De Staat
The band’s first demo was released in 2007 with songs that were recorded in the lead singer’s home in Wolfskuil, Nijmegen. In 2008 they signed with Excelsior Recordings and in 2009 the first album Wait for evolution was released. The band was assisted in recording his first album by various artists, including The Bloody Honkies and Fuck The Writer. The album was named album of the year by various media and won the 3voor12 Best Album Award.
The State accompanied the Flemish band dEUS on its tour through England and also played at Pinkpop 2009. In the same year they played at Lowlands, Dour and at the Sziget festival in Hungary. A DVD Live @ Lowlands 2009 was released from the concert at Lowlands in 2009, which also includes guest contributions from Bram Hakkens (Kyteman’s Hip Hop Orchestra) and Bas Bron. Chris Goss, producer of Queens of the Stone Age and front man of Masters Of Reality saw the show at Lowlands and was enthusiastic. At the end of 2009, this resulted in a deal with Mascot Records, also the Masters Of Reality label.
At the start of 2010, De Staat was nominated for the 3FM Awards as the best artist in the alternative category and Wait for Evolution in the Best Album category. The band also acted as support act for the Welsh band Stereophonics in the Heineken Music Hall.
In 2010 the debut album was released in the rest of Europe and the band toured through Europe, Canada and America. The band played at the Glastonbury Festival, Reeperbahn and NXNE, among others.
In March 2011 the second album Machinery was released. The first single from that album is called ‘Sweatshop’, the second ‘I’ll Never Marry You’. In April 2011, De Staat received a 3FM Award for Best Alternative. In April 2012 it managed to extend this prize.
In September 2013 the third album I_CON was released. The first song that was released was “Make Way For The Passenger” and the song has a lyric video. The song ‘Devil’s Blood’ was chosen as the first official single and has a video clip. The song ‘Down Town’ was the soundtrack for the video game FIFA 14. I_CON took second place in the Dutch album top 100, and on 31 March 2014 De Staat received an Edison for the album in the Rock category. The video clip of the song Witch Doctor, made together with Studio Smack and Floris Kaayk, only appeared two years later and won the first prize for the best film at the Playgrounds Festival.
The ep Vinticious Versions was released in 2014, with new versions of own songs from the first three albums and a video competition for each of the songs on Youtube. In January 2016 the fourth album O was released. In the spring of 2016 the band provided the support act in a part of the Drones Tour of Muse in Europe.
De Staat performed twice during Pinkpop 2016 after the Swedish metal band Ghost canceled due to vocal problems with the singer. According to the organization, De Staat had outgrown the Brand Beer Stage, where they performed for the first time.
In August 2016, it was announced that from 2017 the band was awarded an annual subsidy of 236,200 euros by the Performing Arts Fund, a total of 944,800 euros over a four-year period. There was some fuss about this in the social media.
In November 2016, the band’s first live album was released: Live in Utrecht. The album was recorded at their performance in TivoliVredenburg during the O-tour in February 2016.
The Golden Nutcracker was awarded to them in 2017. In the fall of 2017 the ‘In The Round’ shows took place on the grounds of the Vasim in hometown Nijmegen. In these four special shows, the band played on a round stage between the audience.
On January 18, 2019 the band released their sixth studio album ‘Bubble Gum’. The same day the band played a surprise release show at Eurosonic in the Vera in Groningen.