Handed

Stef Classens, the singer/songwriter who launched the Dutch alt-pop outfit Handed, took cues from Kings of Leon, Bon Iver, and Ben Howard when shaping the project. Raised in a household saturated with music, where his parents’ passion for songwriting combined with regular exposure to AC/DC, Simply Red, and Bob Dylan, he felt compelled to follow the same route. Classens began composing his own material while still a teenager and, after stockpiling enough songs, moved on to demoing tracks and playing live shows. In 2014 he auditioned for the third season of De Beste Singer-Songwriter van Nederland, winning the contest outright. The victory led him to continue writing with a sharpened focus on a particular sonic identity. Assisted by close friends, he channeled those ideas into Handed, a soft pop/rock band whose songs addressed love, loss, and healing. The lineup officially coalesced in late 2016 and issued its debut full-length, Above the Storm, Below the Flood, in early 2017.