The band 2nd Place Driver was founded in 2002 by guitar player Bart Dietvorst (ex Wealthy Beggar) and singer Rias Baarda, first as a (home-studio) project. Quickly there after it became a real band and after recording a first E.P. (2nd Place Driver, 2003) lots of gigs followed and a stunning live reputation was quickly established. This first release got airplay in The Netherlands and Belgium on radiostations such as 3FM, KINK FM and Studio Brussel and a bunch of great reviews in several media followed. Early 2004 a second E.P. (Leave E.P., 2004) was released and the story continued with again lots of media attention, airplay and gigs.
After those two E.P.s the official debut album followed in april 2005, entitled 1. This album was released in The Netherlands and Belgium by PiTAR. The album was received very well by fans and media and the first single Leave got airplay on radiostations like 3FM, KINK FM and Radio 2. The video for Leave got airplay on TV channels such as MTV and TMF. After this,
two radio singles followed and got more airplay.
The album draws attention and 2nd Place Driver gets an Essent Award for it. Essent is a big gas & electricity supplier in The Netherlands and gives this award to 10 promissing Dutch acts a year. As a result the band plays the Lowlands Festival (along with acts such as Foo Fighters and Queens of the Stone Age), gets attention on MTV, a promobudget of 5.000,- and lots of
media attention.
In the meantime the band played more than 200 shows, mostly in The Netherlands, in clubs such as Paradiso, 013 and Milky Way and on festivals such as Lowlands, Eurosonic and Parkpop. The band played supports for bands like Soulwax, Racoon, Zornik and Maximo Park.
With a new bassplayer the band begins working on new material for a second album album entitled
'The Hungry Ones', released in October 2006. In September 2006 the first single/ videoclip of the
album ‘My Mistake’ is released. The album release show in 013, Tilburg [NL] is advanced by a lightning
gig right in front of the trainstation of Tilburg at 8 a.m. The band get’s national presscoverage for this.
The album get’s good reviews and in spring 2007 the band releases the 2nd single from the album, entitled
‘Smile’. This song is also being used in the USA indiefilm ‘Lakeside has no Lake’ by Robert Benfer.
In summer 2007 the band signs a new record deal with Stacey Records. On this label the band will release their third album, entitled 'Full Speed Bare Naked' late 2007. The band departs for a tour to Afghanistan, playing for Dutch and international troups in Kandahar around Sylvester 2007-2008.
The music: Back to the future with electronic based retrorock. The music of 2nd Place Driver is like a knights move: one step back and 2 ahead: retrorock with electrobeats or Depeche Mode meets Nine Inch Nails. Gruesome and heartwarming at the same time.
References:
Soulwax, NIN, Pearl Jam, Bowie, Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, QOTSA
review '...1' 2005
FileUnder.nl
..The songs grab you within the first 30 seconds and won't let you go after that. The perfectly produced songs can compete with the great..
review '...1' 2005
Fret magazine
..2ndPD makes their own distictive sound from a lot of different influences. It's a well produced album with strong compositions and good melodies..
review '...1' 2005
BN De Stem (daily newspaper)
..The album sounds good and surely is radiofriendly, lot's of commercial perspective. '...1' is a decent debut album..
reviews gig Lowlands Festival
Live XS, Daily Paradise, Essend Awards.nl
..The band books succes; the tent is really crowded and with strong songs 2ndPD can compete with the other festival acts (a.o. QOTSA, Foo Fighters, etc)..
..2ndPD shows why they got all the good media attention from..
..Good show and great songs. The band is really enjoying themselves and brings the pleasure on to the crowd..
FREE DOWNLOAD our 2nd single "FOR YOU", out of our "Demons & Angels" EP! and while you are doing this...vote us into "De Afrekening"on Studio Brussels!
Vrijdag spelen wij in Delft in Café Verderop (met supportact). De eerste band zal om 23.00u spelen en wij ergens daarna. Het adres is Westvest 9 (tegenover het station).
Hi, we are Stairs to Nowhere, we make music like a cat ductaped to a burning violin. Our new album: adieu delicate atheist is online, right now. *beep*
Hey 2nd place driver. Hoe gaat het. Komende donderdag spelen we in 013. Tot dan?? Jaa toch! Grtz Wouter (GEM) p.s we doen ook nog een acoustische set in cd winkel Sounds.
Thanks for the add!!! WOW - what a sound. Y'all have got some great stuff!
Hope you dig our music - we had a great time makin' it! Feel free to download and share our music with your friends. Want more? Check out our sister site with over 24 downloadable songs at:
Cool new music straight from 2nd Place Driver! Great work on the page!
If you like these tracks, you'll probably dig Narayan too.
Please give us a "click" and let us know what you think!
We subscribed New Killer Stars to our national radio station to get airplay! It's a program/project that offers new bands a chance to be heard to the masses.
And the idea is pretty simple, people (which means you) can vote for a song and it will be ranked into one big list. Neat huh? So please give us a hand and vote for our song "Hebrew Matthew" to get high ranks at the first place (which means, more publicity).
You can check it out here: www.ongekendtalent.nl (don't worry, there's no subscription/registration needed, simply click at the "Stem op dit nummer" button underneath the songtitle at the right and your done)
arigatou, thank you, bedankt!
- Cesar
PS: btw, this voting system allows you to vote everyday. so feel welcome to vote more than once! :)
