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Dutch punk rock outfit Dowzer will be releasing their new 3-song EP ‘Kintsugi – Chapter One’ this Friday via Shield Recordings (pre-order). Don’t want to wait? We got you covered. You can stream the whole EP below.
Why an EP? Because it seemed like the perfect compromise between a full-length and separate singles. “We like the idea of a full-length, but noticed with our last record that only a few songs made it into the spotlight while the majority of the songs didn’t get the credit they deserved,” explains vocalist/guitarist Deny Putman. “Releasing various singles throughout the year wasn’t doing the trick either, as we think our music’s versatility can’t be put in just one song”. Putman also confirms that there will be more chapters in the not so distant future, eventually resulting in a full length in both digital and physical form.
The Dutch punk rock band recorded the new songs at Big Dog Recordings with Tim Van Doorn, who is a musician as well as a producer having played in Clueless and St. Plaster and produced albums by the likes of Billy Liar, F.O.D. and Steele Justice. “We see Tim as a musician who records bands, as he really thinks with you how to make songs better. He helped a lot with vocal harmonies. As we consider ourselves melodic punkrock with a big focus on vocal harmonies, Tim was the choice for us. Aside from his good looks that is.”
Next to being an album by Death Cab For Cutie that Putman is not familiar with, Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the broken areas with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. Putman – who is into Japanese stuff – saw the similiarities with Dowzer’s lyrics which highlight their vulnerabilities in life. “And it is a title that stands out from the rest. If you’re not familiar with Death Cab For Cutie”.
The band, which next to Putman consists of Tim Klaassen (Vocals + Guitar), Sandra Heeren (Vocals + Bass) and Remy Dekkers (Drums), will be playing at Punk Rock Holiday (“a milestone we’ve been waiting for since 2020”) with even more shows in the works, something they are very much looking forward to after not having been able to play live much thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic. Next to hitting the stages some more, they will also be heading back to Big Dog Recordings to record the next chapters after Summer.
2022 also finds Dowzer celebrating their fifteenth anniversary as a band. “When we look back on those 15 years, we’re still very proud of building it from the ground up and reaching a fanbase of people around the world that really love what we love creating and making a lot friends in lots of different places. Cool shows in lots of different places, some with bands we really look up to (Frenzal Rhomb, Undeclinable Ambuscade to name a few), releasing records in Europe, UK and Japan. To keep a band going for so long is not putting the focus on a single thing, it’s all about the journey, not the destination (that was deep…).”
As to why the band went for the name Dowzer, Putman explains that they randomly picked a word out of an English dictionary. "We chose the word ‘dowser’ as it was short and catchy. We changed the S into a Z, because we thought it was cooler. A ‘dowser’ is a person who uses a divining rod to search for underground water or minerals, a Y shaped stick you probably saw in a cartoon once. Let’s just say our music is more exciting than the origin of the bandname. “
“Kintsugi – Chapter One” will be out this Friday on Shield Recordings. Follow the band on Facebook or Instagram to stay up to date.
