. Lalala, long live the fun".

Throwing in the towel is not really an option for any of them, not even for Tim. "But I did want respect for my choice. They don't have to understand it, but they do have to respect it". Spike: "I think Tim and I are the biggest opposites. And I don't even want to think about how he arranges his life, but at some point I thought: does Tim have to wait until he's forty to become a father? Does he have to ask us at all if he's allowed to start a family? That makes no sense whatsoever".

Still, it takes a while before everything is really talked through. Jamie: "It was so confrontational. We were also just afraid it would go wrong". Bas: "We would all rather bury our heads in the sand than get through this dead point". But when the outside world slowly gets wind of possible problems within Di-direct, the guys finally sit down at the table.

Several intense conversations follow; it's do or die. During those conversations, it becomes clear above all that for all four musicians, the band comes first, but that there is a lot of miscommunication. Spike: "If things are not spoken out loud, you start making up all sorts of things yourself. I thought I knew exactly what Tim wanted, when that was not the case at all".

The air is finally cleared and all energy can go back into recording a new album. Tim: "We then ended up in a kind of whirlwind. Everything had to come out and we eventually made this album in 11 days!"

The band's crash is certainly audible on the album, although not literally, because that is not Di-direct's style. Spike: "I'm not a songwriter who goes and beautifully tells what I feel in a song, but you can certainly hear it atmospherically".

"Even before this happened, we had already decided we wanted to make a more basic album. You develop as a band, of course, and the reactions in America reinforced that feeling," according to Jamie. "And because of that almost break-up, we were completely thrown back on ourselves. It was do or die, and what remained were four guys making music together. Without tricks or bells and whistles to hide behind. And that is how this album came about".

Bas: "As Spike also says, we are not into autobiographical lyrics, but of course on some tracks it does play a role. A title like "Don't Look Back" speaks for itself. That song is about getting stronger and moving forward. A very positive song. "A Whole New Era" is also a song that we wrote from our feeling, but they remain broad songs that everyone can identify with".

The band has not given the album a title. So for the outside world, it is automatically simply called: Di-direct, because "this is more Di-direct than you have ever heard before".