Oud Zeer is a Dutch term for memories you would rather get rid of, but simply can’t. Memories that are burned in the back of your mind forever, a grudge from the past or an old wound that keeps opening up. Finding a way to deal with trauma and depression is a connecting theme in the works of Ontaard and Throwing Bricks. With both bands admitting that the past might shape you, but that it doesn’t have to break you.
Releasing music together is a natural outcome of a close friendship between the two Utrecht-based groups. Even though the music is dark, it’s mainly about processing misery, rather than celebrating it. Emotional release is at the core of writing, making and sharing our music.
They say a sorrow shared, is a sorrow halved. Coincidentally, this record finds both bands reaching out to the help of friends by collaborating with other musicians and pushing their own boundaries. Artists Johanna Kouwenhoven, Clasine Haringsma (Immen) and Kim Hoorweg (Vulva) have contributed to ‘Oud Zeer’ in their own way. Besides all gloomy bleakness, this is the product of friends finding joy in heaviness.