What do you do if you love grunge, love making music, and.. couldn’t care less about online marketing madness promoters obsess over? In other words: what if you’ve got your priorities straight? Well, you start a band, you call it “Angry Chair” after the Alice in Chains song, and never look back. Oddly, that’s the definition of rock n’roll in 2025: f**k the internet, f**k the algorythm, fuck conventional wisdom, we’re here for the music!
Aha. “We’re here for the music” I hear them think… and they live up to it. Now, as heavily as ‘Angry Chair’ leans on their “90s” heroes, one in particular- both in word, look and aesthetic……. all of that is less important than the fact that their music has that one quality that eludes many bands.. Heart. And… a weirdly disjointed team of mixing engineers?
In fairness yes, listening to Chair’s debut album “Hole”, you’ll certainly hear traces of a DIY production/mixing here and there. But f**k me, when it works, it works like a snake-charmer. The moment Max van der Schoor opens the title track by ruefully depicting a father roleplaying fatherhood and a daughter dutifully roleplaying being a child… the reptilian brain lets go- and you contemplate…
“…Well wait a dogdarn minute. Do I… love my father? Do I… love my daughter? Do I…even know them?”
And as you contemplate- you’re pulled back to the song and smoothly latch on Max’s deep and warm voice. At times reminescent of Staley and Cobain, and ironically… when he belts it out I’d be damned If I didn’t hear a snippet of one Axl Rose. Vloeken in de kerk- eh? Nah! But when he softly croons on the title track “Hole” and elsewhere, there’s something very much distinct about Max’ approach. He doesn’t sound as tortured as his mentors, he sounds more reflective and concerned. Elsewhere he allows himself to be just plain ole’ loud and giddy. And he’s got the looks down as well. Truly, looking at him… the resemblance with grunge’s two big protagonists, Cobain and Staley, is uncanny.
And that’s just Max. The band has David Veen on rhythm guitar with tasteful fills and pondering melodies, Martijn Schuur doing the leads ‘tight and right’ along with the backing vocals. Rick Kluin hits it heavy on bass with plenty of harmony work, tho’ every now and then he shows off chops that seem more Flea-esque than you’d expect on a grunge record. Or maybe I just don’t know grunge that well, which is true enough. And finally, solid Irina van Dijk delivers a consummate and deliberate approach on drums, with a sound very much mature and ego-free. On top of that, on some songs the production almost puts her on Sean Kinney’s chair and his own kit with a sound so true.. it’s quaint. The band is tuned in, glued tight together and track after track delivers their own take on grunge with plenty of swag, riffage, melancholy, but also playfulness and skill. The solo’s are hot, the soundscapes are immersive, be it a tad sparse for modern production standards. The rhythm is solid and steady save for a few forgettable glitches. Add to that a spoon of sentiment and a distinct sense of lightness; and you’ve got grunge very much alive in 2025. Listen to “Another Life” for another genre-tribute:
Common Sense?
In truth, there’s also some youthful abandon here and there, which is understood and a given. Take a few lines on “Common Sense” for example; where Max earnestly questions why some people seem to have so little?
“If somebody told you your mom’s kinda hot, would you do her?
If somebody told you to drink some bleach, would you do it?
…..
OF COURSE NOT!!” he belts!
And later on he points the questioning finger…
“Are you dumb, insane, or is your brain just really small?”
Apparently some seriously degenerate behaviour shows up on the bands’ TV shows of choice, or maybe they scrolled through a few video’s of kids doing some really reckless and mystifyingly self-defeating crap? Makes you wonder though, if someone’s that desperate for attention.. maybe they’re in fact trying to fill a hole of some sort?
Anway, the indignation and self-rightousness fit fine in the grunge tradition with something like “Big Dumb Sex”. And here Chair shifts aim from Big-Hair-Rockstars of then, to Fear Factor-Minded TV and Socials crowd of now. However, while the genre’s strongest lyricsts didn’t shy away from critique neither, they rarely straight-up cussed-out those they considered feeble-minded or genetically disadvantaged. Sounds a little too true to yesteryear’s zeitgeist. But one thing worth keeping in mind is that we all say things in the heat of a moment, and fortunately for us.. off record. Takes courage to go live with an opinion nowdays. And to close this off, a final thought… Saying something really explicit and harsh can be done without really meaning it. Simply to vent. To discharge. It works, and it works really really well. And I don’t know what his take is, didn’t bother to ask.. but considering how the genres most prolific frontmen ended up; here’s a tripple hooray for this frontman laying it bare. May it last! But also, may it evolve.
Catch Angry Chair live @ ESNS 2025 : Free Show!
You can catch Angry Chair during Eurosonic Noorderslag in Groningen on Thursday 16 January, at Nachtcafé Warhol ! We might see you there, ESNS is ROCKING this year! The first Album Hole is available for streaming right now on all platforms, including YouTube via DistroKid. Grunge on dude !
S. Zeljak /
Editor
What
