'With all the stuff that comes my way
Got my inner world to circumnavigate'
(Radiate)
'And it’s on days such as these, I can loosen the leash
Drawing my courage and strength from the way that you smile'
(Tattooed Love)
One Hand Waving Free is a band centered around songwriter/guitarplayer/singer Cyril Koopmeiners (1974). Koopmeiners honed his skills playing in the local Dutch indie circuit for 15 odd years, playing in bands with illustrious names like Running Free (classic guitar rock), Bees Making Love (neo-hippy songs ’n’ psychedelica), Furniture Orgasm (freaky funky jams) and Skinny Man Magoo (funky bluesy rock). When these bands disintegrated as bands often do, Koopmeiners found new creative outlets: the graphic design of musician’s magazines and graphic novels. But all the while, songwriting remained, as did the passion and urge to record these songs.
“I found myself writing songs regardless of whether I was in a band, whether there was a show to play, or an album to record. It’s just something that I kept doing. When I started writing at the age of fifteen, it gave me an opportunity to speak my mind freely. Which, at that age, wasn’t always easy for me to do. I would often respond to any given situation after the fact, in the lyrics of my songs, as opposed to in a face to face situation, in the moment. I’m not afraid to speak my mind now, but I’m basically still doing the same thing: articulating my thoughts and opinions in the lyrics of my songs.”
Koopmeiners writes his songs without a musical style in mind, in an anything-goes kind of way, inspired by many musical influences.
“I’ve always found it hard to describe the style in which I’m writing. I guess you could call it rock, but it’s also pop, and it might be funky, bluesy, or both. There are hints of country, shades of folk. Wherever the songs lead me, really. What it boils down to is this: whatever I do, it’s always me and my guitar in some configuration and it’s mainly song driven. Push comes to shove, I just wanna make great records.”
For years, Koopmeiners stockpiled his songs and musical ideas, until he found it was time to finally record them.
“Working as a graphic designer, I’d been assisting others to accomplish their creative dreams for many years, but I felt it was time to materialize my own. I had a bunch of songs finished, and many more musical ideas that I had left unattended. It feels great to pick those up from where I left them. Also, these years gave me some distance to pinpoint what I love about music the most: the recording process. I would record some rough demos on my own at home, which sounded okay and it was fun to do. But I felt my songs deserved to be recorded in a real studio, with actual engineers who knew exactly what they were doing. And, most importantly, with some great musicians.”
Now, as a start to bring this backlog of written material to life, Koopmeiners called on some of his musical friends and went to work on arranging, rehearsing and recording four tracks. Working alongside him on these songs are Giovanni Aspria (bass), Bouke Bijlsma (keys and backing vocals), HenkJan van Minnen (keys and backing vocals) and Jochem van Rooijen (drums, percussion and co-production). Koopmeiners sees One Hand Waving Free as his project, but is quick to acknowledge the importance of these musicians and the fact that during the recording proces, this soloproject operates very much as a band.
“I consider this group of people to be a band, for sure. We all work together to make these tracks the best they can be, everybody’s constantly pitching in ideas. These guys are no hired guns, they’re my friends. I’ve known them for years, and we really connect when we play together, so it does feel like a band. That’s why there’s this band name: One Hand Waving Free. But we all have lives of our own these days, and we didn’t make any commitments to be in this specific band in the traditional sense. So no rehearsals every week, that sort of thing. Having said that, One Hand Waving Free is a vehicle for my songs and therefore my project.”