De Dijk

Formed in 1981 by brothers Huub and Hans van der Lubbe along with their associate Daniel Derks, De Dijk immediately tapped into the rising current of Dutch rock and have stayed within that current ever since. After nearly ten years of limited results from various Amsterdam collectives, the siblings redirected their focus toward a fresh endeavor built around Dutch-language songs. Because most local rock acts at the time favored either English or German lyrics, the group stood out as an outlier in the regional scene. Their self-titled debut album arrived in 1982 and proved a major commercial triumph. With the subsequent addition of keyboardist Pim Kops and drummer Antonie Broek, the follow-up Nooit Meer Tarzan surfaced in 1983, yet it faltered in both sales and audience response, prompting the loss of their Dureco deal. Recovery took several years, after which a string of stronger releases began with Elke Dag Een Nieuwe Hoed in 1985 and continued with the Zilveren Harp Award-winning Wakker in Een Vreemde Werald two years later. Through steady touring and recording across the late eighties and nineties, the band established itself among the leading rock innovators in Dutch history. Huub van der Lubbe’s poetic songwriting shaped an entire cohort of European artists. In 2006 the ensemble marked its twenty-fifth anniversary with a concert at Rotterdam Ahoy Theatre that launched a wide-ranging tour. That same year Zullen We Dansen 1981-2006 became their first entry on the Billboard charts, reaching the European Top 100.